Ajay's HKS Supercharged GT86 TRD Build

[bassett 48]

Barely anything - cosworth filter, arm rest, currently waiting on a TRD style spoiler to be painted. Thinking about remaps/headers/catbacks in the near future your thoughts on your kit/where you had the work done etc would be interesting.

[TRDness 26]

Made a little exhaust clip for you all... Not sure that I like the rasp above 3600 RPM but other catbacks will make the exhaust louder, I don't want that.

 

[TRDness 26]

On 28 February 2016 at 10:33 PM, bassett said:

Barely anything - cosworth filter, arm rest, currently waiting on a TRD style spoiler to be painted. Thinking about remaps/headers/catbacks in the near future your thoughts on your kit/where you had the work done etc would be interesting.

My bodykit came factory installed as part of the TRD edition car. In terms of the exhaust, at first I got a local tuning garage to install it, but I recently had to swap it all back for its first MOT and did all the work myself, it's a lot simpler than I thought and I'm getting more and more confident with working on the car. As long as you have the right tools you can make any job a doddle. My remap was done remotely by Adrian at Fensport, so I didn't have to drive up to their base in the midlands. His service was brilliant and he really is dedicated to making sure the remap is perfect and suited to your mods, can't fault it.

[long-gone 152]

Chatteris is in the Midlands?

Yep, Adrian is very good. I went out with him to do mine. It's very interesting seeing the live data and him fiddle with the graphs until it's just right.

[TRDness 26]

25 minutes ago, daidaiiro said:

Chatteris is in the Midlands?

Yep, Adrian is very good. I went out with him to do mine. It's very interesting seeing the live data and him fiddle with the graphs until it's just right.

Everything above London is the Midlands/North to me! Hahaha

[bassett 48]

Thanks for the info, was the map a big enough jump in performance for the outlay? Hoping to get headers and map all in one shot as id like to remove the flat spot but probably wouldnt go all the way to a charger. Out of interest how come you didn't go to Abbey?

[TRDness 26]

5 hours ago, bassett said:

Thanks for the info, was the map a big enough jump in performance for the outlay? Hoping to get headers and map all in one shot as id like to remove the flat spot but probably wouldnt go all the way to a charger. Out of interest how come you didn't go to Abbey?

I got the remap after my exhaust was installed, so I can't comment on the remap by itself. But it's certainly a noticeable jump, there's no torque dip now and the car is much more eager to rev, it pulls very well too. I'd say for the money is a good investment. Apparantly it's good for 214 flywheel horsepower, but I haven't had mine dyno'd for official figures, it's the torque you notice mostly.

I went to Fensport as they offered remote mapping, and an easy way to purchase the parts I needed via their website, as I was ordering other stuff too at the same time. I also hadn't heard much about Abbey at the time, but I wouldn't hesitate to go to them if I were to do it now. In fact I will most likely go there for my supercharger remap once I have finished installing it at home.

[Lauren 2259]

That sounds alright, but it's hard to understand how you can have a remap done 'remotely' without actually doing it on your car. All of them differ slightly, so you'd think that you'd need to do it on the actual car, live, to get the very best out of it. Introducing various mods into the equation, simply adds more variables, surely? 

[Keethos 842]

Remotely as in you got out for a fast sprint in the car while logging your car, then send that info to Adrian and he can tweak a map for you, he then emails that to you, you upload it to the car and go out for another spirited drive while logging your car. The you simply repeat the process, sent the results back and Adrian will tweak again until he's happy with your log.

[TRDness 26]

47 minutes ago, Keethos said:

Remotely as in you got out for a fast sprint in the car while logging your car, then send that info to Adrian and he can tweak a map for you, he then emails that to you, you upload it to the car and go out for another spirited drive while logging your car. The you simply repeat the process, sent the results back and Adrian will tweak again until he's happy with your log.

 

1 hour ago, Lauren said:

That sounds alright, but it's hard to understand how you can have a remap done 'remotely' without actually doing it on your car. All of them differ slightly, so you'd think that you'd need to do it on the actual car, live, to get the very best out of it. Introducing various mods into the equation, simply adds more variables, surely? 

