Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 I've been here for a while but never really got around to posting one of these threads. Best get my finger out then eh? So, at the beginning of January I picked up my GT86. I'd been looking at a few, BRZ's included but I really wanted a grey one having seen one in bright sunlight. Generally I'm not a fan of grey cars, but the flake in the 86's paint when hit by sunlight really looks incredible. Unfortunately there aren't many grey ones about. It took months and eventually I found my car. It had been previously sold, but it fell through and so I had a phone call from the dealer asking if I was still interested. I went up to see it, fell in love and signed on the line. Picking her up with youngest: My wife thought I was nuts and preferred black ones. She's constantly ribbing me saying that mine needs a polish to bring it back to black. So, I got it back home and then had three weeks of bad luck. First of all some **** opened their door on my front wheel arch and left a dent, as well as cracking the paint. I then got caught between two vehicles on the motorway and a truck threw a wheel arch liner at me. I had nowhere to go and unfortunately took the hit. Luckily this didn't do much noticeable damage so I just reseated the grill and chalked it up to experience. With the mileage I do I figured I'd end up respraying the front end anyway to sort stone chips. The arch however I couldn't ignore. They'd also managed to scratch the lower part of the sill, right down to the metal. I dabbed in some paint, got a friend who does PDR to remove the dents and then took her off to the body shop to have the wing resprayed. The damage: Post PDR: After the respray: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Next up, I got my private plate put on. I say private, it's just a northern irish plate. Nothing special about it other than it hides the age of the car. Then, with it being winter and me using the boot now and then, the lack of decent light in there was driving me up the wall. I swapped it for a bright LED but it was still pretty bad. So, I got an LED DRL light off eBay for a couple of quid, picked up a W5W harness (or 10 - minimum order haha!) and made myself a proper boot light. Took 5 mins and was a huge improvement! Before with a basic LED light: After: Whilst I was at it, I swapped out all of the interior lights for LEDs. Much nicer. Speaking of LED's the standard rear lights... I get the GT2000 references etc, but meh - they remind me of a 90's Lexus so they had to go. Mine were also starting to have condensation build up. A forum member had a set of Valenti's for sensible money, so I snapped them up. Whilst they're not my preferred colour choice, they're better than nowt. On they went! Valenti's: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 I turned my attention to the paint. It was in pretty good nick, but there were a few defects and swirls. Also I had a few stone chips which needed filling in so I spoke to Richard at RRG and he sent me through a touch up stick. It was a brand new sealed pot with the right paint code, but something didn't quite look right to me... Err, mine's not blue! He got another one in, and that was the same colour too! Luckily, I'd still got the tin of paint with the left overs from the body shop. This was spot on, so I've been using that ever since and the Toyota one is in a cupboard somewhere... After sorting out the chips, I took it to the detailers. Autobrite Direct are on my doorstep and they've looked after all of my cars. I went on holiday and left the car with them. They did a single stage polish, and coated her in a prototype SI02 sealant, which is now freely available as 'Supersonic'. It's an incredible product, and gives superb gloss and protection for up to 12 months if looked after properly. The results were pleasing! So err yeah - it's shiny. Also, the beading is off the scale! 1 Ignited reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Earlier in the year it was time for the 30,000 mile service. I took the car up to Richard at RRG and also had a few warranty niggles sorted out. Whilst the car was at the detailers the battery was constantly going flat. This was sorted, along with a rattling gear linkage, the infamous rusting quarter pillars and delaminating interior mirror. Worked out at about £1300 worth of fixes! Still, all covered and I got the pleasure of a Yaris in the process too! Rich took me out in his '86 with the intake and full Cobra exhaust. This got my brain ticking. In the meantime I found AliExpress. I ordered a few basic stickers out of curiosity to see if they'd actually come. They're real carbon and just attach with 3M tape. Really pleased with them and given how cheap they are if they fall off it's no big loss. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Whilst moving some larger stuff at work I needed to fold the seats flat. I pushed the button and this happened: Bloody thing came off in my hand. I've managed to roughly place it back in for now, but this will be raised at the next service to see if there's anything that can be done since it's not actually attached properly. This pretty much brings it up to date now. Nothing else had been done to the car. I'd seen some lowering springs going for cheap so picked them up - Eibach Pro's. I picked up a headlight adjuster and front camber bolts too, along with a Whiteline gearbox mount from Part-box. None of these have been fitted yet, needed to save up to have the work carried out. Then I got looking at intakes... After doing a LOT of reading I settled on the Grimmspeed. Torqen hooked me up (incredible service by the way, ordered at 6:15pm on a Friday, delivered 1pm on Monday!) This weekend I paid a visit to @Mark-in-Stoke and we got stuck in. I also collected a cat in the process We took it out for a spin. Bloody nora, HUGE difference. Throttle response is way better, no bogging down at low RPM when pulling away and I'm getting better economy when driving on a run too. Win all round. Continuing with my LED fetish, the reverse lights got swapped out. These are err.... bright! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 And that is pretty much 10 months of ownership summed up in a few posts. Need to get the suspension sorted, longer term want some forged Rays and still want an exhaust but that's pie in the sky for now. Really enjoying my time with the car. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jedmondson 9 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 The touch up paint does look blue (at least mine also does), dries the correct colour though. 1 Lowe reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sam534 62 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Enjoyed this thread mate Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk 1 Lowe reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 49 minutes ago, jedmondson said: The touch up paint does look blue (at least mine also does), dries the correct colour though. You're braver than me - I didn't trust it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cropzy 66 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Great thread. How the hell did you get 50mpg? Best I have had is 37 at a push. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nelix 19 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 Can't beat 37mpg either and it is almost all motorway/dual carriageway I am doing to and from work. Are you attributing the mpg gains to the intake? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 No, it’s the way I drive primarily, but the intake has meant I need to use even less throttle. I’m really good at hyper miling, I managed the same mpg on the stock car. Note that was over a single 35 mike journey, not a whole tank. It’s not the most thrilling way to drive but on the way in to work I’m not exactly in a rush 🤣 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lauren 2259 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 2 hours ago, cropzy said: Great thread. How the hell did you get 50mpg? Best I have had is 37 at a push. It's really easy if you are just on the motorway and stick the cruise control on at 55mph and sit behind the trucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark-in-Stoke 488 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 I'm sure we could easily sort the seat button if you want to give it a go? and as you know I was pretty impressed with the urgency the car had after the install, if i didn't have the turbo that intake would be on mine. 1 Lowe reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 10, 2017 9 minutes ago, Mark-in-Stoke said: I'm sure we could easily sort the seat button if you want to give it a go? and as you know I was pretty impressed with the urgency the car had after the install, if i didn't have the turbo that intake would be on mine. I was genuinely surprised to say the least. I don’t like that oil sensor being so close to the air box - I slackened it off a bit today and pulled on the air box to stop it touching. But that aside, Jesus it goes! 😳 As for seat - I’ve bodged it for now but it’s not going to last. Think I’ll ask @Riceburnerand see what he can do. 1 Mark-in-Stoke reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lou_m 2 Report post Posted October 11, 2017 Where did you get your reverse bulbs, got a link? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Minion 132 Report post Posted October 11, 2017 34 minutes ago, Lou_m said: Where did you get your reverse bulbs, got a link? Was about to ask the same Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 11, 2017 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072DSYVK4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1 Lou_m reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 So a bit more carbon came from AliExpress, covers for the window/mirror switches. However all's not well. The passenger side fits perfectly, but the drivers side isn't aligning properly. There's a small raised lip on the 'lock/unlock' button and the moulding hasn't taken this into account. As such it means that if you align the carbon overlay around this the bottom is thrown out by about 5mm, and it looks very obviously wrong. If you try to align it properly, the lip next to the button stops the overlap from sticking down. I've messaged the seller to see if this is a one off bad piece but I think their mould is wrong. It's a shame since they're really well made with a nice thick top coat and look great. Worst case scenario is they get chucked away, but at 16 quid it's not the end of the world. Passenger - spot on: The problem lip area highlighted, which stops it from fitting correctly: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sam534 62 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 Got a link to these pieces bud? Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdstrike 186 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 Can you keep an eye on the fuel trims? I like the directness of the intake design, but I wonder if it is MAF confusion that gives you this peppy feeling, rather than a legitimate drop in intake restriction. Grimmspeed have put some flow guides in the tubing, but I wonder if it's enough? Apologies, I am an intake skeptic and I'm surprised to hear somebody genuinely impressed. Normally these changes are only detected by placebo bum-dyno. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 Managed to bodge the drivers side on using white tack (!) It was just enough to lift it up over the lip on the lock button. Not ideal, and I'm still complaining to the seller but in the meantime until I can find a better fitting piece it'll do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 2 hours ago, nerdstrike said: Can you keep an eye on the fuel trims? I like the directness of the intake design, but I wonder if it is MAF confusion that gives you this peppy feeling, rather than a legitimate drop in intake restriction. Grimmspeed have put some flow guides in the tubing, but I wonder if it's enough? Apologies, I am an intake skeptic and I'm surprised to hear somebody genuinely impressed. Normally these changes are only detected by placebo bum-dyno. I'm the same - I had a Blitz panel filter in before and was perfectly happy with it. But I was concerned that the AFR's would be running lean and wanted the extra oomph without the risk of it getting too lean. As for MAF confusion, personally I doubt it. If you read the fitting instructions, they are very specific that the filter should be fitted exactly one inch off the near side of the MAF. If you don't get this right it causes all kinds of problems and can actually result in power loss! Mark came up with an idea of cutting a piece of paper to size and I used it as a template to ensure it was spot on. As you say Grimmspeed did a lot of air flow work, and their intake was one of the last to market with the R&D for the product done in the public domain. All of their back to back dyno plots are also freely available. I wasn't expecting the difference to be so obvious, but was pleased when it was. We were two up with 3/4 a tank of fuel as well! Mark's got two 86's, with his wife's being pretty much stock and after the first pull in 2nd gear we both kinda just looked at one another and started laughing! 3 hours ago, sam534 said: Got a link to these pieces bud? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Interior-Refit-Carbon-Fiber-Window-lift-button-Decorative-Frame-TRD-STI-Modification-Trim-For-Subaru/32828024612.html Don't forget to use the Mobile App, brings the price down even further. That said, can't recommend these at the moment due to the poor fit. 2 Minion and Mark-in-Stoke reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdstrike 186 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 Thanks Lowe. Nevertheless do keep an eye on the LTFT and see if it drifts slowly positive as the ECU compensates your gains away. I hope it's not the case! AFR would give more immediate diagnostics, but you would need a base-line to compare against. The power band would endure longest without correction, as it doesn't get much chance to run in closed-loop mode up high. 1 Lowe reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lowe 191 Report post Posted October 12, 2017 How can I check it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
