S18 RSG

Provisionally sold pending payment.

If you were willing to wait 2 weeks before deciding to give up, would it not have been easier to just take the head unit and speakers out to see if the specs are written on them? Literally takes 5 minutes to remove the head unit especially.

There seems to be differing information everywhere. Some say the furthest away hole is stiffest, others say softest. It doesn't feel too stiff at the moment, but I've not really done much spirited driving. I might drop it in to a garage and have them take a look, also grease up the bushes again and see if that takes some of the squeak away.

Bit of an update from my end. Managed to get the 1320 manifold swapped yesterday to a Borla UEL. No more whistle. Surprisingly, the Borla didn't seem quite as "pretty" as the 1320. Welds were a bit more untidy, finish was a bit dull, but none of that matters as clearly the build quality is far better. I also got the impression that my 1320 manifold was causing some ECU issues. It felt like the car was being strangled a little bit at the upper RPM range, almost as if the small leak was sending some false reading to the ECU and causing it to hold the car back a little bit. With the Borla, the car feels really strong again. Mid range is back to how it was when the 1320 was first installed and mapped, but the whistle being gone is the biggest relief. I would also say that the Borla has a slightly nicer sound than the 1320. Perhaps the whistle blurred my perception slightly, but the Borla seems quite a bit deeper and more throaty, and with the pops and bangs it really sounds the business. Time to sort something out with the 1320 manifold now.

Hi all, A few of you may already be up to speed with this story, if so, feel free to skim through. For those who aren't aware, around 2 months ago I purchased a UEL manifold from 1320Performance in California. A company who, on the face of it, have a good reputation for quality and customer service, two things which I did not experience, as you'll learn. Upon initial fitment of the manifold, I heard a high pitched whistle. Similar to a leak, or air rushing of some description, but not entirely clear. The manifold was leak tested thoroughly, but nothing was found. I therefore immediately sent an email off to Jeff @1320Performance who told me this sound was "normal" and is the sound of "air resonance within the pipes". A thoroughly plausible reason. Since then, I've done a lot of research and got the opinions of various GT86 and echaust specialists, all of whom have had an opinion, but none of whom have called the sound "normal". My local exhaust specialist recalled a similar sound on a manifold he manufactured some years ago. It was due to a faulty flexi pipe. Couple this with the fact that in that time, I had also met up with two other 1320 manifold owners, and found that neither car had the same sound as me. I therefore sent another email off to Jeff a few days ago, armed with this new information. To my surprise, all of a sudden the flexi pipe is a known issue to 1320, and they tell me that I should get them replaced at a local exhaust shop. Obviously not happening. They take a few days to respond to my email, so I open up a dispute on Paypal to try and force the point. Well, today, after 4 or 5 days of negotiating, and being told one minute that it's a known issue, then the next minute it's a normal sound, we reached an agreement. One which I think you should all hear about, just in case you ever decide to buy something from this place. The solutions are as follows: A $250 refund (total purchase price was $550 for reference) to pay for a local exhaust shop to replace the flexi pipes. Unfortnately, no local exhaust places wanted to inherit a manifold built by someone else, as they were worried that any future issues would just be palmed off to them by 1320, and they would end up doing warranty work on someone else's manifold (perfectly reasonable concern). A full refund, which will ONLY be received by me 48 hours after they receive the manifold back in the States (likely to be a 1-2 week delivery time already). The problem here is, I would have to pay to have the original manifold put back on, then pay for the new manifold (when bought) to be fitted again, so 2 garage visits. I have also told them that I no longer have an existing manifold, so I would therefore require a hire car until I receive the refund (not entirely true, but that's besides the point) They will swap my current manifold for a new item, but they are on a 6-8 week backlog, so I would have to wait. Already waited 8 weeks for them to admit to the fault, don't feel like waiting another 8 weeks for an item which may have the same fault. The final nail in the coffin was something I was told today. I made the point that if I were to send the manifold back, I would have to pay £200 for garage fees and £200 for rental car. Given that the refund for the faulty item would be around £400, I'd be either losing money, or breaking even, and therefore probably wouldn't have the money to buy a replacement manifold. Their response? "In this case we would recommend that you seek family help for the money, which you can pay back when we send the refund. If this is not possible, you could look to take out a loan until the refund arrives". So, in summary, if you buy a part from 1320Performance and have a problem, you may be recommended to take out a loan in order to fix it yourself

Thanks Ian, I am happy. Had to soften up my dampers as expected, but now I can run a fairly soft damper and still keep that flat cornering. The change in ARB certainly didn't sharpen up the handling as much as it has on previous cars I've had, testament to the stock setup I guess, but it certainly does corner flatter. I am picking up on the slight squeak you mentioned from the left hand side, but I imagine that's more down to the bushes than anything. I may just buy a new set of bushes just to freshen it all up. My feet certainly won't forget the day though, they're in agony this morning. I worked out yesterday that we must have walked somewhere in the region of 8-10 miles, and in shoes no thicker than a good pair of socks, wasn't a great idea. Good day other than that though, and the fact that I didn't leave until 7pm... However, the manifold also went on, and it sounds fantastic. No more whistle, just deep burble as was expected the first time.

My point wasn't that the GT86 isn't refined, it's refined for a sports car, but more that if your main concern was comfort and refinement, you wouldn't be looking at a GT86, or really any sports car. You'd be looking at Audi's, BMWs etc. And while I understand the appeal of a comfortable car after a shitty day, there's little that cheers me up more than throwing this car around a roundabout and getting a little drift on. That's worth the sacrifice in comfort for me. Different cars for different people.

