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Hello everyone,Quite excited, I have reserved a 2013 red GT86 from Vantage Wakefield, and hope to pick it up later this week.I have read lots of interesting stuff already on this brilliant site (and the owners site), the main thing is the spring recall, I'm waiting to hear whether my car has had it done, and at what mileage.It's a one owner car, provided by vantage, and serviced by them, which I'm hoping is a good thing.I can't wait to drive it, have always loved Toyotas, first car was a Celica ST162 :-).

I hadn’t really planned the next mod but a little man maths and my inherent weakness for billet parts was just too much to resist Initially I was thinking along the usual route of buying individual suspension parts control arms, toe rods etc but the Wisefab kits actually make more sense and they have the added benefit of beautiful billet uprights which have a built in 25mm drop on the knuckles all round. I always associated Wisefab with drifting parts but they also make track kits that maintain the original track widths front and rear, giving pretty much all the adjustment you could ever want. More important for me though was that fact the kits correct the suspension geometry for lowered cars, whilst also saving 14kg on the rear and 7kg up front which is pretty significant on a suspension system. Rear Kit Front kit I’ve only managed to fit the rear so far, unfortunately I couldn’t source the rear kit in black. Its a relatively straight forward install, but did require a few tweaks to the AP racing 4 pot calliper bracket to make it work with the billet knuckles mounting points. Side by Side of the old OEM components and new Wisefab rear kit New Bits installed on the rear, you can really see just how high the hub is placed in the new knuckle Hopefully I’ll get a decent run at the front over the next week or so, and then carry out a quick alignment before the next track day.

Welcome and enjoy the car.

Jist had an email from Vantage, recall work was done last November, around 5k miles ago. I'm quite pleased with this, any issues would have shown themselves within 5k miles I'd expect 🙂 And thank you for the welcome everyone, looks like a great community around these cars 🙂

If the valve spring recall hasn't been done, insist on it as a condition of purchase.

Post some pictures once you have it! You’ll love it.

Good luck. Happy days ahead. Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

Really? We didn't know..... The engine is still the let down on this car, had no character from the factory (sound and power delivery). Obviously adequate enough to buy one and powerful enough and I'm not even on about the torque dip as that wasn't an issue for me either, but the engine character is missing. I also read a post recently by a Prodrive engineer who claimed that the WRX EJ motors actually had a higher COG vs the I4 competition due to the ancillaries. I'm not sure how that translates to this platform as the engine is definitely mounted lower than the WRX but I for one wouldn't mind an I4 that sounds better and peaks higher.

Good luck with the car

Thanks Lauren. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with people. My last meet was Japfest 2018, just after I had got my car from the shipping company after returning to the U.K. That was what confirmed my plans for fitting S/C and more. It’s taken this long to realise those plans. Now the fun should begin, apart from bloody Covid-19 messing things up. If you have any track days planned before next year give me a shout and I’ll see if I can travel up and meet you. What new car are you getting by the way?

Thank you Mike. That is very helpful indeed. I was struggling to think where to fit the front driver unit. I saw pictures somewhere where someone had fitted the rear driver unit into a cutout in the polystyrene boot liner. Although they fitted it heatsink side up I would still worry about putting something designed to be a hot heat sink into a material that is an insulator. I like your ideas much better. I also saw the GPS very neatly fitted into one of the front dash speaker pods, under the mesh grill. That looks ideal as well as long as there’s no interference with picking up the requisite number of sat links. I agree with you in that the overall job of fitting them is a pretty simple one. I’m looking forward to doing it. Also, after a mispent youth carrying out jobs on cars and motorcycles with zero planning I have turned into a ‘measure twice, cut once’ person now, especially when it comes to £800+ worth of kit. If I make a good enough job of it I’ll make sure I take a bunch of photos for anyone else that decides to go the EDFC route in the future. I’d had the shocks and EDFC sitting on a shelf in the garage for a year and was desperate to get it fitted and working (just after I bought it all I came down with serious osteoarthritis problems in both knees which put me out of action for months). I can’t wait to have it up and running properly before my next day at Goodwood, which I am planning for late Sept early Oct. I want to have a good amount of time to fully configure and fine tune it first so I spend less time messing with it at the track, and fit more sessions in. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at Japfest next year, and maybe even a track day meet if one happens sooner than that.

Thanks Luke, my main concern is not to attach the feed to a circuit not designed to handle the current requirements. The controller won’t draw much, so so the head unit feed will likely be more than enough.The front and rear driver units may well be drawing a bit more though. I sent an email to Yukiko to ask her opinion so hopefully she’ll reply in the next day or two. I have to wait for the GPS sensor I only just ordered from Fensport in any case.

Thanks, modding has now begun. I have a pile of parts ready to go. Grimmspeed Intake: Firstly I fitted the Grimmspeed intake, a nice and easy install. Out of the intakes for this platform this one seemed to get good reviews and picked up a used on cheap. It has a black wrinkle finish so subtle in the engine bay and makes a nice noise: Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr Grimmspeed Pulley Cover and STi Flexible Strut Brace: Not the best picture, as it all needs a clean due to polish dust from the final polish the bodyshop did but while in the engine bay I also fitted a Grimmspeed pulley cover, again another used bargain and changes up the look of the engine bay in a subtle way. Also features a little tool tray while working on the engine. You can also the see the STI flexible strut brace which came as a package from Japan with my STi exterior parts: P1120709 by James Baker, on Flickr Coilovers, drop links and new wheels: Next up I wanted to fit the Tein Flex Z coilovers and Whiteline adjustable drop links. Great bit of kit, super easy to fit excluding the seized stock drop links which I end up just cutting off as I had the Whiteline to go on anyway. I know is a common issue, easily sorted with an angle grinder and lots of sparks. Out with the old: Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr I did touch up the painted calipers which the previous owner had done, not a big fan of painted stock calipers but didnt have any other colours to hand so atleast they were tidy as I touched up the chips etc: Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr In with the new, dont worry about the wet looking components, it was all getting a wash while I was under there: Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr I now need to give it time to settle before I adjust anything else. I threw on my Rota Grids, I have new black lug nuts coming in the post as well as black centre caps, so excuse the missing items, tyre fitting grease etc. Once settled I will play with the ride height and may even space out the rear wheels slight, lets see Untitled by James Baker, on Flickr Looking forward to finding some time to fit the STi front lips etc in between the day job and DIY which seems to be endless.

No that's not mine. I have seen that one around. I'm in another village nearby. Also I'm not a newbie. Just never posted before have owned my 86 for 4 years now.

Hi Richard. It needs to be a feed when the ignition is on. RRG Macclesfield fitted mine, so I don't know what they used in that respect. My TEIN setup with EDFC Active Pro has been on my car for 130,000 miles and 6.5 years now! It still works faultlessly and I've never had an issue with is. I expect the next national meet is going to be Japfest Silverstone next May. I will have my new car by then, but my fiance should be there in the GT.

Sorry, but the FA-20 / 24 has character and a brilliant layout (apart from spark plug access), giving it a low CofG. Thank goodness for Subaru making the only flat 4 left in production. A three-cylinder turbo? What a way to ruin the character of a sports car.