Discussion
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...
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 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.http://www.ktgreen-subaru.co.uk/used-cars/search/?...
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.There are a couple more 86's in Reader's Cars - wow digging out the threads.
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.... These really appeal to me too, I'd take one over the more powerful competitors.
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 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! Keep posting...
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...
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 said:
Oh my god, it's...beautiful? Why on earth could toyota not have sold them like this?!
Haha! Thanks mateI 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 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'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.
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
Edited by ECG1000 on Wednesday 27th July 10:06
Deerfoot said:
So, have you sorted the clicking out yet?
All in good time dear boy, all in good time cerb4.5lee said:
Absolutely love what you've done to that and it looks just so right, enjoy it.
Thanks so much. I was aiming for exactly this when I started modifying - nothing too in your face, just a clean looking racey car.qwertina said:
Well done on building my perfect car. I'm not at all jealous.....not one little bit!
Thanks again palAdamC28 said:
Looks great in red. Really need a trip out in one of these some day, everyone says how fun they are.
Cheers! Definitely worth a go in one of these. Try to make it make it a long go so the car can show it's true colours.Martin_Hx said:
This looks brilliant! After the first update i was thinking... still not changed from the awful standard alloy's? 
Well done on having a fantastic car with cracking mods
Will have to keep an eye out for you in West Yorkshire!
Thanks a lot mate. Really nice getting positive comments from people. Well done on having a fantastic car with cracking mods
Will have to keep an eye out for you in West Yorkshire!
Edited by Martin_Hx on Wednesday 27th July 11:28
When I first got it, told myself I wouldn't be changing the wheels etc, just leave it standard looking. That lasted about 2 minutes! They've got a really big GT86(/FRS) "scene" over in the US, so Instagram is littered with modified examples. Some silly ones with air ride, wide body kits and even wider wheels but some tastefully modified cars that look stunning. Really didn't help me keep my wallet closed for long...
tonyb1968 said:
Shame you bought BC's as they have to be the worst coilovers on the market, shockingly bad quality but look good value, the old cliche buy once buy right comes to mind.
Nice car otherwise
Couldn't agree more mate, they were a load of sh*te. You'll find out what happened to them in the next update.Nice car otherwise
mikey P 500 said:
Not much yet, tien lowering springs and have plasti dipped stock wheels, will likely do some track days before deciding on too many future modifications although may up rate front pads before this.
That looks awesome! Makes such a difference having the stock wheels all one colour.
Are the springs any good?
Next update...
So as mentioned before the BC's were clicking quite badly from day one. I had 2 weeks to put up with it before going back down to Fensport to get the problem sorted.
It was driving me mad! I could quieten it down a tiny bit if I wound the coilovers to fully soft, but this made the car feel like a boat in a strong gale. So I wound them back up a bit stiffer to make the car handle properly, which it did - I'll draw the comparison to a go-kart again. It did like to crash about on uneven surfaces though which was unpleasant. I was starting to think I'd made a big mistake messing about with the suspension. Was tempted to put it back to standard but that would mean getting rid of the Rota's sadly. With the offset being ET42 against standard wheels' ET48, they poked out an extra 19mm. On standard ride height my 86 would end up looking like a monster truck.
Anyway, 2 weeks finally passed and I was back down the M1.
Very apprehensive pulling back into the workshop, fearing the problem would never be solved. Up on the ramp it went, rear coilovers out and inspected - nothing appeared wrong with them visually, all the bolts were tight etc, no excessive play anywhere.
Just to be sure the source of the noise wasn't coming from my car, it was elected a new pair of rear coilovers were to be installed, then go out for a test drive. Luckily for me (as I'll later find out) there wasn't another set of BC's in stock. There was however a slightly more expensive set of Tein Street Flex on the shelf...
The type that Fensport supply are slightly different to ones you can buy elsewhere. These are specially developed by Fensport and Colin Hoad of CAT driver training. They spent a few days at Millbrook with a couple of customer cars tweaking the valving and bump stop height etc.
I was assured the Teins are a better coilover with greater build quality, and despite having a higher spring rate than the BC's, should be more pliable on the road.
So on they went:
Pulling out of the workshop very gingerly, across the same rippled concrete that set the BC's off and at long last....silence! Round the block and few times just to be sure...still silent.
Back up on the ramp it went to have the fronts installed and geometry realigned - job was a good'n as they say.
I took the car out for a longer drive just to be double sure everything was fine, once bitten twice shy etc... Was grinning from ear to ear at this point. The clicking had vanished and the car had gone back to almost OEM levels of NVH, not quite with the top mounts being solid as opposed to rubber, but still, happy bunny once again. And further more the ride was leagues ahead of the BC's, so much more compliant and in tune with the road's surface instead of crashing about like a bedstead.
