Hello

[smithy4564]

Hi everyone,

I've joined up to try and get some advice. I don't have a mk1 but I'd like some advice about tuning the 4age engine.

I have a kit car running a Toyota 4age 16v bigport engine. The car is running twin dellorto carburettors, an omex ecu for the ignition and a 4-1 side exit exhaust. The engine is, I think, pretty much standard. Over the summer I got the car set up on a rolling road where it made 132 bhp. I have now managed to get hold of a gas flowed cylinder head which I'm planning on rebuilding with a set of 272 duration Newman cams.

Where is the best place to get gaskets, oil seals and other service items for the 4age? I may be opening a can of worms but are 272 duration cams OK for a road and track car? Finally the lift in the cams is about 8.5mm, again I may be opening a can of worms but will that need uprated valve springs? Cat Cams use a similar lift and the spec sheet says it's OK with stock valve springs.

Any other input/advice is gladly received!

Might as well add a pic:



Oh and my plan is for my next car to be a mk1 with a 3sgte, so hopefully I'll be around for a while!

Cheers,

Dan

[cchrysos]

Very nice. What gearbox are you using to make that a rear wheel drive? Is it a corolla box or anotber (type9 maybe?) With an adapter plate?

Chrys

[smithy4564]

Hi Chrys,

It's a quaife close ratio type 9. The whole drive drain is pretty much ford sierra based. A company called RAW engineering make the adapter plate for the bell-housing, they make kit cars and specialise somewhat in 4AGE engines.

The car is running a sierra 4x4 LSD which with the quaife gears is probably a bit over-geared. With the massive twin 45s on a little 1.6 low revs are already a bit tricky! Problem with replacing it is Sierra parts are getting harder to come by and you really do notice the LSD pushing you out of the bends. It's another one on my 'to do' list for the winter!

[chief44]

Nice motor smithy. Have you got any videos of it running? I'd like to see what the 4age is capable of in a lighter shell. Sorry I can't help with your questions, but I can confirm a 3sgte mk1 is a very good idea!

[Jawa411]

I would say if you are looking for some serious tuning then pop over to the AE86 club as they modify their engines a lot more for drifting purposes.

For light tuning however there are a few options. Superwhite90 lives not far from me so we often meet up. He has just finished a resto on his bodywork and engine rebuild. He may correct me but he used cat cams which are 260 intake, 252 exhaust and 9.0 lift intake, 8.5 exhaust. These were just drop in cams with no changes/mods in terms of uprated valve springs etc. He has also used corolla pistons, metal head gasket and adjustable cams. He will give you the full rundown but here are a few things which you can do to up the hp, especially with a programmable ECU

[smithy4564]

Cheers for that Jawa. A lot of the research I've done has been on international forums but I thought I'd give a UK forum a go. The other option maybe is a rally forum; There's plenty of mk2 escort's running 4age engines. A lot of the AE86 guys seem to swap em out for more modern stuff, although I suppose that's true to a certain extent for mr2s!

Chief, unfortunately I don't have any videos. With the congestion around here I only really go out first thing on a Sunday morning while I have the roads to myself. In terms of performance the straight line speed is 'brisk' but nothing extraordinary, I'd say comparable to my old st205 Celica GT4. Where these things excel is in the corners. Engine is so far behind the front wheels is effectively mid engined and there's so little weight it corners like nothing else I've been in. Hopefully gonna get down to LLandow for a track day on the 16th, haven't had it on a track yet so be nice to find the limit...