S18 RSG

You ain't foolin nobody We all know the truth, just easier to nod and agree.

Could be worse, could have put Rays stickers on Rota's like you

Additional to Paul's comments above, since when are the red Valenti's the only "non-ricey" ones? I understand that opinion in relation to chrome Lexus-style lights, or (to a lesser extent) smoked lights, but what's wrong with the red/white ones that basically everyone has?

Got nothing better to do on Sunday so I'll see you boys there. Just registered.

Only had mine turbo'd for 4 months, but no real complaints so far. Economy is better than before, drivability is on a new level, throttle response isn't significantly worse, sure there's a little turbo lag, but that's to be expected. It's far better than even some OEM applications I've tried (looking at you Mitsubishi Evo 9 FQ340). The main thing I had to get used to was the throttle sensitivity, which was a result of the mapping. Took me about 6-8 weeks to get used to it. I still occasionally struggle balancing the throttle, especially on hill starts and pulling off when cold, but that's more my fault than the cars'. Not had chance to get it on track since, but not had any heat issues on weekend blasts in the Welsh mountains, and that's a fairly brutal road test.

Don't expect the speakers alone to blow your mind. They're an upgrade, but frankly, anything is an upgrade over the stock speakers (anyone who's had them out will know what i mean). Audio is so much more than just the speakers. Take a good set of headphones and plug them into your phone, then plug them into a good amplifier/DAC and compare the difference, it's night and day. Same thing with car audio. Even the best speakers with the best head unit will be held back by lack of sound deadening. And even the best speakers with great sound deadening on a stock head unit will be held back by the head unit. In order to get a really notable improvement, you need to upgrade everything. That's not to say you need to spend £1000+ for good audio. I spent £400 and my setup is miles better than stock. The most important thing to remember, is not to neglect any aspect of the setup. The headunit is the least important upgrade imo, but combined with good speakers and sound deadening, there's a notable increase when you upgrade it also. If you do buy the speakers and some sound deadening, you'll surely notice a good increase, but if you still feel disappointed, just start looking into head units

This is what I went with @Rich https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NVF9OIA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's very lightweight (I think under 2kg for all 10 sheets) and did a great job on mine. It was recommended to me by a local audio specialist who uses it for lightweight installs.

I honestly can't remember how long the original took to boot, and don't know the actual time for this one, so I'll just say this: When I leave for work in the morning, I start the car, pull out of my garage, get out of the car to lock the garage and music is playing before I get back in my seat. I would guess 20 seconds or so. Occasionally takes a little longer, but rarely am I driving away without music being played.

Nope, that's what I mean by fills the space perfectly. It's a 200x100 screen, so it fits the OEM space perfectly without the need for the fascia adapters. One of the main reasons I went with it. See below.

No problem I went with the XTrons Android unit that a few people on here have. It's fairly OEM looking, cheap, has every feature I would need and fits the space perfectly. I did initially fit the amp, and while it made a decent difference at high volumes, it had a fair amount of noise, which I thought was due to an earthing problem, but turned out to be something else. I therefore removed it and have never fitted it since.

If you offered these painted I'd have ordered one about a year ago, but I know if I order an unpainted one it will just stay on my bedroom floor for the next few months until I can be bothered to get it painted. If you start offering them painted, or I turn over a new leaf wherein I'm not lazy, I'll have one straight away.

Fair play for the amount of work you put in here. I wouldn't hesitate to buy small things (interior trim, model cars, badges etc.) from here, as even if they're cheap knock-offs, it's not like they're major safety critical components. However, no matter how tempting a £600 set of Brembo brakes, a £300 carbon hood and trunk, or a £250 set of fake RPF1's are, I could never convince myself to take the risk. I'm sure the Asian market has improved drastically over the past few years, but I'm also sure there are still plenty of very convincing, but very poorly made fakes out there. Taking that risk on anything major is like walking a tightrope over the grand canyon with no safety harness. Fine if it works out well, death if it doesn't.