^ He's right! You first send a list of your current mods to Adrian, and he makes you a base map. As Keethos said, you then go back and forth with logs using your laptop, emailing each log to Adrian who then tweaks it until it's perfect (and he really doesn't stop until it's completely perfect!).

[Lauren 2259]

She would be more appropriate! 

Ah okay, I missed that earlier post!

[TRDness 26]

37 minutes ago, Lauren said:

She would be more appropriate! 

Ah okay, I missed that earlier post!

When I combined Keethos's and your quotes it put yours second for some reason without me noticing, putting you in the unfortunate firing line of my male reference comment! I hope you enjoyed briefly being a man while it lasted 

[TRDness 26]

Hi everyone, an update!

I have ordered my HKS V2 Supercharger and will be DIY installing it towards the middle of April. I’ll be putting up another post showing the (inevitable) difficulties that I will come across installing this kit. In preparation for this I have just DIY installed an Xtreme Clutches HD Stage 1 Organic Clutch, this company is Australian based and have a number of good clutch options for the 86/BRZ/FRS. A few of the GT86 tuners here in the UK offer them as their preferred supplier, and after haggling with a couple of them I managed to get it at £300 which is trade price. The stage one is more than enough to hold the 300whp/340nm torque that I am looking for.

I decided to go without a lightweight flywheel because of the drivability issues and chattering noises, so I have re-used the OEM flywheel. I didn’t resurface it and I have no issues so far, it was in a very good condition when I removed the clutch and has no hotspots. Understandable considering it’s only three years old.

What’s in the box?

Organic Stage 1 Clutch Disc
Heavy Duty Pressure Plate 830kg Clamp Load
Clutch Alignment Tool
Replacement Throw-out Bearing
Replacement Flywheel Bearing
ACS Transmission Spline Grease
A couple of Xtreme company stickers and information leaflet

The install took me about a day and a half working by myself for the most part, I asked a couple of my friends to help me with removing the transmission from the engine and putting it back on. I used this DIY as a guide: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25054 along with the service manual for all the correct torque specs for everything I removed, downloaded here http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12135

I’d say the hard parts of the install were removing the driveshaft bolts and nuts at the differential; they are quite difficult to get to and muscle off with a socket and spanner, especially working on the cold garage floor! There are also 8 bolts that hold the transmission to the engine, the top one above the starter motor was a royal PITA to get to because of all the wires concealing it from above, and the lack of room to fit a ratchet there to undo it from underneath.

A lot of people say that fitting the transmission back onto the engine is the hardest part, and I agree. Having two of my friends and a floor jack helping me made light work of it though, if I was by myself it would have taken a LOT longer. A tip to help with this is jacking the engine up by the oil pan, this tilts it backwards and gives you a better angle to attack it with the transmission.

I’m currently bedding the clutch in and time will tell how good it really is! It is running very well so far. Doing this DIY probably saves about £200-300 in labour fees.

I’ve included some pictures below, and as always if you have any questions I’ll be happy to help out!

[TRDness 26]

Exciting things are happening in my garage at the moment... 

[TRDness 26]

Well the HKS Supercharger DIY install is now complete! I even threw in an AVO Oil Cooler for good measure.

I always try to do car work myself if I possibly can, I have a real passion for learning about cars and it saves me money at the same time. A garage would have charged around £700 labour fees to install this kit, instead I spent half of that on professional tools that I can use again, and pocketed the rest! As always with car projects it took a little longer than expected. The quoted install time by a professional mechanic is 6-8 hours, it took Joey Amateur here about 20 laid-back hours over the course of 5 days, why rush eh?

