JamesP1991

Couldn't have timed my question any better then Mark! No doubt I will get answers from Adrian and the gang tomorrow when I ring up, but it would be great to hear how you get on! Be sure to share all the juicy details like dyno graphs and what the car is like to drive afterwards Will you be staying N/A too?

It's just another money maker these grey "average speed" cameras, they do nothing to stop congestion on Motorways. I concur with everything above Smudge says!

Cheers for the response bud! I am guessing that is 230bhp at the fly? Obviously when I talk to the guys at Fensport tomorrow about it, they will be able to explain a bit more IE realistic targets, but I just thought I would ask the question here first to see if anyone else had mapped a setup similar.

Probably look to keep it for 5 years plus! Got so many ideas for her and at the moment I can only do things sporadically depending on specific months demands. Want to finally end up with something that is unique to me and given how much I enjoy driving the car, I can't think of something else I would want

Hi guys, Was trawling through YouTube yesterday for some onboard footage of the Nurburgring 24 hours last year, as being a massive motorsport fan and it being the off season (bar Bathurst 12 hours), I needed my fix somehow! In the suggested videos was footage from the VLN Endurance series in Germany, which is basically what the WEC is to the Le Mans 24 hours. The car was a GT86 in the V3 class, and I thought the video was really interesting, watching the driver glide our car through the Green Hell amongst slower and also faster SP9 GT3 class cars. It is a great watch, so thought I would share it with everyone so you could enjoy it too!

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?

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.

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.

Once the springs were fitted (sorry forgot to take pictures of fitting process) I then thought alongside some Valenti lights (which will come further down the line this year) that to complete the look, only wheels were needed. At the time I was speaking to Chris from Tarmac Sportz about ordering a Borla UEL header, when I thought I would ask the question in regards to what wheels he had available. He delightfully told me that a new range of Japan Racing Wheels were coming to the website and I had the choice between the multispoke JR11's or Rota Grid esque style JR3's. Now the inner JDM in me was instantly drawn towards the JR3's and when I enquired about the price I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't want to go too wide, and thought that 17" would give me some retained ride comfort on the road whilst still being more aggressive than the stock wheels. After some playing around with images, I settled on 17 by 8's with a 35 offest, which would still allow me to go larger in regards to tyres (225 section) when I could afford it. I managed to get them for £500 for the set (not including fitting kit or spigot rings)! Having a silver car with the red and black interior combination, I thought the likes of black and gunmetal wheels would suit best. Since the black ones were out of stock at the time, I went with gunmetal, and open ended red nuts which after fitting ended up being a great decision. After payment was made they swiftly arrived! By the time the weekend arrived it was finally time for fitting and here was the finished result: By the time the wheels were fitted, the TEIN springs had finally settled and the car looked far more aggressive than stock at last! The open ended red nuts finished off the look nicely against the backdrop of the gunmetal coloured wheels in my opinion too. A picture when the car was stock for comparison:

Been absent for the past few days as apparently there was an important date over the weekend which I had to give my total commitment to?! After listening to KnightRyder's advice, over the weekend I have put the large resonator back on the airbox to claim back some torque low down that I have been obviously missing! But any way, back to the car and what direction I took next just before Christmas. Above I mentioned that I thought only a few aesthetic (and mechanical) changes were needed to make the car perfect in my eyes. To be honest I hated the way the stock car sat in terms of stance. The wheels were engulfed in the arches and the whole body sat way too high for my liking. Now the most logical choice would be to go a for a nice set of coilovers, which I could adjust to get the car to my liking. However at the time, I didn't have the money to throw into a set of top quality coilovers. So I dug a bit deeper and thought that some great quality springs, shocks and an aggressive realignment could get me to where I want to be, at a much cheaper option. I want to do a couple of trackdays over the next 18 months, and thought whilst I would not have the adjustability, the direction I would take would make the car at least half decent on the track when I did venture out there as well as the road. So to begin with I went for a lovely set of 25mm Luxury Master High Tech TEIN Springs that I purchased from Fensport just before Christmas. This would give me that more aggressive "squat" image I wanted with the car:

Not a problem Nige! When you are driving in the lower classes at the Nordschleife it is all judgement and car preservation! The last thing you want to do is give mixed signals to the fast guys coming up on your rear! It is especially bad at night, and the GT3 cars have different coloured headlights so that the slower cars know when they are behind them! I thought it might have been an oil temp gauge at first glance, but it could be water? Not sure! The only other thing I noticed was his utter defiance in changing up to the dreaded VERY long 6th gear where our cars just die! Surprised they didn't put in a shorter ratio 6th gear to help offset the lack of torque in 6th! It is bad enough on the motorway, so cannot imagine how demoralising it is down the long and uphill Dottinger Hohe

No worries! There are so many on YouTube that are similar... could get lost for hours watching them!

Don't be fooled Alec! Its only because I treated her to a wash after fitting the new parts, it's a rare occasion with the weather the way it is at the moment!

Completely contradicted themselves there, why would being cheaper to run, better equipped and attracts less attention be even considered when wanting to find the best "drivers" car. Driving involves all the aspects of precisely that.. "driving" .. Engine characteristics, handling, braking performance, ride, how adaptable the chassis is RE having fun and provoking it, not whether it costs more at the petrol pump or contains more equipment as standard?

After the catback had been installed, I wanted to free up the exhaust flow and start deleting the restrictive cats that were in the stock exhaust setup (primary in the header and also the second cat in the front pipe). How I went about this was rather different to how I initially planned. My initial thinking was to go and buy a catless Invidia front pipe and then connect it to a Cobra or Berk overpipe. However one evening I went to go and see a friend of mine who is an extremely talented fabricator, and modifies his own S3 (500hp) and Seat Ibiza Cupra (430hp). He said he would love to work on mine and expand his skillset (having never worked on an 86 before). I agreed and arranged a day for the car to be dropped off. He measured every part of the fitment process to create a totally custom 2.5" straight through front pipe and overpipe combo to connect to my Invidia N1 catback. After a couple of weeks he contacted me and said it was all ready so I went down to see how it all looked! Both the components looked incredible, with the overpipe even being wrapped in titanium for heat shielding, and would be connected via a V band to the front pipe. Custom brackets were also used to ensure the fitment was perfect. Here are a few pictures from the day.... Up on the lift ready to go: Overpipe taken off: Start of the catback where the custom front pipe would join: Stock Overpipe and Front Pipe off: New Custom Overpipe (titanium wrap): New Custom Front Pipe: As you can see, the difference is incredible and I was thrilled with how she sounded afterwards. The fitment was great and I haven't had any problems since. You do not realise how restrictive the stock components are until you take them off and compare directly with the new parts just before fitting. Overall I was a very happy chap On a side note, did anyone else notice when they fitted their aftermarket overpipes how tight the fitting is over the sub frame where it joins the header? It took us quite a while to find a way it would sit nicely.

So today I thought I would focus on the second area of the car I really wanted to change which was the exhaust. At the time, I didn't have the money for a proper catless header, so thought It would be better focusing on the downpipe/front pipe/catback combination first off. The initial two things I looked for when choosing my catback was value for money and also noise. I felt many of the UK based systems such as Milltek and Supersprint were hugely expensive, especially when comparing them to some of the US based catbacks at the time. I also wanted the system to sound quite aggressive and also possess a fair amount of bass, rather than create that "tin" sound. After speaking with Chris from Tarmac Sportz, I finally settled on an Invidia N1 exhaust with the blue singed titanium tips, which is over 11 lbs lighter than the stock system, was a reasonable £650 and also sounded the part from many videos I had watched. It arrived promptly from the postie: I had it fitted at a garage I knew, as at the time I didn't have the bits at home to properly get underneath the car. After fitting I was thoroughly pleased with the result, and thought the blue tips looked great:

Can't say I like the looks to be honest! Looks like a limited edition Zagato design gone wrong!

Thank you for the insight Knightryder, will unseal the hole and put the resonator box back on at the weekend then just a shame really as it does clog the engine bay up some what! I am guessing the smaller ones on the intake pipe and also the ones on the intake duct can be removed though?

To be honest, the car is a weekend toy at the moment so I haven't had the seat time recently to offer a conclusive opinion. With the UEL Borla header and a decat front pipe fitted now I feel more in the mid range torque wise anyway at this point. Will test it perhaps this weekend and see if there is any difference in higher gear, lower Rev pulls Torque is obviously sparse with this engine so I'd hate to be throwing away any I did have originally haha!

Cheers for the heads up KnightRyder, I thought it was a Helmholtz resonator that was there to just stop certain frequencies of sound?? The TRD Griffon car was running the setup I chose with the stock airbox (see below) I thought given those guys are not running the resonator box attached to the airbox in a car of that magnitude then it can't be that beneficial in terms of performance.. however I could be wrong!

So I had the car for the first 6 months and left it pretty stock. I wanted to get a feel for it's character first and learn how to exploit it's fun side. I loved the way it looked and thought aesthetically, it only needed slight modifications to look the part. So the majority of work I wanted to do was under the bonnet. Now I did my research on many forums including the FT86 club guys and got to work. My budget is rather tight each month for aftermarket parts, so wanted to do it in my own time and at my own pace. First up was the induction system. Now after seeing how well drop in filters performed within the stock airbox, compared to traditional full intake systems I thought I would save a lot of money and go with a drop in filter and also change the intake pipework. I went for a Blitz LM Panel filter and Polished Aluminium Blitz Intake pipework which connected to the stock airbox. I hated how many resonator boxes the intake system had and I went about deleting them. Parts pre fitting: When all attached: I promptly also deleted the resonator box that attached to the airbox at the front after taking the photo. I loved how the engine bay looked afterwards, and I chose the polished route over Samco hoses purely because I thought it looked better. I kept the noise generator attached, purely because I didn't want to rip all that pipework out. Now I know that I will only feel the performance difference after a proper remap (which I am getting before the Summer) however I have got a big increase in intake noise and the throttle response is definitely crisper, so all round a very happy chap! Next up I will post about my exhaust setup

So fitted the new bits at the weekend! The wheels look incredible and I am so chuffed with how the car looks now! TEIN springs have settled now and the car is a lot more "squat" in it's appearance. Header went on a breeze and the UEL rumble is a very pleasant addition to the car! Went to Upminster on Satuday and did a motorway run. Even with no cats attached the car's drone was not actually too bad and I cruised along at 75 mph with the noise very bearable. Will open up a proper build thread this week showcasing all the bits I have done so far Here are a few pics anyhow: Borla Header in box ready to be fitted: Action shot of my car on the lift: Various pictures of the wheels fitted:

So got them fitted and the TEIN springs have settled at last! Have to say it has transformed the look of the car and I am so happy! Huge props to Chris and the gang at Tarmac, were hugely helpful!

Great pics guys! Shame I didn't know about this sooner! Would have loved to have attended!

Hi John, Yes a few mods have been done and a few more are in the pipeline, just going to be a rolling project really. I plan to do Donnington at least once this year hopefully, and the guys have persuaded me to do Japfest, are you attending? Hi Musketeer, many thanks for your kind welcome! Yes I joined the forum just a bit too late to properly organise myself and get down there! When do you think the next one will be? Be great to meet other GT's and compare the direction people have taken them in regards to personalisation.