Lauren

It is with very sad news that I have to announce that Jordan Wade has lost his battle with depression. To many he was the cheeky and often controversial face of the club and whilst I always saw him as a good friend and a true petrolhead that loved nothing more than to while the night away talking cars with a pint in hand. Those were the good times.  
However, he had a true passion for all things automotive for which he lived and breathed. A kindred spirit I always thought if ever there was. That is what I'll miss Jordan for. I have spoken to Jordan in the past about his depression and I really hoped that things were getting better, but that wasn't the case and there is nothing I or anyone it seems could do. 
I am not sure what we will do from here as I would have been at the funeral, but I seriously doubt current circumstances will allow. I am meeting with Richard to have a discussion about it, but feel that if we can't be there we should perhaps organise something else and Jordan would have liked a good amount of GT86 presence. So I will have a think about that and welcome any ideas. 
I have spoken with Jordan's girlfriend, Michelle and she is understandably devastated and confused by the whole turn of events. I have let her know that we are there to support her and we will.
I am just so terribly sorry to have to tell you all about losing one of our best and I think most loved members of the club.
Apologies for not making a very well written post, I am just so sad and I can't think straight. 
 

It is with very sad news that I have to announce that Jordan Wade has lost his battle with depression. To many he was the cheeky and often controversial face of the club and whilst I always saw him as a good friend and a true petrolhead that loved nothing more than to while the night away talking cars with a pint in hand. Those were the good times.  
However, he had a true passion for all things automotive for which he lived and breathed. A kindred spirit I always thought if ever there was. That is what I'll miss Jordan for. I have spoken to Jordan in the past about his depression and I really hoped that things were getting better, but that wasn't the case and there is nothing I or anyone it seems could do. 
I am not sure what we will do from here as I would have been at the funeral, but I seriously doubt current circumstances will allow. I am meeting with Richard to have a discussion about it, but feel that if we can't be there we should perhaps organise something else and Jordan would have liked a good amount of GT86 presence. So I will have a think about that and welcome any ideas. 
I have spoken with Jordan's girlfriend, Michelle and she is understandably devastated and confused by the whole turn of events. I have let her know that we are there to support her and we will.
I am just so terribly sorry to have to tell you all about losing one of our best and I think most loved members of the club.
Apologies for not making a very well written post, I am just so sad and I can't think straight. 
 

Alignment done. Went to Drury Lane Garage in Oldham. Top class job done same day within a few hours, very friendly and got to chat about trackdays etc.
Now have -2.5 camber front, -2.0 rear and very slight rear toe-in. They checked over all my handiwork to ensure it was all safe. I left the dampers at 7 clicks. The wobbly handling is cured, hurray! Feels very planted so far, as much as you can feel on the road anyway.
Once the BBK is in, I'm rebooking the last track day I had planned that was cancelled due to covid back in March (anyone planning to do a Circuitdays event soon?).  Will post some beauty shots of the finished car soon once its stopped pouring. Just saving up for the TD NA tune now.
Pictures of the final camber and ride height:

mucho excitio ! I've just put down a deposit on a blue edition with performance pack. I test drove it on my own for around an hour and just had to buy it 😁 can't wait to get hold of it for good.

The later car is the better car, go for that. 

I expect your rear toe is miles out. Get it aligned first then see. 

Good to hear progress is being made, although I'll bet it's so frustrating given how many issues you've had. This project must be getting on for five years now. Still, hopefully you'll make Japfest next year!

