MartinT

@MartinT I have litchfield’s old BRZ however it no longer has the supercharger kit.

Arrived today.
super impressed.

Welcome. I was there, too!

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Sounds similar to mine Martin, I have the Reyland kit with their own discs, with braided lines and stock calipers/Cossie pads at the back. I think I had the PFCs on the front beforehand, though that's going back a while now. I'm perfectly happy with the AP/Ferodo setup at the front. Great stopping power, feel is pretty good (though I'm no driving god) and they stand up to abuse on track much better.

The car is boosted well with the Harrop/Rogue/TD performing beautifully, it handles just right with the H&R Super Sport springs and Bilstein B8s, there's plenty of grip balanced with playfulness from the 235/40 PS4s on 18 x 8.75" XXRs, and I've adorned it with some subtle personalisations.
What next?  Time, finally, for a big brake kit.  I'm keeping it sensible.  After all, my car is strictly for road use as my daily commuter.  After discussing it with Scott at Abbey Motorsport, I'm going with an AP Racing 330 kit for the fronts.  Just braided lines for the rears, keeping the stock calipers/discs and Cosworth Streetmaster pads.
It's booked in, together with the MOT, for 1st April as I try to make each visit to Abbey a worthwhile one.  At least the car should be clean by then.

The car is boosted well with the Harrop/Rogue/TD performing beautifully, it handles just right with the H&R Super Sport springs and Bilstein B8s, there's plenty of grip balanced with playfulness from the 235/40 PS4s on 18 x 8.75" XXRs, and I've adorned it with some subtle personalisations.
What next?  Time, finally, for a big brake kit.  I'm keeping it sensible.  After all, my car is strictly for road use as my daily commuter.  After discussing it with Scott at Abbey Motorsport, I'm going with an AP Racing 330 kit for the fronts.  Just braided lines for the rears, keeping the stock calipers/discs and Cosworth Streetmaster pads.
It's booked in, together with the MOT, for 1st April as I try to make each visit to Abbey a worthwhile one.  At least the car should be clean by then.

The car is boosted well with the Harrop/Rogue/TD performing beautifully, it handles just right with the H&R Super Sport springs and Bilstein B8s, there's plenty of grip balanced with playfulness from the 235/40 PS4s on 18 x 8.75" XXRs, and I've adorned it with some subtle personalisations.
What next?  Time, finally, for a big brake kit.  I'm keeping it sensible.  After all, my car is strictly for road use as my daily commuter.  After discussing it with Scott at Abbey Motorsport, I'm going with an AP Racing 330 kit for the fronts.  Just braided lines for the rears, keeping the stock calipers/discs and Cosworth Streetmaster pads.
It's booked in, together with the MOT, for 1st April as I try to make each visit to Abbey a worthwhile one.  At least the car should be clean by then.

Fans of cold gearknobs look no further!

Let's see a photo when you receive it.

Yeah, couldn’t resist! Ordered the Japanese font, 86 logo on a weighted hybrid in black with red splash.
Definitely a tad excessive, but based on how good yours looks it had to be done ✅ 

Yup - I’ll be ordering one of these tomorrow ❤️ 

The Billetworkz gear knob has arrived, custom engraved with Japanese shift pattern and STi logo.  I chose a weighted model with lightbulb shape in gloss black.

The Billetworkz gear knob has arrived, custom engraved with Japanese shift pattern and STi logo.  I chose a weighted model with lightbulb shape in gloss black.

The Billetworkz gear knob has arrived, custom engraved with Japanese shift pattern and STi logo.  I chose a weighted model with lightbulb shape in gloss black.

Happy New Year, Mac!

I had the engine/gearbox mounts changed today at Abbey Motorsport.  The bag labels say TRD, but the parts are stamped Subaru, so I guess they are identical to the STi parts.
The new mounts are a whole world of difference in terms of handling.  The chassis feels tight and precise, there is no jerkiness on pull-away and the whole car just feels more stable and better planted.  This is what was needed to complement the Bilsteins.  There is no more gearbox noise than before.  It was a very worthwhile upgrade for the cost.

