MartinT

Really enjoying mate. It's nice having that bit of extra punch when you put your foot down 

This is partly your doing 😂

After a few years of Nissan 350Z ownership I decided I wanted a slightly more practical daily driver but still give me the fun factor involved in driving and modifying cars. At the same time, I didn’t want something you see every day like the Civic Type R, Focus ST etc. So after a lot of reading and research, on the 16th August 2019 at 9am I took delivery of my 2012 GT86.
 

The car was almost completely stock except for a Scorpion Cat back exhaust. One less thing to go out and get and one of the first things I would have changed anyway.
 
Almost straight away the tail lights had to go. Stock ones looked completely crap in my eyes so after a bit of hunting around the forums I got my paws on a nice set of Valenti’s. As we all do.
 

September comes and wheels were next on the agenda. I’m no track legend and have no need to be doing fantastic weight saving things and all that jazz so as long as it looked nice (to me) didn’t cost silly money and was in the 18” bracket then I’d take a look. I ended up getting a set of JR5’s once again from the forums. Was the same bloke I got the Valenti’s from as it goes! Rays 57CR’s they are not but they’ll do for now.
 

October brings a different situation. The Misses and myself take ownership of our first home! It handles like shit and the 0-60mph is non existent but you can’t win them all 
 
November and the ever popular Tuning Developments UEL manifold followed shortly by a trip over to Abbey Motorsports for the much needed tune to go with it. Turns out my clutch is slipping when you really get on it so Mark does what he can. No engine management light and rumbly noises makes me happy either way.
 
December and Birthday & Christmas presents from the misses gives the lovely shark fin instead of the standard black aerial and some jazzy internal LED’s.
 

 
August 2020 and it’s back over to Abbey Motorsports to finally get the clutch sorted out. It hasn’t really been giving me any grief in my day to day driving but I’d really started to notice it when getting a move on. That's pretty much all of 2020 right there!
 
 
 
 

Both. They just smashed the crap out of it I expect, judging by how they launched it off my driveway.  Obviously annoyed they didn't get the car they came for, so ruined the GT. 

You wont get any increase in NVH with the STi or TRD engine mounts, as these are similar to the OEM design, just using a firmer rubber.
I'd avoid the Perrin and Cusco ones as they are predominately made from metal and are known to increase the NVH.
 
 

@will300has the sti ones which are very similar 

When I do sell my BRZ I won't be putting it back to stock. I haven't kept the original parts anyway, but to be honest I buy a car and use it for my daily commute so I'm getting maximum value from it. I don't expect to yield much value at the end and I never expect to recoup the cost of the mods. That isn't the point, I've already enjoyed their value.
It won't be for 3-4 years yet, when I retire.

When I do sell my BRZ I won't be putting it back to stock. I haven't kept the original parts anyway, but to be honest I buy a car and use it for my daily commute so I'm getting maximum value from it. I don't expect to yield much value at the end and I never expect to recoup the cost of the mods. That isn't the point, I've already enjoyed their value.
It won't be for 3-4 years yet, when I retire.

You'll have to search harder for a BRZ because there are so few of them. It's worth it, though, for the rarity and the funny questions often asked about it.

Right well.. it's been a little while since I last updated this post.. and that's not to say there hasn't been bits going on, i've just been so absurdly busy I keep forgetting to take photos!
 
For starters I finally moved out of my parent's house and got my first property, a decently sized little flat which has been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions and made and already very fast-moving year suddenly jump 3 months in the blink of an eye!
 
 
 
But getting back to the part you're all here for the car & engine although I have to pre-warn you as with alot of the recent engine-related posts it's quite nerdy!
 
After sprucing up the cylinder heads I wrapped those up and stuck them up on the shelf back in March and moved on to removing the pistons from the engine.
I flip flopped back and forth exactly what I was going to do with the internals of the engine and to what extent I was going to take it all apart - In the end I decided to not remove the crank & crank bearings down to a few factors, namely the fear of the main journals going out-of-round and replacing the main cap studs & bolts with ARP items which can get expensive already ontop of having shelled out for ARP head studs etc.
As well as this I decided on retaining the stock internals again because the rod journals are known to go out of round if you go with ARP rod bolts and there's so much drama when it comes to forged items if you're on a budget it's such a headache! - I'm glad I did this in the end because as I type this my lights might simply turn off at any moment due to the fact the flat didn't come with a pot to piss in!
 
With all of that I moved on to removing the Cam, lifters, etc and painting the engine block. All very easy and I made a couple of youtube videos covering the topics:
 
https://youtu.be/4Nu4iKF605k
https://youtu.be/1LR8d22JWXc
https://youtu.be/8iSihhg9jcA
 
 
And that neatly brings me on to where I am now, with freshly honed cylinder bores, measured tolerances & bearings and ready to assemble it all again, but as they always say - THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICTURES which was half my reason for a lack of update, i simply keep forgetting so lets see...
 
