Ordered for 1st September

[MikesGT86 3]

Hello everyone, a few weeks ago I took the plunge and ordered my GT86, standard car with sat nav in pearlescent white.

 

Whilst my kids were growing up I always had "practical" cars if you know what I mean. Well they are all grown up now so time for a bit of fun.

 

Wish I could fast forward to 1st September.

 

I suppose you can call me a rusty petrol head.

 

Any suggestions as to what small (but essential) modifications I should attend to bearing in mind a limited budget?

 

Mike

[GT86Jay 202]

Welcome to the forum..

 

For me the best upgrade you can do for good money is exhaust. 

 

Make the car sound much better, more satisfying to drive and the car can sound awesome.

 

If you go the 2nd Cat delete route you can free up a little bit of power and make it a little more responsive too. 

 

Enjoy the car, I remember the painful wait I had before getting my car! 

[MikesGT86 3]

Thanks for the tip, approx. cost?

[GT86Jay 202]

Dpends how much of the system you change. 

 

I think if you're going for the better setup of 2nd cat delete - non-resonated mid pipe and back box you're probably looking at around £600 - £700.

 

You could just get the cat back system for less. But you'll nay be changing the sound. To gain any performance you want to remove the 2nd cat. 

 

Miltek is a good system and seems popular. Or you've got Cobra, HKS and Nvidia systems out there.

[Special K 442]

Hi Mike, welcome...

 

Sounds like you're a more mature petrolhead - like me, kids grown up, in a rut.... (a 'rut' is a 'grave' with the ends kicked out...)

 

I agree with Jay - exhaust is the first must-have in most people's view. You can include in Jay's list AVO, Blitz and Hayward & Scott.

 

Think about what exhaust manifold you want to run before you go second cat delete. There are greater power (and sound!) benefits to be had getting rid of the std. manifold (with its cats) and replacing the second cat with a high-flow version. Your car will still meet emissions regulations if you go for a decent cat.. Mark at Abbey has been playing with removing the std. manifold cats or there are proprietory systems out there - Borland springs to mind but others on this Forum have experience of various makes.

 

However, if you're thinking of eventually going f/I don't waste your money buying a 2.5" system, go straight to a 3".

 

Beware! Once you start you are hooked! It may have been love at first sight of the GT86 but she is a demanding Mistress and expects nothing less than total devotion!

 

 

Spec K

[MikesGT86 3]

Thanks Spec K

I think I'll probably start a bit smaller.  I'm thinking LED lights and maybe a shark fin.  Any views on best place to buy and is the shark fin easy colour match and fit?

Mike

[Keethos 842]

Congrats and Welcome to the club!  First and by far the most important mod is.........club stickers from here:  http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/store/  

 

Small mods I went for initially were changing the amber bulbs for chrome bulbs (that still flash amber but look chrome when not lit), cheap shark fin off ebay as I don't listen to the radio which was relatively easy to fit (though I did struggle a little disconnecting the old one because it was tight and I couldn't see or feel the small release tab), however I got a simple black one rather than a colour coded one but the more expensive ones do match well and are even easier to fit - http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/topic/1131-cheap-shark-fin-aerial-from-ebay/?hl=shark

 

I was also probably the first to ever have a reversing camera fitted to our cars (since you still can't get them fitted at the dealers  ) and I paid roughly £30odd for all the bits of bobs (but I already had crimpers, soldering iron etc) however, one of our members is currently selling a plug and play kit which is pretty easy to install again IF you are willing to remove trim and more importantly DRILL a hole in your boot lip (the plastic bit with the Toyota badge on - http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/topic/1913-reverse-camera-plug-and-play-kit-%C2%A375/

 

What I'd also possibly suggest as a cheap and possible mod is a drop in air filter, can't go wrong for roughly £30, very easy to swap out and we have witnessed someone gain 6bhp on a stock car (dyno'd before and after fitting one), either HKS or K&N are the most popular/common options.  The other item would be the positive shifter gear box mount which again costs about £30 I think and its a plastic piece that slots under the gear stick (under the car) and makes the gear changes feel more....well....positive, more solid.  How about a dashcam for your car?  I have an awesome small and pretty cheap dashcam that records 1080p that would challenge if not better than GoPro quality call the Mobius Action Cam, only down side is that it doesn't have a lot of fancy features like GPS, a display screen but the beauty of it is that you fit and forget about it!  £50 off ebay with the extra bits like long USB cable, sticky mount etc - http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/topic/1413-mobius-dashcam-1080p-30fps-cheap-yet-excellent/?hl=mobius

[MikesGT86 3]

Cheers Keethos, I'll have a closer look at these.

 

Week on Monday and I'll post some pics 

 

Mike

[Captain Duff 79]

Hi Mike, and welcome. 1st September marks my first year of ownership and it's still as much fun as it was 12 months ago, it's a great car and used as my daily driver for both work and pleasure and it is remarkably practical for pottering around town, but obviously comes into its own on a nice empty A road

 

My own mods have been quite limited given it is a great car out of the box, but I got a Cosworth drop-in panel filter (around £35), then went for a Milltek non-res 2nd cat delete and over pipe (mainly for sound - which is great - but it does free up a few HP I believe) which was supplied and fitted by RRG Macclesfield (who can also do lots of other goodies and without any warranty problems), and then a Cusco front strut brace with brake stopper (probably minimal effect but it looks good and was cheap enough).

 

Obviously what you start to upgrade will depend very much on whether your priorities are cosmetic or performance. One thing I would recommend if this is going to be your only car, and particularly with you being t'up north, is a set of winter tyres (preferably on a 2nd set of rims if you have the storage space) as you probably won't want to be driving on any snow or ice in a RWD car without them.

 

I've kept my OEM rims for both my summer tyres and got a cheap set of OEMs for my winter set as I like the looks and for OEM they are pretty good lightweight rims (and I don't go on the track myself), but wider/larger or lighter alloys seems to be a common upgrade for many - although if you are not increasing the engine power (turbo or supercharger add-ons) then this needs careful thought as lots of extra grip with no extra power could mean a sharp decrease in fun!

[MikesGT86 3]

Top info Captain thank you, winter tyres never even crossed my mind, I'll give that some thought, how much did you pay for your second set of rims?

 

Mike

[Captain Duff 79]

£967 for a set of 4 OEM rims fitted/balanced with Yokohama Winter drives last year from RRG Macclesfield courtesy of a deal Richard the service manager sorted out (he is Riceburner on here btw). Not sure he is doing similar this year but it is worth asking him - there always seem to be some spare OEM 17" rims floating around the dealer network as the TRD model with 18" wheels gets kitted out in the UK (they come with standard 17" rims off the boat). But failing that you regularly get OEM sets on ebay from owners who have moved over to after-market alloys, or of course you can look at the various places doing after-market alloy options and tyre packages as there are some good deals there too.

[keelerad 256]

Or you could go rally style like I did 16" Imprezza wheels £38 for the set, 4 Avon ice tourings about £320,

 

http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/topic/798-21st-october-2012-winter-wheels/

 

work just great, see my vid here, deliberately went down the un-salted un-ploughed b roads in the Peak District.

 

At about 8'50 the delay is the other cars turning round as they couldn't make it up the hill out of Brassington that the lorry and I go up, I get to overtake it at the end (on snow) and it was not dodgy or scary in the slightest, would not have considered doing that on normal tyres.

 

 

Alec

[Lauren 2259]

If you're thinking of going the winter tyre route, I'd say just buy some secondhand OEM rims. They're cheap to pick up and really is it worth paying full price for OEM rims when they don't have much value secondhand? 

 

Then just put winter tyres on them, sorted. 

 

I did this, cost me £300 for a set of rims with tyres (Primacy's), I just put the winter tyres on the spare rims and used up the Primacys in the summer. To be fair last winter didn't need winter tyres, but I guess you never know. Think I'll wait till December or even January till I put them on, but I reckon two to three monhts is about all you need to use winter tyres for in the UK, though you never know I guess. 

[keelerad 256]

You save money and get a wider choice with 16's as well

from http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/search-size/

16" = 204 to choose from, they recommend Nokian W Plus 205/55 R16 91 T £64.10, most expensive £118

17" = 33 to choose from, they recommend Toyo Snowprox S953 215/45 R17 91 H £84.53, most expensive £151

For the same type Conti wintersport TS830P with 91H load/speed rating :

16"=£85.72

17"=£132.90

Depends if you're worried about the look

[MikesGT86 3]

Thanks for the info keelerad.

 

My car has arrived at the dealership, going tomorrow to deal with insurance etc. hopefully post pics tomorrow night.

[MikesGT86 3]

OK been to dealers today to finalise paperwork.  All set now for pick up next Monday.

 

Here are some pics of the as delivered car

 

 

[Keethos 842]

Awesome stuff....best of luck with the wait....waiting for the car to be built is one thing, knowing the car is sat at the dealers waiting for you is another

[MikesGT86 3]

I've now had my GT86 for 3 and a half days.  Best most exciting car I've ever had!  I will post pictures when I can (been stuck at work all week  )

 

Anybody know how to stop the audio system defaulting to the music on my phone instead of the radio?

[Special K 442]

Bluetooth settings, I think...

 

Spec K

[rob275 1817]

Mine just goes to what I had it set to previously?

[Subota Boy 402]

Welcome Mike!  Lovely!!

[Lauren 2259]

The 1st September came round pretty quickly. Glad you're enjoying your car. Just the small matter of running it in now. It took me a week, so you must be nearly there.

[MikesGT86 3]

Run in now and running like a dream, I'm disappointed when I get to work and happy when I leave (no change there then!). One touch still switches to my phone music play when it connects and I still haven't worked out how to stop that.  Maybe I'll have to read a manual!!

[Keethos 842]

Do you want to play music at all from the Bluetooth device? You can disable media from the phones Bluetooth setting (assuming you're using android, no idea apple device). I do that cos then my nav doesn't try giving commands through the car which doesn't work when listen to USB. Doesn't the music only auto play through Bluetooth if you leave the head unit source on Bluetooth (I.e. leave it to USB and it'll resume USB only?)

[MikesGT86 3]

Mine is a windows phone, I will have to see if I can disable it.  I always leave it set to USB but as soon as the phone connects it defaults to the phones media player.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply.