Tilly's TRD =)

[Tilly 20]

Hi guys, I've been floating around over on the gt86oc forum for a while but it's relatively quiet so thought it was about time I started posting here so I'll start with a build thread lol. So far I've not done all that much, I'm slowly building a stash of parts read to turbo the car in the near future. Some of these pics aren't up to date and there may have been a few changes since!

These were some early iPhone pics when I first got the car and put my reg on:

Then it was time to start playing around so I removed the "TOYOTA" and "GT86" rear badging to tidy the rear end up and ditched those terrible terrible standard rear lights in favour of some Valenties:

Nothing exciting but a little carbon brace from Japspeed:

Then it was time to start gathering parts ready for the turbo, some are on already, some aren't... First up was some K Sport 8 pots. First impressions... Better than expected, the quality of the kit was fantastic and the pictures do them no justice, I got a great deal including the k sport pads (I'll eventually upgrade to DS2500's but for now they'll suffice)

I hear a lot of mixed views on k sport brakes but most is from ill-educated forum warriors and brand whore know-it-alls but let's face it... Why do impreza/evo owners upgrade from factory brembos to these? Why do the time attack and drift lads run them? They're obviously good at what they do and parts are fully interchangeable with the AP setups. Of those people who have actually owned them and speaking from first hand experience, they sounded like a good option so I took the plunge, brilliant value considering they're also a two piece disc:

Now the next bit is a little marmite. My last jap car was an S15 Spec-R Aero so needless to say there were frequently a lot of confused faces whenever I drove by, people questioning what it was and taking an interest. It was always quite amusing to see their reactions when I told them it was "just" a Nissan and not some high end supercar and for some weird reason I actually used to like telling people because it made me feel humble in the knowledge that to me, I couldn't care about a badge and it shows just how pretentious some people are haha so I decided to swap out the Toyota emblems for the US spec Scion emblems, love them or loathe them it's not to everybody's taste:

After this I found I had a little spare time one weekend so on went the K Sports:

More toys! HKS Hipermax IV GT coilovers with adjustable top mounts and shortened drop links

The master cylinder brace has arrived from japanland lol:

I'm yet to fit the coilovers (as you can see just dumped in the spare room) but I have those to chuck on and a few polybushes due to arrive shortly, I've ordered some rear subframe inserts and a gearbox mount insert.

I've spent a lot of time researching turbo kits and tuning options and have been looking at all sorts of kits, initially I was leaning towards a JDL turbo kit until I heard of a few fitment and communications issues that don't sit well with me so I've steered away from that. Next in line was the treadstone kit using a borgwarner EFR turbo, on paper this seems like an immense bit of kit but at the end of it all... call me a kid but I love the weird and wonderful Star Wars-esque noises of tuned turbo jap cars and with previous experiences, I really want to go down the root of a Garrett turbo with an external wastegate and I'm now heart set and saving for a full blown motorsports stage 1 premium kit using a GTX2867 turbo, they're tried and tested on many many cars and there's a lot of support available so it seems the wiser choice.

Due to errr... Technical issues lol (with my wallet not the car) this is taking slightly longer than anticipated but it's given me chance to further research.

The overnight parts from Japan arrived (okay so they came from America not Japan but let's not dwell on that #racewars). I have a VERY particular exhaust setup in mind I'm keen to have on the 86 but I was previously worried by the pipe diameter not being big enough for when I go FI as I've always thought 3" was a pretty standard requirement but after speaking to the boys at Delicious Tuning (they were responsible for the tune on Ken Blocks gymkhana Subaru) they have assured me that for the levels of power I'm trying to achieve that it's perfectly acceptable to run even a standard exhaust setup and I will be using one of Bills flash and go tunes on the car when it comes to mapping so I know I'm in safe hands (for any sceptics, research the delicious tuning flash and go maps first). Once uploaded you can send him a log file for your car to then tweak the map to better suit your vehicle and he will do this three times for free and then after that charges a reasonable hourly rate so you can really get it dialled in. The beautiful thing is that I can do this all from the comfort of my own home without disrupting my work as with the time difference between here and the US, he's working while I'm sat at home so we can make contact easily and stress free. So the point of this? Is that because a 60.5mm exhaust bore will be sufficient I can start putting together the exhaust setup I want.

Up first....

Tomei stainless steel overpipe, this is essentially a 60.5mm bore throughout, it's welded in three or four sections and removes the squashed section found on the OE overpipe therefore removing the restriction. The quality is second to none with fantastic attention to detail, even down to the slick tomei labelled flanges, beautiful!

