Stutopia

Pilot sport 4's  I'm getting those. 
I did struggle with my intake hose too, I thought it would be easy but as always things get in the way; so you have to undo a few more screws (then drop one and spend 15mins trying to find it) and just make it more difficult. 

Great pics, that R34 in Bayside Blue ❤️

Hi All,
Made our way down to Japfest yesterday, I wasn't on the club stand but swung by to take some photos and get some inspiration for my own baby. Not the greatest of conditions for pics, pretty overcast and the cars were mostly very tightly packed but here are a few of the better shots. Feel free to share them on instagram etc. if there's one of yours you like, high res versions should be downloadable on my Flickr, just click the images to get them.
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Japfest 2017
Hope you like. I'm off to agonise over wheel choices.
Rich
 
 

Those arms are a work of art. Enjoy!

First of the serious, frivolous mods today.
Requiring nearly all my tools.
As well as my Captain Brave pants.




Drilled into the inner skin of the boot lid.

Fitted a dirty great rivet.

Did some screwing.

After a few minutes hard work, the job was complete.

Can you tell what it is yet?



That's right!!!! It's a boot lid handle, in red! And with it being a mod, it's good for AT LEAST 15bhp, and the extra weight is over the driven wheels, so extra grip too!

I also found a random boot magnet, silver, on the right.



Does everyone on this platform have a random boot lid magnet? Or is it just me?

To be honest I was expecting a crashed GT86. 
Welcome. 

That boot handle is awesome! I need one (although perhaps not in red).
Sadly enough one of my biggest gripes with this car is the lack of an interior handle to close the boot with.

First of the serious, frivolous mods today.
Requiring nearly all my tools.
As well as my Captain Brave pants.




Drilled into the inner skin of the boot lid.

Fitted a dirty great rivet.

Did some screwing.

After a few minutes hard work, the job was complete.

Can you tell what it is yet?



That's right!!!! It's a boot lid handle, in red! And with it being a mod, it's good for AT LEAST 15bhp, and the extra weight is over the driven wheels, so extra grip too!

I also found a random boot magnet, silver, on the right.



Does everyone on this platform have a random boot lid magnet? Or is it just me?

Check out number 8 
 
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tieece/top-adrenaline-pumping-hobbies-you-can-start-today-2il4i?utm_term=.tbgveLX65#.nnB36l4AG

Total farce and you'll never need them, but in the unlikely event Jeany Gendarme pulls you (speeding perhaps, upset about Brexit, cheese rustling) if you get a jobsworth they can fine you for a minor arsenal of missing items. I must admit, I have small pack that I've totted around abroad for several years now abroad, I suspect not one of the bulbs would actually fit - but weirdly, that's not what they actually check!
Deets here - https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/driving-abroad/checklist/

Great to pop my club cherry and meet some of the gang for the first time, a really cracking line up of motors, all in sparkling form and many tastefully modified. The BRZs have that air of exclusivity but the 86s aren't too shabby either
Bit special seeing this on my first trip out.

SWOON

Hi Everyone
Here are my photo's from today's Show & Shine meet, a big thanks to @Neal for arranging the event. There was a good turnout, I hopefully got everyone's car, if I didn't sorry.
Thanks for looking
Will



















The Impostor:

I just also want to say, I'm bloody exhausted now who'd have thought cleaning cars could be so tiring, however my work paid off:

(That's a photo from after the event as the engine bay was the only bit of the car which didn't get full marks)
 

Great to pop my club cherry and meet some of the gang for the first time, a really cracking line up of motors, all in sparkling form and many tastefully modified. The BRZs have that air of exclusivity but the 86s aren't too shabby either
Bit special seeing this on my first trip out.

SWOON

Great to pop my club cherry and meet some of the gang for the first time, a really cracking line up of motors, all in sparkling form and many tastefully modified. The BRZs have that air of exclusivity but the 86s aren't too shabby either
Bit special seeing this on my first trip out.

SWOON

****Mega long post warning*****
 
So in October, I did something fun and a bit stupid, and finally bit the bullet and bought a Subaru BRZ... this is how it went.

I am not a morning person. This hour of the day was not much fun.

My incredible value train ticket to the nearest station to the dealership in Falkirk (£53!!!)

