Leejay-b

The BRZ / GT86 has been on my radar since release. I am being put off by the long list of potential issues which I know the internet makes worse but some seem common and even if not they could be very expensive... Minor: 1.Rust near rear quarter window 2.Rust under bonnet strip 3.Oil leaks Major: NOTE I will be staying N/A if that reduces any of the following risks: 1.Fuel pump 2.Con rods 3.Con rod bearings 4.Oil starvation 5.Injector seals 6.Coil packs Oh dear quite a list. With that many majors I think I will have to drop thoughts of one of these cars which is a shame as I am a big fan :-(

Thanks all, genuinely pleased as I think the car is a great platform and was starting to get over concerned with issues. Part of the worry is being used to Honda and just servicing with very few problems. I would stay N/A with no track use so minimises risk. Just need to be careful not to buy a second hand one that has previously been charged or heavily tracked.

Has anyone in the UK changed the final drive for shorter gear ratios and better acceleration? Any idea of labour costs on GT86? Seem popular in America!

Favorite cars! So many decent pictures, all text in Japanese unfortunately.

You could pick extras up and sell them, but always a risk in case they don't sell. How much are they over there?

I never found any second hand so not really sure to be honest.

Don't seem easy to get, still looking to find lower priced examples of Civic or GT86 mags.

Funnily enough the importer asked me to let them know if I wanted anything inside.

Also might be worth contacting the main known tuners for the GT86. For example Fensport, Abbey Motorpsort and TDI North. Maybe ask what most standard cars put out, and what the generic estimate is for a map only, or map and 2nd decat / manifold.

Pic from Hyper Rev magazine. ECU tune only from Auto-craft.net. Sorry all the text is in Japanese so no other info, but shows similar claimed gains to other tuners.

Sounds just what I would want out of a GT86. Can I ask roughly the fitting cost please?

Also compounded by Honda choosing to have a slight dip to make vtec feel better. My civic has the dip mapped out so a smooth transition, and also lowered vtec to 4000 rpm, which makes a massive difference to the mid range. How does the variable timing system work on the FA20, is this improved in mapping to increase midrange, or is it already well set up as standard?

Their dyno is accurate and they are well know for tuning... Saying it reads high isn't a negative because it's consistent so great for a tuning tool. On the civic forums I use it appears that 200-250 bhp civics run at TDi North show on average 10 plus bhp more than the people that use dyno dynamics at Eurospec or Surrey rolling road for the same tuning modifications. You can't directly compare different dynos, but there is a strong patturn of this. Quite likely the M20 would have shown less power at Eurospec. Is one dyno high, or is the other one low... Who knows...

Would either of these options get to 210 bhp plus?

Have been researching N/A tuning. Manifold and tune yields good results but is quite expensive... American forums show standard manifold is actually quite good. Some tuners had quite good results with gutting the standard cat or cutting it out and putting a straight pipe in connecting to the over pipe. Being the main cat in the system yielded good gains even with secondary cat still in place, obviously not as much as full aftermarket manifold, but most of the potential with minimal costs. Another big bonus was retention of the standard manifold heat shield to protect heat from the oil pan and coolant pipes. Wrapping manifolds is an option I know but this adds more cost and has other cons. Anyone tried this yet?

Tdi North does seem to read higher according to the civic type r forum I use. Ps. What do standard GT86's make on tdi norths dyno?

Surely if these cars were losing power when being mapped the decent tuners would know about it, and therefore would not offer N/A maps. From reading here and on American forums good results can be made, especially with manifold changes, or 2nd decat.

350 rpm not much extra for motorway cruising. Hows the performance gain... How does it feel?

14% should feel good seeing as it's an improvement everywhere low to high revs.

What does 4.67 FD workout in terms of percentage difference? Think standard is 4.1? How much do you think fitting will be roughly?

I have always liked high revving cars... I noticed a while back the ecutek mapped cars used 7800 rpm for the new rev limit. Now fensport use 7650 rpm, which is still good and they must have their reasons. Also American tuners do opt for higher limits but have seen some also go no higher than 7600 rpm. Because of this I would question long term reliability of going higher. Even 7800 rpm could be a risk or why would some tuners keep away. Anyway I'm now questioning 7600 rpm as have heard fensport have done a car at this revs only in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears. Is this showing that it's still not fully safe? Apologies if this doesn't make sense, basically don't see the point of more revs if damage can occur! Probably only fensport will know why!

I have gone full circle... Originally I was intending high revs for this engine at 7800 rpm. After early responses I reduced my aim to 7600 rpm. NOW just going safe with standard 7400 rpm at most. Later responses concerning peak power, and notes of risks to engine, so decided to go back to where the car is standard. Some minor extra revs won't affect the N/A character or peaky fun so I don't mind.

Cheers for the dyno and explanation. Interesting to get info from a tuner with experience of the potential weak spots, better safe than sorry.

I wouldn't be going far with N/A engine mods anyway... Seen dynos showing drops after 7000 rpm as suggested. So no real gain, think I may lift the limit to 7500 rpm or so, just so there is less chance of hitting limiter when going for max revs to try and get above 5000 rpm in the next gear!

A post from an owner of a fensport mapped car on pistonheads- - - 'Power starts to flatten out just after 7650 rpm onto 7800 rpm after which it starts to drop.' Their limit was set at 7650 rpm. Maybe the standard car loses out after 7000 rpm, and the mapping unlocked some power 7000 - 7600 rpm.