Yup. It also makes the gearbox feel nicer I found - feels like I am pushing the gear lever against more solid resistance, less energy from my arm being "wasted" as it were. Small but noticeable improvement

I had the engine/gearbox mounts changed today at Abbey Motorsport.  The bag labels say TRD, but the parts are stamped Subaru, so I guess they are identical to the STi parts.
The new mounts are a whole world of difference in terms of handling.  The chassis feels tight and precise, there is no jerkiness on pull-away and the whole car just feels more stable and better planted.  This is what was needed to complement the Bilsteins.  There is no more gearbox noise than before.  It was a very worthwhile upgrade for the cost.

Mega reply incoming... (excuse the inconsistancy at times, mostly copy and pasted from elsewhere )

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Another small update from last weekend.
Got the new Cam, Timing gear bits, Headgaskets & Refurbed heads back on the LS which was good fun.
Took a few hours doing it together with my dad and everything went in smoothly.
First off was the Cam which for anyone wondering (And not wanting to scroll back through the posts) is a Texas Speed LS3 Stage 3 cam:
https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5762-tsp-stage-3-ls3...
 

 
This went in nicely with a new timing gear, timing chain & Chain LS2 Chain guide.
The original Setup in the L92 was VVT so a big single-bolt setup with a tensioner, etc. Chucked all that away! (not really, might make a lamp out of the old cam) for a good old 3-bolt non-vvt setup. I believe there are now some pretty good ECU configs and info out there for VVT setups but half the reason for wanting to go LS was for some nicely grumbly noises so non-vvt was the way to go for that!
 
 

 
 
The next step on this end of things will be to install the new GM high performance oil pump but before that i'm going to open it up and pack it out with vaseline as a way of keeping it lubricated as well as helping it to build Oil presure when the time comes to start the engine as it will most likely sit for a good 6-12 months after i'm finished putting it together before it ever gets started up.
 
After that the new Headgaskets went on, again just using all OEM quality GM/ACdelco parts for this followed by the refurbed heads and the ARP head studs. ARP's head studs are most definitely overkill in this application but ohwell!
 
 


 
Next up will be the aformentioned oil pump bits. I also need to then take the engine off the stand to get the new aluminium oil barbell in and rear-cover on. Front cover will need to go on and then i'll also chuck on the old Oil pan (Rear sump, no good for my application), Valley cover and rocker covers (very mashed, going to replace) to just close it all up and chuck the inlet manifold on to keep it all together, so stay tuned for those pictures!
 
 
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Another small but exciting update, the engine is now technically "Finsihed"
 
Popped round recently to install the last couple of pieces and close up the engine which is how it will mostly likely sit now over the winter.
 
The bottom and top end parts of the engine build can be watched here on my little youtube vids for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk19Yu4ThvZ_GKqFP...
 
but in these final steps I had to get the engine off the stand to install the new aluminium Oil barbell (had heard it's a nice cheap safety step rather than relying on the old plastic ones to hold up) as well as get the new rear cover on with the real main seal already installed.
 
After that I packed out the Oil pump with vaseline to give it a helping hand when it finally times come to start it up, i'll probably end up priming it with oil as well before then anyway but it was a fairly easy thing to do so why not, finally it was a case of chucking on the final piece of the puzzle for deleting the VVT, the new LS3 timing cover and Cam sensor!
 
And then I just threw on the old valley cover and wonky rocker covers that I painted to tart up a little but i'm most definitely going to replace them with some new OEM or aftermarket items perhaps and then I threw on the intake manifold to close up the intake ports and "complete" the look.
The next things to go on will be the front pulley and accessory drive once I buy the latter but i'm in no rush to do that yet.
 
Such a difference from start to finish!
 
Before - Core L92

 
 
After - Rebuilt with no VVT, basically an LS3 with 0.5 less compression




 
From here i'll soon turn my attention back to the GT86 itself to start disassembling and removing the OEM Boxer engine and Gearbox, tidy and tart up the engine bay and eventually get the LS mated up to a brand new T56 and at home in there, things are going to slow down a bit now though as it'll require a fair chunk of change for the gearbox and other bits of kit.
I'll likely sell on the FA20 that comes out sooner rather than later as they often go on the market in the region of £2-3k 
 
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Expect some fun new updates after this weekend!
 
