Tweedbean

Bigger exhaust would be best if you're in a position to be able to do that. I already had the 2.5" system and couldn't see a benefit of upgrading at this point. However if I was to buy an exhaust with the knowing i'd be supercharging i'd have gone 3". Although there isn't much benefit until you start pushing over 350hp IMO. At which point i'd want to spend the money on engine internals before a new exhaust! 
 
I've not really driven the car lately to get anymore data or updates.  In fact there are weeds growing up the side of it at the moment
 
However i'm looking for a set of the stock braces. The two black ones that come with the car. If anyone has a spare set going i'd be interested. 

For the 300bhp mark 2.5" is fine. I've got 2.5" throughout. 
 
The biggest restriction is the stock 2nd Cat. Even with stock manifold and overpipe you'd be fine for flow. 
 
I've gone for optimum flow whilst staying legal, de-catted manifold, High-Flow Cat in front pipe resonated. Car with similar setup with no cats did produce a little more power, but it's incredibly loud and illegal for MOT.

I've had some DBA Performance discs and Hawk pads delivered from Fensport. Had them fitted locally, and had a bit of a photoshoot to celebrate.
 

 

 

Just having a look on the US forum and they say it definitely does cover the holes.

I believe so yes - will confirm for sure when it arrives.

The spoiler is the leg motorsport clubsport ducktail.

The drop links were part of the whiteline adjustable arb kits - the front kit was the bar, bushes and drop links, the rear the bar, bushes, braces and droplinks.

Had the tracking info for my spoiler and that's on its way too! :-)

Again, Chris @ Tarmac can supply these

Yeah that was me when I was tempted to switch Keeping it now for the time being though! 
 
James (Tweedbean) speak to Chris at Tarmac about the Borla UEL as well, that is where both me and Smudge got ours from. He should still be able to source them for you

You are in luck Remal I have just seen this

Nice to see you are interested in the Invidia systems, they are fantastic quality and Chris from Tarmac will get you a good deal. The reason you pay more for the Q300 is because of the "backbox" style design instead of the Y pipe of the N1, more material is used, and it also produces a quieter more refined sound.

On the other hand, the N1 is designed to be LOUD, it does drone a bit and is incredibly deep in it's tone. Due to it being a less restrictive Y pipe design It is best optimised for flow, outside of a single exit Tomei or Blitz for example.

I chose it because I wanted the car to be a bit loud and obnoxious, as it was something I felt it dearly lacked, even though it was a sports car, but also it produced good HP numbers.

Quality wise I have had no problems in the year I have had it. The titanium tips look as good polished up now as they did when I first bolted it on. The Invidia plaque at the split of the pipes looks awesome underneath the car, and the welds and joins on the exhaust itself are very solid.

Here are a couple of pictures of it on the car:







Unfortunately I do not have any videos of the sound of mine at the moment (will get those done), but I do have the identical setup to this YouTube video:



The N1 contributes to a lot of the sound along with the Borla UEL. Even before the manifold was installed, and it was on the stock manifold, it was a loud beast.

I think you said however that being loud was not your target, but something that sounded a bit fruity instead was more your thing? Well the Q300 is definitely the choice for you in that regard then, as it doesn't produce the drone of the N1, yet is still a bit louder than the stock system.

Quality wise they are the same too.

Hope that answer helps in your decision process any way buddy

Another great (and slightly over due) 40odd thousand mile service from Richard Mckay and his team at RRG Macclesfield Toyota and while they were at it, 2 new tyres (Yokohama Advan Sports) and the fitting of a nice big red brake kit (KSport 8 Pots, 330mm vented discs and braided lines). Some serious stopping power which is probably over kill for my car but they look the business and I'm sure they'll come in handy on track......just need to get the rears painted red 
 

 
Seriously looking forward to getting back on track, I've not even properly pushed the car after having the coilovers fitted and now these big brakes, itching to see what the car can do.  I've pushed the car around the twisty roads and it feels really good, solid and planted especially with the wider track from the spacers, makes the steering feel a lil more heavy but again feels more planted but I never really really push it on public roads so interested to see how it performs when I go all out on track.
 