Apologies for the long absence! Been a funny old year personally, meaning the car has been put on the back burner slightly... 
Now back in action with lots of things happening, so I'll try and get as much of an update in this post as I can remember! 
First and foremost, I finally got the newly built engine back from Rogue Motorsport after MANY issues with parts 🙄 Matt, Patrick and the team have been amazing! This project has tested the limits of their patience, yet they've still gone above and beyond to deliver the end product. 
It was then back to Carson Performance to put it all back together, using the existing parts that it was fitted with last time. Piece of cake, right? 
WRONG! Even the engine mounts which were EXACTLY the same for the old engine that went pop, didn't want to play ball and needed slight modifications to fit the new engine in place. Literally cannot catch a break.... 
The new intercooler that sits in the intake manifold under the supercharger, is made by the same company that make the intake manifold. So should be made to fit perfectly, right? Wrong again! Yet more slight modifications required. 
So yet again, stupid little things holding us back from getting this running. Like the water outlets for the intercooler fowling on the heater matrix water pipes. REALLY?! 😓
But, as always, Carson Performance have overcome every issue this project throws at them and made up some custom water pipes that are slightly shorter than the ones supplied, meaning it all fits into place nicely. 
Hopefully not too much longer now, but who knows what else this thing come up with to test us? 

Pads are expensive. They are around £300 for a set. Parts are not super expensive, it's a £25K car new. If you are buying a 2019 car you will have four years warranty left, so it will only need routine servicing. On the Primacy tyre they last very well around 14K for the rears and 20K for the fronts. It will only cost you for consumables and I would expect another 20K out of your brake pads unless you drive like a loon. 

You can fit lowering springs. Obviously it will lose you some damper stroke and it will mismatch the damping. How much of an issue that is, you will have to see. 

245/40 will be all good 👍

You could try this as a better tweeter option :
Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr
When the audio guy did my install he didn't think atop the dash would be best for sound. 

No worries you are welcome. I reckon I'll be doing a track day around January as the new car is apparently going to arrive sometime in November if all goes to plan. I have a GR Yaris with circuit pack on pre-order since March!  

Welcome and enjoy the car.
 

Thanks, modding has now begun.  I have a pile of parts ready to go.
Grimmspeed Intake:
Firstly I fitted the Grimmspeed intake, a nice and easy install.  Out of the intakes for this platform this one seemed to get good reviews and picked up a used on cheap.  It has a black wrinkle finish so subtle in the engine bay and makes a nice noise:
Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr
Grimmspeed Pulley Cover and STi Flexible Strut Brace:
Not the best picture, as it all needs a clean due to polish dust from the final polish the bodyshop did but while in the engine bay I also fitted a Grimmspeed pulley cover, again another used bargain and changes up the look of the engine bay in a subtle way.  Also features a little tool tray while working on the engine.  You can also the see the STI flexible strut brace which came as a package from Japan with my STi exterior parts:
P1120709 by James Baker, on Flickr
 
Coilovers, drop links and new wheels:
Next up I wanted to fit the Tein Flex Z coilovers and Whiteline adjustable drop links.  Great bit of kit, super easy to fit excluding the seized stock drop links which I end up just cutting off as I had the Whiteline to go on anyway.   I know is a common issue, easily sorted with an angle grinder and lots of sparks.
Out with the old:
Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr
I did touch up the painted calipers which the previous owner had done, not a big fan of painted stock calipers but didnt have any other colours to hand so atleast they were tidy as I touched up the chips etc:
Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr
In with the new, dont worry about the wet looking components, it was all getting a wash while I was under there:
Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr
I now need to give it time to settle before I adjust anything else.  I threw on my Rota Grids, I have new black lug nuts coming in the post as well as black centre caps, so excuse the missing items, tyre fitting grease etc.  Once settled I will play with the ride height and may even space out the rear wheels slight, lets see
Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr
Looking forward to finding some time to fit the STi front lips etc in between the day job and DIY which seems to be endless.  
 
 

Hello everyone,

Quite excited, I have reserved a 2013 red GT86 from Vantage Wakefield, and hope to pick it up later this week.

I have read lots of interesting stuff already on this brilliant site (and the owners site), the main thing is the spring recall, I'm waiting to hear whether my car has had it done, and at what mileage.

It's a one owner car, provided by vantage, and serviced by them, which I'm hoping is a good thing.

I can't wait to drive it, have always loved Toyotas, first car was a Celica ST162 :-).

