spikyone

I know there are plenty of aftermarket options for steering wheels, but I wanted to go OEM+ so I got a wheel trimmed up on exchange (they trim up a wheel they have in stock and you send your old one back once you've got the new one) by https://royalsteeringwheels.com/ 
The result is fantastic, beautiful materials, perfect stitching. Really highly recommended. I went for perforated leather, like the OE part - but much better leather, around the grips and alcantara top and bottom. Red stitching and a centre stripe - I know the centre stripe can be a bit nobby, but I think it looks great!
I've always liked the stock wheel but just wanted it clad in something better!
 

Sorry for the late update ! Have the car since Wednesday and I absolutely enjoy it !!

A couple of people have asked me about fitment.  Going from 225/45 on 17" to 235/40 on 18", both ET35, has increased overall diameter from 634mm to 645mm.  The tyre fills the wheel well by 5mm more.  Testing it against GPS yesterday shows that my speedo is now almost spot-on, over-reading by 1mph at 70.  Gearing is very slightly longer, but it felt just the same as before.
Poke is 5mm more and so is inner distance to suspension, so it's safe.  Although the fronts look to be barely clearing the arches, there is no scrub on full lock.
Scrub radius remains the same, so the alignment that Abbey Motorsport did for me remains good.

Just got it back today, so not trying to be too much of a tease but here's a little preview to wet people's appetite!
Going to take it out over the rest of the week with my younger brother who has a DSLR and small drone to try and get some good looking video footage and shots of it before posting it up in full colour along with a little reveal video.

I'll still be down at Fuel this Saturday come rain or shine so if you want to head out for a coffee, catch up and to see the car I hope to see you there! 😁



 

The time is nigh to get the car back from it's wrap, just a bit of a shame that the weather is so shocking this week!   I'll be saving posting any pics up until i've had a chance to get it outside and make a little "reveal" video but also because I really want to take it down to Fuel Coffee house just outside Henfield This Saturday (they open at 11am) to give a chance to have a little meet with friends and anyone that's interested in seeing it in the flesh before i post up any videos/pictures online, so if you'd like to pop down for a coffee and to see the car, I hope to see you there!   But in the meantime i've made a few small videos for my youtube channel. The first couple of videos were a 2 part vlog just going over the history of the car, the repair, the costs, etc which of course anyone reading this has likely already seen so I won't bore you with a link to that but the other shows off the completion of the custom fibreglass work on the Rocket Bunny diffuser.   It was quite a long process which wasn't without it's headaches for both myself and the painter but i'm thrilled with how it turned out, the idea i had in mind coming to reality really pays off. After getting the Surround of the "V" light fibreglassed in to rocket bunny diffuser it was largely a case of tweaking the position, fixing any cracks that occured from that and then building up the surrounding area with Fibreglass based filler and eventually fine body filler. Doing so allowed me to sand back and form the shapes that I was looking for around the edges of the light so it looked as intentional as possible.   When it was close to completion i then passed it off to a friend of mine who wanted to finish up the filler work and then paint it gloss black, unfortunately for the both of us my fibreglass and filler materials reacted quite badly with his paint which I know can be quite a common issue for painters when dealing with someone elses' work which was why he wanted to finish the filler work himself but unfortunately I think it was a bit late at that point as the bulk of the material had been added by me. Either way some fantastic work on their end they were able to get it complete and it came out looking incredible, super smooth and in a really glassy gloss black finish.   I delivered it down to Monster wraps and i'll see it next when I get the car back!   Video of the diffuser work here:   https://youtu.be/cFae3AD4A0k    
     

There are literally loads of things that are fitted Port of Entry (POE) Portbury Docks as it is for UK cars. The alarm, is another. UK TRD's had the bodykit fitted at POE as another example same is true of wheels etc. 
@ttjt16 just fit an aftermarket head unit with Apple Car Play. There are tons out there and you'll likely get something better anyway that what is being offered in the US. 

You make a fair point, I get it and you are right. You'd expect a glimmer of something by now. Maybe with the GR Yaris nobody was expecting is so they wanted to generate interest by letting such things out. Perhaps as you rightly point out interest in the replacement GT86 is so high, that by not showing anything it keeps people guessing and thus interest levels high. It's hard to know but I agree given a launch in a years time you would expect something. It is possible that it could have been delayed and if so I'm sure Toyota would not want to have a similar situation that they did with the Supra, so it is perhaps more likely that nothing is set in stone.
Maybe the pandemic has pushed it back a bit and once things settle down we'll hear about it. It could also be that they want to push the GR Yaris which is getting all the publicity and marketing at the moment, so they will wait till that is over before muddying the waters with the new GT86/GR86. That would make sense. Especially so with the new GR86 being a Gazoo Racing product. This is big news as it is with the Yaris, so one product launch at a tie is the obvious way to play it. 

