Neil-h

Yup, i've not had anything else from my bank since they refunded the money and the 45 days TD had to challenge it is long gone. So i either they decideded not to or simply didn't reply, who knows. Going by the google reviews they still aren't answering the phone/emails so i'd assume the latter lol. It's a shame tbh as up to this point i'd had reasonable dealings with Mike but hey ho.

I’ve gotta be honest I don’t like those spade connectors (left hand side of the connector block with the speaker wire in), they really should be insulatated. You risk damaging the head unit otherwise ‘cus you could short out the outputs (might also explain why they didn’t appear to be working at one point).

Same, I’ve not got any updates either. My bank were happy I’ve done everything I can so it’s just a case of waiting for the chargeback process to run it’s course.

That’s probably more throttle mapping than fuel though. The crap fuel map Mark put in my car slows the throttle response by around 10% at lower speeds (higher engine loads i suppose) and also limits the max revs to 4500ish RPM. Fortunately I’ve only ever had to use it once (during the fuel shortages) as it’s not a lot of fun.

Really? i've ordered a few bits from Mike over the years and he's always been happy to take card payments (luckily for me in this case).

How did you pay for the parts? You might be able to use the chargeback scheme to recover the money. https://www.visa.co.uk/chargeback.html

Oh ffs don't say that. I'm just about to start the chargeback process with my bank as Mike offered me a refund and hasn't replied to a single email since (must be 3 or 4 weeks now since he offered the refund).

Just a small update for those that may or may not have heard, I had an email from Mike last week saying they've been forced to move to a new unit. So they've been really busy with that, hence all the delays with orders/communication.

Fair enough. Having spoken to Mike last week about a centre silencer i'm waiting on, he did say they've had delays with bits coming on from there suppliers so that's probably what's holding up your manfold to. As ThatGuyThere said, the extra cost of someone to do admin is worth every penny when you have these sorts of issues as they can keep people in the loop.

Out of curiosity what are you waiting on?

Are they the 4 pots or 6 pots? I had an AP 4 pot kit on my Impreza and they were superb.

I''ve been running the Bilstein B12 pro kit (B8 dampers and Eibach pro springs) for the last 10k miles and think they're great. The ride is firmer than the OE setup but not to the point of being uncomfortable but the real difference is the damping is more controlled. From the factory i found the car could feel a bit bouncy on higher speed bumps and the Bilsteins remove that bounciness really well.

That's seems a little harsh, at 1.25 tonnes the GT86 is actually quite light in the grand scheme of things. You're right about the uphill battle though in a roundabout kinda way, a large number of the panels are aluminiium so you won't see huge weight losses from doing the odd panel in GRP/carbon fibre. You'd really need to do a lot and that gets expensive really rapidy. You're best bet for cutting weight is wheels/exhaust/battery and go from there. Even most of the interior isn't that bad, the big saver there is the seats. There's a thread over on FT86 club which is worth a look as somones been through quite an indepth weight saving process completre with component weights. https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7881

Hi All, Has anyone on here got any experience running a semi-forged engine (i.e. forged rods with OEM pistons)? I've been looking at the semi-forged build Fensport offer using Brian Crower rods as the complete drive in drive out package (including oil systems mods) looks like a steal for 4 grand so i'd be interested to hear from anyone that's done this build or indeed anything similar. https://www.fensport.co.uk/pages/forged-engine-build-prices Ta, Neil

Yeah no problem, I’ll try and remember to snap a couple of photos next time I get a chance. How much of the boot are you looking to protect ‘cus that one only really covers the floor (it does have a bit of a lip but only an inch or two).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303463530871?fits=Car+Make%3AToyota%7CModel%3AGT+86&epid=14036372907&hash=item46a7d60177:g:o8AAAOSw1nVeL2GF I’ve got one of these, it’s a really good fit and has faired really well to having muddy safety boots etc thrown in it. Also has the added bonus of being half the price of the official Toyota one.

Yup, there's tonnes of people on here running various aftermarket manifolds with out the pre-cat with no problem at all. The only point it can get a little iffy is if you fit a higher flow cat but then that's just one of those things. If memory serves me from the good old days of Subarus, the pre-cat is only there to get the car under a particular level for type approval. The emission threshold for the MOT is actually significantly higher but they have to come from the factory with the pre-cat as that's what they type approval was awarded with.

Honestly you've got nothing to worry about if you're keeping the main cat, the pre-cat doesn't do an awful lot. I've had a TD manifold on my car for several years now and it's passed the emmissions test with no problems at all, in fact it passes easily even after i fitted the supercharger.

Have a look at the Rays hub rings, they don’t have the tapered section at the bottom. Have a chat with Lucas at Part-box, pretty sure that’s where I bought mine.

Have you lowered the suspension already? As by my understanding dropping the right height will also achieve the same result as long as the suspension is loaded.

How are you going to adjust the geometry then? There's very little in the way of adjustability at either end.

This is the big one to be honest. That and the fact you'll need camber bolts for the front and replacement suspension arms for the rear to get the geometry sorted.

I doubt you’ll ever manage to find any concrete data to say this won’t prematurely kill wheel bearings but anecdotally, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. ET35 is pretty much the go to offset for fitting wheels that size to a GT86 and I’ve never seen any complaints of premature bearing death.

It’s worth pointing out that the reason the TVS900 is more efficient is because it’s a much smaller blower. Consequently if the buyer decides they want more power in the future they’ll find the limit of the Cosworth kit a lot earlier as it simply isn’t capable of moving as much air as the Harrop kit.

This is probably the single biggest thing to decide before buying anything. If you decide to remove the precat (I.e. fit an aftermarket manifold) then the resonated Cobra will still be ludicrously loud. I had a hell of a saga with exhaust systems going from; stock > cobra non-res > cobra non-res+TD manifold > cobra res+TD manifold > TD super res+TD manifold The Cobra resonated cat back is probably ok as long as you keep the stock manifold. If you don’t then then TD super res keeps exhaust noise just the happy side of loud.