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Wanted a new look for this years sprint season so I chose the Red Arrows as a theme.

Update 05/05/19 - Japfest 2019 Today I attended Japfest 2019 at Silverstone, with 59 other members of the drivers/owners club. This was a great turn out for the club and nice to see so many faces new and old. Here's a couple of photo's of my car from the day. There are a couple of close up of the Verus Engineering splitter with race upgrade kit and dry carbon end plates, as I've just noticed I haven't posted any close up's before.

So i have another couple of updates from the last few weeks, the first being my recent drift day it was a little something I got for my birthday at the end of April and I have to say it was SO MUCH FUN! The next update will be a bit of a hit or miss one for some people as I recently received my brand new air lift setup so i'll be showing off that a little but i'll save that for tomorrow evening, on to the good stuff: As I mentioned before I'm not looking to make the 86 a track car or a drift car for that matter but I wanted to take it to one of these days to have some fun and get some experience chucking it around, overcoming the limit of grip and catching/controlling it and learning how the car behaves. I wanted to do this before I start making the car more grippy with various suspension changes just to give it the best chance to slide about but it really wasn't that difficult when I had the OEM wheels back on and pumped the tyres up to 50psi on the rear. It was a great day and after my first little 5 minute sessions going about it in a ham fisted way, sawing at the steering wheel and being far too heavy fitted I was able to catch it and control some decent donuts around the cones, move on to some figure 8s and by the end of the day I was on their kidney track which was all great fun! Anyway enough of the chatting I guess, here are some pictures, videos and more! All of them are pretty much from the morning before I moved up to the other tracks but I have the say the 86 looks so good leant over to one side with a bit of opposite lock. You can check out the whole gallery of photos here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AkJa4dCyLSqihIdqoiiHrk5lh9MrJg As I mentioned before, here are some videos. Excuse the silly giggling, I was just having so much fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phInejYFfJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou_wDdQfxSA And finally to finish off the report a vulgar display of tyre destruction. The first set are mine after the morning, the 2nd set were a set of part worns that one of the marshalls of the day destroyed after just 10 minutes!

Turns out that modifying houses is even more expensive than modifying cars, so after messing about for a year, I decided to get my priorities right and treated her to some rims as a reward for being so well behaved (touch wood) since the recall work as done. She seems to be running very sweetly indeed since being taken to bits and put back together again. Long may it continue. Anyway, back to the mods, big thanks to @Adrian@TORQEN for sorting me out with some rims. I did come extremely close to pulling the trigger on some TE37s but couldn't get the precise fitment I wanted, so decided to save a few quid on some Enkeis and uphold the tradition of WR Blue with Gold. Very pleased with the look. Perhaps still sitting bit high, but I've got plans for that. First things first though, setup tomorrow to get her back in alignment.

Got mine done today. Team livery on! Obviously a bit of a nod to my friend Chris Hodgetts copying his livery for his double BTCC winning AE86.

Thanks for all the kind words. I have some options in front of me it ponder over for the next few days, and I'll make a final decision from there. Stay tuned!

Ah man gutted for you! My sentiments follow others here, you've spent all this time and effort getting it to this stage. You'll never get that back parting it out and you'll have nothing to show for after! Put the car to the side for a bit, cool off and then get back on it in a few months. Or maybe ignore the big issue being the engine for now and focus on the small wins and little jobs that will keep you feeling progress is being made Think to the future - In many years time this will be a story to tell people...that one time you almost gave up hope on this build but now shes here and awesome

Went down the Tuning Developments Friday. Mike and Nick did a great job of fitting the UEL tuning package. Unfortunatly my car had a Miltek system on it and it was cracked when they checked it so I also went for one of there own super resonated systems. Car feels so much more responsive now and really wants to fly through the rev range without hesitation. The burble is addictive and really brings out the charactor of the car. Im glad I went for super res system as I wouldnt have enjoyed it any louder. Whilst at TD I had some 25mm Tein lowering springs fit and the shifter springs. Yesterday before Japfest I fit my Wedssport TC105x 17" wheels. The things are stupidly light (6.7kg 8" and 7.1kg 9"). I had a set of PS4 tyres fit after reading all the reviews. Heres how she looks now: Going forward I have spoiler raisers and black badges on order. I feel the car needs coilovers to sit right on the 17" wheels. Im also really tempted by the TD turbo kit 🙈

All you smug bastards fiddling about with stickers Whilst I'm just over here, trying to get my fucking shed to work 😂

In the golden hour

Update 11/05/19 - Blyton Park Trackday On Saturday I attended a Javelin Trackday at Blyton Park, it was a good day with everyone well behaved and reasonable weather, slightly overcast with only a small spell of rain in the afternoon, around 3o'clock. After my previous trackday at Bedford Autodrome, I had an issue with the brake pedal going soft after a couple of laps, so last month I took the car to Rogue Motorsport to have the oil changed and the brake fluid replaced. Rogue bleed the brake system (inc the master cylinder) and supplied Millers Racing Brake Fluid 300 Plus. I didn't experience any issues with a soft pedal at Blyton, however it's possible that might be because Blyton is alot shorter than Bedford so the brakes aren't getting worked as much. For research purposes I ordered a set of Racetech Motorsport temperature stickers (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Racetech-Motorsport-Temperature-Test-Strip-Sticker-121-280c-Pack-of-10/231396436152?hash=item35e04d68b8:g:K98AAOSwPhdVDZ~m) to apply to the brake calipers. The max temperature registered on the front calipers was 143°c, the rear's didn't even reach the minimum temperature of 121°c. I'm going to also look at getting an infrared thermometer (I'm fairly sure I already have one somewhere), which I can then use the measure the disc temperature. With quite a few trackday's coming up in the next couple of months I'm considering swapping the front pads out and re-fitting the Ferrodo DS2500's. Whilst I really like the MX72 pads on the road as they have better inital bite and feel compared to the Ferrodo's, I think they lack the aggressiveness of a more track biased pad. I'm also going to order a set of track tyres to go on my 949 Racing wheels, I'm considering the available options but it looks like the most likely tyre will be the new generation of Yokohama AD08RS. Here are the photo's from the day:

Gave the '86 a good wash over the weekend. The last couple of weeks worth of rain on the motorway hadn't been kind. Finished off with Soft99 Luxury Gloss QD. Very pleased with the finish especially in direct sunlight, really brings out the flake well.

