Samwise

Yeah that's the massive plus side to the LS, the less tech and fancy stuff the easier it is to identify problems, fix and mod. First car i ever worked on was my brothers 1.3i Austin mini, so simple u could pull the thing apart and have it back together in a evening :D! Also i didn't know that the ali LS where that light! Being able to say you have a 2 door v8 coupe is cool but I think the engine sound alone will tell people without having to say a word. 
 
Also you might of wanted a turbo 86....but why not have a LS turbo'd 86  
 
Only way i could really see any engine matching the CoG would be a straight swap for another subaru engine or a porche one. After owning a kayman S for 2 months, finding out it had a scoring on the section the pistons are and its a common problem Porsche are aware of but did nothing, costing £11,000 to repair, I don't think i'd ever trust them again.  As for the SR20 i never understood why anyone would use one instead of a FA20....in a standard s14a its 0-60 is 7 sec, and only does 22 mpg tops. Its old hat and just for the sake of having a common turbo engine, its not worth the downgrade, especially since you can turbo a FA for around 3-5K anyway.
I'm also with you on the side of not being the first, give it a few years and I think at the rate people are destroying LS/RB26 and BMW's are becoming more common and cheap it wont belong before there's a sea of people doing it. Just gotta be patient 
 
THAT'S FIGHTING TALK MR !! 🤣

in response to both comments:
 
The beauty of the LS is that it's not heavy at all - The FA20 engine in the GT86 weighs around 170-180kg: https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2415250
The LS engine i have (I actually bought it last year with this in mind so I didn't so much have it "Lying around" but this has been my plan for a while and I bought one while I could, they're pretty rare over here!) is also 171kg in the form you see it in my video i.e - no alternator, intake, etc so it'll go up a bit but not by a massive amount.
Granted this does of course mean that the CoG will be higher but I don't think that will be a massive difference over what say the 2JZ would change it by, as that engine weighs in the whopping range of 250-ish kg, and the problem with the SR20 for me personally is they're not actually amazing engines to make north of 350hp on and much like most nissan engines they like to munch oil pumps.
The LS is "old" ish in it's archetecture but unlike the 2JZ or RB series of engines it's not got a load of old 90's tech on it that doesn't stand up to today's standards, it simply has almost no tech at all, it's about as simple as engines come and will easily make well over 400hp without breaking a sweat whereas thanks to it's rather high compression the FA20 is rather highly strung when you try to push past 320hp.. and it doesn't make V8 noises 😋
 
Not to be overly defensive of my choices, they're both valid arguements it was simple a case for me that i found much more excitement in the thought of owning a 2 door v8 coupe that didn't have say an £80-100k price tag or Jaguar/Aston badge on it and building that myself rather than the thought of having a 4 cylinder wth a turbo and worrying if and when my gearbox is going to blow it's guts, i've kind of "been there and done that" in a way and it didn't excite me as much after thinking it through, I did actually originally want a turbo 86 at first. I even researched and still have a list of parts, turbo, pistons, rods, etc i'd go for if i were to build the engine and go down that route. 😁
 
p.s v10's sound better than v12's... in my opinion 😋

Did you just have that engine lying around? love how you just casually wheel it out like its not biggie haha!
While i get everyone doing LS swaps due to how common they are, I feel like its somewhat of a downgrade (same with people putting 2jz/sr20 ect) because they are older, heavier and less efficient engines. Sure its easier to make them around the 350+bhp mark and parts are super easy to find but the change in COG and difference in fuel consumption and efficiency of the engine itself using old tech always put me off, but if you got the resources there go for it. No matter what engine or turbos etc u got nothing sounds better than a v8 or 12.
 
I think if I ever end up doing a engine swap i'd be looking at one from the current generations of BMW (B5830) since alot of them on stock internals are now pushing 600bhp no issue, and if using the current Z4 3.0 litre its technically from the toyota family too. And thanks to how common BMW are now specially with every inner city posh boy with no driving skill owning them, sourcing one from a scrap yard isnt too hard. 

TBF, I get 33mpg so I wouldn't call the boxer engine efficient and modern.
Not sure I see the point in an LS swap, when a turbo gives 320hp and weighs significantly less. But, each to their own and I'll enjoy seeing it done!

Atleast all the bolts on it use Metric! otherwise i'd have dropkicked the thing in to the ocean!

The list goes on and on but at least it’s all very fixable. Which is what Sam is doing... isn’t he? 

and the Prius wheels and tyres 😓

Yeah that was my first thought as well. I was going to buy some but had the wrap to hand so figured i'd try this first.
Just need some contact adhesive to get it to stick

I think wrapping it in fabric could be the way to go tbh.

