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Samwise

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Everything posted by Samwise

  1. Samwise

    Sussex newbie

    Hmmm a Silver BRZ in Henfield, I guess it was you I met today at the Fuel Coffee house meet If not then i'm going to sound a bit silly! but either way it was good to meet you and welcome to the forum haha
  2. Samwise

    Coilover advice

    For that price range i'd say KW V3's as Luke Mentioned or the BC ER Series
  3. Samwise

    Functional splitters/diffusers

    Another option for Splitters is the Battle aero one https://www.battleaero.com/collections/chassis-mount-splitters/products/chassis-mounted-splitter-for-frs-brz-86?variant=16003429728299
  4. If you do want to go adjustable items I actually have a set of totally brand new ones that came with my airlift kit. I didn't use them as I also purchased a Whiteline set at the same time so i'd happily part with them for a bit of cash. Feel free to PM me if you're interested
  5. Samwise

    Functional splitters/diffusers

    As someone mentioned above Splitter's aren't really functional unless you can stand on them. Likewise Diffuser's are even trickier, they're not functional in the slightest unless the entire under body of the car is smooth, an inch from the ground and the diffuser extends well behind the car. It's actually more functional to just totally remove the rear bumper altogether. This guy has some really good videos on the subjects
  6. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    Yeah depending on how much of a "flush" fitment you want you'd aim to set it up for how you want to show the car. Of course that does mean you gain a bit of gap and a few 0.0's of camber back as you air up to ride hide but I don't think you'd go from looking good to looking like a slideshow atleast on the 86 platform. Compression and rebound is done from the to p of the shocks much like any coilover setup. The only thing you really change with the bags is the pressure of them and therefore the height, the lower the pressure the more the weight of the car compresses the struts and therefore you don't lower I had not seen about the London cartel show but I might have to look at going. Currently the next show in going to is "for the love of cars" at hickstead.
  7. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    So I've been driving the 86 around for a week or so now and have had a chance to adjust a few little bits and pieces here and there. The loud knocking noise I was experiencing was from a couple of bolts not being torqued down so that was easily rectified. There are still a few noises while driving but its mostly drivetrain/diff noises along with the clonking that you inherently get when going in to 1st and sometimes from 1st to 2nd is louder with the bushing inserts. It's nothing to be worried about and it isn't particularly jarring to hear either as i know the noises have always been there and are simply a bit louder now. As for the feel itself, the fun part. It's definitely a little bit stiffer but not too much, the combo of air suspension + ARB's and bushing inserts definitely gives the car a slightly stiffer feel all over both from what the road conveys to you but also how it handles and how it reacts to being given power or leaning in to corners. Overall the easiest way to describe it is like a set of soft-ish coilovers but with faster reaction times. Anyway so I lowered it a little more today just to even out the height front/rear without one having to be overly low pressure to achieve a matching height and took the chance to check out the new "aired out" height, although part of me wants to say this is "too low" knowing that the moment i get in and turn the ignition on the car will rise up just makes me really love this look, It's not for everyone but it does look a little mean being barely an inch from the ground.
  8. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    Thanks! I've never actually heard of someone having to replace bags due to fatigue but I guess if you had a set of them which had sat for a few years in the sun they'd start to crack but it's not something i've heard of yet but I know they're not too expensive as of course if you install them without checking for clearance they can rub against things and pop so they're made to be replaceable. I'm not sure if they have bump stops, I imagine they do as it is essentially exactly the same as a coilover just replace the coil spring with a "Air-spring" The bump stops may well be inside the bag. The struts themselves weigh alot less as Steel coil springs are heavy so the unsprung weight is lower but the Compressors and Air Lift Manifold weight a few kilo's each so overall its probably 2-4kg heavier but that weight is towards the rear anyway.
  9. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    Yeah the front diff bushing inserts create most of the noise apparently, I might take those out and leave the rest in as it can be a bit annoying but I might just get used to it. The drop links don't change as the car does, that would be pretty cool but seeing as they're set for stock height currently and even my highter ride height preset is lower than stock height they just need to be shortened atleast a bit. The only video I have currently is one I posted to facebook: Facebook Video The compressors are pretty much silent from outside the car which is what I was hoping for. From inside they are a bit noisy but my exhaust is louder haha and they don't run for particularly long so it's not all that bad. I imagine it would lap the ring a little quicker now As it is currently it feels like a soft coilover setup with some nice weight management thanks to the ARB's and bushing inserts. Here's a couple of extra shots from the boots too
