4k GT86 Gets a Rocket Bunny Kit & LS3 V8 Swap!
Discussion
Had my first little outing in the GT86 yesterday as I met up with a few of the other members of the GT86 owner's club at the Bexhill 100 Classic car show.
Car looked great parked up next to the others and they've been following my thread on the owners forum so they were almost more excited to see the car than I was to be driving it
Had a few people checking out the car as I had printed off some sheets with some "Before" pictures to show off the transformation it has gone through, and I clocked atleast one person having a little nose while wearing a PH Jumper
Car drives really well and I feel i'm able to give a mini review to anyone that's been considering one but thought they may be a bit too slow or lackluster.
My other cars are both turbocharged so to go from something akin to 300bhp in a turbocharged car to roughly 200bhp in a NA car is quite a bizarre change but i've quickly become quite used to it. The car isn't a torque monster and doesn't give you a kick up the rear when you give it a boot full like a boosted car would but isn't a slouch either, torque wise it has no issue picking up speed and is really fun to rev out to the red line as its happy rev range is around 4-7.5k RPM Whereas most forced induction cars (especially older ones) will start to feel a bit bogged down after 5.5k and as though your effort hanging on to that gear is wasted.
The GT86 would probably feel quite familiar to someone that is used to NA Mx5's or similar but a bit slow if you're used to 500bhp fire breathing monsters.
This may all seem like quite cliche common sense to anyone that is used to NA cars but it was quite eye opening to me. The car definitely feels light, its no Caterham but the ~1240kg curb weight does compliment the power level quite well and it's quite fun to blast around B roads that gives quite a few thrills and a sense of danger that a heavier and more powerful AWD car like my Subaru can't convey although some people may not be a fan of that.
To round it off with a bit of a boring day-to-day note the car averages 32mpg with ease and could easily do more if you weren't so inclined to wind it out to the red line with every opportunity like I am currently (After the engine is warm of course!). The seats are quite snug so you may want to sit in one first depending on your frame (I Weigh about 105kg) the engine has no problem in traffic and is able to handle any kind of city driving even if its uphill in 3rd gear at some ridiculous 20mph limit.
Being electronic throttle it does have a slight <0.5 second delay on the throttle but that's quickly overlooked when you get used to the car and is helped out by turning on sport mode. However the Clutch pedal itself is unnaturally light, I've heard of people swapping out the spring in the pedal to give it a heavier feel but i've already got used to it so probably won't do this myself and the steering is quite heavily assisted as again it is very light, some people might not like this but I'm actually quite enjoying it as a change.
Hopefully that helps anyone out and i'm happy to offer any more opinion but I'd take my words as a pinch of salt as i'm definitely no car journalist
Just a big computer nerd who's handy with a spanner.
Car looked great parked up next to the others and they've been following my thread on the owners forum so they were almost more excited to see the car than I was to be driving it
Had a few people checking out the car as I had printed off some sheets with some "Before" pictures to show off the transformation it has gone through, and I clocked atleast one person having a little nose while wearing a PH Jumper
Car drives really well and I feel i'm able to give a mini review to anyone that's been considering one but thought they may be a bit too slow or lackluster.
My other cars are both turbocharged so to go from something akin to 300bhp in a turbocharged car to roughly 200bhp in a NA car is quite a bizarre change but i've quickly become quite used to it. The car isn't a torque monster and doesn't give you a kick up the rear when you give it a boot full like a boosted car would but isn't a slouch either, torque wise it has no issue picking up speed and is really fun to rev out to the red line as its happy rev range is around 4-7.5k RPM Whereas most forced induction cars (especially older ones) will start to feel a bit bogged down after 5.5k and as though your effort hanging on to that gear is wasted.
The GT86 would probably feel quite familiar to someone that is used to NA Mx5's or similar but a bit slow if you're used to 500bhp fire breathing monsters.
