Tom's Project

[Tom B 44]

Hi, So had my GT since January and now that I've got some bits done and some future plans I thought I'd get a build thread going!

So here's my car when I bought it; 62 Plate with 12.5k miles on the clock. 

After driving around for a few weeks I decided the exhaust needed abit more ooomph! So took it to KMS exhausts in Wigan where they Built a Non Res cat back system, with 4.5" slash cut tips. I've since fitted a Borla UEL Catless manifold, I'm quite pleased with the results. 

That's where I'm up to at the moment, I've got some MTEC Shift springs and the MTEC Clutch spring to fit too as the gear change in mine is awful. 

In the next month or so I'll be ordering some Coilovers, Still deciding between the Tein Flex A or Z. Then it'll be onto Wheels! I really like the look of Japan racing JR3's but they only look good in 9.5" and they're undoubtly going to be heavy!  

Hopefully I'll have some worthwhile mods to update this post with soon! 

IMG_1737.MOV

[Andrew Smith 156]

Nice dude, now you have had the exhaust done get a remap. Just had miner done and the results in driveability are quite astounding

[Andrew Smith 156]

I have just dome all the ECU, exhaust, drive train mods so wheels and suspenders will no doubt be next

[Mark-in-Stoke 488]

😁

[Tom B 44]

8 hours ago, Andrew Smith said:

I have just dome all the ECU, exhaust, drive train mods so wheels and suspenders will no doubt be next

Suspenders?! 

Been watching your thread Andrew, Yours look like a good set of Mods! I'm reluctant to get a Remap just yet, need to decide wether I'll ever be going FI, and Get it done all in one go! 

[Andrew Smith 156]

2 hours ago, Tom B said:

Suspenders?! 

Been watching your thread Andrew, Yours look like a good set of Mods! I'm reluctant to get a Remap just yet, need to decide wether I'll ever be going FI, and Get it done all in one go! 

The mods work for me as I am not thinking of going FI any time soon. I can highly recommend the Ecutek remap, switching between the tuned map and the stock map is like night and day.

Cheers A

[Lauren 2259]

Good stuff.

I would say the Flex A's if you can stretch to it. Any plans to go EDFC? 

[Tom B 44]

19 minutes ago, Lauren said:

Good stuff.

I would say the Flex A's if you can stretch to it. Any plans to go EDFC? 

I'll probably end up going for the Flex A's I'll just have to get some more overtime in at work before I can afford them! 

Ill be honest not really looked into the EDFC that much (I'm not really clued up on all this stuff!) I'm not sure my lack of driving skill/experience will ever really need such high tech stuff!  I'll have to do some research on it!

[Lauren 2259]

All here: 

http://www.tein.co.uk/product/edfc_active_pro.html

Any questions fire away.

[Tareim 343]

16 minutes ago, Tom B said:

I'll probably end up going for the Flex A's I'll just have to get some more overtime in at work before I can afford them! 

Ill be honest not really looked into the EDFC that much (I'm not really clued up on all this stuff!) I'm not sure my lack of driving skill/experience will ever really need such high tech stuff!  I'll have to do some research on it!

don't really need to have a huge amount of driving skill/experience, you can opt for the cheapest setup and have 2/3 presets, 1 for soft comfort driving (soft damping) and then 1 setting for track mode which then does all the dampening adjustment from inside the car

[Lauren 2259]

I think you need experience to set it up to your requirements, though you could just nick my settings like everyone else has.

You need the Pro system though to have the adjustability, so I'd be careful of going for the cheapest set up (whatever that is) as it will not have the same level of adjustability. With the EDFC Active Pro, you have quite a range of adjustment and a number of presets, all of which are set by programming the system and then saving your settings and choosing which one you want for the scenario you need. However, a good road setup, doesn't need much tweaking to turn it into a good track setup, you just have to understand it really. 

[Tareim 343]

10 hours ago, Lauren said:

I think you need experience to set it up to your requirements, though you could just nick my settings like everyone else has.

You need the Pro system though to have the adjustability, so I'd be careful of going for the cheapest set up (whatever that is) as it will not have the same level of adjustability. With the EDFC Active Pro, you have quite a range of adjustment and a number of presets, all of which are set by programming the system and then saving your settings and choosing which one you want for the scenario you need. However, a good road setup, doesn't need much tweaking to turn it into a good track setup, you just have to understand it really. 

the cheap one has a max of 3 presets I believe and does away with the gps that adjusts the damping automatically on the move depending on speed etc which isn't really needed for everyone, you can still manually adjust the front & rear damping on the move though and it's like half the price of the more involved kits

[Lauren 2259]

The GPS is just for speed where it adjusts the damping stiffness according to how fast or not you are going. This setup does not do lateral and longitudinal g-force, so it's just three fixed settings rather than being active. 

[Tom B 44]

Fitted the MTEC Clutch Spring yesterday, What a PITA! It was so fiddly to fit! Ive never been happy with the clutch/biting point, this makes it miles easier to get a smooth change. 

