Toyota GT 86

[DaveJH]

After having fallen in love with the FT86 concept car when it was first shown, I finally picked up my Black GT 86 at the end of September last year.

The day I picked it up from my local Toyota dealer (Westlands Toyota, Bromsgrove)


For winter, I fitted winter tires onto a set of Impreza Rb5 Wheels rims I bought off EBay, and had re-furbished


Once the weather warmed up, I ordered a set of RotaGrid rims and Goodyear F1 Asymmetrical tires from Rare Rims, and booked my car into Fensport to have the suspension lowered, and a full wheel alignment done






Spec at this stage:

Eibach Sportline lowered spring kit
Whiteline 16mm adjustable anti-roll bar
Summit Swave Rear Adjustable Toe Control Arm Set
Summit Swave Rear Adjustable Camber Control Arms
Fensport Front Camber Adjust Bolts
Whiteline Offset top mounts
Rota Grid 18 X 8.5 ET44 Fronts
Roto Grid 18 X 9.5 ET38 Rears
Goodyear F1 Asym. 2 225/40 front, 245/35 rear

Also fitted a rear under diffuser. No functional improvement, but does (at least in my opinion) finish the rear nicely


Gas struts to replace the hood stay


Summit Swade Front Strut bar, Password JDM Ultimate Diagonal Brace and Laile Beatrush brake master cylinder brace



Currently being fitted by Fensport (hopefully will get my car back next Friday):


Specification for turbo fitment:

AVO Turbo kit stage 2, ceramic coated manifold & turbine housing, 8psi actuator
3 Bar map sensor & overboost cut
Electronic closed loop boost control via Ecutek
Forge Dump valve
Breather system
Helix uprated clutch cover assembly and organic plate
Ultimate Racing 3” exhaust system
AEM Wideband Failsafe Gauge

Initial plan is to set the boost to 8 psi, which should give a safe 285 bhp, and an increase in torque of around 100 ft/lbs at 3600 rpm. This should take care of anyone’s comments that the GT 86 does not have enough power

[DaveJH]

Thank you for all the nice comments

Next upgrade (after the turbo) will be a BBK. Current preference is the AP Racing one, they make a very nice 6 pot front, and 4 pot rear set.
To be honest, the standard brakes are very good, so the brake upgrade will be as much for cosmetic reasons as for any potential performance improvements. I could probably get the brakes more than good enough with just a pad upgrade and stainless lines.

Edited by DaveJH on Sunday 28th July 11:24

[DaveJH]

SirSamuelBuca said:

Excellent how the gt86 should of been to start.

Thank you Like most mass produced cars, the GT 86 has been specced by Toyota to meet a price target. As standard, the car is great (a lot better than the American spec Scion FRS), but I believe that there is definite room for improvement. I am trying to keep my upgrades as subtle as possible - no body kits for me - but, as you say, the way the car should have been from the start. The AVO turbo kit I am having fitted is incredibly OEM looking, and just looks like it belongs

[DaveJH]

I really appreciate all the positive comments, thank you I really love my GT 86, and it really makes me feel proud for you all to also appreciate what I am doing with it.

[DaveJH]

The Nur said:

2) Can't believe nobody has noticed this but... Top Level Lurking Sir!

Had to wait until I had something worthwhile to post!!

Thank you all once again for the great comments!!!

[DaveJH]

ThrottleBod said:

Car looks awesome!

Will you have to make any bottom end upgrades or can they handle the extra power?

Thank you . No plans to upgrade the bottom end at this point in time. People in the USA and Australia are making serious power with the standard bottom end. I think that it is very much up to the quality of the mapping - I have total confidence in Adrian at Fensport to do it right for me.
I will be looking to upgrade the cooling as well as adding an oil cooler before I attempt any track days, though. As far as I am aware, mine will be the first customer forced induction GT 86 in the UK (it is certainly the first that Fensport are doing). They have fitted the AVO kit to their two GT 86s, one a dedicated race car for the Toyota Sprint Series, and a second automatic one. Litchfield are working on a Supercharger (a variation of the Sprintex as far as I know), but I don't think they have fitted one to a customer car yet.

[DaveJH]

abbotsmike said:

Wasn't that the whole point of the GT86 though? Especially when you look at the stripped back, super basic Japan only versions they did, it's designed to be modified, upgraded and improved.

I certainly think so. It is such a great platform to 'make you own'.

[DaveJH]

IanOE said:

That looks lovely, good work!

I'm not sure if I've ever seen one of these in the wild.

Have you taken the car on track?

Thank you. Not yet.

[DaveJH]

JackP1 said:

Good job on this! Not overly keen on rota grids but each to their own!

Rims are probably the most personal of any aftermarket mod you can make to a car. Personally, the Rota Grids (or Volk TE37s, which I would love to have, but cannot justify the extra cost) tick all the boxes for me in what I was looking for. Simple design, easy to keep clean, and available in exactly the widths and offsets I was after.

Olivera said:

Lovely example with some nice modifications, but would I be right in saying you don't have much change from 35 grand?