This may all seem like quite cliche common sense to anyone that is used to NA cars but it was quite eye opening to me. The car definitely feels light, its no Caterham but the ~1240kg curb weight does compliment the power level quite well and it's quite fun to blast around B roads that gives quite a few thrills and a sense of danger that a heavier and more powerful AWD car like my Subaru can't convey although some people may not be a fan of that.
To round it off with a bit of a boring day-to-day note the car averages 32mpg with ease and could easily do more if you weren't so inclined to wind it out to the red line with every opportunity like I am currently (After the engine is warm of course!). The seats are quite snug so you may want to sit in one first depending on your frame (I Weigh about 105kg) the engine has no problem in traffic and is able to handle any kind of city driving even if its uphill in 3rd gear at some ridiculous 20mph limit.
Being electronic throttle it does have a slight <0.5 second delay on the throttle but that's quickly overlooked when you get used to the car and is helped out by turning on sport mode. However the Clutch pedal itself is unnaturally light, I've heard of people swapping out the spring in the pedal to give it a heavier feel but i've already got used to it so probably won't do this myself and the steering is quite heavily assisted as again it is very light, some people might not like this but I'm actually quite enjoying it as a change.
Hopefully that helps anyone out and i'm happy to offer any more opinion but I'd take my words as a pinch of salt as i'm definitely no car journalist
Just a big computer nerd who's handy with a spanner.One of my deadlines for the 86 was to get it ready for JAE 2018 so I could bring it along with my local jap car club. A 300 mile round trip to the east of england showground and back over the weekend was proof to me that there are no underlying issues with the car or that I forgot to bolt anything down!
Being the only 86 in our club it got some good attention from people at the show especially with my little "Before" pictures printed out for people to see where it has come from and also thanks to being parked next to a lovely Mk3 supra belonging to one of the other Justjap Members.
I met and had a brief chat with Kesler which was good to meet a fellow 86 owner and strangely enough managed to meet the guy that sold me the 86 in the first place as he recognised it from the pictures he took of it just over 5 months ago, he had some good things to say about how i've done so considering he has repaired a few himself and is able to get parts much cheaper from other breakers or suppliers that was a big compliment which really made my Day!
Got a few pictures of the car parked up on the Friday evening and Saturday.
Being the only 86 in our club it got some good attention from people at the show especially with my little "Before" pictures printed out for people to see where it has come from and also thanks to being parked next to a lovely Mk3 supra belonging to one of the other Justjap Members.
I met and had a brief chat with Kesler which was good to meet a fellow 86 owner and strangely enough managed to meet the guy that sold me the 86 in the first place as he recognised it from the pictures he took of it just over 5 months ago, he had some good things to say about how i've done so considering he has repaired a few himself and is able to get parts much cheaper from other breakers or suppliers that was a big compliment which really made my Day!
Got a few pictures of the car parked up on the Friday evening and Saturday.
Been a few weeks since i've posted any updates but i've been driving it and enjoying it, taking it to a few shows and so on.
Got a couple of shows coming up this week so i've spent this weekend giving the 86 it's 2nd wash and spending a few hours to tidy up the engine bay.
Took so long to clean the engine bay thanks to some weird sticky waxoyl-y stuff that was covering all of the electrical connectors, ecu brackets, bottom of the inlet manifold, ABS module etc.
I'd understand the purpose of keeping it there if it were uniform but considering the vast majority of it was on plastic, aluminium or painted parts I wasn't too sure what purpose it could serve other than to attract dirt.
Anyway here's a few pictures
Everyone loves a before and after
Got a couple of shows coming up this week so i've spent this weekend giving the 86 it's 2nd wash and spending a few hours to tidy up the engine bay.
Took so long to clean the engine bay thanks to some weird sticky waxoyl-y stuff that was covering all of the electrical connectors, ecu brackets, bottom of the inlet manifold, ABS module etc.
I'd understand the purpose of keeping it there if it were uniform but considering the vast majority of it was on plastic, aluminium or painted parts I wasn't too sure what purpose it could serve other than to attract dirt.