Massive thanks to Fensport for this. Only ended up having to fork out an extra £80 for the price difference between the two brands. All other costs were billed back to BC. Forgot to mention in the last update, I got the subframe inserts for half price due to the mishap with the BC's. Just goes to show it's worth going the distance to a proper and reputable specialist who really do look after their customers.
Back to the North!
Anyone that's been to the Fens will know how (for want of a better word) "yumpy" the local roads are - think junior tarmac rally with very few corners. On the cross country stretch back toward the M1, I made the mistake of overtaking a Range Rover that was already travelling at an enthusiastic lick. Once passed, I had to keep on going a bit quicker to maintain and eventually broaden the gap between us. Then the road, as previously described, started getting "yumpy", then quickly became extremely "yumpy". Instead of doing the sensible thing and slowing down, I ended up taking off! On one occasion I landed with a violent BANG causing the car to squirm upon coming back into contact with terra firma.
Luckily everything smoothed out a bit and I could enjoy the drive back on a decent set of suspension - despite having soiled trousers!
The next day, I noticed a pretty big crack coming from the bottom of the windscreen. I'm guessing playing at silly buggers the day before may have agitated a chip already in the screen.
Autoglass to the rescue:
Now I could finally enjoy my 86 again. I was chuffed to bits with the latest set of improvements.
Time for a little more tinkering.
E-tech tint spray back out for the side indicators:
Only a very minor thing but an improvement to the clear lenses.
Another shot from a distance. Got mugged off by a mate who's not bothered by cars. Said I looked like a ketchup rep trying to flog my wares to the Co Op!
Now it was time to attend to the brakes.
Forgot to mention earlier, I kind of fried the standard setup at Blyton. They'd be fine until any heat got into them, then the brake pedal would bounce up and down. This even happened on B road blasts. Felt like either the discs were warped or the pads had melted onto them.
First thing to arrive in the post was a brake stopper. This bolts to the strut tower and has a rod which you screw up against the master cylinder to prevent it flexing from the bulkhead:
Sprayed green to match the Teins:
I've no idea if this made any difference to be honest. Never used it in anger before I installed the rest of the brake paraphernalia.
Next through the post was:
-DBA front discs
-Hawk HPS front and rear pads (recommended pairing these with the DBA's)
-Braided lines
-Dot 5.1 fluid
No pictures of the install sadly, my boss was helping me after work so didn't want to start prancing round with a camera taking more of his time!
Everything went smoothly apart from getting the old lines off. They were extremely tight to the point of making me worry I was going to kink the copper piping further up the line. Abandoned this part of the upgrade in fear of making a total balls of it. All the other parts went on fine though!
Turned out the old pads had indeed melted to the discs...
Job done:
While the calipers were off, I seized the moment and sprayed them matt black.
You may also notice the tyre writing I so loving drew on was starting to scuff off from day to day use.
Immediately the brakes felt like they had less bite. Having run them in for a week it soon became evident they required a bit of heat to work properly. Once warmed up they are good and strong with none of the bouncing pedal syndrome of old.
Another good upgrade!
As I began to get used to the new suspension set up and push the car harder I thought it would probably be wise to invest in an anti-lift kit. Because the car had been lowered a fair amount, the steering arms were now at an angle instead of being relatively parallel with the road - this can cause bump steer.
Don't think i noticed any when B road driving, but was pretty sure I would encounter it when back on track.
My boss gave me a hand with this one again, so only one picture during the install. The hydraulic press at work came in very handy that day:
I found a guide on ft86.com to be pretty useful too. Was good to read through the process a few times before attempting it, helped me picture what I had to do.
That was enough modding for the time being. Time to spend money on petrol instead of parts and enjoy a summer of thrashing the car!
Some selfish pigeons in Newcastle had very good aim. Had to be careful when cleaning this off so as not to pull the plasti-dip away from the badge. As I will later find out, I shouldn't have worried as it sticks like sh*t to a blanket:
Parked up next to an Impreza whilst visiting my bird in Richmond. Makes the 86 look like a toy! Very good roads up there - particularly the one up to Reeth.
That's it for now. Still more to come...
So as mentioned before the BC's were clicking quite badly from day one. I had 2 weeks to put up with it before going back down to Fensport to get the problem sorted.