Then this shall be paired to what I can only refer to as an absolute piece of artwork. The pictures really do this no justice and upon finally seeing it in the flesh I now appreciated why it has the price tag it does; a Tomei full titanium front pipe/secondary cat delete. Working with titanium is not an easy task, it can't be easily bent in the same way as stainless can and so it's extremely labour intensive to manufacture a part like this as the bends are made up of multiple welded sections and with the nature of titanium being stronger than stainless they also use thinner walled materials so the section is made from 0.8mm pipe so it is lightweight but still über strong and will have a very distinctive tone. This should provide just enough titanium in the exhaust system to give a vibrant rasp and a special race-like resonant tone without quite getting me to the asbo level that a full balls out cat back titanium system would

It's slowly but surely coming together and I can't wait to finally get all this on there! I'm taking my time over it because if I do something, I like to do it right so I won't skimp along the way! As for the rest of the exhaust system? Watch this space... It'll be a beauty when I can afford to take the plunge but I know EXACTLY what it's gonna be!

[JamesP1991 222]

Looks like a cracking project mate!

Love the titanium front pipe, cant imagine how light it is to hold! What header and catback are you going to go with too? Will be great to hear it in the flesh when everything has been bolted on!

Brakes and a remap are next on my list.. How much did your brake kit cost may I ask? As I'm slightly torn where to go with mine as there are quite a few options out there now.

[Lauren 2259]

Impressive amount of mods going on there! The Scion badge is not for me, though I guess you are aware how Japanese manufacturers have come up with different names to make them sounds less Japanese, like Acura and Scion, being the sub brand of Toyota. 

 

Is there any reason why you didn't go for the obvious AVO turbo route given the easy access to significant expertise and experience there is around here? 

[Tilly 20]

Looks like a cracking project mate!

Love the titanium front pipe, cant imagine how light it is to hold! What header and catback are you going to go with too? Will be great to hear it in the flesh when everything has been bolted on!

Brakes and a remap are next on my list.. How much did your brake kit cost may I ask? As I'm slightly torn where to go with mine as there are quite a few options out there now.

The manifold will be dependant on which turbo kit I go for but I'm pretty much set on a full blown motorsports setup. Re: the cat back... I absolutely LOVE the Blitz quad tip C-Ti system, it's a lot of money but I've had blitz stuff before on the sil so I'm happy with the quality and style

As for the brakes... The standard brakes aren't the worst in the world but my worry is more fade than actual power. The k sport was an easy choice for me, At £880 it was a steal! This included pads, two piece rotors and braided lines so top value for money, they're not just universal crap, the brakes are properly biased to suit the car with different sized pistons etc (in fact mine were from the forester - same kit but you have to rotate it so swap the brake lines and nipples round before fitting). For the money they're bang on. Fit a dream, stop well, no problems to report whatsoever and all the hardware is interchangeable with ferodo and AP etc. most brake kits cost more with floating disks etc too. The only thing I'd say when shopping is check if the kit includes brake pads or not, many don't and charge extra, I believe the UK distributor is Bren at Apex performance so if you want a deal, he's your man so go direct.

[Keethos 842]

Awesome project dude, really looking forward to the finished article. Love how you have a fair amount of mods that no one else that I know has gone for.

[Lauren 2259]

I've driven Keith's car with the K Sport brakes round Oulton. He obviously has a turbo too. I did notice he managed to get them smoking when we shared the car over a session, so there was smoke pouring off them when I got in the car. But that said, they continued to work well and didn't fade. Pretty hot still after a 20 minute session! 

[Tilly 20]

Impressive amount of mods going on there! The Scion badge is not for me, though I guess you are aware how Japanese manufacturers have come up with different names to make them sounds less Japanese, like Acura and Scion, being the sub brand of Toyota. 

 

Is there any reason why you didn't go for the obvious AVO turbo route given the easy access to significant expertise and experience there is around here?