Anyway here's a few pictures
Everyone loves a before and after
Edited by Samjeev on Sunday 30th September 16:43
Edited by Samjeev on Sunday 30th September 16:44
FLGirl said:
Spotted!
Weird as I was catching up on your progress this morning and you’ve just driven past me!
I passed you as I was heading up ditching road in the black Z4C
Car looks fab good to see it out and about.
Oh wow that's cool, my first spot too! Weird as I was catching up on your progress this morning and you’ve just driven past me!
I passed you as I was heading up ditching road in the black Z4C
Car looks fab good to see it out and about.
I saw you go past in your Z4C as I was stuck crawling through traffic
Bit of an update with some boring and fun bits this time.
So Since i've finished the car i've put about 3000 miles on it by driving to and from work, a few long 3-5 hour journeys and even it's first track day!
There's been no major problems but there has been one tiny casualty, the driver's side side repeater in the front bumper made a bid for freedom when driving to work one day. It's not a major problem as I had a side indicator in the top of the wings now but it's annoying to be left with this void in the bumper. I've tried sourcing a replacement but i'm being a little too stingy about as I don't really want to pay £25-50 to replace something that doesn't do anything. I might try and cut out a little carbon fibre blanking plate but i've not got around to it yet.
Other than that I did a few small jobs to the car recently and as I mentioned above took it on it's first track day so lets get in to that!
Had to Sort out the a couple of known problems in the 86 community that being a problem with the driver's side window being scratched and scraped by one if its guides and a tiny bit of rust that forms on the Window half-frame. These are both issues covered under the warranty but with all the hassle of handing my car in and with the horror stories i've read of Toyota techs being less than cautious and gentle when working on the 86's.
For the rust it's just a case that the plastic door trim must vibrate against this tiny window frame and take off the paint but it's really simple fix as I just had to remove the door trim piece to get access to the part of the pillar that needed to be cleaned up. Put some Bilt Hamber deox stuff on it to remove the rust and left it for a couple of hours and then clean it off and applied some Hammerite with a tiny paint brush to the area that had been rubbed away by the trim. In Hindsight i should've taken a file to the trim as well just to take it back 1-2mm so it would clear the trim better but I figured I can easily do it again in the future if need be as it all comes off with 1 screw.
Didn't get an after-picture but you can see how much more access you get and the extent of the surface rust on my car with the trim removed:
While I was there I had a look down the door and could see that one of the window guides had folded over on it self and broken, in the long term this would likely have caused the scratching issue that alot of people experience but i've not had any damage on my glass yet.
Again not wanting to go through the hassle of the warranty I figured I would just reach in with a pair of pliers and yank it out. It's been almost 4 weeks since I did and I've had no problems with the window, wind noise, water or anything getting in to the car so it appears to be fine with just 2 of the 3 guides on that window and I didn't have to hand my car off to be fixed
Finally the fun bit.
This weekend me and my dad took the long journey up from Henfield to Oulton park on Friday night, a whole 5 hour drive through what can only be described as a monsoon which definitely gave a little excitement to the drive i suppose.
The day after was our track day, it was really slippery in the morning as there was still a lot of dampness on the track meaning it took no effort at all to get the back end of the 86 out even with the driver aids only half-disabled. We didn't have any big moments or spins in the morning but it was an excellent opportunity for me to get use to how the 86 can relay information to you about how it's slipping and what it feels like when the back end let's loose a little. This is quite valuable to me as the only other car i've driven on track is our Vx220 which doesn't give this same feed back, in a way i've always felt that i've been missing a step with the whole RWD driving progression and I've finally begun to fulfill that with the 86 which will hopefully make me a better driver.