Gearing up to take apart the front end of the car and lift out the FA20 and gearbox from the engine bay. Apparently quite an easy thing to achieve as the vast majority of wiring stays on the engine itself with nice clean breaks. Here's the last look of the car in one piece today!
 

 
Oh and I just received the Engine swap kit from Sikky manufacturing today! Very excited as this should cover 90% of the headscratching and guessing that comes with an engine swap.
 
Definitely not any form of ad for them (I wish!) but included is:
Engine mounts
Gearbox Mounts (For T56 Magnum)
Front Oil pan to clear subframe/steering rack /w Oil pickup tube etc
Oil filter relocation kit
Brake line replacements to relocate them slightly
1 7/8" Exhaust headers 
And the Drive/Propshaft to bolt it up to the OEM rear diff.
 
One of three hurdles for the engine swap cleared, the next two being the purchase of the gearbox itself and the management/ECU solution but first i'll get the old engine out, tidy up the engine bay (probably have it painted) and start test fitting. 
 
 
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So it's a bit tricky to drive my car currently, and the reason for that is well...


 
 
This weekend the engine somewhat fell out.. or atleast I wish it were that easy!
Spent Saturday and Sunday with a bit of help getting all of the body panels off, headlights, radiator, core support & crash structure out, fluids out, Prop/driveshaft & exhaust out and finally the engine & gearbox - quite alot!
I've not seen the car in this state for a few years now!
 
 
Generally a very easy engine to pull out, there's a few fuel lines, coolant hoses, heater pipes etc, 2 big connectors for the entire wiring harness and then just alternator/starter wires to pull off and thats it!
A bit of drama getting the centre console out so we could disconnect the gear lever and then we totatlly forgot to take it out anyway once we were done so it anded up tearing up a chunk of the heat insulation on the inside of the tunnel.. ohwell i'll probably tear that out and line it with some fancy gold tape or such in its place.
 

 
 
All in all a good fun couple of days of work on the car!
Kind of left wondering what to do next, I really really want to get the engine bay tidied up and painted but at the same time.. it looks like alot of effort getting it all cleared out with the brake/fuel lines, wiring, fuse box, etc to get to that point, but i do have the whole winter to mull it over really.
Need to start getting a few things sold now like the engine/gearbox and a few extras to get a bit of money together for the next big purchases.
 
Finally with all the new bits from Sikky arriving we couldn't help but open them up and get the LS dressed up with its fancy new headers. For some reason the view of it from the rear gets me all kinds of excited!
Think it really needs some wrinkle black rocker covers now to finish it off!
 


 

It's just Sainsburys Super. You get Nectar points, too.

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A little view from Harrop as they seem to be on the FA24 development case





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70k service next week at Abbey.  They will be installing the STi/TRD engine and gearbox mounts and, hopefully, that will tighten up response.  Ride quality on the Bilsteins is firm but pretty good, only getting choppy on bad surfaces.  The handling is perfectly set for road use for me, where the 80-mile daily commute keeps my mods sensible.
I swear performance has crept up of late, although it could just be the cold winter air.  Perhaps the Sainsburys Super formula has improved, a necessity of filling up twice a week.  Mileage has improved further to 32.9mpg.
I still love this car, and believe me that commute really tests my patience with any car.
It's always nice to catch up with Scott and quaff their nice coffee, too.

Sold our much loved Celica and bought our 66' plate GT86. As my wife and I are in our late 60's/early70's, this is probably our 'Swansong' sports car so we are going to damn well enjoy it!

November and the cold weather is really kicking in. Pushing the start button over the last few days and the car has taken a lot longer to start. Not sure how old the battery is on this but I'm taking no chances. Out with the old Bosch and in with a fresh GS Yuasa.
 

Hi All
I've been lurking for a wee while gathering info and tips. I've just placed a deposit on a BRZ and will hopefully take delivery in a couple of weeks