Lowe

Not all from TPIC no. I feel the quality of the TPIC stuff was right up there, but that last bad fitment has left a bad taste. I’ve messaged them 3 times and not had so much as an acknowledgment. I know in China last week was a week of national holiday, so they’re likely to have a backlog. But honestly I just get the impression they’re not interested. Tricky one - don’t spend more than you’re happy to lose, it’s a gamble after all.

Point me in the right direction and I’ll see about getting some more. Never used it before. /edit: Just ordered some of this: Hycote Lens Paint Smoke, 400ml https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004SMLEB0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kRr4zb4YNPXJC

Is it play time at Mark’s again? 😂

No, but if you PM me an address I’ll send you my spare 👍🏻

Yeah, I've bodged it on for now with white tak. No response from the seller so far Still, as you say the passenger side is mint. Really surprised with how thick the and shiny the lacquer is.

So more modding happened today. As I mentioned before, I was never a big fan of the stock '86 lights. Ideally I wanted smoked replacements, but at the time settled for some standard red Valenti that came up on the forum, just to get rid. I didn't mind the red to be honest but knew that I wanted the smoked at some point. Well as luck would have it @Lucas@PartBox wanted to swap his smoked for some reds. He swung by earlier this afternoon and on the car park at work we got our 8mm spanners at the go and swapped over. Both happy. #winning! Of course, this opens up a can of worms now haha! The rear foglight now sticks out a bit so needs changing, or at least tinting. The rear logos need to come off and my black Toyota logo needs to go on. The stealth look is at least starting!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-Carbon-Fiber-sport-style-Side-Mirror-Cover-Cap-Fit-For-Toyota-86-GT86-new-Design/32783631078.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Ay5aTW https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Carbon-Fiber-Car-Door-Sill-Plate-For-BRZ-STI-TOYOTA-86-TRD-2013-2017-2pcs-Carbon/32785264685.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Ay5aTW https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Interior-Refit-Carbon-Fiber-Seat-Heating-Button-Decorative-Frame-TRD-STI-Modification-Trim-For-Subaru/32784242550.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.Ay5aTW As ever, buy through the mobile app to save a few quid. The mirror covers aren't 100% perfect, but the only issue is on the inner side next to the glass so you can't really see it - I say issue, it's an overlap of less than 1mm. Hardly worth worrying about imho, or I stuck them on wrong!

How can I check it?

I'm the same - I had a Blitz panel filter in before and was perfectly happy with it. But I was concerned that the AFR's would be running lean and wanted the extra oomph without the risk of it getting too lean. As for MAF confusion, personally I doubt it. If you read the fitting instructions, they are very specific that the filter should be fitted exactly one inch off the near side of the MAF. If you don't get this right it causes all kinds of problems and can actually result in power loss! Mark came up with an idea of cutting a piece of paper to size and I used it as a template to ensure it was spot on. As you say Grimmspeed did a lot of air flow work, and their intake was one of the last to market with the R&D for the product done in the public domain. All of their back to back dyno plots are also freely available. I wasn't expecting the difference to be so obvious, but was pleased when it was. We were two up with 3/4 a tank of fuel as well! Mark's got two 86's, with his wife's being pretty much stock and after the first pull in 2nd gear we both kinda just looked at one another and started laughing! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Interior-Refit-Carbon-Fiber-Window-lift-button-Decorative-Frame-TRD-STI-Modification-Trim-For-Subaru/32828024612.html Don't forget to use the Mobile App, brings the price down even further. That said, can't recommend these at the moment due to the poor fit.

Managed to bodge the drivers side on using white tack (!) It was just enough to lift it up over the lip on the lock button. Not ideal, and I'm still complaining to the seller but in the meantime until I can find a better fitting piece it'll do.

So a bit more carbon came from AliExpress, covers for the window/mirror switches. However all's not well. The passenger side fits perfectly, but the drivers side isn't aligning properly. There's a small raised lip on the 'lock/unlock' button and the moulding hasn't taken this into account. As such it means that if you align the carbon overlay around this the bottom is thrown out by about 5mm, and it looks very obviously wrong. If you try to align it properly, the lip next to the button stops the overlap from sticking down. I've messaged the seller to see if this is a one off bad piece but I think their mould is wrong. It's a shame since they're really well made with a nice thick top coat and look great. Worst case scenario is they get chucked away, but at 16 quid it's not the end of the world. Passenger - spot on: The problem lip area highlighted, which stops it from fitting correctly:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072DSYVK4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Might be interested, mix it up a bit 👍🏻

Like mine?

