S18 RSG

Yeah, I'm up for that. Seeing as there's a few of us, why not meet a little earlier so it's still light? We can get some pics/videos and maybe grab a bite to eat or whatever.

Where/when you guys meeting?

Let's do it mate, I'm free basically all weekend

We can meet up at any time. I'm only up the road.

The 225's aren't bad, but I've yet to drive it on a dry road, so to be honest, me saying I have struggled to put power down even in 4th gear at times, isn't exactly fair. It's literally rained, even if gently, every day since I picked it up. Rear tyres are down to about 3mm of tread though, so I might step up to 245's in the new year just to be on the safe side.

Not sure how I missed this. We need to get a social organised before Christmas. That'll be a good chance to hear it/come for a spin

I only changed it twice. Leave me alone. MUM!!!

Welcome. The tried and tested mods are the way to go. If staying NA, a good manifold (take your choice between UEL for the Subaru sound, or EL for a few more peak hp), secondary decat or sports cat, panel air filter and remap is about the best bang for buck. Budget conservatively £1,500 to get all that done, and you'll be looking at a 20hp+ increase, with similar increases in peak torque and elimination of the 3-4.5k revs torque dip. The car is transformed despite the relatively minor increases in numbers. Where you go from there is entirely your choice. Everyone has an opinion on wheels, suspension setups, brakes and so on. Best advice I can give you is read around, see what's being said and done by others and form your own opinion from all that information. The advice I gave you above (regarding performance mods) is pretty concrete, and 90% of people would agree with that statement, but all other aspects are far less decisive. Good luck

Petition to have TTR suspended for a week from the forum following that pun...

I might be in Leeds this week for work, if I am, I would be happy to come and collect the binnacle from you. Consider it provisionally sold if you would, and I'll keep you updated on my schedule.

Some phone pics and a very shoddy video. Obviously, I wasn't going to take a video of me driving enthusiastically while holding my phone, but I won't have much chance to get another video made for a while, so this is the best I have for now.

Well, it's saturday, so I guess it's time for that update. Most of you will already know, my car has been with @Mike@TD.co.uk for the past week having a turbo installed. I went for the stage 1 kit with a UEL manifold, as well as a fresh MoT, service, alignment and a few other little things. Admittedly, I only have around 4 hours in the car so far (driving from Manchester to Chester, then down to South Wales) but on initial impressions I am hugely impressed. The car made 272hp and 231lb/ft or torque FYI. We all know the headlines and major advantages of forced induction, but there are a few things that stood out for me. Firstly, I managed 35mpg on my drive home, including 30 minutes of stop start traffic and plenty of accelerations to get used to the extra power. I would have to assume I would have got less on the stock car if I had driven like that. Secondly, the car is so quiet! I have no cats currently (will likely change soon) and a non-resonated exhaust, and the car is almost silent on tick over, and when cruising. That's not to say that it doesn't make some noise however. The screamer pipe is massively loud, as is the flutter on lift off, sounds insane. I'll get a video made soon, so you can all hear it as I'm sure plenty are looking forward to. Finally, the ease in which I can now drive the car is incredible. Even in 6th gear on the motorway, stuck in traffic, there is never any need to drop a gear. There is a truck load of torque from the moment the turbo starts to spool. It's by far my favourite change dynamically. I would like to give a massive thanks to Mike, not only for the turbo install, but all the little things too. The car was far more enjoyable to drive on the way back thanks to his work on my suspension setup and alignment, he also fixed my front splitter and it seems he fitted my bumper properly, as it was poorly aligned. i would 100% recommend Mike and this package to anyone looking to go FI, and am looking forward to having more work done in the future. Pictures etc. will follow, was pitch black when I got home.

Yeah it's UEL. Mike has a video of the sound, surprised he hasn't uploaded it yet tbh.

As per pm, tomorrow morning just in time to head to the Tuned meet

You got to see my car with the turbo before I even did lol. Thanks for the compliment on the steering wheel, I love it too, if you want any information, I put some in my build thread I believe, but would be happy to reply to any questions you had if necessary.

Same from me. Was a nice surprise, despite being the only person at that event who WAS NOT in that photo, as I was being interviewed by Toyota at that exact time :/

Japfest is April. Doesn't seem too ambitious. There's something to look forward to

The thing is, you might think it would be easy to give up, but it wouldn't. After the amount of work you've already put in, the hype you've built up around it and so on, you literally COULD NOT give it up now. It sounds like you've got a good plan going forward though, despite all the BS you've experienced recently. It might not be done in time for Japfest 2016 (or whatever the original plan was ), but it'll get there soon. Patience.

Well, that was an ordeal just to read through If it makes you feel any better, one of the guys from my old forum has had his car off the road for well over 2 years, and has spent upwards of £20,000 trying to get an engine build done. He has a Clio 182 Trophy. Around 3 years ago he had ITB's fitted, which eventually blew a piston out of the side of the engine. He sourced a new engine, carried out the same mods but with built internals. It was making no power as the ECU couldn't handle it. He changed ECU's a few times, then the new built engine blew. He's now on to a 3rd built F4R which he's turbo charging. It's still months away from completion. I've seen him go through months of severe depression, putting the car and all parts up for sale for 10% of his total spend (around £50,000 since he bought it new 10 years ago). It's really horrible. I'll say what I said to him. If you didn't want the hassle, you wouldn't have done it. You knew the risks beforehand, but because you love cars, you ignored them, all to get the end result. Forget about what's happened and what will happen, and just think about what you'll eventually have. It'll make all the pain and suffering worth it one day

Got all excited then expecting some sort of teaser I've heard good things about those MTEC springs. Might be something I'll add to the list for my next visit

Unless anything goes wrong, I'll have a nice update for this thread on Saturday

Picking my car up from Tuning Developments after having the turbo fitted that day. Might see if I can pop in after I've picked it up

Would be interesting to get your thoughts on that Jeff. Heard lots about them, mostly good. Something I've been personally considering for some time, given the price.

As already discussed Mike, I'll be there. Not sure if anyone else is turning up with a UEL turbo kit, but will be a good opportunity to give potential customers a side by side comparison. I'll probably jump on the dyno too, give you a chance to get some footage, unless you plan on taking some videos of the kit while you have my car week after next. If we're going with the bank holiday, I might try and stay the night too. Lauren, if your spare room is available again, I'd be grateful.

@Mike@TD.co.uk - Do you not think I'm having a hard enough time counting down the days already? And now you think it's "fair" to tease me by posting a video like that. I feel some compensation coming my way with some discount. Claiming for emotional stress.