The Lake District.

Murrayfield, I got excited somewhere around here.
I got picked up from the station in the car, drove it back via their usual test drive route, car was spot on.



Pictures do not do World Rally Blue justice!!! Love the colour. Rear lights need to go, but that can wait.

Met up with Brad off PH Forums who looked round the car for me before I went to get it!
Then I drove the North Coast 500!

Fort William

My new dash (Headunit has to go!)

Just incase I broke my phone!

The view over Helmsdale for my first night!

John o Groats!

Wick Harbour, met up with a mate who works in Wick and lives in Thurso so had a play with his Megane Turbo for the day! Was good fun, alot of torque steer, and surprisingly revvy!

Thurso Beach

An evening in Bettyhill...





My 4 favourite pictures of the entire trip! The scenery of the west Highlands is insane, totally mind blowing.

Lochinver


The ferry terminal and dock at Ullapool

Somewhere near Ullapool!

Looking moody in Carlisle

Total miles from Falkirk to home via NC500 & Fort William!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So one thing I noticed a day or so into my trip was the brakes were pretty terrible. Plenty of meat on the pads but no bite at all.
Closer investigation and i found Jurid marked on the fronts. Cheap pads from Euros or wherever.
A little asking around on the GT86/BRZ Driver's Facebook page and I bought and fitted these:



Performance Friction fronts and Yellowstuff rears.

In Derby this week...
It's going to a local detailer to clean 1500 miles of grime off and seal it for winter on Saturday, so more pictures then!
Next up is swap a set of wheels off my Fabia over onto it for winter, and my personal plate, then save for an exhaust and some TOMs rear lights.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just had it de-swirled and it looks incredible!
Pictures:




Can't believe the difference, even on a 3yr old car.
This thing is also making me reconsider my collection of toys...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swapped my spare wheels over end Nov;



Really like the Gunmetal against the Blue, but next pair of tyres can be bigger than the 205/40/17 on there now.
Also the Rainsport3s are much nicer to use than the awful standard tyres on greasy roads!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KW Coilovers and Superpro rear lower arms and toe arms on!

With a proper alignment, the car is on rails! Very pleased!
I also took it round Wales for 4 days!
Black Mountain pass:

My hotel for the first night:


Some awesome metal in the carpark!:



Day 2, Rhyader mountain pass:

And elsewhere:

Stayed in Portmeirion:




Also went into Caernarfon that night:

Day 3 Snowdonia and Denbeigh:

And day 4 I didn't grab many pictures at all.
...but I did collect a Perrin stainless 3" cat back

Which sounds cracking even with the rest of the OEM system.
Next up is 18s and a head unit I think, then those awful rear lights sorted!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're pretty much upto date!
I bought 3x 18s off somebody local and ordered the 4th, so pictures when they are on, as i was sick of scraping everything on 17s and tiny tyres.
 
 
 
 

After messing about taking bolts out, measuring, putting them back, I have a list of sizes to dress up the engine bay. In case anyone else is looking for the info:
 
Bolt A - Wings & Bumper
23x M6 countersunk bolts, 15mm length
23x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt B - Slam Panel
2x M8 countersunk bolts, 20mm length
2x M8 countersunk washers, 25mm o/d
 
Bolt C - Airbox and Noise Maker
2x M6 countersunk bolts, 35mm length
2x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt D - Bonnet & ABS Unit
6x M8 flanged hex, 20mm
4x M8 flat washers
 
That will give you most of the OEM bolts around edges of the engine bay, plus the bonnet. I've not changed the ones on the pulley covers, or throttle body as I'm replacing these separately with something aftermarket, so they're not included in this list. Neither are the ones for the strut braces or the suspension, they're in good nick on my BRZ. I may do some more in future, I'll add any further specs as I find out.
 
For reference to off the shelf kits, you can put this lot together for about £85 from pro-bolt. Though this list is not quite as long as some aftermarket kits.
 
Some Of The Bolt Locations





 
This is all for info only, don't replace strong steel fittings with soft ally or cheapo items, stay safe  

Sorry mate. Perhaps you'll have better luck than I did, but failing that, open a paypal dispute, I got a quick response from them when I did.

I ran the same ones on my Zed for 4 years and they didn't corrode, so I'm not too worried about this lot.