Unboxing:

My dog was just as excited for boost as me! (nothing at all to do with the fact that he likes to shred cardboard like it’s... well... cardboard)

As always with HKS kits they include everything you need in the box, even down to little cable ties to tidy up the routing of the pipes after you’re finished. The first thing you see when you open the box is a LOT of paper cushioning, it’s a weight off your mind to know that there’s no chance your supercharger or any components will arrive damaged. After you manage to remove the cushioning the first component you’ll see is the T59 Intercooler, it looks very well built and the welds are quality so there’s no chance of a boost leak here.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll unbox the GTS-7040L Centrifugal Supercharger, again very well protected and with a little note which warns you not to rotate the pulley the wrong way round to avoid damage to the gearing assembly. Looking inside at the compressor blades it looks very precisely made with quality materials. The unit is about the same size as my hand if I open it completely flat.

Further in and you have 4 other cardboard boxes containing the Supercharger Oil (HKS call it Traction Fluid), the Traction Fluid Oil Cooler and Reservoir, Intercooler piping, hose clamps, bolts etc all arranged logically so you know which part of the system they relate to.

HKS also include installation instructions in English (thank god) and Japanese versions that contain detailed and clear pictures to help you along the way.

Installation:

You can find the installation manual here, bear in mind that the manual I received in the box has been updated in January 2016 with a few extra install steps, this attachment here is the original version: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=123913&d=1446144364

Yes you have to cut a few small parts in the engine bay, all of them are brackets with the exception of the intake snorkel and a hose or two. It’s nothing that can’t be replaced easily enough at the dealership. I used an angle grinder and it made short work of the job with a table vice to hold what I needed to cut. The key here is patience so you don’t overheat the metal that you’re cutting. It’s a good idea to spray paint any steel parts that you cut to help prevent the bare metal that you’ve just exposed from rusting, this isn’t specified in the manual but gives me peace of mind, I just used high temperature engine paint.

What did I find Difficult?

The intercooler mounts on the bottom of the factory crash beam with Allen-key cap bolts that you do up from the top. What the manual doesn’t say is that you have to feed the bolts in through a tiny little hole in the top of the crash beam and do them up at an awkward angle. I found a ball-end Allen key set helped me massively with this, and used masking tape to hold the bolts to the Allen keys while I lowered them through the hole, so they would not drop off the end (you could buy a magnetic holder to do this too). You need to mount the intercooler as close as possible to the crash beam to allow room for the front bumper support to re-fit underneath it.

When you bolt the supercharger bracket to the car, there is a little bolt on the underside which is close to impossible to do up, you’ll see what I mean when you come to it. Again use a ball-end Allen key to help with this.

DO NOT tighten the Traction Fluid Reservoir Cap too tightly, trust me it will seize and you will have an absolute nightmare getting it off. If you are struggling, the red cap cover that says “OIL” on it actually lifts off, exposing a square structure underneath, you can get a pair of mole-grips or pliers on this square to twist the cap off with force.

AVO Oil Cooler Install:

I chose the AVO oil cooler as it is a lot cheaper than the HKS Type-S alternative, it’s thermostatic and mounts in the same area behind the fog lights. I knew full well that I may have problems with compatibility as HKS’s intercooler sits closer to the oil cooler than AVO’s does. The installation was actually pretty straight forward, I had to cut the intercooler mounting bracket slightly to allow the oil cooler to mount straight (it shares the exact same mounting point as the intercooler). Top tip, install the hose fittings to the cooler before attaching it to the car, it makes life a lot easier.

AVO’s oil cooler uses a duct to feed air to it from the front grille; I couldn’t use this because of where the HKS intercooler sits. Instead I run fog lights during street driving to prevent over-cooling, and remove them for track work to allow maximum air flow to the cooler.

Post Installation:

I installed a base map provided by my tuner to get me to his shop (2.5 hours away!). I’ve never babied a car so much as I did on the way there, I drove so carefully. At his shop I had the remap done and a charge air temperature sensor installed to allow the ECU to read the air temps after the air has been compressed, I also had the restrictor widened to 41mm to squeeze more power out of the supercharger! Depending on exhaust setup this is good for 300whp on Shell V-power.

More pictures below!

[TRDness 26]

A small addition to the car with a big impact!