Also got a Garmin 35 Dash cam, nice bit of kit and got it for £80 new so well worth it. Speed camera and red camera alerts are spot on too!

Suspect my Manifold -> OP gasket might me leaking slightly too, as I had to reuse the old gasket when I changed the manifold. It's not noticeable on idle but somethings not right, so going to swap the gaskets and re-torque everything when I have the car up to fit the MTEC shift springs at the weekend. 

[Tom B 44]

So after always wanting a private plate, I bit the bullet and got one! Fitted it this afternoon and quite pleased, Standard front, 12 x 6 rear. Kinda wishing I'd got a different size front now, ah well. 

Had a change of heart regarding next mods too, think I'm going to add an Overpipe and panel filter then get it re mapped, Unsure whether there's anything else I should install before mapping to get the best out of it?

[S18 RSG 429]

I would possibly advise against the overpipe, unless you've changed every other part of the exhaust as well. If you've still got stock front pipe, you may as well stick with stock overpipe too, as you get basically zero gain from an overpipe alone.

New plates are cool though. Would really benefit from debadging on the rear imo.

[Tom B 44]

15 minutes ago, S18 RSG said:

I would possibly advise against the overpipe, unless you've changed every other part of the exhaust as well. If you've still got stock front pipe, you may as well stick with stock overpipe too, as you get basically zero gain from an overpipe alone.

New plates are cool though. Would really benefit from debadging on the rear imo.

Thanks! Yeah I've still got stock front pipe, your probably right, I was going to swap it out and wrap the manifold and Overpipe, Ive been put off that now after doing abit more research! Not sure what other 'Bolt ons' it would benefit from before mapping to get the most out of it!?

[S18 RSG 429]

To be honest, manifold, filter and remap is by far the most cost effective way to change the car's performance. I think pretty much any other bolt on part will have a fairly poor cost to performance ratio, or will have various downsides, so you're probably best off leaving it at that, until of course you get to the point where forced induction in the next logical step.

[Lauren 2259]

You might as well lose the second cat. All helps. 

[Tom B 44]

8 minutes ago, Lauren said:

You might as well lose the second cat. All helps. 

Considered it, but with Catless manifold I'd imagine it would be quite noisey inside the car, also heard stories that you can get nauseous smells in the cabin which put me off!  Are your running Catless @Lauren ?

[Lauren 2259]

Ah, if you're going to lose the first cat, keep the second. It makes sense. 

I've just lost my second cat. Got an overpipe back Milltek. It was fine with the MOT. 

[Tom B 44]

So after weeks and weeks of deciding what my next big purchase would be and changing my mind multiple times a day!! - I've ended up jumping on the band wagon and bought a set of these beauty's;

Going to attempt to fit them tomorrow, my experience on working on cars is minimal, but I'm pretty handy so looking forward to getting having a go myself!

Picked up some new Whiteline front drop links as I've read they are a pain to get off in one piece, but I'm unsure how to set them to the right length of them once I've set the ride height? 

Will update once they're on!

Cheers to @James@Amber for superb service too, only ordered them yesterday afternoon and they're here this morning!

[Tom B 44]

Coilovers all fitted! Set them to the settings Tein have in the instructions, so it's only dropped about 10mm from my rough measurements. Been on a quick test run and nothing's fell off so that's a positive!  Will give them a proper test once I've checked everything over again in a couple of days. 

 

Two concerns though;

- It's says 16 levels of adjustment on the dampers, yet there's no discernible 'stop' when turning the adjuster. I've not been been tweeking willynilly, I've taken that they were at full stiff when they came in the box, but I can turn them down at least 20 clicks with no difference in feeling of the dial?! Am I doing something wrong?

- I've no idea how to set the correct length of the ARB drop links, I've set them equal, and they don't seem to be fouling on anything, but not sure that's the right way to do it?

Help/advice welcome! 

[Tareim 343]

entirely depends on what you are classing as a click as there is 16 full levels of dampening but with the edfc you can extend it to 32 (half adjustments) or 64 (quarter adjustments)

[Deacon 1357]

57 minutes ago, Tom B said:

It's says 16 levels of adjustment on the dampers, yet there's no discernible 'stop' when turning the adjuster. I've not been been tweeking willynilly, I've taken that they were at full stiff when they came in the box, but I can turn them down at least 20 clicks with no difference in feeling of the dial?! Am I doing something wrong? 

Turn them to full stiff and back off from there. I found around 9 clicks from full stiff was a fairly soft daily use setting,  7 clicks for a little stiffer daily use setting. As you turn the adjustment knob you should feel it sit in an indent - this is a click. 

The dampers have more than 16 clicks of adjustment but don't go past 16 from full stiff as it may damage the valving (although unlikely) and there's no real point as until the final 16 useable clicks it won't do anything to changing the dampers.