  10. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    So it's another slow update coming in but quite a big one. An update that some people have been dreading and others have been hyped for (myself included!) So the last 3 weeks I've been driving my old Subaru WRX around for a bit because the 86 has been up on jackstands. Throughout this heat i've been taking my time to install a whole host of new parts including my Whiteline Anti-roll bars, Whiteline bushing inserts and my Air-Lift Suspension system. I wanted to go slowly with it to just make sure everything is installed as best and as cleanly as possible to avoid any future problems or funny noises, etc. I also took the time to put some sound deadening in the boot to dampen some of the exhaust groans as well as the compressors. I started off on the front, working with a friend to get the OEM front struts and ARB off. Some of the bolts and joints were either a little crusty and hard to break the seal or really slimey from what I can only assume is the underseal they use on these cars if the engine bay was anything to go by when I cleaned it. The front ARB is a bit of a pain to fit thanks to the brackets it sits on and how many brittle plastic/glass fibre under trays there are under the car. the ARB probably took the most time out of these bits. I didn't get a picture of it but I somewhat sanded back and cleaned up the rusted welds on the ARB subframe thinghs and repainted it with some etching primer and underseal. The weekend after that we moved on to the rear. getting the struts out was a bit of a paint this time but generally on the rear it was all very easy including the ARB. We also Installed the Whiteline Subframe and Diff bushing inserts which against was actually quite easy to do, it took up a couple of hours all in to do the bushing inserts. While running the Braided Air Lift hoses on the rear they went under the car rather than in to the engine bay. In reality they shouldn't be at risk of getting hot as there's quite a big gap between them and the Exhaust, not to mention that's right at the end of the exhaust rather than up by the manifold but seeing as I had some Mishimoto gold tape to hand I thought i'd dress them up a little bit, if Anything it makes the undercarriage a little sparkly! And finally this weekend I took on the task of running all the wiring, making the modifications required for my particular dual compressor set up, pulling the air lines and hardness through the car, tucking it all away and mounting the tank, compressors, manifold, etc all in the boot! It sounds easier than rolling around on your back under the car but i can assure you it was just as exhausting! This is also where the laminate wood flooring comes in, it might be a bit silly but of course you need something solid to mount all the gear in the boot on. In hindsight I could have just used a sheet of MDF and wrapped it in some carpet but it also needs to be segmented to fit in the boot at all which is the beauty of laminate I guess as you can hide the seems in the board gaps, it's also very cheap and it saves me having to deal with fiddly carpet! All of that hard work results in a car that is lowered, can go even lower if I really want to or can soar in to the heavens if there's a particularly big speed bump or multi-story car park ramp while also having a nice mix of firmness and compliance to the road. It's quite a strange feeling that's quite difficult to describe really. The Air lift suspension is comparably soft to stock but is also a bit more firm, the ARB's really help to dial out any body roll and even when wiggling the car about on the road help to keep it fairly flat. To top it all of there are no big clunks or noises during driving that would scream low quality parts or bad fitment to me, the only noises so far is a bit more feedback from the rear subframe/diff when selecting gears or coming off the accelerator. I'll need to fiddle with the drop links a bit as I think the rear ones are too long and putting preload on the ARB and I still have a whole load of compression settings to play around with on the struts to make it even more supple on the road! The above pic is how the car sits at its "low" setting, if anything this was me just trying to see how low it can go. In the near future i'll likely need to adjust the front strut to sit lower just so the front and rear lowers at a more equal rate, as you can see the rear looks far lower than the front with litterally 0 pressure in the front air bags. i'll also need to invest in some rear lower control arms to sort out the camber the car gains when its low and maybe some spacers just to make the wheels sit a bit better in the arches. There's also a video of it airing out I can link to if anyone's curious.
  11. Samwise

    Alternative Badges

    I'm a big fan of the new GR Toyota badge that FT86speedfactory are now selling. Not sure where else you can pick them up from but its also worth noting that I don't think they fully fit on the 2012-2016 model as the front badges are a different size apparently. I just think it looks really classy compared to the OEM one
  12. Samwise

    Rear camber arms

    Driftworks are bringing out new rear camber arms for the 86 which are a fraction of the price of a load of the other kits. Probably a bit heavier as I don't think they're made from Ali but definitely do the trick i'm sure.
  13. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    Another small update today but quite an exciting and sparkly one! Took the air tank for my suspension to a local custom bike art/airbrush guy and had him spray it in Candy apple red. It turned out great and really pops, just what I was after! Rather than use a silver basecoat for the candy he just sprayed right over the aluminium finish and it leaves the grain of the material showing through which gives it that extra depth and contrast. The pictures really don't do it justice but I think it looks fantastic!
  14. Samwise

    So - visiting Japan. Tips?