But he mentioned how well the car drove, so clearly he was more interested in a great drive than comfort or refinement. As a driver's car, there's nothing I've experienced this side of £50k that comes close. If someone wanted comfort and refinement and was looking at a GT86, I would wonder if that person was named Stevie Wonder.

Unless the replacement German car is a Porsche, Audi RS/R8, Mercedes AMG or a BMW M, you're gonna feel like a pillock if/when you get a GT86. Nothing this side of £50k feels like a GT86, and I'm not saying that cause I have one. I wanted an M3/C63 AMG, and had the money to spend 2 or 3 times what I paid for the GT86, but nothing felt as good. Every small issue the 86 has can be fixed for peanuts, or for free under the 5 year warranty. Minor, repairable issues are a small price to pay to have a smile plastered on your face every time you get in the car. Good luck with the new motor, we'll see you soon

Not heard of that place to be honest, but price is good, and quality looks good in pictures. Problem is, it's gonna be very hard to get an idea of their quality without trying one yourself. As long as they offer a good warranty I'm sure you'll be ok.

I would doubt you'll get a reply. When I raised the Paypal claim, they said they had a virus on their email system, and weren't able to access email for the past 9 days. I've emailed them 2 or 3 times since, and they've never once replied. I hope you have a better experience than I did. On that note, if you do get a response, please let me know so I can be sure their email system is working. That way I know they're getting my emails.

Yeah, if you fully spec the wheel I have now (V2 base, V3 pedals, P1 wheel), it's something like 1500 Euros. Luckily, I bought it when they had some good offers on, so ended up spending about £650, but even so, that's still not exactly cheap. By far the best setup I've used that wasn't a full simulator worth £10,000+ though.

Depends how much you wanna pay tbh. Can't go wrong with a G25/G27, but I wanted something a little more customisable, so I went ahead and spent a little more on a Fanatec Porsche wheel with a H Shifter and inverted pedal box. Would certainly recommend their products, especially now they almost all have Xbox One compatibility (if that's an issue for you of course)

Air filter is a great upgrade, although stick with a panel filter. You can pick one up for around 50 Euros, and you'll get a few bhp from one, maybe 5-6 peak. Spending money on a "Cold Air Intake" (which doesn't actually exist) is a waste of money for the most part. Very few produce the same numbers as the stock airbox with a panel filter, that is unless you start looking at forced induction.

I like Assetto Corsa, but I've not put too much time into it. It's better than Forza in terms of physics, but Forza's modification is what keeps me coming back. Also, Assetto Corsa for me has to be played with a wheel, whereas Forza is still good on controller, so unless I'm really in the mood for setting up my wheel, I usually just give in and go on Forza with the controller. In fact most of my top times are with the controller. That being said, I've been consistently in the top 50 for worldwide times on Forza, including some top 5 times on the Nurburgring (I held the record in my C class GT86 for about 18 hours, before it got stolen from me), so I don't think it would be particularly fair to limit it to just that game. I'll have a look through my collection tonight and find some games which could work for everyone, and be a little more of an even playing surface.

Celtic Tuning are well known for inflating figures. I had a Fabia VRS diesel a few cars ago. I changed the turbo, intercooler, exhaust, full decat, intake, injectors, and had it running almost 2 bar of boost, it made around 200hp (up from 130hp stock). According to their site at the time, a simple remap on the stock car made almost 190hp and more torque than my car, which was actually more than the stock clutch could even handle, so they were clearly talking rubbish. My GT86 has a UEL manifold, exhaust and intake, and the map gained me around 25hp total, and maybe 15-20lb/ft of torque peak. Just a remap on a stock car is more likely to be around 10hp and 6-10lb/ft or torque I would imagine. 15hp at a push.

Slightly off the current topic, but how many of you play racing games? And in more depth, which platform and specifically which games? On the forum I used to run, we had a weekly lap time leaderboard for Forza (I think it was Forza 4 at the time) where we'd all decide on a stock car and post times on a specific track. We also used to set up occasional race evenings on either Forza or LFS or something (for the PC guys anyway). If there are enough people playing the same games on here, it might be something cool to set up. Creates a bit of regular competition, and for some people who want to record their laps, provides a source of potential improvement for others who aren't quite so quick. As for myself, I generally play Forza 6 (XB1) or Assetto Corsa (PC), but have most racing games in my collection.

I'd definitely be up for a meet down that way one weekend. Perhaps last weekend of July/first weekend of August?

Or if you have the luxury of a plotter at work, as I did, you can just print straight to A2 and have a full size, single piece template As others have said though, it's super easy. 20 minutes if you're confident with a drill.

How often do you head up into Brecon? (I assume that's where the pics were taken, looks like it anyway) I've been trying to look for an excuse to head up there soon, would be happy to meet up and go for a drive one weekend if you're up for it (same goes for others too ofc)

If you get to the point where you're 1 person away from meeting the next price drop, count me in, but otherwise I'm not too bothered.

It's true tbh. The only people I know who've gone to KR have been completely clueless when it comes to cars, so they go their for a bodykit, and end up having engine and tuning work done (3 GTR's in this example).

Not sure if this has been released anywhere else online before now, and not that it's a huge deal, but it has been confirmed that a beautiful blue BRZ with full Rocket Bunny V2 kit is in the soon to be released Fast and Furious film. Proof here: If you want to see the video itself, it's in Casey Neistat's new vlog, here.

You may wanna try curved first. They're great for specific applications (i.e. sitting DIRECTLY in front at a pre-determined distance away), but in a lot of instances they're a little odd. The idea is to immerse you, so if you're not in the mood to be immersed, they're just worse in every way than a flat monitor, especially viewing angle (if laid in bed or something).