It was driving me mad! I could quieten it down a tiny bit if I wound the coilovers to fully soft, but this made the car feel like a boat in a strong gale. So I wound them back up a bit stiffer to make the car handle properly, which it did - I'll draw the comparison to a go-kart again. It did like to crash about on uneven surfaces though which was unpleasant. I was starting to think I'd made a big mistake messing about with the suspension. Was tempted to put it back to standard but that would mean getting rid of the Rota's sadly. With the offset being ET42 against standard wheels' ET48, they poked out an extra 19mm. On standard ride height my 86 would end up looking like a monster truck.
Anyway, 2 weeks finally passed and I was back down the M1.
Very apprehensive pulling back into the workshop, fearing the problem would never be solved. Up on the ramp it went, rear coilovers out and inspected - nothing appeared wrong with them visually, all the bolts were tight etc, no excessive play anywhere.
Just to be sure the source of the noise wasn't coming from my car, it was elected a new pair of rear coilovers were to be installed, then go out for a test drive. Luckily for me (as I'll later find out) there wasn't another set of BC's in stock. There was however a slightly more expensive set of Tein Street Flex on the shelf...
The type that Fensport supply are slightly different to ones you can buy elsewhere. These are specially developed by Fensport and Colin Hoad of CAT driver training. They spent a few days at Millbrook with a couple of customer cars tweaking the valving and bump stop height etc.
I was assured the Teins are a better coilover with greater build quality, and despite having a higher spring rate than the BC's, should be more pliable on the road.
So on they went:
Pulling out of the workshop very gingerly, across the same rippled concrete that set the BC's off and at long last....silence! Round the block and few times just to be sure...still silent.
Back up on the ramp it went to have the fronts installed and geometry realigned - job was a good'n as they say.
I took the car out for a longer drive just to be double sure everything was fine, once bitten twice shy etc... Was grinning from ear to ear at this point. The clicking had vanished and the car had gone back to almost OEM levels of NVH, not quite with the top mounts being solid as opposed to rubber, but still, happy bunny once again. And further more the ride was leagues ahead of the BC's, so much more compliant and in tune with the road's surface instead of crashing about like a bedstead.
Massive thanks to Fensport for this. Only ended up having to fork out an extra £80 for the price difference between the two brands. All other costs were billed back to BC. Forgot to mention in the last update, I got the subframe inserts for half price due to the mishap with the BC's. Just goes to show it's worth going the distance to a proper and reputable specialist who really do look after their customers.
Back to the North!
Anyone that's been to the Fens will know how (for want of a better word) "yumpy" the local roads are - think junior tarmac rally with very few corners. On the cross country stretch back toward the M1, I made the mistake of overtaking a Range Rover that was already travelling at an enthusiastic lick. Once passed, I had to keep on going a bit quicker to maintain and eventually broaden the gap between us. Then the road, as previously described, started getting "yumpy", then quickly became extremely "yumpy". Instead of doing the sensible thing and slowing down, I ended up taking off! On one occasion I landed with a violent BANG causing the car to squirm upon coming back into contact with terra firma.
Luckily everything smoothed out a bit and I could enjoy the drive back on a decent set of suspension - despite having soiled trousers!
The next day, I noticed a pretty big crack coming from the bottom of the windscreen. I'm guessing playing at silly buggers the day before may have agitated a chip already in the screen.
Autoglass to the rescue:
Now I could finally enjoy my 86 again. I was chuffed to bits with the latest set of improvements.
Time for a little more tinkering.
E-tech tint spray back out for the side indicators:
Only a very minor thing but an improvement to the clear lenses.
Another shot from a distance. Got mugged off by a mate who's not bothered by cars. Said I looked like a ketchup rep trying to flog my wares to the Co Op!
Now it was time to attend to the brakes.
Forgot to mention earlier, I kind of fried the standard setup at Blyton. They'd be fine until any heat got into them, then the brake pedal would bounce up and down. This even happened on B road blasts. Felt like either the discs were warped or the pads had melted onto them.
First thing to arrive in the post was a brake stopper. This bolts to the strut tower and has a rod which you screw up against the master cylinder to prevent it flexing from the bulkhead:
Sprayed green to match the Teins:
I've no idea if this made any difference to be honest. Never used it in anger before I installed the rest of the brake paraphernalia.
Next through the post was:
-DBA front discs
-Hawk HPS front and rear pads (recommended pairing these with the DBA's)
-Braided lines
-Dot 5.1 fluid
No pictures of the install sadly, my boss was helping me after work so didn't want to start prancing round with a camera taking more of his time!
Everything went smoothly apart from getting the old lines off. They were extremely tight to the point of making me worry I was going to kink the copper piping further up the line. Abandoned this part of the upgrade in fear of making a total balls of it. All the other parts went on fine though!
Turned out the old pads had indeed melted to the discs...
Job done:
While the calipers were off, I seized the moment and sprayed them matt black.