I got them from pro-bolt, decent quality components, especially the titanium stuff (not that I went for that this time, too expensive). Some info here: http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/topic/4797-engine-bay-bolt-list/
 

@Stutopia yes you can change the default stream. Hover over the Activity tab then click on my activity streams, select the one you want, which I presume in this case is Unread Content so just click the below link  
http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/discover/unread/
Then click on the tick to make it the default and change to green rather than greyed out.
 

When I bought the BRZ the scuttle was looking tired and grey, not the deep black it should be. In the past I've restored trim with a variety of products, mainly Gtechniq C4 but also some other samples, Nanolex and Poorboys spring to mind. These are fine if you want to "restore" the trim, and it's still in good nick, but not so good if you actually want to do more and effectively "dye" trim blacker. This is where Solution Finish Black Trim restorer comes in.
I got a sample tube of this lying around from an old Waxybox and decided to have a go at the BRZ. I thought I'd post it up on here because we've got a fair bit of black plastic trim on the car, the front bumper, the rear diffuser as well as the scuttle in question.
As you can see below, it was already a nasty patchy grey (it's a 2013, so it's not like it's seen that much sun in the UK!).



Sadly I dropped and spilt the sample tube after only a few inches of work, but it was going fine up to then, so I ordered some from cleanyourcar to do things properly.



£14.95 for a small bottle, not exactly cheap, but it does go far.
I started by cleaning the trim and then wiped down with Gyeon Prep. The instructions make this stuff sound pretty potent, it warns it will stain paint if you're not careful. I did catch the paint once or twice, it wiped off easily with a MF towel after sitting for only a few seconds.



As you can see, it's a nice, deep, inky black. 

Application is simple. After cleaning prep, get a clean applicator you don't mind chucking away, tip a little on, work the trim area. It says that it should then be left for 1-2 minutes before wiping off. For some reason I was expecting this to flash quite quickly. The sun had been on my trim before I moved into the shade to do the job, but it just seems to linger indefinitely (certainly 4*5 minutes anyway). It showed no signs of drying on its own. Perhaps, being yank, it is engineered for hotter air temps, this day was only about 12 degrees air temp, though the surface was warmer from sitting in direct sun.



You can see it looks quite thick and greasy when it's applied generously. Don't worry, it's way better after wipe down. I don't know if I should have, but I also applied to the wiper arms. Mainly because they were always going to get some on, so it may as well be a full coat, instead of patches. It didn't upset the wipers as far as I can see.

Removal was easy, grab a clean MF towel (though it suggests using another applicator) and wipe up the excess. There will be plenty of it if you go at it generously like I did. The finish is not sticky or shiny, just a nice dark black satin. Your MF towel won't be good for clean jobs after this.



Given the price, I should point out that this stuff goes a long way, I overshot on my first load and it was enough to do the whole trim panel and wiper arms once. If you've got another car with huge sections of plastic trim over the arches and bumpers, I'd say you'll get 2/3 cars from one pot.  I expect to get at least 5/6 BRZs worth from this.

This is the look after application, much better.



It didn't mention layers in the instructions, so I did two, mainly to ensure total coverage.

A doodle to use, so long as your careful and have a MF towel on standby. The MF towel won't be good for anything other than wheel or engine bay after it's had this stuff on, it properly stains. Really pleased with the immediate results and ease of use, I like a product I'm not rushing to buff off, or waiting ages for it to cure. Not at all grabby either.
 
The above application and pictures are from about a month ago, I took this picture today after a normal wash, it appears to be holding strong.

Really recommend this for poor condition plastic trim if you want nice deep satin black.
 
 

When I bought the BRZ the scuttle was looking tired and grey, not the deep black it should be. In the past I've restored trim with a variety of products, mainly Gtechniq C4 but also some other samples, Nanolex and Poorboys spring to mind. These are fine if you want to "restore" the trim, and it's still in good nick, but not so good if you actually want to do more and effectively "dye" trim blacker. This is where Solution Finish Black Trim restorer comes in.
I got a sample tube of this lying around from an old Waxybox and decided to have a go at the BRZ. I thought I'd post it up on here because we've got a fair bit of black plastic trim on the car, the front bumper, the rear diffuser as well as the scuttle in question.
As you can see below, it was already a nasty patchy grey (it's a 2013, so it's not like it's seen that much sun in the UK!).