In the Afternoon the track cleared up alot and you could really go for it, I only have Toyo Proxes T1R's on my car so they're nothing fancy but it was good fun to really take them to the edge of their grip in every single corner and absolutely torture them. Even after doing the 86's silly "pedal dance" to turn all the systems off the car understeers a little bit when you really push it wish doesn't surprise me being totally standard suspension wise but it's great fun to drive and feels really rewarding. Both me and my Dad were impressed by how little body roll there is even on the standard springs/dampers as some car's i've been a passenger in on-track in the past I felt like my time had come every single corner when all I could see out the window was Tarmac due to the body roll.
Managed to overtake a couple of people as there were a few cars of similar caliber, an Mx5, N/A Vx220 and another 86 although I do wish I had a little bit more torque lower down to really pull the car out of the corners as Oulton park has a couple of chicanes which really drain your momentum and coming out of both of them you have to go up hill so it can really take a while for the car to pick up when it needs to. It was really fun to be able to drive the car 10/10th's all the time and has really made me want to try and find a day where I can skid around a few cones in a skid pan with an instructor or such but i'm not sure what's out there to facilitate this really.
Only one picture from the whole day i'm afraid and no video either, we were just too busy enjoying our first time at the track, it would be interesting to hear if there were any other PHer's there though.
So Since i've finished the car i've put about 3000 miles on it by driving to and from work, a few long 3-5 hour journeys and even it's first track day!
There's been no major problems but there has been one tiny casualty, the driver's side side repeater in the front bumper made a bid for freedom when driving to work one day. It's not a major problem as I had a side indicator in the top of the wings now but it's annoying to be left with this void in the bumper. I've tried sourcing a replacement but i'm being a little too stingy about as I don't really want to pay £25-50 to replace something that doesn't do anything. I might try and cut out a little carbon fibre blanking plate but i've not got around to it yet.
Other than that I did a few small jobs to the car recently and as I mentioned above took it on it's first track day so lets get in to that!
Had to Sort out the a couple of known problems in the 86 community that being a problem with the driver's side window being scratched and scraped by one if its guides and a tiny bit of rust that forms on the Window half-frame. These are both issues covered under the warranty but with all the hassle of handing my car in and with the horror stories i've read of Toyota techs being less than cautious and gentle when working on the 86's.
For the rust it's just a case that the plastic door trim must vibrate against this tiny window frame and take off the paint but it's really simple fix as I just had to remove the door trim piece to get access to the part of the pillar that needed to be cleaned up. Put some Bilt Hamber deox stuff on it to remove the rust and left it for a couple of hours and then clean it off and applied some Hammerite with a tiny paint brush to the area that had been rubbed away by the trim. In Hindsight i should've taken a file to the trim as well just to take it back 1-2mm so it would clear the trim better but I figured I can easily do it again in the future if need be as it all comes off with 1 screw.
Didn't get an after-picture but you can see how much more access you get and the extent of the surface rust on my car with the trim removed:
While I was there I had a look down the door and could see that one of the window guides had folded over on it self and broken, in the long term this would likely have caused the scratching issue that alot of people experience but i've not had any damage on my glass yet.
Again not wanting to go through the hassle of the warranty I figured I would just reach in with a pair of pliers and yank it out. It's been almost 4 weeks since I did and I've had no problems with the window, wind noise, water or anything getting in to the car so it appears to be fine with just 2 of the 3 guides on that window and I didn't have to hand my car off to be fixed
Finally the fun bit.
This weekend me and my dad took the long journey up from Henfield to Oulton park on Friday night, a whole 5 hour drive through what can only be described as a monsoon which definitely gave a little excitement to the drive i suppose.
The day after was our track day, it was really slippery in the morning as there was still a lot of dampness on the track meaning it took no effort at all to get the back end of the 86 out even with the driver aids only half-disabled. We didn't have any big moments or spins in the morning but it was an excellent opportunity for me to get use to how the 86 can relay information to you about how it's slipping and what it feels like when the back end let's loose a little. This is quite valuable to me as the only other car i've driven on track is our Vx220 which doesn't give this same feed back, in a way i've always felt that i've been missing a step with the whole RWD driving progression and I've finally begun to fulfill that with the 86 which will hopefully make me a better driver.
