Welcome to update number eight of our crazy AE86 project! This time we are not just going to look at the new details on the build, but we are also going to take a look at the finished product via Shift2 Unleashed. I love this first pic from Paddy, it captures the real presence that the car seems to have around the shop, it seems no one can pass by without doing a double take.

And so to the in-game car parked here at the famous Eau Rouge at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. It's so cool for me to be able to see the finished product so early in the build, normally all the images are in my head. The timeline for this project was very tight and we did not have the luxury of a long schedule like Vaughn's RTR-X project. The car does differ slightly from the real world version as it has developed and we have problem solved. The main development was me completely wrecking the car at a Prodrift event and being left with two options:

1: Throw away the chassis or 2: to remove an awful lot of metal and built something crazy. So here we will also cover some of the differences between the in game D-Mac86 and the real world D-Mac86 and the reasoning behind them.

This looks so cool! One of the main differences is the front bumper. The N2 aero is designed to work with stock bumpers, in this case a Sprinter Trueno Zenki bumper. This bumper was designed to keep a normally aspirated 4AGE and its radiator cool but as the 13B Turbo will produce so much more heat and have an intercooler we demanded much more air flow than the Trueno Zenki bumper could provide. What we are using is only an update away …

Here is a better, if fly spattered, view of the bumper. I wonder if I will ever get to drive it down the straight in Irwindale? (This car is NOT for Formula D) I just recently returned from Electronic Arts in Vancouver, Canada where I took on ALMS driver Tommy Milner in an Autolog battle and played the game as much as I could. I of course took the D-Mac86 to drift at Irwindale as well as the infamous Ebisu. It would be amazing to be able to take the real car to America and Japan sometime.

Okay, so back to the real world and back to MCNSPORT.com HQ

Getting the car on the ground was a big milestone and so was getting our Work Meisters back from powder coating, now in a stealthy satin black finish.

A lot of bits and bobs have been done to the engine as it gets close to firing up for the first time. Plugs, plug leads, coils, fuel lines, fuel pressure regulator, K&N oil filter and screamer pipe have now all been fitted.

For the brakes, we plan to do a brake upgrade on the real car once we get it running as we are expecting it to be quiet fast. Power to weight ratio is looking pretty impressive from the corner weight figures we have.

The biggest difference in the two cars is at the rear and anyone who has been following the build will know why …

… the rear mounted radiator. Because of this modification to gain the best possible weight distribution, a few things had to be different to any AE86 we have seen before. We needed to get air to the radiator so we decide to make a custom roof and quarter windows. Another thing I wanted to do was make the rear end more crash proof, as lets face it drift cars are meant to hit/rub/scrape things with the rear. So our collapsible bumper bar is now in place holding the FRP rear end on and it's all easily replaceable if and when we take it all off.

The rear Falken tyres are absolutely massive at 275/40/17. They look huge on the small '86 chassis!

Our rear ride height is now set and we will start to locate our axle links for the geometry we require very soon. Another question mark I had was would I be able to run the exhaust out the rear or would I have to turn it down underneath the car. Well it looks like we can get it out the rear bumper so I'm looking forward to some pictures with big rotary flames from Paddy. One of the coolest things of the in-game car is the rotary sound. It sounds like a real bridgeport and pops and bangs on the overrun when you lift off the throttle. It really shows the attention to detail that has gone into this game and my hat goes off to all the NFS crew.

This is definitely filling the arch!

And so on to the front suspension where we have spent most of our time lately. Here is the final steering angle we have ended up with.

Here is how it looks from the front. Another addition from the last update is our front support bars. They are made from a very light material so that if the unthinkable happens they will collapse instead of moving the strut top out of line. Then the front tube extension can be cut off and replaced with a new one. The other purpose of the front support bars is to act as support for the front wing/fender and headlight covers as well as mounting the front bonnet/hood pins.

The change in front steering ackerman angle and the amount of steering angle have caused problems with the trailing or outside wheel. It is now turning so much the tension rod had to be moved and we now have to make four lock stops for this car (two per wheel) as it is trying to kick or go over centre which is rare on a front steer steering rack

That's me and my Dad looking on as Paddy does his thing. Very little work left to do in the cockpit now. Biggest job is the line lock for holding the front brakes to allow us to warm the rears without putting excess stress on the car.

The rear polycarbonate screen has been installed and the TRS harness is now ready to keep me strapped in.

My dream '86 is so close to becoming a reality now, I expect real life driving shots like this one in two weeks time! Except without the working headlights

The visuals in Shift2 Unleashed are just amazing aren't they?

Most cars in computer games are copied from real life vehicles but this time it has been a true collaboration of the virtual and real worlds. We expect the D-Mac86 to take the giant killing hachiroku to a new level, punching way above its weight just like it does in Need for Speed Shift2 Unleashed

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D-Mac