Sadly I dropped and spilt the sample tube after only a few inches of work, but it was going fine up to then, so I ordered some from cleanyourcar to do things properly.



£14.95 for a small bottle, not exactly cheap, but it does go far.
I started by cleaning the trim and then wiped down with Gyeon Prep. The instructions make this stuff sound pretty potent, it warns it will stain paint if you're not careful. I did catch the paint once or twice, it wiped off easily with a MF towel after sitting for only a few seconds.



As you can see, it's a nice, deep, inky black. 

Application is simple. After cleaning prep, get a clean applicator you don't mind chucking away, tip a little on, work the trim area. It says that it should then be left for 1-2 minutes before wiping off. For some reason I was expecting this to flash quite quickly. The sun had been on my trim before I moved into the shade to do the job, but it just seems to linger indefinitely (certainly 4*5 minutes anyway). It showed no signs of drying on its own. Perhaps, being yank, it is engineered for hotter air temps, this day was only about 12 degrees air temp, though the surface was warmer from sitting in direct sun.



You can see it looks quite thick and greasy when it's applied generously. Don't worry, it's way better after wipe down. I don't know if I should have, but I also applied to the wiper arms. Mainly because they were always going to get some on, so it may as well be a full coat, instead of patches. It didn't upset the wipers as far as I can see.

Removal was easy, grab a clean MF towel (though it suggests using another applicator) and wipe up the excess. There will be plenty of it if you go at it generously like I did. The finish is not sticky or shiny, just a nice dark black satin. Your MF towel won't be good for clean jobs after this.



Given the price, I should point out that this stuff goes a long way, I overshot on my first load and it was enough to do the whole trim panel and wiper arms once. If you've got another car with huge sections of plastic trim over the arches and bumpers, I'd say you'll get 2/3 cars from one pot.  I expect to get at least 5/6 BRZs worth from this.

This is the look after application, much better.



It didn't mention layers in the instructions, so I did two, mainly to ensure total coverage.

A doodle to use, so long as your careful and have a MF towel on standby. The MF towel won't be good for anything other than wheel or engine bay after it's had this stuff on, it properly stains. Really pleased with the immediate results and ease of use, I like a product I'm not rushing to buff off, or waiting ages for it to cure. Not at all grabby either.
 
The above application and pictures are from about a month ago, I took this picture today after a normal wash, it appears to be holding strong.

Really recommend this for poor condition plastic trim if you want nice deep satin black.
 
 

Looks good, a heat gun also works wonders. Sounds a bit crazy but if you heat it up enough it will turn darker restoring it's finish.
Just make sure you don't overheat it otherwise you're stuffed and it'll bubble 😂

After messing about taking bolts out, measuring, putting them back, I have a list of sizes to dress up the engine bay. In case anyone else is looking for the info:
 
Bolt A - Wings & Bumper
23x M6 countersunk bolts, 15mm length
23x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt B - Slam Panel
2x M8 countersunk bolts, 20mm length
2x M8 countersunk washers, 25mm o/d
 
Bolt C - Airbox and Noise Maker
2x M6 countersunk bolts, 35mm length
2x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt D - Bonnet & ABS Unit
6x M8 flanged hex, 20mm
4x M8 flat washers
 
That will give you most of the OEM bolts around edges of the engine bay, plus the bonnet. I've not changed the ones on the pulley covers, or throttle body as I'm replacing these separately with something aftermarket, so they're not included in this list. Neither are the ones for the strut braces or the suspension, they're in good nick on my BRZ. I may do some more in future, I'll add any further specs as I find out.
 
For reference to off the shelf kits, you can put this lot together for about £85 from pro-bolt. Though this list is not quite as long as some aftermarket kits.
 
Some Of The Bolt Locations





 
This is all for info only, don't replace strong steel fittings with soft ally or cheapo items, stay safe  

Quick maintenance bath this weekend, then took her out to get all dirty again, ready for the next wash.

 
I think I'm in love with this shade of blue, so much so I've booked in for a paint correction to deal with the PO's one bucket full of sand washing regime.