In the Afternoon the track cleared up alot and you could really go for it, I only have Toyo Proxes T1R's on my car so they're nothing fancy but it was good fun to really take them to the edge of their grip in every single corner and absolutely torture them. Even after doing the 86's silly "pedal dance" to turn all the systems off the car understeers a little bit when you really push it wish doesn't surprise me being totally standard suspension wise but it's great fun to drive and feels really rewarding. Both me and my Dad were impressed by how little body roll there is even on the standard springs/dampers as some car's i've been a passenger in on-track in the past I felt like my time had come every single corner when all I could see out the window was Tarmac due to the body roll.
Managed to overtake a couple of people as there were a few cars of similar caliber, an Mx5, N/A Vx220 and another 86 although I do wish I had a little bit more torque lower down to really pull the car out of the corners as Oulton park has a couple of chicanes which really drain your momentum and coming out of both of them you have to go up hill so it can really take a while for the car to pick up when it needs to. It was really fun to be able to drive the car 10/10th's all the time and has really made me want to try and find a day where I can skid around a few cones in a skid pan with an instructor or such but i'm not sure what's out there to facilitate this really.
Only one picture from the whole day i'm afraid and no video either, we were just too busy enjoying our first time at the track, it would be interesting to hear if there were any other PHer's there though.
My GT86 has it's first trackday this weekend at Rockingham - looking forward to it.
I put Yellowstuff pads and Goodridge hoses on but otherwise it's the standard car - I can't remember the last time I went on track in a road car, I've been racing for so long now, the trackdays I've done have been testing racecars - I hope I don't feel short changed, though I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy it.
When I first started racing I went to Don Palmer for a day (http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/) - he's not cheap (£450 for the day) but he'll give you car control skills that'll last you the rest of your life, I first went to him nearly 20 years ago and still use the stuff he taught me then.
Another popular day is the Carlimits day in Essex (https://carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?type=airfieldtraining) which is a bit cheaper if you share the instructor's time with other drivers.
Both worth taking if you want confidence in the car on track, once you learn to 'step over the edge' and control the car you find a whole new level of enjoyment from driving.
I put Yellowstuff pads and Goodridge hoses on but otherwise it's the standard car - I can't remember the last time I went on track in a road car, I've been racing for so long now, the trackdays I've done have been testing racecars - I hope I don't feel short changed, though I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy it.
When I first started racing I went to Don Palmer for a day (http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/) - he's not cheap (£450 for the day) but he'll give you car control skills that'll last you the rest of your life, I first went to him nearly 20 years ago and still use the stuff he taught me then.
Another popular day is the Carlimits day in Essex (https://carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?type=airfieldtraining) which is a bit cheaper if you share the instructor's time with other drivers.
Both worth taking if you want confidence in the car on track, once you learn to 'step over the edge' and control the car you find a whole new level of enjoyment from driving.
Mark Benson said:
My GT86 has it's first trackday this weekend at Rockingham - looking forward to it.
I put Yellowstuff pads and Goodridge hoses on but otherwise it's the standard car - I can't remember the last time I went on track in a road car, I've been racing for so long now, the trackdays I've done have been testing racecars - I hope I don't feel short changed, though I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy it.
When I first started racing I went to Don Palmer for a day (http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/) - he's not cheap (£450 for the day) but he'll give you car control skills that'll last you the rest of your life, I first went to him nearly 20 years ago and still use the stuff he taught me then.
Another popular day is the Carlimits day in Essex (https://carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?type=airfieldtraining) which is a bit cheaper if you share the instructor's time with other drivers.
Both worth taking if you want confidence in the car on track, once you learn to 'step over the edge' and control the car you find a whole new level of enjoyment from driving.
