long-gone

I've switched back to standard as I'm selling the GT86.

I edited after Lauren's 'nudge' - my fault.

Perhaps he's changed his mind, but when I had my first remap by Adrian he said it isn't feasible to have proper pops and bangs. I assume it was because I had cats and to get pops and bangs fuelling would be so far from 'optimal' and possibly damage the cats. That's not what he said, it's what I assumed. Catless would be different. My Griff pre-cat was epic with 'minimal' silencing or straight-through. Foot long flames, pops, bangs and crackles - sounded like a machine gun sometimes. But that's a 4.3 litre V8 with no cats and one of Clive's 'special' manifolds. Happy times.

Found it!

May be a bit obvious, but are the tyres low on tread? Doesn't matter what tyre you have if it's worn out. Less than 3mm is where I draw the line, though I may let them get down to 2mm in Summer.

Probably famous last words, but my windscreen is still excellent. North of 55k miles and over four years old. I'm a bit anal about keeping glass and wipers clean and in good condition. I think problems start when dirt is allowed to build up on the blades and then scraped across the screen. I keep the blades clean and replace them regularly - on third set I think.

I switched to brembo discs and greenstuff pads - better stopping and no squeal. Dealer claims pads have been revised so any new fitment should be okay. Can't confirm though.

I have one of those somewhere though not on a NATO - must dig it out. Has display back too, which is nice. Ebay bargain about £40 iirc. Day or date wheel slipped but a guy on PH fixed it for me. Yay!

Find a nice big empty car park and have some fun.

My rear window's tinted which rather spoils any photograph as it's too dark. The obstruction, such as it is, is minimal. You barely notice it, unlike the pedestal and pod it replaced.

I'm a complete knobber when it comes to being handy, and even I completed it in under an hour. The only issue I had was getting the darn parcel shelf to fit back in again.

I didn't check for CE mark but the Amber supplied Intec unit is very good. I'm sure my engine popping shortly after fitting it was coincidence...

I enjoy reading what others are doing with their GT86 & BRZs so it's only fair I document mine - warts and all. Long story short; test drove an auto July 2012, placed order same day and took receipt of my my shiny new GT86 1 September 2012. The 'run in' period, such as it was, was great fun. First day I popped over to the Brecon Beacons and clocked up a few hundred miles, next day nearer to home around the Cotswolds and the third and last day when I went through 1,000 miles was down to Exmoor, Dartmoor and North Devon. Run in complete, I went to Infinity to get a custom exhaust made - there were no off the shelf solutions at the time. We spent two days trying to get it right but really suffered with a horrible harmonic drone between 2,500-4,000 RPM. Made a couple of attempts to sort it but I was getting pissed off and unable to enjoy my new toy so decided to revert to OEM. Not Infinity's fault, they were happy to keep working on it - I was just too impatient. Nothing much happened for a while except small things like tinted rear windows, centre console arm rest fitted, and switched tyres to Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 215/45R17 Y (91). I thought the Asy 2s were great; excellent grip in the dry and very good in the wet. Didn't last long though; rears were tired by 5,000 miles and shot by 7,000. Hmmm. Around this time Dave Hillbrook offered me a drive in his turbo GT86. Mini review a couple of posts down, here: CLICK. It was awesome and I almost took the plunge myself but bottled it. About the only thing I took from Dave's car was the black trim - much prefer it to the dodgy satin chrome bits. Next came a few more bolt on goodies like Cosworth air filter, shark fin aerial, tail lights, etc. At about 24,000 miles the brakes started to wear so replaced the front discs with similar spec Brembo rotors and switched to EBC greenstuff pads all round. No more squealing - yay! Next up was a trip to Fensport to get a remap. I decided to go for Tein lowering springs, Eibach ARBs, camber adjust kit, AVO cat-back and the remap. Initially I was delighted - torque dip much diminished, more torque all round and stiffer & flatter in corners. However, it didn't take long for me to realize it was too harsh for a daily drive. Would've been fine for track but I couldn't live with it on the rubbish roads around here. I assumed it was the springs at fault so reverted to OEM/stock springs but it's not a lot better. Must be the ARBs. I'll get back to this... Not long after the remap I started to get error codes and dropping into limp mode. Turned out to be a faulty coilpack which was replaced under warranty. Nice one Platinum Toyota - no quibble excellent service. More recently I bought a set of OZ Racing Ultralegerra alloys with which I'm very happy. Slightly wider and shod in Yokohama Advan Sport V105 which are excellent in all conditions and appear to be lasting much better than the Goodyears. That's me pretty much up to date... Next post here will be up-coming mods which will be a little more adventurous but still nothing Earth shattering.