You may also notice the tyre writing I so loving drew on was starting to scuff off from day to day use.
Immediately the brakes felt like they had less bite. Having run them in for a week it soon became evident they required a bit of heat to work properly. Once warmed up they are good and strong with none of the bouncing pedal syndrome of old.
Another good upgrade!
As I began to get used to the new suspension set up and push the car harder I thought it would probably be wise to invest in an anti-lift kit. Because the car had been lowered a fair amount, the steering arms were now at an angle instead of being relatively parallel with the road - this can cause bump steer.
Don't think i noticed any when B road driving, but was pretty sure I would encounter it when back on track.
My boss gave me a hand with this one again, so only one picture during the install. The hydraulic press at work came in very handy that day:
I found a guide on ft86.com to be pretty useful too. Was good to read through the process a few times before attempting it, helped me picture what I had to do.
That was enough modding for the time being. Time to spend money on petrol instead of parts and enjoy a summer of thrashing the car!
Some selfish pigeons in Newcastle had very good aim. Had to be careful when cleaning this off so as not to pull the plasti-dip away from the badge. As I will later find out, I shouldn't have worried as it sticks like sh*t to a blanket:
Parked up next to an Impreza whilst visiting my bird in Richmond. Makes the 86 look like a toy! Very good roads up there - particularly the one up to Reeth.
That's it for now. Still more to come...
Edited by ECG1000 on Thursday 28th July 12:41
Kesler said:
Cracking write up mate, good to see you on here as well as on GT86OC.
You're tempting me to write mine up as well now!!
Thanks mate! You're tempting me to write mine up as well now!!
Get one written up for sure. Always good to read about other people's trials and tribulations of car ownership.
Deerfoot said:
Glad you sorted the clicking out.
That really is the nicest GT86 I`ve seen.
Unfortunately, they`re still too expensive for me, maybe in a few years....
Cheers mate, appreciate it. That really is the nicest GT86 I`ve seen.
Unfortunately, they`re still too expensive for me, maybe in a few years....
Some of the first cars to come out are definitely on their way down price wise so won't be too long hopefully.
Although I'm hoping everyone will realise what a gem the GT86 is and prices go through the roof! That will never happen though...
adriman said:
Looking really good, wheels and lights especially. Those are the main things i would like to change on mine!
Thank you!You can do the lights really easily if you just buy some E-tech spray from eBay - only about £10.
Could always plasti-dip the standard wheels before taking the plunge on a new set. Looks much better when they're all one colour.
sdkrc said:
Really tastefully modified. Wheel/tyre combo is absolutely spot on.
Great thread and hope to see more updates
Would be interested to see what sort of modifications they're doing in Japan seeing as this was built for that
Thanks dude. I'll try to update daily until I'm up to date with where I am now.Great thread and hope to see more updates
Would be interested to see what sort of modifications they're doing in Japan seeing as this was built for that
I daren't look at what they're up to in Japan. Good way to empty one's wallet
Somehow missed this out in the last post.
After I'd installed the anti-lift kit, the tracking was way out on the front. I measured the distance between the start of the threads on the rack and the end of the standard tie rods before taking them off. Then tried to replicate this with the replacement Whiteline variants.
Obviously didn't measure them properly! The first roundabout I tried at speed, didn't really happen - just ended up going straight on...
Took me ages to find somewhere to do the wheel alignment. There's very little room between the tyres and rim of the wheel arches so getting the alignment hangers hung was impossible. I later found out that a Hunter system uses different hangers that attach to the wheel spokes instead.
Then the search began to find a ramp with a shallow enough approach to drive up onto. After trying 3 different places, I eventually found a one that worked...just.
GW Bodyshop, St Andrews road, Huddersfield if anyone has the same predicament as me.
After I'd installed the anti-lift kit, the tracking was way out on the front. I measured the distance between the start of the threads on the rack and the end of the standard tie rods before taking them off. Then tried to replicate this with the replacement Whiteline variants.
Obviously didn't measure them properly! The first roundabout I tried at speed, didn't really happen - just ended up going straight on...
Took me ages to find somewhere to do the wheel alignment. There's very little room between the tyres and rim of the wheel arches so getting the alignment hangers hung was impossible. I later found out that a Hunter system uses different hangers that attach to the wheel spokes instead.
Then the search began to find a ramp with a shallow enough approach to drive up onto. After trying 3 different places, I eventually found a one that worked...just.
GW Bodyshop, St Andrews road, Huddersfield if anyone has the same predicament as me.
Next up...
Not much modding went on in this period. I felt I'd reached a point that I was happy with the car so just concentrated on enjoying it for what it is - an awesome b-road weapon. The more twisty the road, the better!
