ThatGuyThere

Nice one So step one is certainly to have the OEM cat re-fitted. Will this need require a re-tune? I keep reading that the secondary cat makes quite an impact on flow.

Ah, thanks for your help Rob - Well, I may never find out how the silencer got there, but at least I know what I have now. So I'm trying to work out which part is causing the majority of the noise. Can anyone advise on how loud a standard exhaust is, with the HKS manifold, and front de-cat? Is it possible to have a quieter exhaust with no cats on the car?

Yeah we never stuck ours on - night time is for swigging wine from the bottle while walking around the locality - when in Rome..!

1989 1 litre Polo breadvan 1995 1.2 litre Corsa (fairly sure this had less power than the Polo!) 1995 1.6 litre Escort 1998 1.8 Escort Si 1997 1.9TDi Golf 2001 1.7 Puma 2001 Saab 9-3 Turbo (big turbo) 2003 Clio 172 cup 2002 Audi TT 1.8T 225 remapped to 270-ish 2013 GT86 Stand-outs were the Puma - so fun to drive, lovely gearbox, great engine; the Clio - felt so light and fun to drive, especially after the Saab; and the TT - which was incredibly pretty to look at in the dark blue, and very fast in a straight-line, but oh so uninvolving to drive.

Oh, you need a headlight adjuster - they come with the kit you can buy on the ferry - if you drive at night you'll need to stick it on your headlights. I imagine the kit is far cheaper to buy, when not on the ferry too.

I found it remarkable easy to get used to - fyi some roundabouts in France have a different priority system to ours, but not many. Just to keep you on your toes. Only chance of getting the side of road wrong is when you first pull off in a morning. Leaving the ferry the signs are very clear. We drove into the very centre of Paris, and wondered what all the fuss was about - it's just like any other city. Busy, but traffic flows fine. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Extra pics:

Wow - what a difference. Figured it looked fairly straight-forward to adjust the height, so I did do. It was set about as low as the specifications recommend, and I raised it to just under the highest. Looks, to my eye, better at this height - more purposeful than showy - particularly with it running 17" wheels. Took it for a quick drive on some very lumpy local roads - no longer bottoming out, which it was this morning, and no more catching on full-lock - hurray! Still very harsh over the bumps though. Came home, adjusted the damping from the firmest possible (which the manual states to never use!) to half-way. Another test drive - AMAZING! It's much more forgiving, I can accelerate on roads I previously would be losing traction on, and the annoying bouncy feeling has gone. My girlfriend will not need the sports-bra she was talking about when we went out this morning! So pleased. I might try it a little softer after driving like this for a few days. I reckon like this, the damping is slightly harsher than the mk1 TT it replaced - which is fine for me. However, there is now a very slight squeak coming from somewhere, which is only noticeable as you come to a stop (the road noise otherwise covers it). If I sit in the car and rock it with my body weight, it does it too. Any ideas? Also raised two other issues, but I'll post them in the correct areas.

Oh, and a service. It's only been done once at 4k miles, and that was 2 years ago. Shall I see how bad Toyota Huddersfield are, or spend a day going over to Macclesfield?!

Firstly, big thanks for everyone for your input. Very helpful - I wouldn't have been confident to buy it without all your help. So, 450 miles later... Hahahaha, it's so fast. Reminds me of my old clio 172 cup - such a light feeling when driving it. Just what I wanted from the standard car. Any fear of it not being the right supercharger went out the window within 3 seconds. However, it's too loud for me, although not quite as bad as I was fearing - I need to get this sorted asap. Not sure which part needs replacing - I'm loathe to touch a £4k exhaust, but I do want quite a drop in sound. Car came supplied with original cat, and I'm not too concerned about losing a few bhp so maybe that's a good first try? I'd like to be able to tootle around without it sounding too aftermarket, happy for very loud above 3.5k. I'd like something closer to a TTRS than a rally car Also, suspension is too low for the roads and farm-tracks around here that I sometimes have to use. So that needs fixing asap too. I'll look today at how easy it is to raise the suspension, but likely will get professionals to do it on Monday. Looking at other photos, this seems like a 60mm drop - and I'd like to try 30mm. I'll also adjust the hard-soft setting to the middle rather than hard - it's good for A roads right now, but I barely see those. Wheels catch on full lock - hoping the raise in height will resolve that, if not - needs investigating, or just getting used to only turning to 90%. Where the front bumper meets the wing, there's a small gap. Searching, tells me it's fairly common after bumper removal. It's minor, but it bugs me so I'd like to get that sorted. Why, oh why, is the armrest not standard?! That's getting ordered today. Once I've made it suitable for daily driving, I'm considering: Speakers. Removing TOYOTA and GT86 badges from the back (might keep the 86 logo). Canard and spoiler removal, and associated paint job.

Just had a quote of £1540 "I've found you a GREAT price", she said. For a supercharged gt86. I'm 32, 10 years NCB, 2 fault-claims, both of low value. No points. Apparently it was not the mods - they were only increasing it by 10%. For reference, best price on Confused.com for the standard car is £550. And I was quoted £700 for a 2010 Cayman S.

Thanks again. I've emailed Mark at Abbey regarding this to enquire. Excuse my total ignorance, but what exactly is: " Tomei Overpipe " and " HKS Resonated Front Pipe " - is this the part that sits between the manifold and the exhaust, which is where the cat would usually be? I know what a manifold is (go me! ). @Lauren - if I was to buy this car, as you're in Manchester, can you recommend a garage to service/tweak in the area? I'm in Huddersfield. Many thanks.

Thanks for the quick replies! The issue with rods is nearly enough to put me off to be honest - I want none of that. To run a smaller restrictor would the ECU need re-tuning? Any comment on the reliability of the v2 overall? Varelco - that's good to hear. I'll go digging for old threads later. Fair point about the value of the SC! I wish test driving it was easy to achieve - but I'm 4 hours away so it's less than ideal. Again, many thanks for replying. Very helpful.