 
Nicely cleaned up & painted block:
 



 
 
Honed Cylinder bores:

 
Pistons ringed & ready to go!:

 
and the engine block again, this time featuring considerably more pistons!

 
 
 
As for the nerdy bits in regards to tolerances and clearances, here are my findings regarding the top & Middle compression rings and rod bearings:
 
OEM Top Ring clearances:
Production - 0.23‐0.44 mm
Service - 0.23‐0.5 mm
Mine - 0.5mm - so right on the upper edge of a "serviced" engine but It's not the end of the world.
 
OEM Second Ring clearances:
Production - 0.44-0.7mm
Service - 0.44-0.76mm
Mine - 0.56mm - well within even production specs so i'm quite happy with this!
 
Piston Rod Bearing clearances:
Production - 0.023-0.065mm
Service - 0.023-0.076mm
Mine - 0.051mm - Only measured using plastigage but considering this is right in the middle of the range i'm quite happy with this
 
 
And with that the lower end of the engine block is all back together and i've got 95% of the new parts required to close up the engine too!
 


 
If you're a fan of shopping lists boy do I have a fun one for you, in the above pics you're looking at:
 
Brand new intake manifold - /w gaskets, fuel rails, injectors, throttle body & map sensor (purchased "used" but it's very much as fresh as a daisy!)
Head gaskets
LS7 Lifters /w new lifter trays
New Cam Timing gear, chain & guide (required for the removal of VVT)
New Sensors & plugs all over
New cam retainer plate
New Front Timing cover /w seal & Gasket
New Rear main cover /w main seal
More gaskets - Valley cover & Exhaust manifold
New front Pulley
ARP Cam Bolts
ARP Exhaust Manifold Bolts
ARP Head Studs
ARP Pulley bolt
& More bolts, brackets & otherwise as well as the bits I showed off in previous posts.
 
All that really leaves to close up the engine for good is a pair of new rocker covers as mine are rather nasty, a new valley cover simply because I want to and the new Sump pan & pickup tube which comes with the engine swap kit.
 
Next weekend I'm going to get the new Cam, lifters, timing bits and perhaps even the refurbed heads back on and in a way the engine build is then "done"

Only a bit stiffer as Primacies are hard a nails and refuse to die.

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Since I moved house, my weekly car miles have  really plummeted, so I would say a higher percentage of my driving time is driving "with enthusiasm"... and yet, strangely,  my average mpg is also showing 32.5 mpg. I wonder if Mark somehow pegs the computer at that, just to make us feel better about the blower! 

I get around 320 miles from a tankful.

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I guess I'm settling into the groove of my 40-mile commute down the M3 and trying to 'make progress' without driving like a moron.
My mileage has just reached a new peak of 32.5mpg.  Not bad with a Harrop on board.

This resonates with me, in all my years buying and driving cars, the aesthetics/beauty has been very important, as such, I've always bought sports cars. 
Hatchbacks hold no interest for me, the GT86 is pretty much the perfect car for my needs
 
 

I guess I'm settling into the groove of my 40-mile commute down the M3 and trying to 'make progress' without driving like a moron.
My mileage has just reached a new peak of 32.5mpg.  Not bad with a Harrop on board.

Yes, exactly that.  People who also think that power is the only important number and then tell me that some uninspiring hatch-box is better because it has more power.
If I wanted a hatch-box I could leave my appreciation of beauty behind and buy any one of 30 different models most of which look the same.
There is only one 86/BRZ and we know why we drive them.

I guess I'm settling into the groove of my 40-mile commute down the M3 and trying to 'make progress' without driving like a moron.
My mileage has just reached a new peak of 32.5mpg.  Not bad with a Harrop on board.

I guess I'm settling into the groove of my 40-mile commute down the M3 and trying to 'make progress' without driving like a moron.
My mileage has just reached a new peak of 32.5mpg.  Not bad with a Harrop on board.

Ahh, that’s a shame Martin.
Say happy birthday from me…

Have a good day


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Sorry to say it's Ruth's birthday on Sunday, Simon, so I can't make it now

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Yes, exactly that.  People who also think that power is the only important number and then tell me that some uninspiring hatch-box is better because it has more power.
If I wanted a hatch-box I could leave my appreciation of beauty behind and buy any one of 30 different models most of which look the same.
There is only one 86/BRZ and we know why we drive them.

Yes, exactly that.  People who also think that power is the only important number and then tell me that some uninspiring hatch-box is better because it has more power.
If I wanted a hatch-box I could leave my appreciation of beauty behind and buy any one of 30 different models most of which look the same.
There is only one 86/BRZ and we know why we drive them.

https://www.counterspacegarage.com/products/engine/ecu-programming-kits-ecu-tunes-maps/csg-spec-tuning-toyota-86-brz-frs

CSG are quote popular in the USA for our cars and they recommend not to change fuel pump as aftermarket is not as reliable. Please see link above.

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Neither. A supercharger.