Hypnosis

My H&S exhaust is now ready and will be installed on Friday 11 November.  I'm looking forward to the drive home, but possibly not the 2h drive there in the morning!

I still dislike Facebook's haphazard nature and threads that get quickly lost, so I'll continue blogging here.
I finally got truly fed up with the temperamental nature of my TD exhaust, the noise that is still loud, and gets a lot louder when hot, and its poor build quality (I've twice had to have the end welds on the super-resonator re-made).  Not to mention the front dampers that were destroyed because they used a mole wrench on the piston struts.  That, together with all the trouble I had with my TD manifold burning the top hose, means I want rid of the last bit of TD from my car.
I've decided, based on videos, owner reports and talking to Hayward & Scott, on a new exhaust.  I'm having a bespoke one made using their large silencer, dual Helmholz resonators and tips.  I specified 60mm stainless steel as they said it's good for up to 350bhp and I'm never going to uprate it above the 300bhp it's pulling now.  I want it quiet!
They report 88dB at 5000 rpm with a stock engine, so add 2dB for the supercharger.  That will comfortably beat the 100dB or so that mine creates using my SPL meter at 1m distance.  More importantly, it will be much quieter around town, there should be no drone and it will have a deeper bass note.
Installation is expected to be in about 4 weeks' time.

March and it's time to get back to having rumbly noises again! Managed to pick up a hardly used Tomei UEL manifold and went to an old school friend's new garage to get it in place. Very different tone from the Tuning Developments one that was in place before. It's not too loud with the Scorpion exhaust but a good noise when you get on the throttle. I feel a bit of dyno time to get it perfect and all will be good. 

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.

Abbey Motorsport have been an importer of Sprintex. If you go for it, please buy the intercooled one. Do check with them as they never took off and we have very few of them around. Abbey started recommending Harrop kits after the initial couple of years. Harrop is no longer available, i believe or is on hold. Worth checking that option with Abbey as well.

With 2022 fast approaching and after current Omicron wave is hopefully over by the end of winter (and most of us being triple/ quadruple vaccinated by then), its time to start thinking which social and club events we would like to put in our diaries.
Couple suggestions below (in italics are those we either already have in the calendar or usually attend so I assume we'll do it again in 2022).
If you would like to add/ suggest any, or just raise the voice of support/ preference for a particular event leave the comment.
April 2nd 2022, Saturday - Spring Action Day (Castle Combe)
Spring Action Day 2022 | Castle Combe Race Circuit (castlecombecircuit.co.uk)
April 10th 2022, Sunday - Japfest Silverstone
Japfest Silverstone powered by TurboZentrum | Fast Car
(We always attend this one. Hope to see large crowd again next year! )
May 21st 2022, Saturday - Summer Action Day (Castle Combe)
Summer Action Day 2022 | Castle Combe Race Circuit (castlecombecircuit.co.uk)
June 12th 2022, Sunday - Bromley Pageant of Motoring (Norman Park, Bromley)
Classic Car Show | Bromley Pageant | England
(This one is instead of cancelled last year - see details in the calendar )
Bromley Pageant of Motoring - Official Club Events - Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ Drivers Club
June 19th 2022, Sunday - Tunerfest South (Brands Hatch)
Tunerfest Show – South – The Ultimate Performance Car Event
(We usually go to this one, so hopefully will be there again in 2022 )
July 7th 2022, Saturday - JDM Combe (Castle Combe)
JDM Combe 2022 | Castle Combe Race Circuit (castlecombecircuit.co.uk)
(Simon already organised club stand for this one)
July 24th 2022, Sunday - Simply Japanese (Beailieu)
Simply Japanese – Beaulieu (semantic.co.uk)
(This one is usually popular, lets do it again!)
August 6th-7st 2022, Saturday - Sunday - Beaulieu Supercar Weekend (Beaulieu)
Beaulieu Supercar Weekend – Beaulieu (semantic.co.uk)
August 18th-21st 2022, Thursday - Sunday - The British Motor Show (Farnborough)
Home - The British Motor Show
August 29st 2022, Sunday - Tunerfest Midlands (Donington Park)
Tunerfest Show – Midlands – The Ultimate Performance Car Event
September 25th 2022, Sunday - Go Japan! (Brands Hatch)
What’s On – Go Japan!
(Date provisional )
October 9th 2022, Sunday - Autumn Motorsport Day (Brookland Museum)
Brooklands Museum :: Autumn Motorsport Day
October 29th 2022, Saturday - Halloween Action Day (Castle Combe)
Halloween Action Day 2022 | Castle Combe Race Circuit (castlecombecircuit.co.uk)
Still dont know dates for TRAX at Silverstone. Will add to the list when known.

I should be able to do Saturday & Sunday. 

For anyone looking at the Scorpion Catback system, here are my first impressions after having them just fitted.
There doesn't seem to be many 86/brz owners here that have gone with Scorpion and there's only a handful of videos online with it but quality is pretty poor. For these reasons I was hesitant to go for them but the 20% off Black Friday and Carbon Fibre Tailpipes option, I bite the bullet and purchased them on the 22nd of November and they were on back order so I only just managed to get them installed.
Went for a resonated one at first but changed to a non-res a bit after since order was still in production and I'm glad I did! Noise is not overly loud, definitely a bump over stock,  deep tone and no drone really. Haven't been on the motorway yet and only occasionally do so if it does drone on the motorway, I'll hardly get to experience it. Not loud when idling.
Other than this secondary cat back exhaust, everything else is stock. The sound may be not deep enough for some and personally I'd like a deeper rumble too but I guess that'll come in the future when I install UEL headers. I know, I should've gotten a resonated one if I was planning to go UEL in the future but that wont happen for a while and Scorpion sell's just the resonated section of the exhaust for 80ish so that's why I changed my initial order from resonated to non-res. For now though, I'm very happy with it. What do you guys think?
Here's a quick video I took with some revs to the engine. Couldn't get one with a cold start.
 

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!
 


 

I know Chris over at Tarmac had one on his so there's definitely one more out there. Clutch is a standard Toyota one which seems to be quite happy for now. Dyno graph for your viewing pleasure. That is with the stock manifold so there's still a few more gains to be had.  

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.
 

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.
 

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!
 
 
 
 

Well done you! Enjoy your car.
What mileage was on the car when the clutch started doing its thing? And what exactly was it doing which made you worry? and what exactly did you finally do - Change it ? Aftermarket or OE?
Put some Dyno charts up , if you can. Always interesting to see the gains you got from the manifold.
Happy motoring and watch out for Black Friday sales, if you are wanting more parts..

You need to start saving for a supercharger mate 😉

I'm actually following you on YouTube now, would love to do a V8 swap myself! 

Morning from sunny Surrey!
Already said hello over on the Facebook group but thought I'd drop by over here too. Former 350Z owner but fancied a GT86 for a little bit now 😄