S18 RSG

What time you heading out? I'm in Birmingham Saturday, would be up for an early evening drive if that was the plan.

I think yours may be a little out of date Keith. Both myself and Lauren can switch our cars off for a few days and the car remains on the last chosen map. Mark explained that this was a later addition, so maybe something you could have switched on now?

What mods do you have Lauren? I could swear you had the same as me (secondary decat, intake and cat back) yet mine made around 5% more peak power and torque, and we started at the same baseline (166.7 for you and 166.6 at the for me, at the wheels of course). However, that doesn't mean much anyway. To follow up on what Lauren said though, I would 100% say the remap is worth it. The dyno really can't quantify how much better the car becomes. You get more everywhere, and while the quantity isn't much, spread from idle to redline it really transforms the car. The torque dip, even without a manifold, is much less obvious, the throttle response (as Lauren mentioned) is hugely improved, so much so that heel-toeing almost needs to be relearned so you don't over-rev on downshifts. If you already have supporting mods to go along with it (exhaust, intake or manifold, or any combination) then it's really great.

What is the downside of it? You can just map it, put it in the setting you like and never touch it again, but for the extra features you get, especially valet mode which is great, I don't see why you would NOT want it.

I've not really read through other replies, so apologies if I repeat what's already been said. We stayed in Hotel an der Nordschleife. Prices are really reasonable for the area (around 100 Euros for a triple room, obviously cheaper for single/double). Breakfast was decent too. It's around 5 minutes drive from the entrance, and the museums etc. so it's a decent place to stay for that sorta thing. I would however agree with what I've read as I briefly scanned, do a track day first. Unlike track days, where you get a briefing beforehand and therefore are forced to know the rules, the Ring is a toll road. You are fully expected to be up to date with the rules yourself, and it can be quite daunting to be driving enthusiastically, come across something strange and not know what to do. A track day can help answer some of the questions you may end up having on the day. That being said, if you get the chance, it's probably worth going out with someone more experienced for a few passenger laps first. Especially if you've been practising on your Xbox. I estimate I had done over 2000 laps of the Ring across various games before I went, but no matter which version you've played, nothing prepares you for the feeling of actually driving on it. For that reason, a passenger lap is brilliant. It helps you to identify where the track differs from what you already know (which is a lot). Most importantly, don't try and be a hero. I was there for a few days, and only timed laps on the final day. The experience of just driving around the track was enough by itself, and you wouldn't want to ruin it by trying to race the clock. Despite all that, it's a great experience, even for beginners. Just take it easy and be mindful of the, at times, crazy locals and I'm sure you'll find yourself in the 99% who enjoy the experience without mishaps.

To help with Neil's sale, here is the link to the actual unit: http://xtrons.com/pf63hgta-6-2-android-4-4-4-kitkat-quad-core-car-dvd-player-with-screen-mirroring-function-obd2-for-toyota.html Also, this is the same unit I have installed. Works great for Torque, for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. Sound quality is a big step up from stock, and there's plenty of room for expansion too. For a new unit at £180, you're getting a great deal. I paid around 20% more than that and was nowhere near disappointed. Willing to answer any questions on Neil's behalf if anyone wants to know anything, as I've had it installed for around 6 weeks now.

Paid

Will sort out payment when I get home Rob. Bit difficult to do on my phone

There's no aftermarket wheel that I actually like. There are plenty of nice designs, but no way am I spending £300+ on an aftermarket wheel, just to get something slightly smaller. Plus, if you want the feeling of a smaller wheel for less money, just turn the wheel faster

I don't like leather and alcantara together when they're the same colour, looks weird, but all black will be alcantara and all red will leather, so it won't look that bad imo. I wanted an dished wheel initially, a Nardi or similar, but don't see the point in losing the airbag on a street car. Seems silly.

Castle Combe PCAD is for all intents and purposes a track day, albeit with club parking, and it's a great day out even if you're not on the track. Not every day you get to see £100k+ supercars at full throttle.

Well, that one you linked is also remarkably similar to the Japspeed manifold, the dyno results of which I posted above. This suggests one of two things: Either that $64 manifold is good for 220hp and 170lb/ft of torque and no torque dip; Or, not everything that looks the same, is the same.

Top Gear actually make manifolds for some serious cars. Look on the Ferrari F430 owners club, hundreds of owners have Top Gear manifolds. Same story on the Corvette owners club, Porsche owners club and a few others I found during my research. They're by no means cheap, Chinese garbage, just too cheap for anyone to trust.