The different shape is only true for the BRZs. 
The facelift 86s use the same size as the pre facelift. 
I think Subaru did that so they can fit a standard unit they were having on the shelf. 
All cars come to the UK with no head units. The HU and the alarm are being installed before the car is delivered to the customer. 

A quick update guys!
I have put down a deposit on a Blue edition with PP ( not the 15k mileage one) and now waiting for it to be ready !!
I am very excited and looking forward to it and meeting you guys in the future! 
 
Thank you all of you !
Cheers!

He lost me inside 2 minutes.  Those renderings on the best car website were made by best car themselves, and as he mentions they've just cobbled together bits of other cars including the current GT86.  There's a lot of wild speculation in the video.
There haven't been any spyshots of camouflaged cars yet, no motor show concepts, nothing.  A March 2021 launch seems pretty unlikely.

Steering is much more responsive - a tiny movement of the wheel makes a noticeable change as the slack that's there as standard seems to be gone. That may also be a negative for some people though.
Not noticed any extra NVH but my car is generally quite noisy anyway so I'm probably not the best person to comment on that.

The reason you don't need a BBK at the rear is that with greater front braking from a front BBK, you'll get more weight transfer to the front - and away from the rear - during hard braking. This reduces your capacity for braking at the rear, since friction force (between tyre and road) is proportional to normal force (vertical load), and you've reduced the vertical load. Up to a point that's not a problem, as long as the car is still limited by front tyre grip under braking you're all good.
If you then add bigger brakes at the rear, you'll be moving the rears closer to locking again (in reality, triggering ABS). Contrary to what you might expect, a rear BBK will likely increase your braking distances because you'll become limited by your rear tyre grip and those tyres already had less grip than the front tyres. You'll also increase your chance of binning it on track if you try and trail brake!

It's not related to fleet CO2 at all. The FA20 barely scrapes through Euro 6 emissions, which restricts the amount of other pollutants but doesn't have any CO2 limit whatsoever. Technically Toyota could emit as much CO2 as they want with the amount of hybrids they sell, and still keep the fleet average low. The issue is the other pollutants. Subaru/Toyota actually had to recalibrate the FA20 (for the MY16) to make it compliant with Euro 6 - and it's the same reason Europe doesn't get the performance upgrades that other markets got on the facelift.
They won't get 240bhp out of the FA24 version whilst making it compliant with future emissions standards. Getting 240bhp is easy, meeting emissions requirements is where they'll struggle.

You can still make NA work, the issue is meeting emissions with high specific output. That's why the FA20 is (allegedly) 100bhp/litre but a NA FA24 would be a good chunk less (<90bhp/litre). The Civic Type R is totally different: it's over 300bhp now, which would've needed a big displacement NA engine. So of course they went turbo! The last NA Type R, the FN2, put out 198bhp.
Subaru/Toyota aren't planning to increase the power significantly, and a 2.4 putting out ~215bhp is perfectly plausible. Unless Toyota/Subaru wanted more power (which they've shown many times they don't) or a significantly downsized engine, they will increase displacement rather than using a turbo.

I think, exactly this, Toyota are not looking to significantly increase power, the balance is actually right where they want it and to give it a load more power misses the point and USP of what the car is designed to do. It makes sense on a lot of levels too. I am not sure that there will be a 2.0 turbo Supra sold in the UK, but it certainly gives Toyota the option of introducing one, which would be far less likely if the 2.0 Supra and GT86 end up with similar power levels. There is also the GR Yaris, but I would not expect the new GT to have more power than that, so a figure around the 220bhp fits in as one would expect with the rest of the Toyota range. 

You can still make NA work, the issue is meeting emissions with high specific output. That's why the FA20 is (allegedly) 100bhp/litre but a NA FA24 would be a good chunk less (<90bhp/litre). The Civic Type R is totally different: it's over 300bhp now, which would've needed a big displacement NA engine. So of course they went turbo! The last NA Type R, the FN2, put out 198bhp.
Subaru/Toyota aren't planning to increase the power significantly, and a 2.4 putting out ~215bhp is perfectly plausible. Unless Toyota/Subaru wanted more power (which they've shown many times they don't) or a significantly downsized engine, they will increase displacement rather than using a turbo.