Getting a set of 17x8" rims next week, tyre spec will (probably) be 225/45R17. On my list so far; Uniroyal Rainsport 3, Michelin CrossClimate and Conti Sport Contact 5. Anyone tried these or offer alternatives?

I don't track it.

The Yokohama Advan Sport V105 225/45 R17 have been excellent. Good grip in both wet and dry, decent wear rate, quiet and reasonably priced. Replaced fronts with the same tyre but 215 wide (as per Lauren's recommendation), retaining 225 on the rears (oddly not worn as much as the fronts), so running a mildly 'staggered' set-up and it feels great. Cornering is noticeably more accurate - whether it's just fresh tyres or the narrower profile I'm not sure. I'll be replacing the rears in six weeks/couple of months. Is it worth considering sticking with the 225's or even it up and go with 215's? Any downsides to running differing front/rear tyres?

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I've not been told the reason for failure. The dealer has to return the failed parts to Toyota for investigation but I'll be surprised if I get hear anything meaningful. Selling soon has it's positives; new engine and clutch with fresh one year warranty, and there's eight months of original five year warranty remaining. It also has pretty much new Bilstein B14 coilovers and an ECUTeK licence (though no custom map) which may be seen as a positive to some buyers. Selling later with little or no warranty remaining will likely not be as sellable. I have the modified AVO turboworld 2.1/2" cat-back exhaust and TD UEL manifold to sell separately as they are no longer fitted. I'd probably re-fit the stock wheels and sell the OZ Racing Ultraleggera. My head and heart say sell, but the question remains; with what to replace it? It's an awesome car and I genuinely love it. It's a bit like being married to Michelle Pfeiffer and discovering she's been shagging the hired help - still everything she was before, but can you trust her not to do it again? If I do sell I'll be looking at something a bit more languid and lazy, something I can live with without/less fear of being unfaithful. So switching Michelle for the girl next door - BMW Z4, Mazda MX-5 or maybe a classic older model (MILF) E31 850. Dunno... still pondering.

Me, yesterday. Mine was first registered 1 September 2012 so nearly 4.1/2 years old. Having said that, I've had a new engine under warranty so a battery here or there made little difference.

Got the call yesterday morning - all done. New bottom end supplied and fitted. Battery was also replaced under warranty. While the engine was out I also had a new clutch and spark plugs, effectively free of labour charge. New engine and clutch plus transmission fluids and the new billies installed a couple of months ago, it feels like a new car again - including having to run it in again. 2.1/2 hour drive back home was uneventful, ran well. Now have to decide whether to keep it... I've lost a little faith, but still love the car.

Feeling a little more sanguine about it all now. Hoping they can't change their mind again. As soon as I hear more I'll let you know.

Update: Another change of mind... Just had a call from dealer to say they are going to proceed with the repair under warranty. No real indication or explanation of why, or what's changed - I'm just relieved they have.

Nope. When I ran two cars I would take my 'fun' car to airfield and track days, but as this is my only form of transport I've never taken it on track. It's been driven 'normally' it's whole life, very rarely to the red line and I can think of only a couple of occasions when it's hit the limiter. My days of thrashing it are behind me - the Griff was epic, but I'm older and (a little) wiser now.

Hmmm. Things have changed. Just had a call from Steven Eagell Toyota. Toyota is requiring return of failed parts for inspection before they'll honour warranty. Steven Eagell will repair at my expense and reimburse if proven Toyota fault. Not very happy.

You're the man to know so I have to accept that, but I'm certain it's changed. Thanks for quick reply.