Jay Bamrah

Review on Tuning Developments NA KIT + stock exhaust.
I drove 200 miles to meet Mike at TD today so had plenty of time to remind myself how the car drives stock. I drove another 200 miles home after. This is my review, hopefully it can help somebody else decide if they want to do the same one day.
NA KIT, UEL Header.
With the stock exhaust (except the header and overpipe) the car is barely louder than stock, the exhaust tone changed however.
On my drive home most of it was motorway driving so 70mph at 3000RPM gear 6... the car felt like a different car in that situation, the only way to describe it is the car felt like it had lost 100kg of weight, or something like that. It felt really throwable if that makes sense, or like someone had attached rope to the front of it and was pulling it lol.
Another big thing you will notice is... imagine a drag race ... when you accelerate in gear 1... 0mph to 25mph, as you start at 0RPM and go to 7000RPM you will notice the 0-4000RPM range will be much more aggressive, my tyres smelt as a result once I got home😂. Once you enter gear 2 at 25MPH you will already be at 4000RPM thus the improvement will be less noticeable.
 
if however you were at 3000RPM in gear 2 then you would feel the increase just like you did in gear 1.
the 20ish% more torque low end makes the car feel very light and agile. 
 
on my drive home I kept finding myself getting to 100Kmph* by accident because the car can pick up so much faster in gear 6 at 3000RPM. Not good since the m6 has so many speed cameras😂
 
Mike himself was lovely and for 3 hours sat in his office and answered all my random questions until my car was finished.
 
I have done 210 miles with the kit 190 being motorway driving. If I think of anything useful to add later I will.
 
—————————stuff I added later————————
I feel that from 0miles to 300miles after the install the kit keeps improving both the sound of the exhaust and feel of the drive. Like wearing in leather shoes. Don’t know if this is true but it’s how it felt to me.
Something which pleasantly surprised me was that the kit made the exhaust smell nice, you know like a strong petrol smell. That which you smell from a straight piped car. I never considered this when buying it but a pleasant extra lol.
The 5mph to 30mph gear 1 pull makes it worth it by itself it makes me laugh how that changed so much.
 
I feel not having to be at 5000 rpm to feel power inspires confidence in me driving, not a dangerous confidence but I just feel like I don’t have to be on the limit to get power sort of confidence. I also rarely even go to 6000rpm as I don’t need to be squeezing power from the car. That could be seen as a reliability gain?

Road noise really increases when rear tyres wear out, so it can get fairly loud on the motorway. The motorway is also where the driving is boring and I can catch up listening to boring interviews with nerdy people. But then I can't hear the interview and I have to choose. Switch to music? Make the drive more interesting? Try out hypermiling? Drive backwards? Meditate?

Do we have the same car? Exactly the 2 rattles that drive me mad, although my glovebox rattles and so does the gear lever. I'm driving a 13 year old Micra at the minute and it genuinely rattles less than my car.
I find when you are rattling hunting this works quite well (especially if you have a subwoofer). Download a frequency generator app on your phone then connect to your headunit with bluetooth, run the frequency app and play specific frequencies through your speakers, I've found that as you scroll down through the frequency range 400Hz and lower, you trigger all sorts of rattles to start, then you can hunt them down at your leisure rather than trying to figure it out whilst driving.
 

I know! I just keep thinking did I get lucky with my car or do I just not care?
I don't notice it. Road noise I notice.

Because I'm a tart and wanted a photo of the fleet all together before the MX-5 goes on the market. My attainable ultimate 3 car garage!

They'll fit but it's not something I'd run as there would be too much sidewall flex. 
Best to just say with 215 on 7" wide/stock width wheels. 

I realise that for most of you this is going to be preaching to the choir, but after running the Tuning Developments NA package for 6 weeks or so and getting a few road miles and a track day under my belt, I thought I'd share my experiences for anyone that's considering having their car upgraded.
 
I had the install completed just before Christmas; I stayed in Runcorn at a very cheap hotel, and made my way over to Warrington at 9am.  The work took until about 2pm to complete, including TD's own catback and the MTEC shift springs/Powerflex gearbox insert combination.  I spent some time talking to @Mike@TD.co.uk whilst the work was being done and it's clear that he knows his stuff with GT86s.  He kept me updated with how the work was going, and also kindly took me for a passenger ride in the turbo GT86 
After a couple of post-install dyno runs and a road test, I took the keys back and prepared for the long journey down the M6/M5.  Just pulling out of the estate where TD are based it was obvious that the engine revved more freely.  Spending a bit more time with the package since then has only reinforced that initial impression.  Even keeping the revs below the old torque dip the engine response feels more immediate.  The real benefits become obvious once you get over 3500rpm though.  Plant your right foot at 30mph in 3rd gear, as you might do on a sliproad, and the car pulls effortlessly all the way to the national limit.  Whilst you'll see a ~10% gain in peak power over a standard car, the real improvements come at 4000rpm where you have 25% more torque, and the torque level is almost constant from 3000 - 6750rpm, rather than 4750 - 6750.  It practically doubles the width of the power band, and as you'd imagine the result is like driving a different car.  You can keep the engine in its sweet spot without running it to the redline in every gear
An added bonus of the flexibility is that it allows you even more potential to exploit the chassis balance and adjustability on the road.  The extra torque means that you have more options coming out of a corner.  I was always a fan of the way that you can neutralise understeer with the right amount of throttle input, and the flat torque curve and sharper throttle response really helps that characteristic shine.
On track the gains are less obvious but still there.  At track speeds you would normally have been above the dip anyway, but at Donington a couple of weeks back we had quite a wet morning.  I didn't know the circuit, and combined with the rain (and the need to drive home afterwards!) I was fairly cautious early on.  As well as taking less corner speed, I was shifting at lower revs.  The ability to upshift early without dropping into the dip meant that I didn't feel I was losing too much by doing that.  I'm looking forward to getting back to Castle Combe at some point too.  Last time out I was short-shifting to 5th before Folly to avoid an upshift through the corner, and the improved torque curve should mean that it's not so costly to do that.
As I mentioned after the installation, I also found that fitting the NA package didn't increase my insurance premium, which is through one of the brokers in the Insurance section.
 
