Red GT86

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ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Always enjoyed trawling through this section, reading about people's exploits with various cars. Thought it was about time to do a thread of my own.


I've had the '86 nearly two years now so beware, this is going to be a long, picture and word heavy first post... Followed by many more.


My first venture into owning rear wheel drive was a grey 370z. Really liked this car. Looked awesome and went like split sh*t, but being fairly heavy, it tended to give up a bit on my local bumpy West Yorkshire roads.
My mate had been driving a GT86 for a year or so at this point. I'd always looked at it with a sense of envy and knew I'd have to bite the bullet at some point.
After a tear around North Yorkshire with me in the 370 and him in his 86, I knew it was time to bite said bullet. Despite me being in the faster car, I knew who was having more fun...


Enter a new to me Pure Red GT86. Worst picture ever! Only one I've got from pick up:



Obligatory PH sticker:



Then the modifying began.
Never been a fan of chrome on a car so the I plasti-dipped the badges on day two of ownership. Whilst I was using a hairdryer to dry the plasti-dip quicker, I whipped the 'Toyota GT86' lettering off the boot for the cleaner look.
Yellow fog lights - no excuse, just like the way they look:




To me, a standard GT86 sounds crap. No exhaust noise - instead a weird gurgling sound piped into the driver's footwell. So on day 5, a Milltek non-resonated primary cat-back arrived through the post.
Fitted the following day:

I also plugged the induction noise pipe in the footwell with an ear plug.


Now I was happy with how the car sounded, it was time for a proper thrashing to get ourselves acquainted. Back up to North Yorkshire:

This really reassured me I had made the right decision getting rid of the 370 for the technically slower car. Slower in a straight line, yes. But A to B across some twisty, undulating roads, the GT86 is the better car in my eyes. You can push harder and harder and be rewarded whereas the Nissan would have fallen apart. The only thing I found is that the TC liked to cut in when the road got a bit choppy. So sport mode selected which allows a little slip before intervening.


First shakedown complete, thought it would be rude not to have an ECUTEK remap done by Adrian at Fensport. I also had a Blitz panel filter installed while I was down there. No pictures of the day sadly.
The remap consists of 4 maps that can be selected on the cruise control stalk:

1 - full power (for 99ron petrol).
2 - full power, flat shift and launch control.
3 - full power, flat shift, launch control and rev matching.
4 - standard 95ron map.
Maps 1 to 3, the rev limit is increased slightly in gears 1 to 4. I use map one 99% of the time. Map 2 can be quite amusing when you're in the mood. I refer to the rev matching in map 3 as cheating so I never use that. Map 4 I only use if I can't find any V-power.

With the exhaust, panel filter and remap, Fensport reckon you're good for 218bhp at the fly.
The old cliché "how is should have been from the factory" springs to mind. The car now felt so much more punchy - and with the rev limit being increased, the acceleration is far more relentless. It enables you to get back into the meat of the power when changing up a gear. The flat spot around 3-4k is mostly eradicated too.


So, two weeks into ownership with the first batch of modifications done....Blyton Park beckoned. This time is was the tighter Eastern Circuit which I had never done before.


Had an awesome day here. The track was greasy in the morning so I wimped out and left the TC in sport mode. Even in 3rd/4th down the straight after Port Vite the car was spinning up and stepping sideways! I remember thinking "f*ck me, Fensport have created a monster!" Turned out someone has dumped their oil all over the place....
By late morning the track had dried and oil cleared up. TC fully off and brave pills swallowed - followed by a lot of grinning and giggling. What a riot! Despite the odd skid out of junctions and one particular hairpin, this was the first time I had gone properly sideways at speed. The marshals didn't appreciate it very much due to how much the standard Michelin Primacys like to squeal. I got black flagged a couple of times for setting the decibel reader off.
The thing that made the day for me is how well the car kept up with and held it's own against more exotic machinery. This perhaps is a characteristic of the Eastern Circuit being a tighter layout, lending less favour to cars that have the legs for straight line speed. A particular highlight was showing a 350z a clean pair of heals on a few occasions.
I did have a pretty big spin coming out of bunga bunga which was amusing. Got cocky with my sideways antics, tried to maintain a 3rd gear slide, didn't straighten up quick enough, got spat off.
Other than that, a good day was had by all!