Although, I have to admit, my mind had turned towards the prospect of forced induction....but we'll get to that later.
Random snap I got parked up in a warehouse at work:
Halfway through last summer, I noticed a hissing sound coming from under the car. Managed to get it over a pit and found the Milltek to be blowing where the mid pipe meets the secondary de-cat, and also where the secondary de-cat meets the over-pipe. I managed to find a universal replacement gasket locally that would go between the mid pipe and de-cat but couldn't find one for the other blow. Good job I couldn't to be honest, getting those two bolts undone is mega tight and fiddley. Anyway, bolted the new gasket in and ordered two of the correct ones from Milltek.
New gaskets arrived a few days later, being lazy I took the car over to PumaSpeed so they could scrape their knuckles instead of me.
The universal gasket on previously must have been a tighter bore than ideal, the car now felt a fair bit more pokey.
Not sure how toxic pigeon sh*t is but the lacquer had started to peal pretty much exactly where they had done the dead.
Took me ages to claim a warranty repair on this. Loads of back peddling from Toyota saying it looked like it had been painted before etc. Load of b*ll*cks! Managed to get it sorted after a few snotty emails/dealer visits.
Couple of shots I got driving over the moors from Richmond to Tan Hill pub.
The road we took wasn't much to write home about, pretty straight and narrow and most of the corners were tight and blind - stunning scenery though.
Pulled an absolute blinder and managed to borrow this 4S from Porsche for 24 hours!
I know it's blinged up to the eyeballs and it's erm....yellow, but I was like a kid at Christmas. Sounded awesome and went like the clappers.
After 24 hours of hooning, poising, giving people lifts and more hooning I handed the keys back over. To be honest I wasn't too bothered and didn't feel an once of despondence getting back into my 86. I found you had to be going at warp speed in the Porsche to get things exciting through the twisties. Of course the sheer pace of the thing was very impressive and got my heart racing, but if I owned one, I think I'd either be in jail or embedded into a tree. Maybe one to put on the shelf until I grow up. Not slamming the car at all, 911's are incredible things, just not the right cars for me...YET.
The whole experience made me appreciate my car even more. You really can thrash a GT86 and have a riot without actually going too fast to get into much trouble.
Back to Blyton - this time, the faster outer circuit. Rubbish collage I made because I'm too tight to buy the proper full size photos:
Another awesome day here with more black flags for skidding/tyre squeal. Really need to find some tyres with similar grip characteristics to the Primacy's but less squeal. Any takers?
The new suspension setup, geo and slightly wider wheels really had transformed the car. No more understeer, just well balanced neutral. The brakes really stood up to the test too - stayed strong all day without a hint of fade.
Although I like dicking about on the Primacy's, the new suspension really did highlight them as being the weak link. I went out with another chap in an 86 with proper tyres (similar suspension/wheel setup) and the grip was phenomenal. Could get on the power so much earlier, especially through the quicker stuff. If I had done the same in mine, the car would have just began to rotate!
So maybe next time I'll take a spare set of wheels with some decent rubber on.
Definitely sticking with what I've got for the road though.
Random shot filing up with proper go juice. Only bad thing about Blyton is no V-power anywhere near!
Winter was about to set in so the time had come time to think about suitable tyres. Was really more of an excuse to look into different wheel options. Quite fancied going for the rally car look so I photoshopped a set of Compomotives onto a side view of a GT86
Pretty sure this potential look will divide opinion.
More next time...
Not much modding went on in this period. I felt I'd reached a point that I was happy with the car so just concentrated on enjoying it for what it is - an awesome b-road weapon. The more twisty the road, the better!
Although, I have to admit, my mind had turned towards the prospect of forced induction....but we'll get to that later.
Random snap I got parked up in a warehouse at work:
Halfway through last summer, I noticed a hissing sound coming from under the car. Managed to get it over a pit and found the Milltek to be blowing where the mid pipe meets the secondary de-cat, and also where the secondary de-cat meets the over-pipe. I managed to find a universal replacement gasket locally that would go between the mid pipe and de-cat but couldn't find one for the other blow. Good job I couldn't to be honest, getting those two bolts undone is mega tight and fiddley. Anyway, bolted the new gasket in and ordered two of the correct ones from Milltek.
New gaskets arrived a few days later, being lazy I took the car over to PumaSpeed so they could scrape their knuckles instead of me.
The universal gasket on previously must have been a tighter bore than ideal, the car now felt a fair bit more pokey.
Not sure how toxic pigeon sh*t is but the lacquer had started to peal pretty much exactly where they had done the dead.