As for the other changes to the car, the catback has given the exhaust note a nice throaty bass in day-to-day driving.  It was initially a little harsher and had a slight drone at motorway speeds, but has mellowed nicely over time and is now quite tuneful.  I can happily listen to music at a sensible volume, without the exhaust drowning it out.  On track it really sings with a lovely race car note.
The MTEC springs and Powerflex gearbox insert have made a surprisingly big difference for such an affordable modification.  Cold-start 2nd gear issues aside, I'd always thought the GT86 has a very good shift from the factory.  That the springs and insert have improved on it so noticeably is seriously impressive.  It has a really positive feel, and the weight and precision are nothing short of exceptional.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend both Tuning Developments and the NA package.  The install looks great quality, Mike and Nick know their stuff, and it really is excellent value.

Hey do you know how much they weigh and how much they cost new? 
 
I will PM you now, if you don’t mind showing me the curb damage please also

thanks:)

I wouldn't go for +25 unless your car is lowered with a bit of camber, otherwise it will look like a monster truck. I can't imagine the face design will be any different between the ET35 and ET25 anyway. They are quite popular so there will be lots of photos on google.

+25 should fit, it'll be aggressive though. +35 is better in that size.

The Konig Oversteer looks similar but they are still over £1000.
Best of writing a list of imitation brands like Bola, JR and Rota then going through their catalogue of wheels.

Most of the high end wheels like OZ, Enkei, Rays, Weds, etc will all cost around £1400+ minimum for a full set 
A similar wheel is the Sparco DRS (Sparco wheels are made by OZ) - which you can get in 18x8 +35 for around £800:
https://www.ozracing.com/uk/alloy-wheels/sparco/sparco-drs
https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/sparco-wheels-drs-alloy-wheels-in-rally-bronze-set-of-4-2006683/
There is also the Japan Racing JR21 as these are fairly similar:
https://jr-wheels.com/category/jr21

Hello Jay, selling the car as I need to do more mileage and want to start tracking more.


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Normal price for high-end forged wheel. Most first tier forged wheel manufacturers price theirs similar. Volks will cost similar, i don't think that some TE-37/ZE40/CN28 will cost less. And if it's lowest weight about, TWS T66-F of 16x7 size weight 4.82kg (17x8 6.32kg).

Yes that one's mine, but most companies I know that hire Caterhams for track use would be fine with on a wet day like that.
But your car will slide around very nicely in those conditions, it's a great tool to learn with.

Get yourself on a cheap track day in the winter and pray for rain. Everything happens at a much lower speed but you can practise losing control and sliding the car around without too much to worry about. The best bit is that when something goes wrong on the road you'll be much better prepared to deal with it.
This was some of the most fun I've ever had on track, despite getting quite wet!
 

Yes Mazepin crash is a good example of a standard oversteer crash: oversteer in one direction, catch it , then swing uncontrollably the other way. That is one thing you learn in  car control, to anticipate the swing back. A classic example from a hm, prospective buyer of a RWD car:
 

Haha, I was out learning to drift 5am empty roads and was wet and hit the back left of the car against a metal barrier thing. il post the photo  so u can see. That’s a photo I took of the car at my friends repair shop the other day as it looked nice. the car is all fixed now and no actual damage to the chassis it hit a crumple some so just a new panel and respray was needed .
I don’t know if u watch f1 but f1 practise 1 today 16th April 2021 Nikita mazepins crash that caused a red flag, that was a carbon copy of what happened to Me lol  😂

Do we need to worry that it has the towing eye fitted?

There was snow and cold outside 🙂 From yesterday morning..
 

I took this one a couple of days ago after washing it.  Low light shot.

Nice day yesterday, so engine clean up time!

Gotta give credit to Rob for the photo! 

Hah - my supercharger makes it louder.  Difference between turbo and 'charger.

The TD NA kit removes the first cat from the manifold. It's already louder than a stock car.