I've heard of the carlimits days before actually but i'll check them both out.I put Yellowstuff pads and Goodridge hoses on but otherwise it's the standard car - I can't remember the last time I went on track in a road car, I've been racing for so long now, the trackdays I've done have been testing racecars - I hope I don't feel short changed, though I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy it.
When I first started racing I went to Don Palmer for a day (http://www.donpalmer.co.uk/) - he's not cheap (£450 for the day) but he'll give you car control skills that'll last you the rest of your life, I first went to him nearly 20 years ago and still use the stuff he taught me then.
Another popular day is the Carlimits day in Essex (https://carlimits.com/script/viewEvents.php?type=airfieldtraining) which is a bit cheaper if you share the instructor's time with other drivers.
Both worth taking if you want confidence in the car on track, once you learn to 'step over the edge' and control the car you find a whole new level of enjoyment from driving.
I didn't have too many brake problems although after a few laps they did feel a little bit spongy but it wasn't anything dangerous or having a total loss of braking and I was happy to keep going despite that. The pads and lines may help you out but I imagine some decent fluid would go a long way as well. I found myself braking less than others at Oulton anyway probably due to carrying less speed and weight in to a corner compared to an M5 or such
I would suggest looking up the "Pedal dance" for the 86's if you don't know of it already as it disables the traction control entirely and a lot of Electronic Brake assist or bias things that might hinder you on track and hopefully it's a decent dry day for you. The car was a bit fun in the wet as it was really predictable but once it started to dry up it was really capable for a totally stock car.
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2...
Edited by Samjeev on Thursday 15th November 13:55
Samjeev said:
I've heard of the carlimits days before actually but i'll check them both out.
I didn't have too many brake problems although after a few laps they did feel a little bit spongy but it wasn't anything dangerous or having a total loss of braking and I was happy to keep going despite that. The pads and lines may help you out but I imagine some decent fluid would go a long way as well. I found myself braking less than others at Oulton anyway probably due to carrying less speed and weight in to a corner compared to an M5 or such
I would suggest looking up the "Pedal dance" for the 86's if you don't know of it already as it disables the traction control entirely and a lot of Electronic Brake assist or bias things that might hinder you on track and hopefully it's a decent dry day for you. The car was a bit fun in the wet as it was really predictable but once it started to dry up it was really capable for a totally stock car.
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2...
I put new race fluid in when I did the brakes - the hairpin off the banking at Rockingham is a 130-30mph stop so I thought I might need a bit extra over the standard braking system. I've also done a couple of 24 hour races there so I know the circuit well which means late braking.I didn't have too many brake problems although after a few laps they did feel a little bit spongy but it wasn't anything dangerous or having a total loss of braking and I was happy to keep going despite that. The pads and lines may help you out but I imagine some decent fluid would go a long way as well. I found myself braking less than others at Oulton anyway probably due to carrying less speed and weight in to a corner compared to an M5 or such
I would suggest looking up the "Pedal dance" for the 86's if you don't know of it already as it disables the traction control entirely and a lot of Electronic Brake assist or bias things that might hinder you on track and hopefully it's a decent dry day for you. The car was a bit fun in the wet as it was really predictable but once it started to dry up it was really capable for a totally stock car.
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2...
I'm looking to slowly modify the car for track and road over time so doing the odd trackday and finding out what works and what doesn't is the way to go I think. I bought the car with the intention of making a race car out of it but it's too good as a road car and my 7-year old loves going in it so I'll keep it on the road with relatively mild changes.
When you mentioned the 'pedal dance' above I went to have a look online - I never knew about that, turning off TRC on the road allows lairy exits from junctions so I'd never looked further, but that'll be useful on track (I'm going to have to write it down to remember it though) - thanks!
Another small update from this weekend. Finally got some replacement front side repeaters to fit.
With one of the side repeaters flying off a few months ago I wanted to source a cheap pair to replace them as there's no bulbs in them anyway its just for looks rather than practicality hence not wanting a brand new or expensive pair.
