MartinT

Oops, my 70k service is booked for early August but I've passed 70k miles already. Never mind, it'll be fine.

Ditto, another BRZ here. Welcome! Sent from my Oppo X3 using Tapatalk

Today I decided to try to improve my bonnet, which is full of stone chip repairs with ill-matching paint and also suffered from an accident with a paint spillage. I clay barred a long curved mark on the bonnet with the recommended clay and clay lube. Then I used the orange buffer with my orbital machine and Meguire's paint compound, being careful to apply it exactly as in the video. I then used isopropyl alcohol to clean and check the area. I repeated this, then cleaned and polished the area. No sign of the mark, just a nice and evenly shiny area of the bonnet. This may seem like amateur hour to some of you but for me it was a big deal. It's given me the confidence to do some more areas tomorrow.

Have to give a shoutout to these two accessories for our Karcher jetwash. Foaming shampoo spray bottle and amazingly powerful head with exchangeable nozzles. I tried doing a sponge-free wash and it worked very well. The nozzle gives the jet so much power that it pushes me back and is much better now at cleaning between the spokes of the wheels.

Normal working from when it was new varied from +15C at speed to just above +20C when in traffic. So far, still no leaks and it's holding at good iAT on these warm days. I can feel that acceleration under boost is pulling well.

When I was looking for similar mods at the start of my BRZ journey, I would have liked a deep tone like that. One discovery is that superchargers create more noise, turbos less. Also, UELs are louder than EL. You have to sew this knowledge into the cars and videos you watch. There's also the question of living with it day to day. Mine creates enough noise to attract some attention but is not hooligan loud. I now have a Rogue EL manifold with TD full exhaust (with super-resonator) and the 2nd cat still in place so that I can pass the MOT. With the Harrop supercharger, it's as loud as I'm prepared to put up with commuting 80 miles per day.

I think more muck was blown out as today it ran at no higher than iAT - ambient = 15C. I'll check the coolant level on Saturday.

So far so good. I tried reverse jetwashing it this evening to blow as much muck out of the front as possible. I'll let you know if the fluid level remains constant this week. None lost at all last week.

Thanks, guys. I had the same idea and have ordered a curved jetwash nozzle so that I can try and jet it from behind, through the main coolant radiator. I have the idea that the intercooler has, in part, saved the main radiator from accumulating a lot of the cack.

Here's the best photo I could get. You can see the repair with the QuikSteel putty. It's still holding and I'm going to check coolant levels in a mo. It's also clear that the whole radiator needs a good clean - this is two years' worth of accumulated muck. What can I use to clean it with?

No, the dongle isn't needed and I have my Scangauge gauges plugged into the OBD2 port. You can ask for different programmes for the four modes, too. I have these: 1. Full power 2. Full power plus auto-blip 3. Lower power for standard fuel 4. Shutdown (will not start)

It works - at least, for now! I don't expect it to hold but I drove to work this morning after making the repair last night and the iAT showed +15C on the motorway and +20C in town, which is what I used to see. Checking the radiator visually on arriving, there was no wet patch. I know I'll have to order a new one eventually but £980 + fitting is a bit eye-watering right now when I've had other big costs in the same month.

I was wondering why my iAT was high (over 50C) on recent journeys and went to top up the intercooler. When I looked down there was a jet of coolant water streaming from the intercooler radiator 🙁 It looks like a stone puncture and I guess I’ll be needing a new radiator. I'll see what Abbey Motorsport can do.

Definitely tune out the cold start high idle. The UEL manifold makes the exhaust louder, even the stock one. As for throttle mapping, Abbey Motorsport tuned mine for a very linear but fast response. Once you get used to it, you'll be grateful for fine throttle control when stuck in traffic.

I forgot to add: one benefit of going with separate springs and dampers is that they fit like the OEM originals and you don't get any NVH or strange noises other than the extra road noise from the firmer damping.

I'm running Bilstein B8 with H&R Super Sport springs and approximately 30mm drop. The ride quality is superb on the motorway while still remaining quite firm, but it gets a bit jiggly around town although still the right side of a cheap coilover setup. Handling is great, the BRZ corners flat and gives me great confidence when entering corners fast. Road noise on 235/45 PS4 is acceptable. I remember Eibach Pro-Kit springs being a bit softer than the H&Rs so should give a pretty good ride quality.

I replaced the stock door speakers with the Focals and the sound went from grim to barely acceptable. An improvement, certainly, but just about ok for spoken word radio. I then found a pair of top dash midrange speakers as sold in the US market and replaced the tweeters with those and the sound went from barely acceptable to just about acceptable. My head unit was swapped to an Eonon Android unit, which helped too. Just face it, guys, our cars are not suited to high-quality audio. The doors don't allow for very good drivers and the air space behind them resonates, the body allows noise through and the engine and exhaust are noisy. It's not a great acoustic environment. I get along fine with a little LBC and a touch of Radio Paradise. When I want proper music reproduction, I play the big rig at home.

Noted - thanks.

I could do either date. Sent from my Oppo X3 using Tapatalk

I'm up for it.

Bad luck on the blowout but good that it didn't cause more widespread damage. I know that feeling when you drive over something that you could not have avoided in time.

Set of Rota Blitz 17 x 8 wheels. Somewhat kerbed and scuffed, but would make a great addition to a project car. Easily refurbished and look great on an 86/BRZ. Take 225/45 tyres very nicely. Free to the first person who agrees a collection date for all four. Collect only, from near Basingstoke.

The wheels are now taken.

Thanks, Tom. I'm waiting for John to reply. I'll get back to you.

I've sent a PM. Sent from my Oppo X3 using Tapatalk