Next up a couple of minor external tweaks.
Wasn't a fan of the massive Milltek slash-cut tails pipes so I fitted some OEM style (but black) tips from Cobra Sport:




People criticise the standard rear lights for being a bit Lexus. E-tech red spray and E-tech tint rattle-can job on the garage floor:





Standard spoiler off. TRD ducktail on:




It was now winter so I calmed down on the modding front and just enjoyed the car for what it was. Greasy, cold roads highlighted how little grip the Primacys give you however. Couple of brown trouser moments but once I got used to the car moving about, every commute to work was a right laugh, even at trickling speeds. I also found it to be good discipline in teaching you to respect the limits of your car, skills and road.


Last picture I took of the 86 that year. After a wash around Christmas time:



Plenty more to come...



Edited by ECG1000 on Wednesday 27th July 09:50

Freds

947 posts

136 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Love these, a mate has a BRZ and it's great fun, have you seen the Cosworth conversion KT Green Subaru have ?
http://www.ktgreen-subaru.co.uk/used-cars/search/?...

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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I look forward to further updates.

There are a couple more 86's in Reader's Cars - wow digging out the threads.

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
Freds said:
Love these, a mate has a BRZ and it's great fun, have you seen the Cosworth conversion KT Green Subaru have ?
http://www.ktgreen-subaru.co.uk/used-cars/search/?...
They are a lot of fun! Hope your find lets your drive it.
That BRZ at KT green looks decent! I'll be talking about FI in the next few posts...

Podie said:
I look forward to further updates.

There are a couple more 86's in Reader's Cars - wow digging out the threads.
I'll be updating later on. Just digging out the images at the moment.

Deerfoot

4,897 posts

183 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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That TRD spoiler looks much better.

These really appeal to me too, I'd take one over the more powerful competitors.

GregK2

1,651 posts

145 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Great read, thanks for posting, I do love these. You've made all the right mods to it so far too IMO.

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
Deerfoot said:
That TRD spoiler looks much better.

These really appeal to me too, I'd take one over the more powerful competitors.
Thanks mate. Definitely think it's makes the rear end more tidy. Have 10 pints and squint, you could even mistake it for an Aston.... biggrin

GregK2 said:
Great read, thanks for posting, I do love these. You've made all the right mods to it so far too IMO.
Thank you for the kind words!

Edited by ECG1000 on Tuesday 26th July 22:40

TotalControl

8,016 posts

197 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Love the mods so far.

LordGrover

33,531 posts

211 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Glad you're enjoying it as much as you'd hoped.
Keep posting...

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
TotalControl said:
Love the mods so far.
Thanks pal, appreciate it. Wait 'til you see the next update.

LordGrover said:
Glad you're enjoying it as much as you'd hoped.
Keep posting...
Cheers mate. Pretty sure I sent you loads of annoying PMs when I was considering buying one. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
Next update...


Found a video someone got from their dash-cam of me screeching past the pitlane at Blyton.
https://youtu.be/14-k_qQW8RY


Because I'm immature and like to be different I made a gear knob on the lathe at work. I was learning how to use it anyway so thought why not make something productive. My bird hates it.... Makes her feel weird for some reason, no idea why....


Trickiest bit was making a recess for the reverse lockout.


Having spent too much time on Instagram, looking at how much off a difference a decent set of wheels and healthy drop make, I decided it was time to follow suit. I'm ECG1000 on there as well if anyone's interested.

Enter a set of bronze Rota Titans - 17"x8" ET42. Copies of the Wedsport TC105N.

My biggest fear with wheels that are 1 inch wider than standard, was losing some of the playfulness. So to account for this, I ordered another set of slippery Michelin Primacys - 225 section as opposed to the standard 215.

Spent ages with tyre pen filling in the Michelin writing. Looked nice and racey to these hooligan eyes! Lasted a while until I dropped off a kerb and scraped all my hard work off. Somehow the wheel escaped unscathed!

I was chuffed with my wheel and tyre choice - genuinely couldn't notice any of the playful character of the standard setup missing. And yes...that was well after the release agent had been scrubbed off the tyres.


Next up was another trip down to Fensport for some coilovers, rear lower control arms and a decent geometry setup. It's a long way for me to travel from West Yorkshire each time but worth it. The guys down there know exactly what they're doing and have a lot of experience with the GT86. Adrian races their pretty mental shop car in the Toyota sprint series. Think it's firing out the thick end of 400bhp at the moment.