Actually, a bit more . I don't mind the cost, as I am doing exactly what I want to the car.

Thank you everyone once again for the great comments - comments like these make the costs well worthwhile.

[DaveJH]

Ruskie said:

No doubting the car looks good and the mods are well balanced but between £35 and £40k in total. Your mental!

That's GTR/M3/911 or of you like the lightweight and big power TVR/Lotus.

Lovely car though and don't take my post as negative.

That is of course assuming I want a GTR/M3/911/TVR/Lotus After having worked for Toyota for over 24 years, I am afraid that I am somewhat biased
I definitely don't take your post as negative. As I posted before, I am modifying my car to a specification that I want - sod the costs

[DaveJH]

mpm1987 said:

Top work! What happens with the warranty?

I don't have my service book with me at the moment,(it is in the car at Fensport), but from memory, when I read the wording of the warranty, it stated something about the warranty being voided if any failure was as a result of any modifications / changes made. That said, there was no way I could wait 5 years before starting to make the changes - the 5 months I waited was long enough

[DaveJH]

RB Will said:

Would have the wheels a different colour as I'm not a fan of black on black but otherwise its ace.

The rims are actually gunmetal, so not quite black on black

[DaveJH]

Brief update.

my car is now on the lift at Fensport for the instillation of the turbo kit


Inlet pipe and air box removed


I will update the progress as and when I get more pictures through from Adrian@Fensport

Again, thank you everyone who has taken the time to post for the great comments

[DaveJH]

bulldong said:

AMAZING! What sort of power increase do you think you will get from the turbo upgrade? Sorry if you have said it already, I have only looked at the pics in the thread.

Thank you. Expectation is circa 285bhp with 8lb boost. What will be equally great is the increase in torque, hopefully an extra 100 ft/lb at 3600rpm

zabba said:

Wow, very nice. So an expected 285bhp should give it around 230bhp/ton, that's much more like it.

Thank you for the nice comment. I totally agree - should help to prevent being embarrassed by various hot hatches and diesel rep mobiles

[DaveJH]

stuart-b said:

How does the engine hold up to boost? What compression ratio is the engine already, and are the pistons/rods able to cope with that sort of power hike? If you blow it up - will you rebuild with lower compression pistons and new internals?

Sorry for all the questions - would love one of these if it had more power.

By all accounts, the engine holds up very well, certainly at the (relatively) low boost level I will be running. There are a number of cars in the USA running 400bhp+ on the standard internals, there is one company that have achieved over 600bhp on a standard engine. The compression ratio is 12.5:1, so very high for a turbo engine, although it does have both direct and port injection, as well as a very good design combustion chamber (developed by Toyota with the help of Yamaha). These factors all help to minimise the potential for detonation. Shell V Power only will be used as well. I think the key will be very good mapping, and here I have total confidence in Adrian@Fensport to look after me.

Should it blow (which I sincerely hope does not happen ,) I will most probably re-build with forged rods and lower compression forged pistons. http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category... Carrillo make forged H Beam Rods for the engine.

The chassis of the GT 86 is so good, that in my opinion after 10 months of ownership, it definitely does need more power! A 50% increase should just about do it

[DaveJH]

I obviously will be fitting a boost gauge, and in order to provide an additional level of protection, I have decided to go with the AEM Wideband Failsafe gauge, which is a combined Wideband Air/Fuel and Boost in One Gauge. In order to keep the stealth look, I will be fitting it in an adaptor that replaces the vent to the right of the instrument panel. The vent remains functional, just with the gauge in the middle.



The gauge is a really clever bit of kit, in that not only does it provide the boost and air / fuel ratio display, it also acts as a data logger, saving the previous 2.5 hours worth of data, that can be downloaded via a USB connection. in addition, it can be programmed to activate a failsafe strategy in the event AFR falls outside of a user-defined operating window. If the AFR falls outside of the set operating window, the Wideband FAILSAFE Gauge triggers a user defined output function that will hopefully save my engine from catastrophic damage.

[DaveJH]

orangesrule said:

To be fair its a Subaru engine

Partly true The whole car is very much a joint venture collaboration between Toyota and Subaru. The bottom end of the engine is Subaru (totally new design, though), whilst the heads are a Toyota / Yamaha development. The DI system is totally Toyota, whilst the engine uses Subaru’s Active Valve Control System.

[DaveJH]

MjetSport said:

I presume this is FenSport in Chatteris? I live not even a mile away if so!

Yes it is

[DaveJH]

Bit of an update

Standard clutch out


New uprated clutch in


Standard exhaust manifold removed


AVO Turbo and manifold prepped for fitting



Front stripped for fitting of intercooler


The spares pile is growing

[DaveJH]

HariboLecter said:

Well this is just fking superb.

Do you sell Toyotas for a living then?

Thank you. I don't work for Toyota anymore. I worked for Toyota in South Africa for 24 years, in various positions in the Assembly Plant - started as a development engineer, and finished running the paint shop I work as a Management Consultant now, with clients literally all over the world.