To be fair I could have done without getting the brakes but it was a spur of the moment buy and a bit of a steal so can't really complain, they've been sat in the house for the past couple of months so thought it was time to get them fitted.  On the drive back, the brakes felt good, they don't have the same initial bite like the Stoptech Pads on stock discs did but the Stoptechs sometimes felt like the car wouldn't stop after that initial bite.  Where as the KSports feel a lot more progressive, so not as much bit initial bite but as you put your foot further down, you can feel the car progressively yet swiftly slow down.  I've not tried using the brakes hard/slamming them yet as on the journey back, I still had the old calipers and stuff in the front passenger side as well as drinks bottles and what not so didn't want them going all over the place.  I'll give it some tomorrow sometime but so far so good.  Rich and myself did wonder if getting bigger brakes would end up adding more weight to the car and stuff and the box with the the KSport stuff in were pretty heavy, but when I tried to get the box back out with the stock stuff in, I was shocked at how much more heavier the stock kit is, so think I saved a bit of weight in the process which is a win.
 
All this work so soon after getting the car back has again set me back a fair bob but it's all progress and it satisfies the modding bug.  I'm just eager to get a nice set of alloys like I have been meaning to for the past couple of years but the wait must continue as I have to start saving again but I'm glad that I can get back on it and do more stuff to the car without having to feel guilty about buying a lil mod when I should have in fact been saving to get her fixed. Especially when so many of you have helped me throughout the ordeal, the donations of parts, cash and even the time in looking for second hand parts for me, I felt like I had to get the car fixed not just for myself but to all of you who have helped me out.  And on that note, as I can't thank you enough, I'll thank you all again for all the support and here's to the club and it's awesome community!
 

On the way up to Felixstowe yesterday for a funeral I took some readings that might be of some interest. I don't know? I'll also post them in the Oil Discussions thread. But thought I'd put them in here as they're relevant to my build too.
 
I've been taking note of the oil temps and pressures over the journey. Driving it hard / steady, motorway and sprint style driving on b-roads. 
 
My Oil temp gauge is taken off the oil filter sandwich plate. And is accurate and identical to the ECU Oil Temp reading. Oil Pressure is taken off the same port as the stock oil pressure switch.
 
Oil Temps
I use the Millers 0W30 CFS Fully Synthetic Oil, with the HKS Type S Oil Cooler with hoses of about 1.7m long. What I've noticed is steady driving, cruising around I never see over 80c Oil temp. Driving it hard i've seen peaks of about 90c and on one Sunday chasing a RS4 and an RX7 we saw 102c on a very hot day. I've never been able to get them past 110c. 
 
Oil pressures 
Oil Pressures once hot always sit at around 4.5 Bar when sticking to speed limits and cruising around etc Idles at 1.2 bar and peaks at about 5 bar under full throttle to red line. When cold the pressure sits at 8 Bar. I've never seen my oil pressures over 10 Bar off the scale and never seen them drop below 1 bar even when really hot. 
 
The journey was about an hour and all readings where taken holding the car at a steady speed...
 
RPM -    Speed -  Oil temp C -  Oil Pressure - Gear
2000rpm - 50mph, 76 degrees, 3 bar, 6th gear

3500rpm - 86mph, 75 degrees, 5 bar, 6th gear

5000rpm - 90 mph, 80 degrees, 5 bar, 6th gear

5000rpm - 120 mph, 80 degrees, 5 bar, 6th gear

3500rpm - 86mph, 86 degrees, 4 bar, 6th gear
 
I'm going to do a couple of other tests where I blank off the oil cooler air intake to see how much work the cooler is doing etc. 

Couple of little updates. I finally managed to find a centre cap replacement, these wheels aren't made anymore however I found a company that had snapped up a load of BBS spares and they had one of these available. I just need to find the time to get it to the powder coaters to get it sorted.

Wheel centre sourced by James Baker, on Flickr

I saw this project MU brake fluid reservoir cover and had to have it as its a close match to the wheels and adds a bit more colour to the engine bay.

Project MU Brake reservoir cover by James Baker, on Flickr

I have also managed to get all the other centre caps now sitting flush which I am pleased with.

I've spent the last couple of days reading up superchargers kits, especially since seeing a few threads popping up about the HKS setup. Up until now I was pretty much set on an AVO turbo but the HKS does sound interesting.

