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Kono

New to the GT86, basic mod tips please :)

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So some time in October I got my hands on a Cat S 2018 model fully repaired and only 5K on the clock. 

Initially this was going to be my work car but its too fun to remain stock  and too pretty to have those skinny pram wheels on it! I aim to eventually take it on small track days, but nothing serious, it still needs to be my daily drive without shaking me to death like my old 200sx.

So i got a few basic questions:

While on stock camber/suspension, what is the max size wheel that fits without rubbing? I'm thinking about some Work emotion ZR10 18x8.5 ET32. I am aware of the 'wheel it fit' FT86 calculator but I'd rather hear from people with experience than trust something in theory.

What are the best places to start modding? Is there anything in particular that makes quite a noticeable difference or recommendations on what is a good start?

Has anyone failed the MOT on emissions if they removed the manifold cat and had a singular high flow cat? I noticed a lot of people talking about removing the torque dip by removing the manifold cat however no one ever mentions if they can still pass MOT's 😆

Is here anything thing to look out pr listen for given its a boxer engine? Never owned a subaru or car which had one before. Dreading changing the spark plugs or the bill to get someone else to.

 

Thanks in advance ^^

Edited by Kono
Forgot to say thank you

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Performance mods, I assume you mean.

Swapping manifold and a remap is the first step. Without the remap you won't benefit. It will pass an MOT.

Tuning developments are the common choice - they have pricing on their website.

Beyond that, the next step is either turbo or supercharger. Part of the cost for remap includes license cost for remapping tool so you don't pay for that bit twice.

Toyota's charge for spark plug service is not too unreasonable now it's a fixed cost.

 

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14 minutes ago, Adamd said:

Performance mods, I assume you mean.

Swapping manifold and a remap is the first step. Without the remap you won't benefit. It will pass an MOT.

Tuning developments are the common choice - they have pricing on their website.

Beyond that, the next step is either turbo or supercharger. Part of the cost for remap includes license cost for remapping tool so you don't pay for that bit twice.

Toyota's charge for spark plug service is not too unreasonable now it's a fixed cost.

 

Yeah I was looking into going down the turbo route once I had sorted out the wheels, since at the mo its got really cheap tires on the rear (no idea why when the fronts seem pretty decent) and it already cant really put power down without slipping. I figured I would wait till I can get someone like fensport to do their avo stage 2 so i could skip buying a manifold twice. Nice to know doing that wont make my car not legal on the road :)

12 minutes ago, Adamd said:

Speakers are god awful, the focal kit which replaces front speakers is well worth the price. Very worthwhile upgrade and whack some sound deadening sheets in the doors while you do it.

Honestly this was the first thing I noticed about the car. I wasn't sure if it was the speakers or the actual audio unit. In my gen 7 celica the max vol before distorting was super quite, but changing the actual radio itself seemed to fix it and the speakers where pretty decent. I'll check out this sounds well worth the investment!

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That wheel setup will be very aggressive for a stock suspension setup and will poke quite a bit. It'll be fine once lowered and with some camber.  

With regards to cats and MOT, as soon as you remove the cat from the exhaust the MOT should technically be a fail. However you should still be able to pass with an aftermarket manifold and stock front pipe. 

The most common exhausts manifolds available in the UK are the Tuning Developments Manifold (best valve for money), Rogue Motorsport Manifold (premium quality) or the Tomei clones (dirt cheap). 

As for the boxer engine, they are very reliable, the key things to keep an eye on are the oil & coolant levels and there is a triangle shaped plate at the back of the engine that can sometimes leak oil. 

Also what's a Small track day?

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3 hours ago, will300 said:

That wheel setup will be very aggressive for a stock suspension setup and will poke quite a bit. It'll be fine once lowered and with some camber.  

With regards to cats and MOT, as soon as you remove the cat from the exhaust the MOT should technically be a fail. However you should still be able to pass with an aftermarket manifold and stock front pipe. 

The most common exhausts manifolds available in the UK are the Tuning Developments Manifold (best valve for money), Rogue Motorsport Manifold (premium quality) or the Tomei clones (dirt cheap). 

As for the boxer engine, they are very reliable, the key things to keep an eye on are the oil & coolant levels and there is a triangle shaped plate at the back of the engine that can sometimes leak oil. 

Also what's a Small track day?

couple laps on anglesea track or oulton park, not like solid hard driving for hours straight. They are pretty small tracks compaired to others.

 

As for the aggresive poke, I dont mind it a little, from what i've been told as long as the tread doesnt stick out of the arch there wont be any issues with the law. Eventually when i get round to coilovers im hoping the naural camber would tuck it in a little bit better, but i dont want to be one of those huge camber angle people that have 10" wide wheels with only 2 inches making contact with the road... I have seen alot of people saying they have like 18 x 9 et 35ish and have no issues and didnt need to roll the arches but i really cant see how thats possible :/

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Reason for extra camber might bet not just to enable clearance for widest possible wheels/tires.

On track extra static negative camber increases cornering grip & evens out wear instead of just ripping tire outer side. "Free extra grip" from same tires on track, and longer lasting. Another reason to increase front camber (relative to rear) might be to reduce understeer-ish bias of stock alignment.

Of course, how much camber is optimal, may depend more from where most of tire wear happens, be it on track or from daily driving. Obviously not counting by relative mileage alone, but by extent of wear, as 5-10 trackdays can go through all the thread of new tire set. If just two trackdays per year, maybe more street oriented alignment averages as more optimal. If 5+ full trackdays, then probably tire set will last at most one season and it's "normal" driving wear relatively will be negligible, so worth align for track.

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Our NA Tuning Package is quite a popular option, link below for you.

 

If your final goal is to look at forced induction, you can then upgrade from our NA kit onto our turbo package without buying a manifold twice.

 

Feel free to drop me a link with any questions.

 

https://www.tuningdevelopments.uk/product_info.php?cPath=502_625_852&products_id=2567

 

Thanks

 

Mike

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