Lauren

Welcome aboard! Am guessing 7" rims? You've got the same problem I've got after sticking after market wheel on my car. Looks like it needs lowering a little now. I can't decide myself on how to do this as of yet!

Well progress seems to be slow. I seem to feel ill everytime I work on the car, it's just a bit too cold in the workshop at the moment. We got the engine off the stand with the help of the engine crane. I put the clutch and pressure plate on, but then remembered, arrghh, MR2 crank, spigot bearing! I'm glad I remembered as I wouldn't want to go through that again. Here it is with the spigot bearing which the gearbox input shaft locates into: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr It does make it harder to get the gearbox on though. Mark drills out the stripped thread on the bell housing: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Then he taps it: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Then helicoil in: Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr Engine and gearbox reunited complete with new clutch. Untitled by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr There are four bolts missing. Mark wasn't happy using whatever bolts were around so will have to order the right bolts from Toyota. Next step is getting the engine and box in, not looking forward to that!

The brace is nice. Those green tea kit kats just seem to taste the same as ordinary kitkats. A friend brought some back from a recent Japan trip.

I do a lot of mixed driving. How you drive the car will have an impact on brake wear of course. I don't use the brakes much, but I could for example be following a car down an A road who brakes at every corner. I tend not to. I guess after a time this has an effect. A friend of mine (Speedy) got 37K out of his pads and discs, both needed changing at that point.

Many happy returns!

I've done 31K on the original pads and discs. They last forever I reckon. That includes two trackdays a sprint and up and down the Alps twice. Mine are 70 & 60% worn, so reckon I'll get close to 40K out of them. I'm easy on brakes though, so depends how you drive. I may need to change my discs at 40K, but, they may actually be okay. 40K out of a set of disc and pads if frankly amazing I think!

Great car, though I think I liked the first set of wheels you had. But in all seriousness, good stuff, I've not see another GT with the ARC air filter.

Looks like a good day, great pics and Oulton is a great track. Happy days!

Here's an apparently quick lap in an RX8 around five seconds off my lap record: http://youtu.be/BZyojhLJRqM You can get an idea of the gradient and lack of run off. I posted the RX8 as a lap in a GT should be similar in terms of speed.

Maybe the question should be, why haven't you got a cover over your atlernator, Stephen! All GT86's have it. Not sure about BRZ's.

I've got a lap record at Cadwell Park. I've also done hundreds of laps as I did all my training there. There are lots of things to hit. It's very technical. I wouldn't go there without insurance. It's probably the tightest track in the country and it's narrow too with lots of gradient. It's the track you're most likely to hit something at. It is though the best track in the UK IMO.

Ooh have fun! I don't remember having a problem sleeping the night before. The problem really came when I was chairing a meeting discusing the mental health needs of a child (I'm a social worker) and having to apologise for my lack of concentration due to going to pick up my new car afterwards!

I was merely musing why some people might keep some modifications under wraps. It could be a reason for not telling others couldn't it?

Some people also might not want Toyota finding out in case of warranty. FWIW I have declared every modification to my insurance company, even the TRD aero fins. If you do that you'll be alright, why wouldn't you?

Here's the guy you want to speak to: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46049&highlight=switzerland It really will be the best drive you ever have in your life!

I swopped my Yoko W drives a week and a half ago. Didn't see the point. Since then it's been win/win with the Primacy's. Much better feedback and better grip too. It's just not been cold enough this winter. The jet stream has been stuck since November, we're getting weather from the Atlantic which means wet and mild. I don't see this changing yet.

Switzerland will cost you CHF40 for the motorway pass at the border. You'll get stopped at Basel. I've driven all the passes except the San Bernadino as we went on the Stelvio instead. You should also add the Grimselpass. The best bit of driving road ever is the Grimsel/Sustenpass. Just incredible. Also you should look up Chris (Killerbee on FT forum) as he is a local and knows his way round very well. Do not attempt the passees on a weekend, make sure it's a weekday. Chris will happily take a day off work to show you round, but he won't drive at weekends as it's too busy. Reims is an easy stop on the way down BTW. It's a 10 minute drive if that from the motorway. It took 13 hours for me to drive from London to Basel. That was all motorway. I did it in a day.

Alex (Speedy) went for Carbotech XP8s which have an excellent reputation. Will reduce disc life though. I've had EBC Greenstuff before. Didn't find them good when they were cold though. Not my favourite pad.

That's pretty good, they are lighter than my 17x8 Rays (7.4kg).

Ah, so no different then. Mine are 38.

Nick, have you got any pics of it to show how it sits in the arches from a front or rear view. ET50 is more offset than stock which is 42mm AFAIK and with a 7.5" rim it's probably going to sit into the arch more or about the same as the stock wheels. Anyway, looks like a total bargain. Just out of interest did you get a weight for them?

Just looking at weights, they seem to come in at 9.18kg, which is near as dammit the same as the OEM 17x7s.

Do it!

Rob is on 235's.

I'm running 17x8's et 38 Rays TE37s. Looks great but will need lowering to look right I think. I'm running the stock tyres on those rims. Seems to work pretty well.