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MatrixProtein's AVO boosted 86

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Thought I'd do this thread now as I'm coming to what I consider to be achieving what I wanted from buying this fantastic car.

 

In Feb 2019 I bought a red gt86; bone stock with 18k miles on the clock. I always said I'd enjoy this car in stock form and spend the first couple of years enjoying the car for what it is; boy how wrong was I.

 

1. The first thing i did was delete the sound tube in the engine bay to get rid of noise coming into the cabin.

 

2. I got a pair of smoked valenti sequential lights. Was always a fan of these. Just need the third brake light to match

 

3. I got the rear windows tinted in limo black. Wanted to tint the front but the car suffers from scratched windows from the runners.

 

 

4. I upgraded from factory radio to a kenwood double din. I later reverted back to standard as i had issues with the new unit overheating.

 

5. Decided my theme would be to go two tone and eventually get the car wrapped but one of the colours would be black. I decided to swap out the oem red spoiler for a black one.

 

6. Quickly what followed was the htautos lip kit. Front splitter, skirts, rear corner skirts. I've since removed the side skirts as it was making it a nightmare to jack the car up but these will go back on at some point.

 

7. I then proceeded for some performance stuff. I picked up a Tomei EL expreme manifold and a cobra resonated exhaust for a price I really couldn't say no to. From the very beginning I'd decided I was to go EL and supercharger so this was a no brainer for me. I decided to heat wrap the manifold.

 

8. Wasnt a fan of the stock wheels and purchased some 18" rota wheels. Dont know what the offset or thickness are but I have 5mm spacers and I'm happy with how they look. They'd also been refurbished and sprayed black.

 

9. Now I had the main bits done, I decided to get the car mapped to make the most of the manifold and catback. At this point I only have the stock front pipe in place as my only CAT. I took the car to Fensport to have this done. There are no figures as it's purely road mapping but it brought the car to life. Unlike some of the other popular manifolds, I found there was still a torque dip between 3000-5000rpm range. Though there was more torque across the entire rev range, it still existed but none the less I was happy with the results and my thinking was that it would mean nothing once supercharged.

 

10. I decided I didnt like the oem gear knob so switched out for a Tomei S gear knob. Feels nice, very light but not for everyone. I personally like it as I feel the longer lever length of the knob requires less effort to get into gear (force x distance = x n.m for the physicists among us)

 

11. At this point I got abit bored and took the decision to go fully decat. I felt like the muffler in the stock cat caused the car drone and sound farty. By chance I decided to try the hks dual resonated front pipe. Whilst fitting this I encountered issues and ended up getting a scorpion overpipe. Upon fitting, the sound is amazing, at around 2900 rpm, cruising on the motorway the car is silent, has very little if any drone and sounds the business when giving it the beans.

 

12. Number plates. Hated the originals with the GB logo so I registered to have a private registration and went for square plates. I got these at 'fancyplates'. They are good quality acrylic and came reasonably quick but they have non-existent communication so be aware of this. Also they dont require any details of logbook or anything to have the plates made up. Just enter the reg you want and they send it (naughty).

 

13. Lastly, I grabbed a rear diffuser for the car to make it look pretty at the back.

 

THE BIG MOD

 

So this is currently in progress and is the sole reason why I decided to make this thread. There will be other things I have planned which I will mention but this was my main aim of having an 86/brz and get ready for a read if you're bothered.

 

To turbo or to supercharger? This was always my question and weighing up the costs of everything I always jumped between the two. Reliable? Risks? Engine rebuilds? Just some of the questions i constantly asked myself and researched.

 

Oh the sprintex kit looks good, the harrop? Hks? And what about cosworth. In the end these are all supercharger kits and I decided this would be the most reliable way to go forced induction. In some aspects I still believe this but in other ways whatever your method of forced induction 0.5 bar is still 0.5 bar. It's a simple way of looking at things but sometimes, trying to look at things at too many angles just means you wont achieve anything.

 

Either way, i was advised against hks for its known failures, put off sprintex as reputable tuners didnt like them for heat issues. The harrop and cosworth were the last ones left. I loved the cosworth kit but as they are being discontinued, I worried about its platform for future support. What if I wanted more power out of the system? I wouldnt be able to get this. I then did some reading on the harrop kit which was very well regarded and on smallest pulley size could produce over 350 bhp. I'm not a numbers chasing guy but its always nice to know just incase I had funds over the future.