Thanks Lauren. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with people. My last meet was Japfest 2018, just after I had got my car from the shipping company after returning to the U.K.  That was what confirmed my plans for fitting S/C and more. It’s taken this long to realise those plans. Now the fun should begin, apart from bloody Covid-19 messing things up. 
If you have any track days planned before next year give me a shout and I’ll see if I can travel up and meet you. 

What new car are you getting by the way?

Hi Richard. It needs to be a feed when the ignition is on. RRG Macclesfield fitted mine, so I don't know what they used in that respect. My TEIN setup with EDFC Active Pro has been on my car for 130,000 miles and 6.5 years now! It still works faultlessly and I've never had  an issue with is. I expect the next national meet is going to be Japfest Silverstone next May. I will have my new car by then, but my fiance should be there in the GT.
 

I hadn’t really planned the next mod but a little man maths and my inherent weakness for billet parts was just too much to resist
 
Initially I was thinking along the usual route of buying individual suspension parts control arms, toe rods etc but the Wisefab kits actually make more sense and they have the added benefit of beautiful billet uprights which have a built in 25mm drop on the knuckles all round.
 
I always associated Wisefab with drifting parts but they also make track kits that maintain the original track widths front and rear, giving pretty much all the adjustment you could ever want. More important for me though was that fact the kits correct the suspension geometry for lowered cars, whilst also saving 14kg on the rear and 7kg up front which is pretty significant on a suspension system.
 
Rear Kit
 

 
Front kit
 

 
I’ve only managed to fit the rear so far, unfortunately I couldn’t source the rear kit in black. Its a relatively straight forward install, but did require a few tweaks to the AP racing 4 pot calliper bracket to make it work with the billet knuckles mounting points.
 
Side by Side of the old OEM components and new Wisefab rear kit
 

 
New Bits installed on the rear, you can really see just how high the hub is placed in the new knuckle
 

 

 
Hopefully I’ll get a decent run at the front over the next week or so, and then carry out a quick alignment before the next track day.

Some new settings I'm trying out. Note this is supposed to be a good all round road setup for general driving with the idea being it's full soft below 20km/h for speed humps and bad surfaces and then it stiffens proportionately. Note that the increases in lateral G are more than G2 stock settings. I haven't messed with longitudinal G, I just use G2 at the moment. 
 
Speed and lateral G have been changed though. Will be interesting to see how it pans out. The idea was for it to be comfortable when not trying that hard and then it stiffens up significantly when you push on and load up the G force. 
 
We'll see. 
 

 
NB: now corrected to show cumulative speed increase to stiffness.

All UK cars have the bigger discs apart from the 29 or so Primo cars sold. 

I've covered over 20,000 miles and won a sprint championship. Do  I win? 😂

Bought some new wheel nuts for when the tyres were swapped. I was really impressed by these - they are open ended nuts which the red piece screws into using a special tool they provide. They've even gone to the effort of sealing it with a rubber o-ring.

Took the car to Rogue Motorsport to swap the new track tyres on and give the car a quick check over before the two trackdays I have coming up next week



 

My car with a TD NA package makes 178lb/ft thought it is noticeably more torquey than a stock car. It will probably hold a bit more torque throughout the rev range. I would not expect a night and day difference, but you will notice it. 217bhp again is 4bhp more than mine, so not a lot of difference but over a stock car you would notice it. The point of the car is it doesn't have a turbocharger, it's the NA responsiveness which is the cars real selling point. I too am looking forward to it. I've got a GR Yaris on order, but am going to do two years finance on it and see how things pan out in terms of the new GR86. 

I’m cautiously optimistic. Styling definitely not sure on. I’m surprised people thought the car would be an all new platform etc. Subaru are effectively the manufacturer and their general development is glacial at best. Not a complaint, just an observation. The photos show the general platform is very similar, a lot of the tooling might even be transferable. Gives hope that development cost will be low helping to keep the price reasonable. Additionally one can hope this allows a strong aftermarket. Hopefully this will keep the spirt of the car similar to current which is good as far as I’m concerned. Really I’m just happy that this type of car still exists.