Says on their website: "All Top Gear exhausts are made from 304 Grade Stainless Steel, which is the industry standard for lifetime guaranteed exhaust systems. All Top Gear fabricated exhausts (Excl. Manifolds, Catalytic Converters, Flexible Pipes, Valves) carry a Lifetime Guarantee. Both our Powerflow and Longlife dealer networks also provide industry-leading lifetime guarantees on custom-made exhausts." However, the reason I emailed them is because they also make this: https://www.topgear.co.uk/toyota-gt86-and-subaru-brz-manifold-with-sports-cats It looks almost identical to the Japspeed manifold, and is more like the sort of price where it could be considered "cheap", rather than "too cheap". I asked them for the specs of both manifolds and to explain the price difference, but got ignored.

I sent topgear (the manufacturer of the above part) an email asking for an explanation as to why it was so cheap, as I had heard rumors of them being the same spec as stock, and therefore providing no benefit. They completely ignored my email, and subsequently removed the manifold from their eBay store and website for a few days. I'm not sure if they're back to selling them now, or if they've sold them on to Powerflow, but doesn't bode well when they can't even answer simple questions about their own product.

My past 2 cars were VAG based FWD hot hatches. They will always have a place in my dream garage. I've typically avoided VW, mostly because I dislike the generally bland interior and understated styling, and they tend to be 10-20% more expensive, so I've tended towards Seat in the past. However, what cannot be argued is how much more suited a turbocharged hot hatch is to daily driving. So much more usable power (max torque on mine was around 1500rpm), excellent fuel economy, easy to park and a nice big boot. My only reason for moving away was wanting something more fun, and there's not denying a GT86 is more fun than most FWD cars. Be interesting to see how you find going the other way though.

This is what I was meaning by how comparably irrelevant it is on a cooling system, but maybe I'll explain a little more. For ease of calculations, let's consider a 10C differential between operational trigger and fully open, so the trigger (for this example) is 80C and the fully open is 90C. At 81C, you could expect the thermostat to be 10% open, at 85C, 50% open, and 90C 100% open. If, as you say, the thermostat opens "too much" and therefore "overcools", (let's say it's 20% open at 81C), then all that means is the thermostat will be open for half as much time before the temperature regulates back at 80C. Where you have a point, is "undercooling", but let's say that at 85C, the thermostat is open 25% rather than 50%, the temperature will continue to rise to 90C, at which point the thermostat is fully open and the cooling system is in max effect. At 100% open, both thermostats will be doing the same job. When it boils down to it, transient response is just the ability for the thermostat to react to change in temperature. Temperature isn't going to fluctuate quickly enough for the thermostats transient response to be the bottleneck. There are multiple other parts of the cooling system that will create the bottleneck before a thermostat.

I think that's got more to do with the fact that they bought the car in late 2014 (summer) and developed the parts over the winter, so when they tested on the dyno second time, it was February 2015. Sure, it would have helped, but only small amounts. They have a timeline of this car on their website I'm pretty sure.

270-300 miles to a tank is what? High 20's or early 30's for mpg? Judging by the responses in this thread, it seems entirely achievable, but obviously depends on your driving style.

Catted or decat? And with or without their overpipe?

Stock car graph: After manifold, exhaust, air filter and map:

Well even the cheap Japspeed manifold showed impressive numbers on the dyno, albeit they are from Japspeed themselves. They made 225hp and 176lb/ft of torque from their decat manifold, decat front pipe and cat back, and 220hp and 167lb/ft with their catted manifold, catted front pipe and catback. Bearing in mind the catted manifold with overpipe is £425, and decat manfiold is £340. Yet still nobody seems to trust them.

There are actually quite a few options in this country, even some catted options, with overpipes for under £500. I think a lot of people are just too nervous to try them as they seem TOO cheap. The Japspeed manifold comes to mind. It's £425 for their catted equal length manifold and overpipe combo, but I can't say I've seen anyone try it yet.

Transient response is something we worry about on PID loop control of sensitive electrical equipment, it's not something that's going to affect a cars' cooling system. A well designed thermostat (which I'm sure both Cosworth and Mishimoto parts are) is not going to be switching on and off every second trying to maintain temperature. Anyway, we were talking manifolds, not thermostats

Would I be right in thinking you have 18's on your car? If so, I would champion these: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Vredestein/Ultrac-Vorti.htm You'll struggle to find a better value for money tyre, especially when looking at reviews. From personal experience I can vouch for them. I use them on every car I own.