BC BR coils ready to go on!


S-Wave rear lower control arms. Lowering the car as much as I had in mind would give the rear excessive negative camber so these were a must:


Up on the ramps:


Fitted but not shiney for long:


Whilst we were up in the air I decided it was probably worth getting a SuperPro rear subframe bush insert kit fitted. Supposed to lock the subframe down tighter, preventing it from moving about during cornering whilst giving more feedback.


Nice shot of the adjustable front top mount.

Notice how they have been rotated - this was to achieve more castor. The camber was then done using the slotted hole on the strut leg.
I asked for the geo. to be setup to give a neutral handling car at B-road speeds. Can't remember what degrees of camber were dialled in sadly - sure it was nothing crazy.

And back on the ground:


I was beaming at this point! My car looked like a proper street racer. Just loved how mean it was without being over the top.
However, as soon as I drove it out of the workshop, there was a spanner in the works... "Click click click" coming from the rear over any rippled surface. Maybe it was just the coils settling having just been fitted. Off we went for a drive and the clicking persisted.
This wasn't me being a perfectionist and wanting a completely silent car, there was definitely something up.
So up and down on the ramp it went in search of the source of the pesky clicking - no luck. Not a happy bunny. It was about 6pm at this point, the guys at Fensport had worked overtime trying their best to solve it which I really appreciated.
Anyway Adrian said not to worry, they would sort it but I'd have to come back in a couple of weeks. A bit of a pain driving up and down the country again but it couldn't be avoided - just a stroke of bad luck. First world problems and all that!

Up the M1 I went, back to God's chosen country with it's proper driving roads.
Despite the clicking, the car handled like a go kart! It was super pointy and felt so much more alive, more in tune with me. Placebo effect or not, I could definitely feel more of what was going on at tarmac level.
The clicking was driving me insane though and I couldn't help but think I'd made a mistake getting coils as they were very crashy.


Some pictures I took on an old SLR the following day after a wash:







Really pleased with the way my 86 was aesthetically at this point but couldn't wait to get that noisy rear end fixed! I was counting down the days to get back Fensport.
I did a bit of research on the BC's and found quite a few other people with the same problem as me. Worth noting if you're in the market for some coilovers...

A snap I stuck up on Instagram to show off the LCA's.


To be continued...



Edited by ECG1000 on Tuesday 26th July 22:46

Freegs

96 posts

112 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Oh my god, it's...beautiful? Why on earth could toyota not have sold them like this?!

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
Freegs said:
Oh my god, it's...beautiful? Why on earth could toyota not have sold them like this?!
Haha! Thanks mate

I think the main problem with the standard car is the diamond cut wheels. To me they look fussy and awkward, especially on the brighter coloured cars.
Seems to be the way a lot of manufacturers are going these days - must be a reason for it. There's a fine line between what works well and what doesn't.

qwertina

113 posts

197 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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Well done on building my perfect car. I'm not at all jealous.....not one little bit!

Robins

102 posts

174 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
Looks spot on that mate. I've got a red one as well but only had it for a couple of months.

You've pretty much done what I'm wanting to eventually do to mine. I've got a Milltek ready to go on as like you say the standard noise is pants for a sporty car.

ECG1000

Original Poster:

381 posts

141 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
qwertina said:
Well done on building my perfect car. I'm not at all jealous.....not one little bit!
Thank you mate. Positive comments mean a lot to me!

It wasn't quite perfect at this stage however - will be getting there in the next post.

Robins said:
Looks spot on that mate. I've got a red one as well but only had it for a couple of months.

You've pretty much done what I'm wanting to eventually do to mine. I've got a Milltek ready to go on as like you say the standard noise is pants for a sporty car.
Cheers dude!
You'll fall for it more and more as time goes by. They really start to make sense and get under your skin once you get used to the car. Just remember not to drive it on too many long straight roads wink

Edited by ECG1000 on Wednesday 27th July 10:06

Deerfoot

4,897 posts

183 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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So, have you sorted the clicking out yet?

cerb4.5lee

30,189 posts

179 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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Absolutely love what you've done to that and it looks just so right, enjoy it.

qwertina

113 posts

197 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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Well done on building my perfect car. I'm not at all jealous.....not one little bit!

AdamC28

122 posts

94 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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Looks great in red. Really need a trip out in one of these some day, everyone says how fun they are.