I was genuinely surprised to say the least. I don’t like that oil sensor being so close to the air box - I slackened it off a bit today and pulled on the air box to stop it touching. But that aside, Jesus it goes! 😳 As for seat - I’ve bodged it for now but it’s not going to last. Think I’ll ask @Riceburnerand see what he can do.

No, it’s the way I drive primarily, but the intake has meant I need to use even less throttle. I’m really good at hyper miling, I managed the same mpg on the stock car. Note that was over a single 35 mike journey, not a whole tank. It’s not the most thrilling way to drive but on the way in to work I’m not exactly in a rush 🤣

You're braver than me - I didn't trust it!

And that is pretty much 10 months of ownership summed up in a few posts. Need to get the suspension sorted, longer term want some forged Rays and still want an exhaust but that's pie in the sky for now. Really enjoying my time with the car.

Whilst moving some larger stuff at work I needed to fold the seats flat. I pushed the button and this happened: Bloody thing came off in my hand. I've managed to roughly place it back in for now, but this will be raised at the next service to see if there's anything that can be done since it's not actually attached properly. This pretty much brings it up to date now. Nothing else had been done to the car. I'd seen some lowering springs going for cheap so picked them up - Eibach Pro's. I picked up a headlight adjuster and front camber bolts too, along with a Whiteline gearbox mount from Part-box. None of these have been fitted yet, needed to save up to have the work carried out. Then I got looking at intakes... After doing a LOT of reading I settled on the Grimmspeed. Torqen hooked me up (incredible service by the way, ordered at 6:15pm on a Friday, delivered 1pm on Monday!) This weekend I paid a visit to @Mark-in-Stoke and we got stuck in. I also collected a cat in the process We took it out for a spin. Bloody nora, HUGE difference. Throttle response is way better, no bogging down at low RPM when pulling away and I'm getting better economy when driving on a run too. Win all round. Continuing with my LED fetish, the reverse lights got swapped out. These are err.... bright!

Earlier in the year it was time for the 30,000 mile service. I took the car up to Richard at RRG and also had a few warranty niggles sorted out. Whilst the car was at the detailers the battery was constantly going flat. This was sorted, along with a rattling gear linkage, the infamous rusting quarter pillars and delaminating interior mirror. Worked out at about £1300 worth of fixes! Still, all covered and I got the pleasure of a Yaris in the process too! Rich took me out in his '86 with the intake and full Cobra exhaust. This got my brain ticking. In the meantime I found AliExpress. I ordered a few basic stickers out of curiosity to see if they'd actually come. They're real carbon and just attach with 3M tape. Really pleased with them and given how cheap they are if they fall off it's no big loss.

I turned my attention to the paint. It was in pretty good nick, but there were a few defects and swirls. Also I had a few stone chips which needed filling in so I spoke to Richard at RRG and he sent me through a touch up stick. It was a brand new sealed pot with the right paint code, but something didn't quite look right to me... Err, mine's not blue! He got another one in, and that was the same colour too! Luckily, I'd still got the tin of paint with the left overs from the body shop. This was spot on, so I've been using that ever since and the Toyota one is in a cupboard somewhere... After sorting out the chips, I took it to the detailers. Autobrite Direct are on my doorstep and they've looked after all of my cars. I went on holiday and left the car with them. They did a single stage polish, and coated her in a prototype SI02 sealant, which is now freely available as 'Supersonic'. It's an incredible product, and gives superb gloss and protection for up to 12 months if looked after properly. The results were pleasing! So err yeah - it's shiny. Also, the beading is off the scale!

Next up, I got my private plate put on. I say private, it's just a northern irish plate. Nothing special about it other than it hides the age of the car. Then, with it being winter and me using the boot now and then, the lack of decent light in there was driving me up the wall. I swapped it for a bright LED but it was still pretty bad. So, I got an LED DRL light off eBay for a couple of quid, picked up a W5W harness (or 10 - minimum order haha!) and made myself a proper boot light. Took 5 mins and was a huge improvement! Before with a basic LED light: After: Whilst I was at it, I swapped out all of the interior lights for LEDs. Much nicer. Speaking of LED's the standard rear lights... I get the GT2000 references etc, but meh - they remind me of a 90's Lexus so they had to go. Mine were also starting to have condensation build up. A forum member had a set of Valenti's for sensible money, so I snapped them up. Whilst they're not my preferred colour choice, they're better than nowt. On they went! Valenti's:

If the sale falls through let me know, really interested

Bumped into the guy that complimented me the other day at the local Shell station yesterday. More compliments haha