    I Went there a couple of years ago for 2 weeks but didn't get a chance to do much car-related. I must admit even if i were to go again I might not rent a car as it's really just not needed in my opinion although that might be a bit different for a whole family. During my 2 weeks I spent 4 days in Tokyo, 4 days in Osaka/Kyoto/Nara and 4 days in Hiroshima all of which I did via Shinkansen (bullet train) which doesn't take very long at all. Even the longest leg of the Journey from Hiroshima back to Tokyo on the last day was just 5 hours (and it's a fair old distance!) While in Tokyo definitely spend atleast 1 day in Akihabara (a.k.a Electric City or Akiba locally) as your kids will love it, I know I did as I'm also big in to my anime 😎 and infact went back there for a second day. Everything within Tokyo is easy to travel around via the subway, all the ticket machines have an english option, fares are fairly cheap and even the maps are easy to read. I found it easier to navigate Tokyo my first time than I do to get around London even now. If you want to something car related it's worth taking a trek out to Fuji Speedway as they often have big events going on there like the Skyline Festival, etc so its worth checking what events are on. If you Rent a car you can also take a drive over the Hakone Skyline or other similar twisty tole roads. I wouldn't try and book a day to see Fuji itself, 90% of the time it's difficult to see due to cloud and very rare to get a day where's the skies around it are clear so if you set a day aside specifically to see if you'll probably end up disappointed. Definitely make Osaka one of your destinations, it's another big city like Tokyo but has many things Tokyo doesn't for starters its considered one of the best destinations in the world for street food if you're in to that, it also has alot of it's own landmarks like the Dotonbori streets/canal, which really comes alive at night. As well as this from Osaka cultural hotspots like Kyoto and Nara are very easy Day trips with a short 1 or 2 stop journey on the Shinkansen. I went to both and don't regret it at all there's something truly amazing about the big bustling cities in Japan but the same goes for the more peaceful cultural areas. Kyoto is a big tourist trap which might put some people off but I feel its worth it and still a very nice place to visit. Going to Japan for the culture for the first time and missing Kyoto would be like going to London for the first time and ignoring big ben If you do have a few days left its worth spending them over in Hiroshima. There isn't loads to do there but after my 2 weeks I found myself quite tired (we walked something like 100miles in our 2 week holiday) and the quietness of a city like Hiroshima is quite nice although I wouldn't spend a whole 4 days there again next time, 2 or 3 would be just fine. Its good to see Hiroshima Castle as well as the peace memorial museum and if you find yourself with 1 last day and want to squeeze a bit more of the culture in to it Miyajima island just off the coast of Hiroshima which can be reached by a cheap ferry trip is a beautiful little shrine town/island. As I mentioned above I didn't rent a car and instead went with the Tokyo Rail pass. It covers all the Shinkensen, some bus and tram routes across Japan and even the Ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima island. It wasn't cheap at around £250-300 but considering the price of a single Shinkensen trip it pretty much paid for itself and took the hastle out of buying tickets. Another couple of parting thoughts/tips would be about general things there. The locals are incredibly helpful but very very shy so if you need help you can try and ask but don't be put off if they shy away on the flip side if you look lost you may find someone just approaching you to try and help you even if they struggle with the language barrier, I had that a few times! Learning a few simple phrases like Hello (Konichiwa), Thank you (Arigatou), I don't understand (Wakaranai) and especially Excuse me (Sumimasen) can go a very long way especially the last one as alot of cities and stations like Tokyo are packed so you'll be using it alot to get around, when trying to politely make people aware of your presence or even if you bump in to someone. As mentioned above it was a life saver for me to buy a Pocket-Wifi device as I was using mine non-stop for google maps directions, train information, Translations, etc! and they're fairly cheap so order it soon and you can get it delivered to your first hotel or wherever you're staying. Japan is also very cash based or it was a couple of years ago, things may have changed but you can always withdraw cash for free from the ATM at any 7-11 using an international card. Feel free to drop me a PM if you want any more info, I could talk about Japan for hours haha I loved my trip and will be planning my next one back there this year!
  15. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    That would work too! I wasn't sure about it at first either but after googling images of other air lift setups and talking myself in to it maybe after a few beers or a lack of sleep I placed the order for the pack of flooring so figured I may aswell put in the work to cut and make it fit. If once everything is said and done I think it looks a bit naff i'll just chuck it out and get some decent marine ply, stick some nice material to it and be done with it. Whatever it is has to get in the car in sections as of course it can't fit through the opening for the boot otherwise that's part of the beauty of laminate because the seams and joins can be hidden between the boards 🤷‍♂️ We'll see how it goes and if I feel it was a mistake i'll be the first one to admit it!
  16. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    Haha yeah I can imagine it might be an unforeseen turn for some people but it was something I had planned on paper from the start. It's just what i want out of the car really as although they are immensely capable when pushed and tweaked in that direction i'm not really looking to having another track car right now. Although if the itch for one comes back up in the future maybe a 2nd 86 might be on the cards 😃 You might not be far off about the 3 piece wheels and so on but i'm not really looking for the car to become some kind of instagram famous thing 😂
