Katou Hiori's Corolla Levin AE86 GT-APEX

* Original
* Spec. II
* Spec. III
* Spec. IV

**Katou Hiori's Toyota Corolla Levin GT-APEX (AE86)**, also known as the **Red Rocket of Sadamine**, **the Levin**, or **the Eight-Six**, is one of the main vehicles in Paper Route.

The car was purchased by Hiroaki Tsutomu second-handed in September 1999, and would later be loaned to Katou to drive deliveries on Sadamine. While officially owned by the paper company, it will usually be parked outside Katou's apartment. The car became a legend after Katou defeated Kiyomi Harada in her Lancer Evolution II (CE9A) and was nicknamed Sadamine's Red Rocket. It's legend would grow further after defeating Kawata Tsuneo in his Mazda RX-7 FC3S GT-R, aka The Black Ghost. Its success would come to a close after challenging The Prophet (12-52) at Irohazaka.

## History

### September 13th

On September 13th 1999 Hiroaki promoted Katou to delivery driver for the Tsutomu Paper Shop. Before doing so, he bought a second hand AE86 Levin as it was affordable, maneuverable, and had a good enough trunk space for papers. He did so because of the truck drivers complaining Sadamine was "exhausting to drive in a truck". Following her promotion Katou would use the car to deliver papers to the shops along Sadamine to be sold, aswell as individuals subscribed to the paper shop.

In the early morning of the same day, Sugiyama would drive Katou up to the pick up point outside a small grocery store. Katou thought nothing of it, but Sugiyama was shocked. Wondering "who the hell would buy this for a delivery car? I expected some minivan or SUV, this is an old hatchback..." Despite the car being over 10 years old, it was in almost mint condition with very low mileage. Sugiyama then educates Katou on the history of the Levin and the AE86 platform, revealing that it is actually a very special car, with almost perfect weight balance, lots of aftermarket options, and main car of Initial D. Katou would then practice driving the Levin, commenting on how it's "harder to turn than the car I was taught in". This is due to the car having no power steering, despite the fact it is a GT-APEX model, which normally comes with power-steering. Sugiyama reassures her she will get used to it, and grow stronger after driving the car for long enough.

On her first night at 3 AM, she was driving down Sadamine and stopped to deliver the first paper set. As she stopped, she heard another engine. Getting out of the car, the engine sound continued to grow louder. She waited, and a black FC drifted past her flamboyantly, and quickly. As her hair blew in her face, the FC continued driving down Sadamine disappearing into the night. Katou is greatly inspired by this and now wished to be able to do that exact drift too with the Levin.

After finishing her deliveries, the next day she confided to Sugiyama about the FC. Sugiyama reminds Katou that mountain passes are a common ground for street racing and to not be surprised by witnessing a racer. Katou loosely describes the FC, calling it a "GT-R". Sugiyama unknowingly assumes it as a normal GT-R FC, and not The Black Ghost. He then tells her the difference between it and her Levin, saying they aren't too different on the surface, but driving them is completely different. Katou confesses how she was inspired by the FC's drift, and Sugiyama offers to train her how to race at 11.

However, due to Katou's boredom, against Sugiyama's orders to wait until he had trained her how to drive it, she would take the Levin out before her first delivery run to race down Sadamine. She would race down alone with no prior knowledge of the road to begin with. As she drove through, she would struggle to drift, not knowing the proper techniques. Upon getting to the first paper delivery point, she would recklessly floor the gas while turning into the corner hard. Due to the speed and lightness of the Levin, she would be able to perform a slight power over drift, satisfying her desires to recreate the drift of the FC. Sugiyama having found out she left early chased after her.

Later down the road, she would eventually make a critical mistake and lose control of the Levin, understeering heavily and driving head on into a wall. However, her clairvoyancy would activate showing her a glimpse of what was to come. Not knowing what she just saw was the future, she loses focus and panics, instead massively oversteering spinning wildly before coming to a stop right next to a guardrail. Sugiyama manages to catch up to Katou as she stops on the side of the road, collecting herself. Sugiyama would reprimand her for her reckless actions before admitting that he reminded her of himself as a teen. Katou would then follow Sugiyama back to the paper shop and prepare for another delivery run. (tbc)

## Tuning Stages

### Engine

The engine is an original 4A-GE 1.6 litre blue top kept in near perfect condition, though it was originally muffled sounding due to the car's faulty exhaust. It was stock, and had a maximum output of 128bhp with a 7800 RPM limit.

The exhaust system would be changed and unlock some of the engines potential, making the car reach 145bhp.

The engine would later be tuned to reach 8500 thanks to new camshafts, airfilter and flywheel, and could reach 195bhp and 8500 RPM.

The engine was tuned once more, with even better camshafts, pistons, valve springs rods and throttle bodies, It would reach 221bhp and 9000 RPM. However at the time Sugiyama was unable to afford a new radiator and warned that the engine could overheat if pushed too hard. As a quick fix, he installed temperature gauges so Katou could monitor the temperature incase the engine were to overheat. He also warned Katou that the 9000 RPM tuning was pushing the engine to its limits and to only use the last 1000 RPM when truly necessary.

### Suspension

Aswell as replacing the exhaust system, Sugiyama also bought a new suspension system for the Levin, greatly reducing it's body roll and increased the stiffness. This brought out alot more cornering potential for the car.

### Custom parts

Sugiyama would occasionally give Katou new parts for the Levin. After getting the new exhaust and suspension, she would later receive new rims and a set of foglights.

#### Spec II

* Cibie Fog Lights (Chrome)
* Advan RGIII White Rims
* HKS Sport Exhaust
* Emotion Adjustable Coilovers Suspension

#### Spec III

* TRD Ducktail Bolt On Spoiler
* BRIDE Vertex Zeta III Collaboration Seat
* Momo Mod78 Steering Wheel with red stitching
* Toda Racing High Power Profile EX Camshaft 264 7.9
* Toda Racing Flywheel
* Cosmo Racing GTS SX Air Filter
* GT-V Levin Grille with badge removed
* GReddy Oil Temperature and Pressure Gauges
* Passenger seat removed
* OEM Analog Dashboard

#### Spec IV

* Seibon Carbon Hood
* WORK Equip 01 Rims
* Rzcrew Throttle Bodies
* Supertech 81.5mm High Compression 11:1 Pistons
* MaXspeedingrods Connecting Rods
* HKS Valve Springs
* ACL Rod Bearings
* TRD ECU
* Toda Racing Exhaust Manifold