Pleased to say they look alright, the big question is how long will they last before flying off again! It seems it's quite a common issue when you re-fit these lights but unlike most owners I don't have any bulbs and wires to hang on to them when they do pop out, overall its just a bad design by subaru to keep them retained in the bumper.
I bought some tinting spray to make the front indicators match and they came out alright-ish as well. All in time for the BMW HQ meet next week so if any of you are going to be there come say Hi and feel free to have a nose around the car
With one of the side repeaters flying off a few months ago I wanted to source a cheap pair to replace them as there's no bulbs in them anyway its just for looks rather than practicality hence not wanting a brand new or expensive pair.
Pleased to say they look alright, the big question is how long will they last before flying off again! It seems it's quite a common issue when you re-fit these lights but unlike most owners I don't have any bulbs and wires to hang on to them when they do pop out, overall its just a bad design by subaru to keep them retained in the bumper.
I bought some tinting spray to make the front indicators match and they came out alright-ish as well. All in time for the BMW HQ meet next week so if any of you are going to be there come say Hi and feel free to have a nose around the car
Right it's time to get this ex-car wreck rolling again
Just ordered the first mod of the year and keeping up the theme of not doing anything by half measures there's alot planned over the next couple of months.
Order Placed on a set of 2-way adjustable BC ER Series Coilovers!
Along with that once they arrive and im able to take some measurements I'll be ordering a set of Stanceparts Air-cups.. Now I know what you might be thinking, no I don't plan to slam the car and roll around with rediculous camber but I would like the luxury of being able to pop the ride height up as and when I please to save any front lips and the side skirts when it comes to any big speed bumps or Multi-story car parks.
As well as that I plan to purchase a set of thicker and adjustable Whiteline Anti-Roll bars for the front and rear.
Aaaand Finally in April I plan on picking up a set of Adjustable rear lower control arms, Trailing arms and Toe arms for the rear once Driftworks has released their new line of products for the GT86!
The Next few months are going to be busy and its exciting!
Just ordered the first mod of the year and keeping up the theme of not doing anything by half measures there's alot planned over the next couple of months.
Order Placed on a set of 2-way adjustable BC ER Series Coilovers!
Along with that once they arrive and im able to take some measurements I'll be ordering a set of Stanceparts Air-cups.. Now I know what you might be thinking, no I don't plan to slam the car and roll around with rediculous camber but I would like the luxury of being able to pop the ride height up as and when I please to save any front lips and the side skirts when it comes to any big speed bumps or Multi-story car parks.
As well as that I plan to purchase a set of thicker and adjustable Whiteline Anti-Roll bars for the front and rear.
Aaaand Finally in April I plan on picking up a set of Adjustable rear lower control arms, Trailing arms and Toe arms for the rear once Driftworks has released their new line of products for the GT86!
The Next few months are going to be busy and its exciting!
There's been a recent and unfortunate change of plans recently in regards to the suspension changes.
Having discussed my Coilover order with BC racing it appears that the BC ER Series comes from the factory with 10/8kg springs which is incredibly hard to confirm seeing as no suppliers list this or they list it at 8kg/6kg. Although it is possible to get softer spring rates by doing so the BC Racing Factory in Taiwan have advised that they will not be able to offer the units with a warranty.
As 10/8kg is far too harsh for a street car rather than track car in my opinion and due to the lack of warranty support and general lack of compromise on their attitude I have decided to cancel my order with BC and go back to the original, potentially controversial and more expensive plan that I had when fixing the car up, Air Ride.
I don't really want to start any Air vs Coilover arguments however this was my first option when I was fixing the car up as with my other car's i've gone down the dedicated track car route and i've gone down the Low street car route and both have their compromises that eventually lead to an less-enjoyable driving experience so for me hoping to use the 86 as a fast street car with some show potential and potentially some very rare track use (1-2 track days a year at most) I've wanted to go with Air, it's also another one of those "Well if I can, why not. There's a first time for everything" Kind of situations for me and I look forward to the process of installing it, setting it up and reaping the benefits of it in the future.