I've just installed a Laile Beatrush master cylinder stopper on my car, and for £23 it's one of the best bang for your buck mods you can do to this platform. The only downside is that you have to import it from japan, so postage is likely to cost about the same as the product itself. 

Why Install this Cheapo Part?

The 86/BRZ/FRS has a thin firewall (most probably to save weight and production cost), therefore when you press the brake pedal hard the firewall tends to flex noticeably and you can sometimes feel that you're not getting much more braking with the effort coming from your foot, making the brakes feel sloppy and less effective. The brakes feel normal until about half braking pressure, then the firewall flexing begins and you have to apply much more effort to get more brake response. I've got the TRD 6-pot brake kit on my car, so this part was logically the next step to upgrade the feel of the braking system and possibly unlock the higher bands of braking power with less effort on the pedal.

First Impressions:

On taking it out of the box it's a little heavier than I expected looking at the size of it, however being made out of steel it does feel very solid and up to the job of restricting the movement of the master cylinder under braking. It's painted nicely and the welds seem well done. All the required bolts/washers/nuts are included in a little bag in the box. Expect to find Japanese instructions that also have pictures so you can actually understand what to do instead of having to translate the Japanese.

Installation:

Very easy. Even easier with two people.

You simply have to peel off two black sticker grommits on the side of the driver's side (RHD) strut assembly to expose two existing holes which lead into the wheel arch behind the suspension strut. Take the driver's side wheel off to give you enough room to feed the two bolts in those holes behind the suspension strut, it's a little fiddly to access if you have big hands. Luckily my girlfriend came in handy for this bit! The smaller bolt is a 10mm head with a 10mm nut, and the larger bolt is a 17mm head with a 14mm nut. Slide the master cylinder brace over the bolts, align it so that the black brace part is in line with the master cylinder and tighten the nuts, holding the bolt heads with a wrench from inside the wheel arch, BE CAREFUL to not over tighten the 10mm bolt, it's aluminum and will snap easily if you put too much torque on it. 

The last bit is to screw the brace so that it extends and meets the master cylinder, once it does tighten the locking nut, you'll need a 12mm spanner for that.

Put the wheel back on and you're done! After 100km check the tightness of the brace and other bolts.

Verdict:

I took the car out for a drive straight away after installing and I must say I'm very impressed with this part, the difference in braking feel is most noticeable when braking hard, I no longer feel like I'm pushing the pedal through the firewall. It's a lot easier to get full braking power now, and even on my daily commute I can feel a difference. The pedal gives a crisp, predictable and linear response instead of the sloppy, effort-filled results I had before.

There are other manufacturers that sell similar products that do the same job, but with a slightly different design and a much higher price, sometimes even 3 times as expensive! The Laile Beatrush one is excellent value for money and one that I would recommend, but then again if you're looking to maximise your weight reduction, then perhaps this one isn't for you.

[Andy Mac 32]

Great thread. Keep it coming. 

[Varelco 211]

Interesting verdict! I have to admit I have a Beatrush master cylinder stopper fitted to my car and think it's a waste of money.  Made absolutely no difference to braking feel for me.

[TRDness 26]

44 minutes ago, Varelco said:

Interesting verdict! I have to admit I have a Beatrush master cylinder stopper fitted to my car and think it's a waste of money.  Made absolutely no difference to braking feel for me.

Perhaps it's the difference in brake kits, I do get a lot of feedback with my braided lines so maybe that's allowing me to feel it more.

[Deacon 1357]

11 hours ago, Varelco said:

Interesting verdict! I have to admit I have a Beatrush master cylinder stopper fitted to my car and think it's a waste of money.  Made absolutely no difference to braking feel for me.

I'm surprised by this. I'm running one with stock brakes and feel it makes a noticeable difference from being without it too.

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Interesting verdict! I have to admit I have a Beatrush master cylinder stopper fitted to my car and think it's a waste of money.  Made absolutely no difference to braking feel for me.

Maybe the amount of flex in the bulkhead varied across cars?

[Varelco 211]

I wouldnt of thought so. I might back it off and go for a drive and see if it makes a difference, its easy enough adjust