The belts are sided with an anti-submarining bit built in, so it would release and lengthen the shoulder strap on the left hand side to prevent it pulling you to one side. It's not designed to be used with HANS, well your seat isn't. It may or may not put your neck under more load. I shouldn't think it's any different than the effect of a regular seat belt though. The age old harness/roll cage debate. I just think it's rubbish really, but others seem to have a strong viewpoint on it. The likelihood of the roof caving in and it compressing your neck is a very small one probability wise. I.e., not significant. Your head, your decision at the end of the day.

Very well put, exactly my thoughts

If it was an RX8, I would already be thinking about a rebuild, an engine mount would be sagging, there would be bubbling sills, the coolant sensor warning would be permanently on, I'd be changing plugs and coils for the second time and I would be spending 50% more on fuel. It's a much better mannered car so far and the Toyota spares are a bit cheaper. I don't believe it's that unusual for car club enthusiasts to see a few engine failures, as they ask the most from their cars and make "improvements". My cause for concern is that there are fewer '86s on the roads than there were RX8s. That might play positively or negatively in future.

Had a few more bits done at, the always awesome, Rogue Motorsport yesterday. Verus Motorsport diffuser was refitted:- Verus Motorsport splitter, carbon end pieces and splitter race upgrade along with Sti side skirts were also fitted:- Quite a mean looking front end now!

I think today might turn out a bit better! I just got ID'd in Tesco Express when buying ciggies! I'm 52 LOL

I’ve edited the list but more may come some may drop out you never know with these really until the time comes. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So the post some people may have been waiting for and others may have been dreading - Air lift time To give a bit of a look in to the thoughts behind the madness I wanted to go Air lift as I wanted to turn the 86 in to more of an all-round Fast Street/Show car. I've done the whole stiff, low, bump-steery and twitchy track car in our Vx220 which doesn't get driven nearly enough as it's a bit too focused for a bumpy B road blast and i've done the low/static thing with my Subaru which essentially renders me unable to go in to any multi-story car parks or even pull in to the drive way after getting home from work without scraping at our last house which for the car which served as my daily for the best part of 3 years isn't all that useful but it does look great! The Fast Street/Slow car thing was always my goal with the 86 which is half the reason I went for a write off as my plan is to eventually (this year if thing's go well) fit a body kit to the car which is why i've not been fussed about picking up 2nd hand body panels and re-locating the front indicators, etc. I'm not looking to slam the car in to the ground and park it up with the wheels disappearing in to the arches or run stupid amounts of camber but these cars often do look fantastic when they're low and angry looking but I wouldn't want to risk ruining any expensive body parts I fitted for the sake of looks with a static ride height and Air lift is the obvious (albeit expensive) solution to all of those worries. Of course there are some worries when it comes to fitting airlift such as leaky lines, tearing a bag or splitting a line but i'm hoping to take the install slowly and take my time with it to make sure it's all as safe and tidy as possible. To be honest i'm not actually too worried about it, I'd like to say im fairly confident with mechanical bits at this point and quite confident even something as fiddly as an air lift install is going to go well as I've always had a history of building PC's, installing custom water cooling loops and so on. The two aren't totally comparable but i'm not worried about it in the slightest! So without further ado, lets show off the gear! I'll start off by showing a brief picture of where the majority of it is going to go, the boot space. When you look in to air lift alot of people make some crazy setups although I'm not enough of a designer or upholstery expert to do something like this (and Im too cheap to pay someone else to do it!) and I didn't want to load up the boot with a load of heavy timber making a frame to mount everything to so I've gone ahead and made a new boot liner out of laminate floor. It's a fairly common thing to do as it's cheap, easy and subjectively looks good. I chose a dark grey/black laminate to make it subtle rather than in your face. And now that i've lost the vast majority of readers! (haha) On to the actual Air lift hardware: That's it for now really! Happy to take opinions and so on as I know it's not for everyone but hey-ho! Going to be a little while before it gets installed. I really want to get it done asap but i've given myself a silly milestone first of buttoning up the Vx220 and listing it on the Market before I go ahead with any work on the 86. I also might be selling the Subaru and getting a more sensible daily as at this point I really don't need 3 performance cars in my life, especially considering the scooby hasn't really been touched since fixing the 86 up it's a bit of a shame.

Christ you have absolutely no luck do you. Gutted for you Smudge. I'm not sure what id do in your position but I'd imagine the overwhelming first urge would be to break it. I would cool off for a bit then make a rational decision.

I've parked 1st row right side of the park, in front if gtr guys[emoji6] Will be at starbucks Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Don't get any ideas!!! 😜

Me too aka Helen McNeill [emoji106] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I also lost 2 front centrecaps for my OZ wheels, have come to the conclusion that my front wheels heated up and expanded causing the caps to pop out. Stephen