Took me ages to claim a warranty repair on this. Loads of back peddling from Toyota saying it looked like it had been painted before etc. Load of b*ll*cks! Managed to get it sorted after a few snotty emails/dealer visits.
Couple of shots I got driving over the moors from Richmond to Tan Hill pub.
The road we took wasn't much to write home about, pretty straight and narrow and most of the corners were tight and blind - stunning scenery though.
Pulled an absolute blinder and managed to borrow this 4S from Porsche for 24 hours!
I know it's blinged up to the eyeballs and it's erm....yellow, but I was like a kid at Christmas. Sounded awesome and went like the clappers.
After 24 hours of hooning, poising, giving people lifts and more hooning I handed the keys back over. To be honest I wasn't too bothered and didn't feel an once of despondence getting back into my 86. I found you had to be going at warp speed in the Porsche to get things exciting through the twisties. Of course the sheer pace of the thing was very impressive and got my heart racing, but if I owned one, I think I'd either be in jail or embedded into a tree. Maybe one to put on the shelf until I grow up. Not slamming the car at all, 911's are incredible things, just not the right cars for me...YET.
The whole experience made me appreciate my car even more. You really can thrash a GT86 and have a riot without actually going too fast to get into much trouble.
Back to Blyton - this time, the faster outer circuit. Rubbish collage I made because I'm too tight to buy the proper full size photos:
Another awesome day here with more black flags for skidding/tyre squeal. Really need to find some tyres with similar grip characteristics to the Primacy's but less squeal. Any takers?
The new suspension setup, geo and slightly wider wheels really had transformed the car. No more understeer, just well balanced neutral. The brakes really stood up to the test too - stayed strong all day without a hint of fade.
Although I like dicking about on the Primacy's, the new suspension really did highlight them as being the weak link. I went out with another chap in an 86 with proper tyres (similar suspension/wheel setup) and the grip was phenomenal. Could get on the power so much earlier, especially through the quicker stuff. If I had done the same in mine, the car would have just began to rotate!
So maybe next time I'll take a spare set of wheels with some decent rubber on.
Definitely sticking with what I've got for the road though.
Random shot filing up with proper go juice. Only bad thing about Blyton is no V-power anywhere near!
Winter was about to set in so the time had come time to think about suitable tyres. Was really more of an excuse to look into different wheel options. Quite fancied going for the rally car look so I photoshopped a set of Compomotives onto a side view of a GT86
Pretty sure this potential look will divide opinion.
More next time...
Edited by ECG1000 on Thursday 28th July 21:31
Robins said:
Looks great mate!
I'm really struggling to decide between 17s and 18s for mine both look great. I think the 18s fill the arches well but yours and a few others look perfect on 17s
Cheers dude.I'm really struggling to decide between 17s and 18s for mine both look great. I think the 18s fill the arches well but yours and a few others look perfect on 17s
The way I view it is that the car left the factory with 17s for a reason.
I think 18s can look better in a "stance" sort of way but for me it will always be 17s. I prefer the racey look of the smaller wheel with a meaty bit of tyre showing. And to a point, the bigger your wheels, the slower you're going to accelerate - However, I'd imagine the difference will be negligible making the small leap from 17" to 18" though.
Podie said:
Depending on the wheel, 18s might weigh more.
Aesthetics are one thing, but personally I'd want to reduce unsprung weight and go for lighter wheels than the OEM option. I did this on my Focus ST and saved 3KG per corner.
Agreed.Aesthetics are one thing, but personally I'd want to reduce unsprung weight and go for lighter wheels than the OEM option. I did this on my Focus ST and saved 3KG per corner.
Interestingly enough, I weighed one of the Rota's with a fresh tyre mounted when they were new - turned out to be around 1kg lighter than an OEM wheel/tyre despite being an inch wider.
This update will pretty much bring us up to where I am now...
Last time, the nights were drawing in and I was deliberating on some rally style wheels from Compomotive to go with some winter tyres. Turns out we had a pretty mild end to 2015 so nothing came of that - for good or for bad...
Then sadly on boxing day my work got pretty badly flooded, cocked up Christmas a bit, then the first few months of 2016 were spent getting things back to normal. So cars took a back seat for a while. Only had a few snow days so the wheels/tyres wouldn't have been much use anyway.
Only picture I got during that time - parked up near Catterick Garrison:
Not much happened to the GT86 for a while, just the usual commute and the odd hoon.
Fast forward to May, enter company car!
I wrote a dedicated thread on this asking for help from the PH community. My aim was to get something that was decent but didn't overlap onto the GT86 too much, if at all. Golf R's and GTI's were discussed, as were M135i's - however I felt running any of them would put the GT86 out of business due to there not being enough of a contrast.