I'll be honest... I don't see the quality or value in AVO, cheap silicone hosing and mass produced parts, I just don't think it merits the price tag. If the money was right Id definitely consider it but as it is I just couldn't bring myself to pay so much for so little plus everything seems to be an extra on top eg BOV etc which bumps the cost up and still leaves you with an inferior setup (in my opinion of course) the FBM kit for me is a much nicer bit of kit and very comprehensive - especially when upgrading to the premium kit (I want the GTX2867) it's all V banded which is a preference as I used to HATE changing turbo gaskets every five minutes on my SR. It already includes the cost of an ecutek license, slimline fans, tial blow off valve and external wastegate, bigger injectors, cast oilpan with an oil return, hard pipes instead of silicone, Garrett turbo which I feel much more comfortable fitting as outside of the gt86 platform I know nothing of the AVO turbos etc and most importantly the power and torque figures achievable from the garrett at relatively low pressure seem much higher.

[JamesP1991 222]

The manifold will be dependant on which turbo kit I go for but I'm pretty much set on a full blown motorsports setup. Re: the cat back... I absolutely LOVE the Blitz quad tip C-Ti system, it's a lot of money but I've had blitz stuff before on the sil so I'm happy with the quality and style

As for the brakes... The standard brakes aren't the worst in the world but my worry is more fade than actual power. The k sport was an easy choice for me, At £880 it was a steal! This included pads, two piece rotors and braided lines so top value for money, they're not just universal crap, the brakes are properly biased to suit the car with different sized pistons etc (in fact mine were from the forester - same kit but you have to rotate it so swap the brake lines and nipples round before fitting). For the money they're bang on. Fit a dream, stop well, no problems to report whatsoever and all the hardware is interchangeable with ferodo and AP etc. most brake kits cost more with floating disks etc too. The only thing I'd say when shopping is check if the kit includes brake pads or not, many don't and charge extra, I believe the UK distributor is Bren at Apex performance so if you want a deal, he's your man so go direct.

Interesting, do you think you'll get it custom made or will you go for one off the shelf from one of the GT86 tuners? I agree with the CTI exhaust, can't beat the aggressive look of quad tips! For my car, I wanted to go for the single pipe nur spec R, however it was the cost that held me back and instead I went for the N1.

Wow £880?! That is great value for money! I've seen a stop tech kit with discs, rotors pads and lines for £500 but I don't have any personal experience with them so am a bit unsure on their quality! I think the main reason they are such good value is the fact you can interchange the hardware dependent on your taste. I might go and contact Bren at Apex then to get a bit more information, as I cant afford to spend £2000+ for a full AP racing big brake kit for example and are looking for a good quality value for money system instead.

[Polishingpedlar 49]

Like the look of this Tilly.

As another TRD owner would be interested to see results of exhaust change.

Are you planning on keeping it quad tipped?

John

[Tilly 20]

The manifold is one of the main parts of a turbo kit so it will come with whichever turbo kit I buy, most likely gonna be this one I'd have thought:

http://fullblownmotorsports.com/full-blown-scion-frs-stage-1-premium-turbo-kit

[Tilly 20]

Like the look of this Tilly.

As another TRD owner would be interested to see results of exhaust change.

Are you planning on keeping it quad tipped?

John

Yes John, initially I'll be running it with the standard cat back TRD system as there's probably little gains to be had from the blitz exhaust in realistic terms, it's more about the noise and looks there so that can come afterwards once it's producing the power I want because it's notmessential and costs an absolute fortune.

However, that said... Although the tomei exhaust bits I've bought will allow me to reach my intended power goals, once turbo'd I'll reach a crossroads and then it's time to make a choice, I ether add the blitz and call it job done on performance and consider it pretty much maxed out OR I swap out the entire system from turbo back (including the tomei parts) for a three inch straight through as it would ultimately give me more power, I guess it depends which route I want to go down at the time! It would have been ideal if tomei made the overpipe and titanium front pipe in 3" but alas, they don't haha

[JamesP1991 222]

The manifold is one of the main parts of a turbo kit so it will come with whichever turbo kit I buy, most likely gonna be this one I'd have thought:http://fullblownmotorsports.com/full-blown-scion-frs-stage-1-premium-turbo-kit

Looks like an awesome kit Tilly! Do you plan to stay with the stock internals or do you think you'll eventually be changing the Pistons etc?

[Tilly 20]

Looks like an awesome kit Tilly! Do you plan to stay with the stock internals or do you think you'll eventually be changing the Pistons etc?

Subject to no nasty surprises... Stay stock, I'll probably have three maybe four maps on there, one as an emergency map for 95 ron fuel when I can't get near anything better and then a few 98/99 ron maps for standard use, a 7psi daily commute/knocking about locally and then a 10/11psi full power map for when I fancy a play but I think that "should" suffice.