Couple of little updates. I finally managed to find a centre cap replacement, these wheels aren't made anymore however I found a company that had snapped up a load of BBS spares and they had one of these available. I just need to find the time to get it to the powder coaters to get it sorted.

Wheel centre sourced by James Baker, on Flickr

I saw this project MU brake fluid reservoir cover and had to have it as its a close match to the wheels and adds a bit more colour to the engine bay.

Project MU Brake reservoir cover by James Baker, on Flickr

I have also managed to get all the other centre caps now sitting flush which I am pleased with.

I've spent the last couple of days reading up superchargers kits, especially since seeing a few threads popping up about the HKS setup. Up until now I was pretty much set on an AVO turbo but the HKS does sound interesting.

Here is the makeup of the supercharger unit itself: 
 

 
For anyone interested here is a photo of the Supercharger unit and the Drag reduction system that we spoke about earlier... 
 

 
You can see the 3rd roller wheel has a spring which when no load is on retracts to reduce load.
 
 
Also here is a Dyno run of the 3 systems in place. Stock, Step1 (39mm Restrictor) and Step 2 (43mm Restrictor)
 

 
I'm currently on Step1 39mm Restrictor. As you can see it doesn't affect to much low down. But actually starts to pull the hp down at about 4800rpm. 
 
My plan is to run the car in this setup for a little while, then upgrade to the 43mm restrictor. But i'm more than happy on the 39mm restrictor and the power feels good! Estimated at about 275hp currently based on the amount of Air we measured through the air box whilst mapping.

I'm using BC's supplied by Adrian at Fensport (after they had to double check with BC that they were allowed to sell them separately). If you message Toyokid, he might still have a spare set that he brought.

Wow nige! What an inspiration! Loving your craftsmanship and engineering excellence! I would say jack of all trades but you seem to be the master of all

So, for someone inexperienced with Fibre etc i guess you would recommend just buying the Genuine kit yeah?

I love the rivet look but man i saw a couple of photos of the bunny kit arches blended in and OMG that was lovely! pic attaches just to tease :P

What do you think?

Do you never sleep, Nige?  Cracking job, as usual.  You are truly an asset and inspiration to our community 

I may have missed a previous post - sorry - but if you are talking about 'brace' as in top/bottom bracing in the engine bay I can vouch for their efficacy.
 
A top 3-point and bottom 4-point Summit brace transformed the steering/suspension 'feel' and response on my car, even before I went f/i.
 
And it was the bottom brace that made the real impact on me... all of the imprecise 'wobbly jelly' feel disappeared and I could feel the difference that even minor changes in camber/toe in made.
 
It's difficult to explain to those who've never come to grips with a fully rose-jointed spaceframe race car.. It also sharpens your senses to what the tyres are doing, and the difference other tyres make. My car was driven by Adrian Smith (Fensport) and by Colin Hoad (CAT) at a Tein suspension development day at Millbrook (with Pitman) and their input has convinced me.
 
Ignore my advice if it pleases you.. it is so long since I drove a GT86  I am now at inner peace with myself by frightening every learner driver in my locality by driving my tonka toy straight at 'em or overwhelming their rear mirror... it is the little things in life that  provide vicarious pleasure....
 
  
 
Spec K

Ha thanks for the Andy Warhol attempt, unfortunately none of those float my boat.

But while on the theme of wheels, some of the keen eyed among you would have also noticed when I had the centres on they sat proud from the face of the wheel and were not to my standard of finish. So tonight I have been taking away the excess powder coat from the backs of them to ensure that when they go back on the car, they will sit flush. A lot of work but it will be worth it to see them fit properly.

Here you can see the build up of excess powder coat on the back a bit like a paint drip:

Centre cap clean up by James Baker, on Flickr

Getting there:

Centre cap clean up by James Baker, on Flickr

You have an eye for detail Mr Tweedbean, keep it up!

not sure what options you have with BBS but I thought I'd have a go at making your decision much harder with my take on an Andy Warhol Painting 
 

Tough decision for you there mate!

Had a quick go at photoshopping black and grey with the red shown for reference. Not a fan of the idea of white as it wont be pearl to match the paintwork.

mix by James Baker, on Flickr

mix2 by James Baker, on Flickr

mix3 by James Baker, on Flickr

will have to agree there, the red and blue didn't go well together on those wheels