I finally settled on this behemoth:
Land Rover Discovery 4 SDV6 Commercial.
This fitted the bill perfectly! Complete contrast to the 86, quiet, comfy, civilised and to top it off, very little benefit in kind to pay
My commute is also about to change from a 6 mile b-road dash to a 25 mile city/motorway waft which I feel would be a waste in the 86. It will come useful in the snow and from the glorious twelfth onwards when we're forced off the beaten track!
The only silly thing about it is the lack of rear seats. This can be remedied by sticking some in specially made for the commercial. If you fit standard Land Rover seats, you lose the commercial status and get shafted by the inland revenue! I don't have the need to ferry lots of people around at the moment so I'm in no rush.
The picture above was taken on the Disco's first outing at the Silverstone Classic. Pretty nice place to spectate from.
With the 86 being taken off daily commuting duties the plan now was to enjoy it more as a treat. So sometimes use it to go to work when the sun's shining - but mainly on an evening when the roads are quiet so I can give it a good thrashing! I also try to plan good weekend trips out to some proper driving roads. Only consisted of North Yorkshire at the moment but I have my head set on exploring Wales and Scotland very soon! And of course the odd track day thrown into the mix.
Nice snap taken on an evening blast around some of my favourite local roads:
The fleet:
Spending time in both cars got me thinking...I could probably get away with making the 86 a bit more wild due to not having to deal with it on a daily basis.
So...back down to Fensport I went, this time for more noise:
Noise comes in the shape of a Tomei Expreme equal length de-cat manifold.
My exhaust setup now goes like this: Tomei de-cat manifold -> Milltek overpipe -> Milltek de-cat -> Milltek non resonated mid pipe -> Milltek back box.
I went for equal length because I didn't want that classic boxer rumble you get with unequal length. To me it's a muscle car sound more suited to the Impreza. I view the GT86 as more of precision tool where a higher pitched exhaust note is apt.
Well, that's exactly what I got! As soon as you reach 4000rpm, the car has a lovely rasp to it all the way to the red line - not too dissimilar to a Honda sound.
Whilst I was at Fensport the ECUTEK map was tweaked to work with the new manifold - pops and bangs were also enabled in to maps 1, 2 and 3. The whole package is pretty antisocial but I love it! Properly grin inducing. A lot keener to pull at the top end now. Probably a good job I'm only out when the roads are quieter now! Fensport reckon I'll be close to 230bhp now. The chap with the GT86 I met at Blyton has a very similar exhaust setup to this and has had his dyno'd at that figure. I'm not chasing numbers, just useful to know.
Only slight problem with the pops and bangs is you initiate them by lightly touching the throttle. This can get in the way a bit when you're trying to be smooth coming on or off the power. I'll get this sorted by having it disabled in map 1. Otherwise all good.
Hilarity ensued driving through here.
The next few weeks were spent being a hooligan enjoying the 86.
Weekend trip up to North Yorkshire with a couple of mates. One in a relatively standard GT86 with a cobra exhaust and the other in a 420d. We ended up setting off at the crack off dawn and came across not one other car traveling in the same direction as us. It was incredible!
Was feast for the ears hearing those Toyota's at full chat.
The BMW did surprise me here. I could barely make any distance on it in a straight line, despite all the money I've thrown at exhausts a mapping! Maybe to be expected given the torque advantage... However, as soon as it got twisty, I was gone. Suppose for me that's where it counts, in the fun parts.
Particular highlight to the trip was the Blakey Ridge/Rosedale loop. Awesome bit of tarmac where you really can open the taps. Just worth keeping your eyes peeled for sheep!
Almost forgot....my car apparently spits flames at full bore upshifts! It was captured on my mate's GoPro - will upload when I get the footage.
Couple of pictures taken at the top of Rosedale Chimney. First gear selected at the bottom, best impression of Initial D - group of ramblers at the top, not happy...
And that's where I'm up to now.
I was going to bore anyone that's reading with my thoughts of turbocharged, supercharged or sticking with NA. I'll leave for another day as it's bedtime.
Next stop Millbrook on the 10th for a CAT Driver Training Drift Day. Should be interesting!
Last time, the nights were drawing in and I was deliberating on some rally style wheels from Compomotive to go with some winter tyres. Turns out we had a pretty mild end to 2015 so nothing came of that - for good or for bad...
Then sadly on boxing day my work got pretty badly flooded, cocked up Christmas a bit, then the first few months of 2016 were spent getting things back to normal. So cars took a back seat for a while. Only had a few snow days so the wheels/tyres wouldn't have been much use anyway.