 

I went around looking for quotes and the short story is, either cosworth or harrop, I'm looking at around £7500 to have fitted and mapped. "One day" I said to myself many times over but in my heart, could I really part with £7500 and the answer was no.

 

Someone the came along with a used cosworth which had barely run even 10k miles and I thought hey maybe if I can get a cheap cosworth, it would make it worth it. Sadly, the guy wouldnt budge on pricing at all and I turned him away.

 

Whilst I was in the mind set to part with my money I shopped around and decided that, with the money I'd be willing to part with, turbo is my best option. On top of this, it is more tuneable for further power down the road and you know, 0.5 bar is 0.5 bar weather super or turbo.

 

With black friday coming up I thought, if I could get a price all inclusive to something similar to having the 2nd hand cosworth fitted at a price point I was happy with, I'd go for it. And so, the hunt began.

 

I looked at all of the reputable companies who fitted and tuned turbo cars. I asked around and waited around to see if I could get a good deal.

 

In the end, it came back to Fensport. And the deal they were able to provide me with the parts and service I got, I settled with the avo stage 1 turbo. I wont go into it but the total price I've paid for this kit and upgrades is the best value for money bar none, and I truly believe this. I was left with my jaw to the ground and it was simply an offer I couldn't refuse.

 

The car is currently at Fensport having the work done. I opted for the avo turbo kit with race breather system, 3 bar map sensor overcut boost, and low temp thermostat. I've also decided to upgrade the clutch so it can deal with the new power and have total faith in Fensport looking after me.

 

I cannot wait to get the car back and take it for a spirited drive.

 

In the future, I'd like to get the car lowered a little. I'm not sure if this will be springs or coilovers because I'm running a front splitter.

 

I also intend to upgrade my brakes to BBK so have plenty of reading to do before deciding which way to go.

 

The decision to go turbo is literally a 360 on my narrow minded thinking of "supercharging is the way" but for my style of driving and what I intend to use the car for, the difference in price isn't worth supercharging anymore.

 

I've pm'd plenty people on this forum to gather my own information on modifying and have found everyone to be very helpful to me so thank you to everyone whose actively had conversations with me.

 

The AVO kit I feel has gone quiet on the forum and seems less popular as there are better value for money kits out there but I'm happy i decided to go for this one.

 

I dont have too many pictures but I have an Instagram link which I will shamelessly plug. I'm not the best at updating but if you want to see some of my car, it is there.

 

 

I will definitely update the thread once I receive the car

 

Thanks,

MatrixProtein

 

P.s - my tomei el expreme will be coming off so this will be for sale at some point.198cdb581616b0f18c28bfc68bcaa26d.jpg

 

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

 

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Mods to date summary;

Avo stage 1 turbo kit
Ht autos lip kit
Valenti smoked sequential tail lights
Rota alloys 18'
Hks front pipe (decat)
Scorpion overpipe
Cobra resonated catback
Top sage rear diffuser
Tomei s gear knob
Sun strip
Limo tint
Black oem spoiler

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

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Nice one, Matrix.  I so understand your charger versus turbo dilemma as I went thrrough exactly the same thought process a little earlier this year.  I don't think there is any one best solution as it's a personal choice and each has its merits.  I guess I smiled a little when you focussed in on the Harrop before you went the turbo route as the Harrop is what I now have.

Isn't it true, though, that the real benefit of going forced induction is it's what many of us knew the car needed?  It was great in tuned NA form, but the chassis is so deserving of more power and I was fed up with being left behind by hot hatches.  That doesn't happen any more.  Just as with my previous car, I don't use the power very often, but when I want it, it's there.

Happy turbo power!

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I have to say, even though the Avo kit is the oldest on the market I think it's turbo placement is probably the best on the market. Albeit I'd be slightly concerned heading through standing water. It was a tough call between that and the Cosworth Supercharger for me, the only thing that swung me to Cosworth was the fact I'd never previously owned a SC car.

 

Looks tidy mate. Just gave you a follow on IG

 

 

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Just got the car back now. The weather isn't the greatest but I did get to push it a little here and there.

I'll resonate what other forced induction owners have said; its transformed the car and for the better.

I had mine mapped very conservatively and even then, it pulls like a train and it's very difficult not to find yourself going to fast.

Tdlr; get a turbo or supercharger.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

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