Ok, so the reason people are saying supercharger is easier on the gearbox isn't for anything that relates to you being able to run more power. The engines are weakest at low RPM. Supercharging is a good method to avoid big lumps of low down torque, as the boost builds with RPM (faster the engine spins, faster the supercharger pulley spins), so by design, it avoids early spikes in torque. Turbochargers, by design, deliver all their boost at the point of the boost threshold (where the compressor wheel is spinning fast enough to make boost in basic terms), this means you go from making 150lb/ft of torque, to suddenly making 100lb/ft extra as soon as boost kicks in. However, this is a very basic outlook on the system, and also more accurately describes old school turbos as opposed to the modern systems, like TD's. One look at the dyno chart of the TD kit shows you that this kit isn't like that. Mike tunes his kits in such a way that the boost builds gradually, and is therefore very smooth, possibly as close to a supercharger as you could hope to achieve from a large turbo. Your power ceiling will be the same on either a supercharged application or a turbo, the difference comes in torque and power delivery. A well tuned turbo application will be every bit as safe as a supercharger. The statements you've heard likely refer to the fact that, inherently, a supercharger is safer due to its design. It requires less human input (tuning) to limit low down torque than a turbo. That means 270-280 from the TD kit should be fine, as I'm sure Mike will test the hell out of the gearbox limits when he's tuning it to make sure it's safe. I honestly couldn't give you a solution to cooling the gearbox. I don't know if there's a method or package out there to cool the gearbox fluid or whatever, but maybe drop Keith a PM on here, he might have came across something during his experiments.

That's not something you gain with a supercharger though, as it's available on both applications, so not really sure why I would mention it?

Rob should be there in his Sprintex car, and he'll always give people passenger rides. Obviously, with myself, Mike and Mark going, you'll also be spoilt for choice with TD turbo'd cars if you need a reminder.

To answer your questions 2 and 3: 2) I'm almost certain that level of power is attainable with a 2.5" exhaust. Plenty of tests revolving around this subject on the internet, not just in GT86's. Most test seem to conclude that a 3" exhaust only really makes a big difference when you get into 500bhp+ territory. Sure, you'll probably see a few extra hp even around 300, but if you already have 2.5" system, there's little point in upgrading. 3) Supporting mods for a safe 300whp and a HKS charger would almost certainly include uprated internals (pistons and rods as a minimum). An uprated clutch, brakes, minimum 255 wide rear tyres (most recommend 265's for this power) and an oil cooler would be the starting point. Factor in £4.8k for HKS kit and fitting (Fensport prices), £3.5-4k for the uprated internals plus labour, £500-1k for clutch and labour and even if you ignore the parts not related to the engine, you're in for close to £10k already. I also completely forgot you have the auto box, instead of manual, in which case, you're going to really struggle going anywhere above the norm. Learn from Keith's mistakes, as he spent a hell of a lot of time and money finding out what you can now know for free. In the end, I think your best bet would be to pick the kit you want (I would recommend TD's turbo for obvious reasons), install a 4.67FD to more closely match the manual box, then if you want some extra speed, add lightness rather than power. As a final side note, don't necessarily pay attention to those who say a supercharger is "kinder to the engine" than a turbo. That's all to do with the map. I would actually argue that a turbo application can be tuned to be even kinder than a supercharger, as you have full control over boost pressure by adjusting the wastegate. A supercharger makes boost as the engine builds revs, and you adjust boost by fitting smaller pulleys/belts, so the boost is much less flexible than with a turbo. Just something to think about.

If Cosworth is out of your budget, so is a safe 300whp. You can achieve 300whp with the items you've mentioned, but without upgrading internals, you're at huge risk of blowing the engine, in which case, you're talking about doubling your investment. I'm interested in why you think 300whp is necessary. Mike's stage 2 tune on his demo car is running 340 at the fly, and it's on the limit of what's safe on the stock engine thanks to his tuning, but to me, it's maybe a little too much for the road. I would suggest 300hp at the crank is all you'd ever need on the road. Sure, on the track you can go higher still, but for 2-3 track days a year, it's not really a track car. There's a good reason most FI owners stay at around 280hp. It's safe on the engine, requires no supporting mods beyond off the shelf kits, and puts the car into Cayman S/M3 territory anyway.

How about the childish things, like noise? The TVS chargers give off a feint whine, but nothing like as loud as the Sprintex. The TD kit on the other hand is classic Supra/Skyline soundtrack. Open wastegate, flutter when lifting off etc. It's by no means subtle. I can't imagine it would be a deciding factor, but certainly something to consider I would think.

Yeah, that's kinda my point, that's why I changed the last sentence to "price difference", as I wasn't sure it was actually £1,000. If you're correct in your maths, then yes, £2,200 is a lot of money to pay for some piece of mind, especially when there's no guarantee that EVERY kit will perform the same as Ade's or Cosworth's test car. That £2,200 could go towards fixing almost any problem found on the TD kit, and probably still have money to spare for tyres for the next track day

You're probably looking at the best supercharger vs the best turbo, so you're on the right path. One question is, when are you planning on having the work done? Both myself and Mike will likely have some test data on the TD turbo later in the year as we start tracking our cars, so if you're not in a rush, you might benefit from patience. If you can't wait, you should consider whether the difference in price is worth it for some test data. If yes, then Cosworth is the way to go. If not, and you're willing to rely on what information is out there currently, then take a gamble with the TD kit. Either way, you won't be disappointed, but that's a decision for you alone to make.