Only picture I got during that time - parked up near Catterick Garrison:
Not much happened to the GT86 for a while, just the usual commute and the odd hoon.
Fast forward to May, enter company car!
I wrote a dedicated thread on this asking for help from the PH community. My aim was to get something that was decent but didn't overlap onto the GT86 too much, if at all. Golf R's and GTI's were discussed, as were M135i's - however I felt running any of them would put the GT86 out of business due to there not being enough of a contrast.
I finally settled on this behemoth:
Land Rover Discovery 4 SDV6 Commercial.
This fitted the bill perfectly! Complete contrast to the 86, quiet, comfy, civilised and to top it off, very little benefit in kind to pay
My commute is also about to change from a 6 mile b-road dash to a 25 mile city/motorway waft which I feel would be a waste in the 86. It will come useful in the snow and from the glorious twelfth onwards when we're forced off the beaten track!
The only silly thing about it is the lack of rear seats. This can be remedied by sticking some in specially made for the commercial. If you fit standard Land Rover seats, you lose the commercial status and get shafted by the inland revenue! I don't have the need to ferry lots of people around at the moment so I'm in no rush.
The picture above was taken on the Disco's first outing at the Silverstone Classic. Pretty nice place to spectate from.
With the 86 being taken off daily commuting duties the plan now was to enjoy it more as a treat. So sometimes use it to go to work when the sun's shining - but mainly on an evening when the roads are quiet so I can give it a good thrashing! I also try to plan good weekend trips out to some proper driving roads. Only consisted of North Yorkshire at the moment but I have my head set on exploring Wales and Scotland very soon! And of course the odd track day thrown into the mix.
Nice snap taken on an evening blast around some of my favourite local roads:
The fleet:
Spending time in both cars got me thinking...I could probably get away with making the 86 a bit more wild due to not having to deal with it on a daily basis.
So...back down to Fensport I went, this time for more noise:
Noise comes in the shape of a Tomei Expreme equal length de-cat manifold.
My exhaust setup now goes like this: Tomei de-cat manifold -> Milltek overpipe -> Milltek de-cat -> Milltek non resonated mid pipe -> Milltek back box.
I went for equal length because I didn't want that classic boxer rumble you get with unequal length. To me it's a muscle car sound more suited to the Impreza. I view the GT86 as more of precision tool where a higher pitched exhaust note is apt.
Well, that's exactly what I got! As soon as you reach 4000rpm, the car has a lovely rasp to it all the way to the red line - not too dissimilar to a Honda sound.
Whilst I was at Fensport the ECUTEK map was tweaked to work with the new manifold - pops and bangs were also enabled in to maps 1, 2 and 3. The whole package is pretty antisocial but I love it! Properly grin inducing. A lot keener to pull at the top end now. Probably a good job I'm only out when the roads are quieter now! Fensport reckon I'll be close to 230bhp now. The chap with the GT86 I met at Blyton has a very similar exhaust setup to this and has had his dyno'd at that figure. I'm not chasing numbers, just useful to know.
Only slight problem with the pops and bangs is you initiate them by lightly touching the throttle. This can get in the way a bit when you're trying to be smooth coming on or off the power. I'll get this sorted by having it disabled in map 1. Otherwise all good.
Hilarity ensued driving through here.
The next few weeks were spent being a hooligan enjoying the 86.
Weekend trip up to North Yorkshire with a couple of mates. One in a relatively standard GT86 with a cobra exhaust and the other in a 420d. We ended up setting off at the crack off dawn and came across not one other car traveling in the same direction as us. It was incredible!
Was feast for the ears hearing those Toyota's at full chat.
The BMW did surprise me here. I could barely make any distance on it in a straight line, despite all the money I've thrown at exhausts a mapping! Maybe to be expected given the torque advantage... However, as soon as it got twisty, I was gone. Suppose for me that's where it counts, in the fun parts.
Particular highlight to the trip was the Blakey Ridge/Rosedale loop. Awesome bit of tarmac where you really can open the taps. Just worth keeping your eyes peeled for sheep!
Almost forgot....my car apparently spits flames at full bore upshifts! It was captured on my mate's GoPro - will upload when I get the footage.
Couple of pictures taken at the top of Rosedale Chimney. First gear selected at the bottom, best impression of Initial D - group of ramblers at the top, not happy...
And that's where I'm up to now.
I was going to bore anyone that's reading with my thoughts of turbocharged, supercharged or sticking with NA. I'll leave for another day as it's bedtime.
Next stop Millbrook on the 10th for a CAT Driver Training Drift Day. Should be interesting!
Edited by ECG1000 on Wednesday 3rd August 11:14
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