So another small update this weekend!   Hopefully they're not too-spammy, i get a bit worried about posting too many pictures but I guess more is always better!   So this weekend I went about doing some much needed maintenance on the car, mostly in the form of Oil changes for the engine, gearbox and rear diff as the car has just ticked over 50k Miles but also installing some supporting mods for the gearbox in the form of a gearbox mount bushing insert as well as the MTec Shifter spring kit which helps to centre up the gear stick when dropping back or passing through neutral.   I started off with the oils as of course that was a fairly easy task all round, even with access to empty and fill up the gearbox and diff oil it wasn't too bad as there's quite a bit of room to get the oil bottle up high for the oil to drain out. For anyone following a long at home i believe the gearbox takes 2.2L of Oil whereas the Diff takes 1.1, in my case i used 75w-90 and always be sure to use new crush washers! (Copper for the engine, Ali for the gearbox/diff) to avoid any leaks. Curiously the diff's sump plug is magnetic from the factory which is a nice feature but the same can't be said for the gearbox.   I then went about installing the diff pushing insert which again was a very easy job - Undo 1 nut, jack up the gear box, push the insert in and you're done! In my case it seems it is very much needed as the gearbox mount looks to have started to crack and even warp at the front. I don't particularly abuse my car but perhaps it moves around too much from the factory and doing the drift day last May or the odd wet-B road peel caused it to rattle around too much. Hopefully the diff bushing helps to avoid any further damage to it! It's hard to see the damage in this picture but if you've seen a non-buggered one you'll know that mine looks a little worse for wear.       The next day I moved on to the Mtec Shifter spring install as I figured that would be the hardest bit, it wasn't easy that's for sure but not particularly taxing either simply just slow due to the access to the two bolts that need to be taken out there's little more than an allen key can get in one side and it's best to take your time in general as the aluminium threads of the bolts can easily cross thread or strip if you don't clean the old thread locker from them. Once the two Ali plugs were removed and the old springs retrieved they could be swapped for the new springs and tightened back in. Not many pictures as it's such a tiny viewing window im afraid but i covered it all in my latest video here:         The weekend after that I went over to Chelmsford to attend the SlammedUK meet which was a pretty good turnout, the closest thing we've had to a proper car show all year it feels like. I got chatting to alot of new people or people that follow me in various forms and the 86 got alot of great attention all round! Here's a few little pics from various photographers on the day:     @Ryanhudsonphotography


@all.kinds.of.cars




@Sammjoey






 

So another small update this weekend!   Hopefully they're not too-spammy, i get a bit worried about posting too many pictures but I guess more is always better!   So this weekend I went about doing some much needed maintenance on the car, mostly in the form of Oil changes for the engine, gearbox and rear diff as the car has just ticked over 50k Miles but also installing some supporting mods for the gearbox in the form of a gearbox mount bushing insert as well as the MTec Shifter spring kit which helps to centre up the gear stick when dropping back or passing through neutral.   I started off with the oils as of course that was a fairly easy task all round, even with access to empty and fill up the gearbox and diff oil it wasn't too bad as there's quite a bit of room to get the oil bottle up high for the oil to drain out. For anyone following a long at home i believe the gearbox takes 2.2L of Oil whereas the Diff takes 1.1, in my case i used 75w-90 and always be sure to use new crush washers! (Copper for the engine, Ali for the gearbox/diff) to avoid any leaks. Curiously the diff's sump plug is magnetic from the factory which is a nice feature but the same can't be said for the gearbox.   I then went about installing the diff pushing insert which again was a very easy job - Undo 1 nut, jack up the gear box, push the insert in and you're done! In my case it seems it is very much needed as the gearbox mount looks to have started to crack and even warp at the front. I don't particularly abuse my car but perhaps it moves around too much from the factory and doing the drift day last May or the odd wet-B road peel caused it to rattle around too much. Hopefully the diff bushing helps to avoid any further damage to it! It's hard to see the damage in this picture but if you've seen a non-buggered one you'll know that mine looks a little worse for wear.       The next day I moved on to the Mtec Shifter spring install as I figured that would be the hardest bit, it wasn't easy that's for sure but not particularly taxing either simply just slow due to the access to the two bolts that need to be taken out there's little more than an allen key can get in one side and it's best to take your time in general as the aluminium threads of the bolts can easily cross thread or strip if you don't clean the old thread locker from them. Once the two Ali plugs were removed and the old springs retrieved they could be swapped for the new springs and tightened back in. Not many pictures as it's such a tiny viewing window im afraid but i covered it all in my latest video here:         The weekend after that I went over to Chelmsford to attend the SlammedUK meet which was a pretty good turnout, the closest thing we've had to a proper car show all year it feels like. I got chatting to alot of new people or people that follow me in various forms and the 86 got alot of great attention all round! Here's a few little pics from various photographers on the day:     @Ryanhudsonphotography


@all.kinds.of.cars




@Sammjoey






 

Oh and i'll make sure its clean this time!

I'll be there, it's practically on my doorstep

Oh and i'll make sure its clean this time!

Oh and i'll make sure its clean this time!

Good seeing you all today and took a few photos..

Can't seem to access the facebook event anymore but i'll be there for sure parts back for my car today so that'll be back in one piece and ready to go!

Can't seem to access the facebook event anymore but i'll be there for sure parts back for my car today so that'll be back in one piece and ready to go!

I still pressure wash the car, but might like having a sticker on the car the wrap won't fair well if you aim the pressure washer full blast right at its edges, other than that a pressure washer is actually a great way to wash it.
I would never take any car I cared for to a car wash personally unless it was one of those touchless/contactless ones but even then..
As for Waxes and Sealants as the wrap had a ceramic coat applied to it there's no need for Waxes or sealants until that Ceramic coating layers one day wears thin or off, all you'd be doing is hindering the ceramic coating's ability to repel water, etc by applying any further products over the top of it.

Some pics

Still been getting out and about in the 86 going to a few small car meet or coffee meets, meeting new faces and chatting alot about cars!   During the week I also got another little job done which was to install a mini fuse box to remove all the various accessory connections I had hanging off the battery. I covered the install process in my latest little video:       And as well as that i've got plenty more pictures of the car either taken by me or from various other photographers at a couple of little meets i've attended, but here's a few of mine:  

     

Looking forward to seeing it at Denbies, Sam.
I'm not parking mine next to yours!

Unless something suddenly springs on me in the mean time, i am

Thank you all for the kind words Really great to hear one way or another. Ofcourse it might not be for everyone be it the widebody/rocket bunny style or the colour or wheels, etc but it would be boring if we all enjoyed the same things and yet at the same time it's cool to appreciate each other's cars/taste and so on.
😁😁

The stuff of dreams that.  Fantastic work mate.
Those deep wheels with the colour scheme 👌 
Love to see this in person.