I paid £4.3k for the install, as I had the license for the Ecutek. I was quoted around £1,200 more for the Harrop kit, but that price was mostly due to the increase in import charges following Brexit, and the decline of the Pound, not Abbey's fault at all. The Cosworth kit is UK based, so no worries about import costs or similar, but the price is still around £5.5k for install due to the amount of R&D they put into their kit. I told @Mike@TD.co.uk that he's priced himself into business, so I hope he's ready, cause his kit is easily one of the best kits out there, yet is still one of the cheapest. For a turbo application, it's a no brainer.

Both @DanJ and @Ade run superchargers on track, so have collected a fair amount of data. They're running the Harrop and Cosworth respectively. Any setup will almost require an oil cooler for extended track use, but that's true of the standard car as much as it is with an FI application. I've not done any track time since December when I had my TD turbo fitted, mostly cause it's winter, but I've been able to run the car very hard on some Welsh B roads, and after an hour or so of passionate driving, my IAT's were only around 5 above ambient. The large FMIC on the TD setup should, in theory, aid with track abuse fairly well. One of my main areas to focus on when I get on the track is the intake pipe being so close to the hot downpipe. I'm tempted to wrap the intake pipe in some gold foil or similar to reflect the heat away from the intake air if it looks to be a problem come the warmer months. On the flip side of all that, I also daily my TD turbo car. I average 35mpg, and can easily see mid 40's on a run. What I miss out on compared to the supercharged applications is the immediate throttle response and low down torque, but comparing to a typical NA>Turbo conversion, this package is a lot closer to an OEM turbo than anything I've tried before. Almost no lag, boost builds from around 2500rpm with max boost coming in around 3k. That means the car drives quite similarly to stock, where you have to rev it to get the best out of it, you just don't have to rev it so high. My only good experience with supercharging was with the Harrop setup @DanJ has (although I've never tried a Cosworth, but they are very similar I understand). It was very impressive. Whereas the turbo application feels like an FI car, the Harrop felt like you dropped a 350Z engine in a GT86. Bags of low down torque in any gear, but very little drama. Only way you could really tell you were going faster was by watching the speedo. Really all depends on what you want specifically, as although the end results are similar, the delivery and drivability have some differences.

Adam already linked my thread talking about this subject, but I'll clarify my findings for you here. This list is in order of quality with what I did to my car (worst to best): Stock HU and stock speakers Uprated HU and stock speakers Stock HU and Focal IS165TOY speakers Uprated HU and Focal IS165TOY speakers Uprated HU and Focal IS165TOY speakers with sound deadening in doors If you only want to change speakers, I would recommend the Focal speakers that have been linked here a few times. They take 20 minutes per side to change (as long as you're familiar with removing the door cards) as it's just 3 screws and 1 plug per speaker. The tweeters are a little more involved, but still only took me around 30 mins per side. Although I didn't test it, I would guess that stock HU with these speakers and some sound deadening in the doors would sit somewhere between 4th and 5th on this list. The head unit made some difference, but it's not an Alpine or Pioneer, so I didn't expect much, but the sound deadening made a good difference. I went between the door skins for the speakers, and it made such a difference that I put some more under the rear seats, footwell, boot and bonnet. Only used very light stuff, but made a big difference to road noise, which in of itself improves sound quality by eliminating other noise.

Not sure there's such thing as "best" for such a subjective topic. The standard car is supposed to be around 160hp/ton (according to official figures), but we all know through testing it's more like 145, and I think most would agree that's not enough. However, while I might say mine is perfect at 220hp/ton, I've not driven anything with more power to find out if anything more than mine is too much. I would agree with Rich, that anywhere around 200 would be great. At 220 I occasionally find situations where I have more power than I need, and others where I feel like I would like more power, so it's difficult for me to even give my own opinion. FYI, if you're trying to work out your own figure, for stock weight on our cars, just do: Crank power x 0.8

I also wanted a TTRS before the GT86 (among other things anyway) but straight line speed, while fun, gets boring a lot quicker than fun in the corners. Admittedly, I now have both (although not quite TTRS fast yet), but I have never once regretted my decision. On topic, I've wanted that head unit for months, unfortunately, brakes and tyres are required, a new head unit isn't, so it will be a few months before I'd be able to buy it