Deal is done, here is a photo of the car.  Due to being self employed I have work commitments until the end of the month but the dealer is willing to store the car for me until then.  So I won’t actually be picking the car up until the end of this month.  Can’t wait for the 120 mile drive home.  Thank you all for your help and advice, really appreciate it.
 

I’ve ordered the first parts:
VLAND front headlights: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07SBTYHWG/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item

VLAND 4th brake/rear fog light: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07S8FZJD4/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t

OLM VL Rear Lights (all red style): https://www.ft86speedfactory.com/olm-vl-style-helix-sequential-red-lens-tail-lights-red-edition-2013-ft86.html#.XtE2zOR4XDt

 
Already received the headlights and rear fog light. Installing them tomorrow hopefully.
 
Lastly, Ive had quotes for some Volk TE37 Saga 17x9 et42 5x100 Face 3 Diamond Dark Gunmetal wheels. Good compromise between weight and concavity. I realised that it’s not possible to get the more concave TE37SL unless you go 18” for the GT86. Hopefully pull the trigger soon. However, lead time is about 2 months.

So with the Rocket Bunny kit now officially installed I'ved moved on to prepping the car for its wrap.


I've chosen to go with a wrap over paint for a few reasons, the first being cost of course, the next being that i'd like to change the colour of the car (still staying somewhat red) as the original red on the car is very flat and if the rocket bunny panels were matched to it I feel the new curves of the body would be lost in the flatness of the OEM colour and finally if I were to do paint i'd like to go the whole 9 yards and spray the whole car inside & out including engine bay doors, etc.


So with all that in mind I've decided to go for a wrap which i've been in talks with a company down in Southampton called Monsterwraps which appear to do some very good work as well as get great reviews. Not wanting to skimp out on the fitting of the wrap ofcourse or do it myself i'd rather pay a sensible price to get a good job done. However as I mentioned i've been in talks with them to confirm how they would tackle the kit, the Wellnut holes and what prep work I can do to speed up the process as of course the car is far from factory fresh.


With that said the car is now booked in to have the wrap installed the week commencing the 15h of June giving me just over a couple of weeks to get it prepped and ready to go!


Check out the first video related to it below where I talk about the proceses as well as my choice in Colour.


https://youtu.be/fhDIo2cXzVo



As far as colour choice goes i've shared it with a few people but i've not been keeping it much of a secret or such. I wanted to stay close to red and have a nice deep gloss to it which lead me to find KPMF Black Red Iridescent
I think this will look amazing on the car and I can't wait to see it completed!

Lucas will be able to get them, if they're still available. I don't think they were listed on the website when I bought mine either. The price including shipping was the same as buying from Japan.
Sounds like a nice list of mods you have planned I have a BBK and coilovers sitting in my garage that will be fitted when we can go out driving for fun again. Tuning Developments usually have a Black Friday deal on the NA kit if you can cope with being patient for that!

Have a word with @Lucas@PartBox
Maybe try some other owners club forums as well. Older WRXs have the same fitment as our cars, as do a lot of VAG cars. That's probably your best chance of finding a used set.

Mine are 18s on PS4, I find it far more responsive than it was on the Primacies, also feels like the ride quality is better. I'm not a great driver by any stretch though so it could just be placebo.

No.
No no. No.

Hi everyone,
Signed up today as I’ve recently paid up on my ‘86 after 3 years. Now I’m planning a few mods before giving the Toyota Sprint Series a go.
I’m from Manchester, a massive motorsport fan, done a few track days and even some novice competitions such as want2race etc. Love Japanese cars and the aftermarket scene. It’ll be the first time of modding anything and learning all the time!
I’ve almost settled on a few bits:
Wheels: Volk TE37SLs - 17x8.5 et45 
Tyres: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 - 215/45/17
Visit to TD: NA tune, Ksport front BBK, Mtec shifter springs, cat back (super resonated since I don’t want to wake the neighbours leaving for work each day!)
Few cosmetic bits maybe...
Still working out what I need for springs: ideally would like to lower and add camber for track use.
Hope to get it all done in the next few months and will add pictures as I go along!
For now here’s my stock apart from EBC pads GT86.
Looking forward to meeting you guys (once lockdown is over!)
Munir

This was the original concept for the GT86 - it's not based on the GT86, it is a GT86 before it was toned down for production.
I wish they'd offered a colour more like that on the production version, IMHO it's much nicer than the solid red.
ETA: Hadn't realised it was actually sitting in a museum! Always nice to get up close to concept cars.