  17. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    So the post some people may have been waiting for and others may have been dreading - Air lift time To give a bit of a look in to the thoughts behind the madness I wanted to go Air lift as I wanted to turn the 86 in to more of an all-round Fast Street/Show car. I've done the whole stiff, low, bump-steery and twitchy track car in our Vx220 which doesn't get driven nearly enough as it's a bit too focused for a bumpy B road blast and i've done the low/static thing with my Subaru which essentially renders me unable to go in to any multi-story car parks or even pull in to the drive way after getting home from work without scraping at our last house which for the car which served as my daily for the best part of 3 years isn't all that useful but it does look great! The Fast Street/Slow car thing was always my goal with the 86 which is half the reason I went for a write off as my plan is to eventually (this year if thing's go well) fit a body kit to the car which is why i've not been fussed about picking up 2nd hand body panels and re-locating the front indicators, etc. I'm not looking to slam the car in to the ground and park it up with the wheels disappearing in to the arches or run stupid amounts of camber but these cars often do look fantastic when they're low and angry looking but I wouldn't want to risk ruining any expensive body parts I fitted for the sake of looks with a static ride height and Air lift is the obvious (albeit expensive) solution to all of those worries. Of course there are some worries when it comes to fitting airlift such as leaky lines, tearing a bag or splitting a line but i'm hoping to take the install slowly and take my time with it to make sure it's all as safe and tidy as possible. To be honest i'm not actually too worried about it, I'd like to say im fairly confident with mechanical bits at this point and quite confident even something as fiddly as an air lift install is going to go well as I've always had a history of building PC's, installing custom water cooling loops and so on. The two aren't totally comparable but i'm not worried about it in the slightest! So without further ado, lets show off the gear! I'll start off by showing a brief picture of where the majority of it is going to go, the boot space. When you look in to air lift alot of people make some crazy setups although I'm not enough of a designer or upholstery expert to do something like this (and Im too cheap to pay someone else to do it!) and I didn't want to load up the boot with a load of heavy timber making a frame to mount everything to so I've gone ahead and made a new boot liner out of laminate floor. It's a fairly common thing to do as it's cheap, easy and subjectively looks good. I chose a dark grey/black laminate to make it subtle rather than in your face. And now that i've lost the vast majority of readers! (haha) On to the actual Air lift hardware: That's it for now really! Happy to take opinions and so on as I know it's not for everyone but hey-ho! Going to be a little while before it gets installed. I really want to get it done asap but i've given myself a silly milestone first of buttoning up the Vx220 and listing it on the Market before I go ahead with any work on the 86. I also might be selling the Subaru and getting a more sensible daily as at this point I really don't need 3 performance cars in my life, especially considering the scooby hasn't really been touched since fixing the 86 up it's a bit of a shame.
  18. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    So i have another couple of updates from the last few weeks, the first being my recent drift day it was a little something I got for my birthday at the end of April and I have to say it was SO MUCH FUN! The next update will be a bit of a hit or miss one for some people as I recently received my brand new air lift setup so i'll be showing off that a little but i'll save that for tomorrow evening, on to the good stuff: As I mentioned before I'm not looking to make the 86 a track car or a drift car for that matter but I wanted to take it to one of these days to have some fun and get some experience chucking it around, overcoming the limit of grip and catching/controlling it and learning how the car behaves. I wanted to do this before I start making the car more grippy with various suspension changes just to give it the best chance to slide about but it really wasn't that difficult when I had the OEM wheels back on and pumped the tyres up to 50psi on the rear. It was a great day and after my first little 5 minute sessions going about it in a ham fisted way, sawing at the steering wheel and being far too heavy fitted I was able to catch it and control some decent donuts around the cones, move on to some figure 8s and by the end of the day I was on their kidney track which was all great fun! Anyway enough of the chatting I guess, here are some pictures, videos and more! All of them are pretty much from the morning before I moved up to the other tracks but I have the say the 86 looks so good leant over to one side with a bit of opposite lock. You can check out the whole gallery of photos here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AkJa4dCyLSqihIdqoiiHrk5lh9MrJg As I mentioned before, here are some videos. Excuse the silly giggling, I was just having so much fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phInejYFfJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou_wDdQfxSA And finally to finish off the report a vulgar display of tyre destruction. The first set are mine after the morning, the 2nd set were a set of part worns that one of the marshalls of the day destroyed after just 10 minutes!
  19. Oh well as that's the case go for it if you can shell out the money for one. I've never seen that myself which is why I questioned it
  20. Well on my Vx220 running 18psi-20psi of boost I get away with Forge's Recirv valve which is a 25mm Outlet/inlet: https://www.forgemotorsport.co.uk/Turbo_Recirculation_Valve_with_Adjustable_Vacuum_Port--product--979.html But seeing this thread does actually remind me I have one of their vent to atmosphere valves lieing around that I could probably do with selling lol https://www.forgemotorsport.co.uk/Dual_Piston_Blow_OffDump_Valve--product--752.html When it comes to Bov's there's no such thing as overkill really. A bigger outlet will dump the air quicker but I don't think you'll really see any gains on that so is it worth the cost of a monster 50mm bov over a normal one? Not to mention I believe most if not all of the 50mm units are weld-on.
  21. 50mm is a bit overkill for anything pushing less than like 400-500bhp or 20psi of boost but i don't have one for sale im afraid 😁
  22. Samwise

    Bringing an 86 back from the dead

    So this weekend has been an exciting one. With the car show season kicking off I headed back in to Brighton for Incarnation 2019. There were some fantastic cars on display and I managed to get a couple of pictures of the 86 looking clean. Even saw a couple of 86's! As well as this I also took delivery of an exciting Package from Whiteline! On the lead up to my upcoming suspension changes as well as shocks I was in the market for some new Anti-roll bars and this lead me to Whiteline as they were also one of your only manufacturers to also offer a front Bumpsteer correction kit for lowered cars as well as including Drop Links, bushings and bracing with their ARB Packages. Not only that but I also much prefer the colour/finish of their parts too! Which brings me to the exciting bit of news that I'm now a Whiteline Brand Ambassador! As I said before I'm not looking to make the 86 an out and out track car although they are very capable but I do like the extra confidence and grip a lightly upgraded suspension setup offers as well as the preventative measures against any bumpsteer that might arise from lowering the car as I always find it such a sketchy feeling on our bumpy B roads. I Picked up a set of their Anti-roll bars featuring 20mm on the front (+4mm up from stock) and 16mm on the rear (+2mm up from stock), new ARB bushings, Adjustable Drop links Front & Rear, rear ARB mount bracing as well as their Bumpsteer correction kit, Rear subframe bushing inserts and Diff bushing inserts. The inserts should really help to tighten up the slack in the driveline without sending too many vibrations in to the cabin and should be far easier to fit too! The quality and finish of the parts is excellent and I can say from first hand experience that their customer service is awesome as well after there was a little hiccup in my order I was able to get the missing parts delivered in less than 48 hours after emailing them. Anyway enough of that rambling, on the with pictures!
  23. Samwise

    Unsure What To Do?

    Haha that does take the edge off a bit I suppose, but that's still almost £400 a service. Service plans always rub me the wrong way personally as you're basically paying at most £50 in parts at their bulk trade price, 200-300 on labour and like £50 for a stamp in your book.
  24. Samwise

    Unsure What To Do?

    They're just trying to ring you of cash while your car was in with them. Just tell them to do one and get the plugs done at 60k. Even then the quote of 1k (or 1.3k without their "discount") is ludicrous. I'd expect the spark plugs to be crafted by the hands of Zeus himself and sprinkled with gold dust for that 🤣
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