So that no one feels I didn't get coilovers enough of a chance however I did do my research and unfortunately there aren't really any within my price bracket that suit my purpose on the 86 platform. With the earlier plan of using air-cups so I could avoid scraping front lips and chassis rails any coilover I choose will instantly lose roughly 20mm of its lowering potential through the size of the air cup units. With this in mind with the fact that I was hoping to lower the car around 40mm or so it would mean that the Coilover would need to lower atleast 60mm which is quite a tall order in the 86 world it seems.
With my price target of around £1500 I considered the following:
Tein Flex A: I wanted a little more for my money, hoping to get a dual-valve coilover setup
BC ER Series: See Above problems
KW V3: Lowering on these sacrifices overall suspension travel, not an option I was willing to take.
Ohlins: Over budget when taking in to account the top mounts.
HKS Hipermax GT: Possibly the best option however a bit of a gamble as their specs are on the absolute limits of my desired result.
After all of this and to avoid any further headaches I just decided to bite the bullet and hold off until funds can allow me to go ahead with the air setup, it does also lead me towards the future plans I have this year for the car as well being some pretty big body changes, wheels, etc with some more go fast bits over the next couple of years.
I know this might surprise or disapoint a few people however it's just the option i've been wanting to go with and hopefully the best all round option for how i want to use the car
Having discussed my Coilover order with BC racing it appears that the BC ER Series comes from the factory with 10/8kg springs which is incredibly hard to confirm seeing as no suppliers list this or they list it at 8kg/6kg. Although it is possible to get softer spring rates by doing so the BC Racing Factory in Taiwan have advised that they will not be able to offer the units with a warranty.
As 10/8kg is far too harsh for a street car rather than track car in my opinion and due to the lack of warranty support and general lack of compromise on their attitude I have decided to cancel my order with BC and go back to the original, potentially controversial and more expensive plan that I had when fixing the car up, Air Ride.
I don't really want to start any Air vs Coilover arguments however this was my first option when I was fixing the car up as with my other car's i've gone down the dedicated track car route and i've gone down the Low street car route and both have their compromises that eventually lead to an less-enjoyable driving experience so for me hoping to use the 86 as a fast street car with some show potential and potentially some very rare track use (1-2 track days a year at most) I've wanted to go with Air, it's also another one of those "Well if I can, why not. There's a first time for everything" Kind of situations for me and I look forward to the process of installing it, setting it up and reaping the benefits of it in the future.
So that no one feels I didn't get coilovers enough of a chance however I did do my research and unfortunately there aren't really any within my price bracket that suit my purpose on the 86 platform. With the earlier plan of using air-cups so I could avoid scraping front lips and chassis rails any coilover I choose will instantly lose roughly 20mm of its lowering potential through the size of the air cup units. With this in mind with the fact that I was hoping to lower the car around 40mm or so it would mean that the Coilover would need to lower atleast 60mm which is quite a tall order in the 86 world it seems.
With my price target of around £1500 I considered the following:
Tein Flex A: I wanted a little more for my money, hoping to get a dual-valve coilover setup
BC ER Series: See Above problems
KW V3: Lowering on these sacrifices overall suspension travel, not an option I was willing to take.
Ohlins: Over budget when taking in to account the top mounts.
HKS Hipermax GT: Possibly the best option however a bit of a gamble as their specs are on the absolute limits of my desired result.
After all of this and to avoid any further headaches I just decided to bite the bullet and hold off until funds can allow me to go ahead with the air setup, it does also lead me towards the future plans I have this year for the car as well being some pretty big body changes, wheels, etc with some more go fast bits over the next couple of years.
I know this might surprise or disapoint a few people however it's just the option i've been wanting to go with and hopefully the best all round option for how i want to use the car
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff