Kesler's Pearl White 86 Diary

[Kesler 28]

Hello everyone  

 

I figured I'll keep a trail of my 86 journey here, and with some guidance from you lovely people it'll be a happy and exciting thread (for me anyway!).

 

Recap: Collecting the car (27/03/2015)

 

I decided I'd go and pick it up on Friday, so booked the day off then came all the reasons under the sun from my friends on why they can't take me. Luckily one of them said 'ok, let's do it'. 

 

Friday, circa 8:00am

Hemel Hempstead

 

This arrived:

 

And we scraped all the way to Cambridge... 50 miles of pure wincing on the slightest of crevices! We had to pull over at one point to see if we lost something on the M11.

[Kesler 28]

What seemed to feel like 15 hours later, but was only 1.5, we got there. 

 

There it was, my car:

 

Basking in all it's glory. The dealership saw us scrape up into the car park. At this point I got out of the car and ran over to what would be mine that day. 

 

Unfortunately the paintwork prep was done on only the parts I pointed out - which I only did 10 seconds of, but was then assured the WHOLE car would be checked out and done. But hey, that's what warranty is for right? So when I'm ready to part with the car (finding this the real challenge) they will send out some crappy little courtesy car while I get the 86 taken away for a proper paint job.

 

Asking 'surely you'll give me a like-for-like car to drive in the meantime', while pointing at the 64-plate 86 next to mine, they laughed. Well I thought it was a valid question.

 

Anyway, Finance do what they do best - make you wait. So I waited. Then for some reason I thought I was the only one in the dealership and noone could hear me to said quite loudly 'F&CK THIS, I'M GOING TO TAKE SOME PHOTOS'.

 

Had to apologise to the elderly couple who was looking at the Aygo behind me.

 

The photos when I was waiting:

 

 

 

 

[Kesler 28]

Circa 12:00pm

Cambridge

 

Famished, went into the city centre for food:

 

 

[Kesler 28]

Circa 4:00pm

Cambridge

 

Finance finally released the car to me. DROVE. IT. HOME!!!!

 

[Kesler 28]

Circa 11:00pm

Saturday, circa 1:00am

Saturday, circa 2:00am

Saturday, circa 4:00am

Saturday, circa 5:00am

Hemel Hempstead

 

Car is still outside my house.

[Kesler 28]

04/04/2015 Saturday - Washed the car ready for Mimms Honda Day in Rockingham.

 

Yes I know what you're thinking - Why am I going to a Honda event in a Toyota?!. I was supposed to be on our club stand with my Civic but when I put it up for sale I didn't realise it was going to be sold so quickly - so I was left without a Honda. 

 

A friend of my was lending me his yellow S2000 but unfortunately the ECU started playing up when we were testing it making sure it would be fine for the drive there and back, so I ended up selling my club stand ticket and will pay on the gate on Sunday, though would be parking at the 'non-Honda' bit - which was a little silly and extreme - about a mile away from all the other cars. Alas, that's for the Sunday post.

 

Quick car wash snaps - the missus wanted her car washed too, duly obliged:

 

 

 

 

 

[Kesler 28]

05/04/2015 - Mimms Honda Day. To be fair I'm still knackered writing all of this out in the office at the moment, I've only transferred the photos to my PC at home last night and done nothing else to it, I'll see if I can process a few of the day to show you all how it all is/went.

 

Just couple of phone snaps for now, timed.

 

5:00am - Woke up, slept again

 

5:45am - Woke up, heard lots of revving outside of the house

 

5:47am - Looked outside, turns out it's just one car, my friend who's going to Mimms with me, he's trying to get his car over the ramp on the driveway

 

6:00am - Turbo's through getting changed, toilet duties and everything in between, grabbed my stuff and went to meet up with the convoy

 

7:00am - McDonald's Jarman Park Hemel Hempstead, everyone was horrifically hungover. Was quite a funny sight.

 

7:45am - Shell petrol station, Hemel Hempstead - for those who couldn't be bothered to fill their car up the day before

 

8:something - Toddington Services, M1, to meet up with the others. Finally a photo:

 

 

8:57am - Bearing in mind we were supposed to get there at 8am, and planned to get there for 9am, we set off to Rockingham

 

--- Mimms time in between ---

 

Knackered from the day, my friend chooses to sit by the car, instead of the lovely comfy seats IN the car...

 

 

Mimms over, drove back to get some dinner. Was then told by 5 difference conversations that there was a night meet at Costco Watford, so nipped over. Horrific. If anyone says to go to those meets, don't bother. You'll miss Match of the Day 2 for a start, and you'll be cold. And you'll be frustrated as to why none of these kids can park properly. 

 

Ended up just parking, chilling out with the mate, who took his car out with me:

 

[Kesler 28]

06/04/2015 - Few things dropped off at the office from the postie:

 

Customised GT86 heated seat switch garnish - seriously cool bit of workmanship:

 

 

Also a cheap little GoPro tripod mount - a second one, one for the selfie stick which created dramatic and epic drone-like photos and videos, and one for my Hague camera mount:

 

 

Yeah that Rollei can come off, and finally the GoPro can be used once more.

[Kesler 28]

A small handful of photos from the Mimms Honda Day, including several stops:

 

 

IMG_6140 by Andy Liu Photography, on Flickr

 

IMG_6150 by Andy Liu Photography, on Flickr

 

IMG_6164 by Andy Liu Photography, on Flickr

 

IMG_6374 by Andy Liu Photography, on Flickr

 

More photos of Mimms: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andyliuphotography/sets/72157649488577634

 

And if you're bored, my other photo sets: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andyliuphotography/sets

[Kesler 28]

09/04/2015

 

The 86 has gone back to Toyota for the paintwork concerns of mine that's getting dealt with under warranty. I asked them 'what car will I get in the interim'.

 

'A Yaris.'

 

Ok, it's a 64 plate, has DAB, and has a reversing camera. But that's all the good stuff. Firstly it's a Hybrid. And it's an auto. And there was so much bird cr@p on the car it could've warranted a colour change to DVLA.

 

I literally had to watch where I put my hand to shut the door. Hand sanitiser sales have gone up recently in the Hertfordshire area.

 

Anyway, to cheer me up, this arrived:

 

 

Luckily I had the Yaris as this fitted in the boot fairly easily:

 

 

Next thing I knew, I spoke to one of our fellow 86DC members for the Direnza exhaust. I must admit, the exhaust was on a whim, I couldn't afford a Milltek, so at least with that budget not happening I could experiment with other exhausts to see and hear what could be alright for my car. 

 

I did originally want the slash cut tips that follow the curves of the diffuser but alas, maybe one day. I met up with him to pick this up:

 

 

The exhaust appears to be well made (albeit computer aided welds from China perhaps) but hey, us Chinese can make something good every now and then. Just hope it's now! It's a replica of the Invidia Q300 for those who are like me and still know nothing about the 86 *hangs head in shame*

 

I took this over to Dream Automotive in Bushey, where my friend will get this all fitted. Some obligatory photos of when they arrived at Dream HQ:

 

 

 

 

 

[Kesler 28]

20/04/2015 - Small update,

 

Just added the heated seat plaque/surround/garnish in the car, the adhesive was with me but once I dropped it in it looked good and was snug - didn't even need any adhesive.

 

The heated seat switch as it was:

 

 

The neat little surround, etched in from the back:

 

 

 

The colour match/mis-match compared the OEM gear surround, noting that this is a glossy acrylic block vs a matte OEM finish:

 

 

And the final look:

 

[Kesler 28]

23/04/2015 - Took my car to Dream Automotive to get the springs and exhaust fitted. 

 

He had a few jobs to finish off to I took the opportunity in the blazing sun to check out the car a bit more, find some issues and mentally list them to address later on. 

 

Firstly, the current exhaust setup - OEM, obligatory photo:

 

 

Current OEM suspension setup:

 

 

I also noticed that the intake pipe was a little perished, I suppose I was the unlucky one as I know some rubber housings can fade in colour like this. Luckily it's salvageable with some SAS spray:

 

 

After Phil had finished off the few jobs beforehand, it was ready for the 86 to get up on the ramps and begin the work. What I have noticed is that my car seems to be dirty and rusty and worn on the underside! But everything works fine, just couldn't believe that that the exhaust looks so battered! No idea how the previous owner maintained it but safe to say it's in better hands now.

 

 

As I keep gawping at the tailpipes before it gets taken off:

 

 

Tatty exhaust! I mean, look at that flange from the backbox!! Even my friend Sean was disgusted at the sight of it.

 

 

So out it came, sitting on the floor next to its replacement:

 

[Kesler 28]

Exhaust mounts nicked from the OEM system, silicone joint thingy applied, and on goes the new exhaust. I'd say the biggest difference is the OEM system has the pipe coming from the side (shorter side) of the backbox, bending round to join the centre section. The new system comes straight out of the back, and the joining pipe bends around the rear subframe. Different, but hey - it works.

 

 

Gasket fitting. Phil doesn't always look surprised like this you know, perhaps it's when I went "BOOM PHOTO" right to his face when I took this.

 

 

Time to use the supplied bolts to fit everything together:

 

 

And that is when I realised the supplied bolts are a heap of junk, the moment we torqued the bolts up, this:

 

 

Phil sorted me out with some stronger nuts and bolts and on we went, and then one last check with the exhaust:

 

 

 

And voila - we're done!

 

 

IMG_6670b by Andy Liu Photography, on Flickr

[Kesler 28]

With the springs I decided to get stuck in and help too so didn't take many photos. I took off a few retainers from the boot surround, and pulled back the walls to find the areas we needed to work in. Pretty simple stuff to be honest, and as I've noticed - Toyota doesn't make things too difficult.

 

By starting with the rears first, the shocks were out and ready to have the springs removed:

 

 

 

With this, the LCA's are hanging around:

 

 

Rear springs fitted, time to put it all back together:

 

 

 

Rears done, we did the fronts. One thing I didn't like were that if the fronts were a little perished (like mine for some bizarre reason) then it doesn't like being undone. Perfect if you were never going to replace parts - but I'm SO going to change things - so this was quite a pain, and we spend a considerable amount of time to sort it out. In the end we did win, so the front shocks came out, new springs in and fitting back on:

 

 

 

Before:

 

 

After: 

 

[Kesler 28]

Before and after shots:

 

OEM vs. Direnza secondary cat-back exhaust:

 

 

 

OEM vs. Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs (20/25mm) :

 

[Kesler 28]

29/04/2015 - A very quick before and after of the exhaust. I may add, that my camera is SUPER sensitive and has made my stock exhaust sound good! It has also made the new exhaust loud - I can assure everyone that this is not the case!

 

The stock exhaust is rather silent, and the new one is just right (for me). It's probably best I do another video, and stand the camera from the side as opposed to directly behind the car. Let me know what you think:

 

 

... And now I'm finally up to date!!

[Lauren 2259]

Your pics haven't posted. Was you copying and pasting from elsewhere? 

[Keethos 842]

I can see them Lauren, good stuff Kesler!

[nikndel 509]

That's some wicked spring compressor how do you find the springs any rattles etc?

[Kesler 28]

Your pics haven't posted. Was you copying and pasting from elsewhere? 

Hi Lauren

 

I can see them - not sure if it's just a loading thing :/

[Kesler 28]

I can see them Lauren, good stuff Kesler!

 

Thanks Keethos! I spent a year and a half driving my Civic completely stock back then, then slowly added some modifications. I've had this for about a month and I've done this already so I think I'm slowly understanding what I need to do!

[Kesler 28]

That's some wicked spring compressor how do you find the springs any rattles etc?

 

Thanks Nikndel, Phil's place has everything so we can get on with installing things without any delay The Pro-Kit back on my Civic was stiffer, eliminated that crashy feeling over speedbumps and the like, but can also feel a lot harsher if you know what I mean. The Pro-Kit for the 86 - wow, It's just like OEM, but the ride height and ground clearance has been changed by an inch, everything feels as it should, barely feels harsher, it's still a very soft spring so comfort-wise it's absolutely perfect for me,

 

Zero rattles, no creaks, no tapping, it's spot on

[Lauren 2259]

Ah yes I can see them. Good work, you have been busy!

 

Think the exhaust sounds too quiet though you can only really tell what an exhaust is like by driving the car. Delete the 2nd cat gain a bit more power and make it sound better. 

[Kesler 28]

Ah yes I can see them. Good work, you have been busy!

 

Think the exhaust sounds too quiet though you can only really tell what an exhaust is like by driving the car. Delete the 2nd cat gain a bit more power and make it sound better. 

 

Thanks

 

It is quiet, but perhaps allow me to explain why I think it's just right for me;

 

With the EP3 I had prior to this I felt just like the 86 OEM exhaust; it was silent, mostly engine grunt and no exhaust note. I'm not a fan of the 'fark that's loud' exhaust so I went with an unsilenced centre section, which was great and raspy, but fizzled out a little bit - I needed more of a tone.

 

On my birthday I went to a local fabricator to have them make up a Fujitsubo Legalis R shape exhaust for me, and being Jasma rated and JDM, it's very quiet, but with subtle notes. He assured me that's what I'll get. Then come to fitting it, he started the car and it was so loud. SO LOUD. I told him that's not what I wanted, but apparently 'it can't be any quieter'. So I was stuck with it, everyone in Hemel knew where I was thanks to the sheer volume, my boss would know when I'm 'near' the office, etc.

 

Anyway, the car was sold to someone who actually wanted this volume so fair enough. Going back to the 86 I'm still in the same way as I was before; wanting something very subtle but knowing that it's there - I think to achieve this it was down to the Milltek secondary resonated, or an Invidia Q300 (or a replica of). After checking the bank balance I think it's the right choice to go for the Direnza, though I did meet someone with a black/grey 86 at Silverstone (Pistonheads Sunday Service) and I believe he had a secondary cat delete, and Milltek secondary non-res. Sounded the nuts but I am wary of the dreaded motorway drone...

[Kesler 28]

Small update, HIC rear visor arrived and fitted, looks smart and adds a bit of shape to the rear windscreen:

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I am Chinese; I do not like to rip off all plastic wrapping until it really is necessary: