Hypnosis

Really enjoyed last year! Can only make the Sunday this time round though as some bastard has already booked the Saturday off at work...

After a few years of Nissan 350Z ownership I decided I wanted a slightly more practical daily driver but still give me the fun factor involved in driving and modifying cars. At the same time, I didn’t want something you see every day like the Civic Type R, Focus ST etc. So after a lot of reading and research, on the 16th August 2019 at 9am I took delivery of my 2012 GT86. The car was almost completely stock except for a Scorpion Cat back exhaust. One less thing to go out and get and one of the first things I would have changed anyway. Almost straight away the tail lights had to go. Stock ones looked completely crap in my eyes so after a bit of hunting around the forums I got my paws on a nice set of Valenti’s. As we all do. September comes and wheels were next on the agenda. I’m no track legend and have no need to be doing fantastic weight saving things and all that jazz so as long as it looked nice (to me) didn’t cost silly money and was in the 18” bracket then I’d take a look. I ended up getting a set of JR5’s once again from the forums. Was the same bloke I got the Valenti’s from as it goes! Rays 57CR’s they are not but they’ll do for now. October brings a different situation. The Misses and myself take ownership of our first home! It handles like shit and the 0-60mph is non existent but you can’t win them all November and the ever popular Tuning Developments UEL manifold followed shortly by a trip over to Abbey Motorsports for the much needed tune to go with it. Turns out my clutch is slipping when you really get on it so Mark does what he can. No engine management light and rumbly noises makes me happy either way. December and Birthday & Christmas presents from the misses gives the lovely shark fin instead of the standard black aerial and some jazzy internal LED’s. August 2020 and it’s back over to Abbey Motorsports to finally get the clutch sorted out. It hasn’t really been giving me any grief in my day to day driving but I’d really started to notice it when getting a move on. That's pretty much all of 2020 right there!

December brings the new Likewise gear shift. Took a while with the post strikes and all but it's a really nice bit of kit.

November and a little experiment with tinting wrap, vinyl wrap and a bit more spray paint. Had a go at tinting the headlights. Not bad for a first attempt! Sprayed the gear surround black now too and vinyl wrapped those silver side panels by the A/C black. New shift knob on the way also.

Well they seem to have done the job! I need to get back on the dyno though and just iron out the maps again since the manifold change.

August and another body mod. A little trip to Birmingham brings a replica Five Axis front splitter. Not a bad run there and back being that I got up at stupid o clock. Back down to Farnham Bodyworks to orange it up and we're all good. Still need to take some time to bond it properly but it's going nowhere for now!

July and a slightly annoying running problem. A spark plug change later and the same "stuttering" was still present. New coil packs and so far so good...

They're pricey from the Subaru dealers as well. I think it still works out cheaper getting them in the UK though with postage costs from Japan

April and time for another little body mod. Thanks to @sazabiskythe I picked up a set of already colour matched TRD style sideskirts. A little trip over to Farnham Bodyworks (awesome guys by the way) for some small repairs and a bit of touch up paint and we're good to go!

March and it's time to get back to having rumbly noises again! Managed to pick up a hardly used Tomei UEL manifold and went to an old school friend's new garage to get it in place. Very different tone from the Tuning Developments one that was in place before. It's not too loud with the Scorpion exhaust but a good noise when you get on the throttle. I feel a bit of dyno time to get it perfect and all will be good.

Very interested. I'll be at Japfest too

Nothing that springs to mind but there's shitloads of MOT centers in Aldershot and Farnham to choose from! Welcome to the area 👍

So here we are in 2022 and a few more little bits done. One of the number plate bulbs died so replaced with some nice LED ones. The other half got me a nice set of side window louvers so after trying a few different types of double sided tape they are now firmly in place.

I should be able to do Saturday & Sunday.

Ah you got it after all. I now want the carbon end tips for mine 😄

The only good thing about this time of year is the cold air through the car!

I know Chris over at Tarmac had one on his so there's definitely one more out there. Clutch is a standard Toyota one which seems to be quite happy for now. Dyno graph for your viewing pleasure. That is with the stock manifold so there's still a few more gains to be had.

November and the cold weather is really kicking in. Pushing the start button over the last few days and the car has taken a lot longer to start. Not sure how old the battery is on this but I'm taking no chances. Out with the old Bosch and in with a fresh GS Yuasa.

Really enjoying mate. It's nice having that bit of extra punch when you put your foot down

This is partly your doing 😂

Pinged you a message mate

Tarmac Sportz supplied and was then fitted and tuned by Abbey 👍

20211026_153511_1.mp4

April 2021 and it’s time to start doing stuff again. Sprayed up a few of the internal parts like the gear shift surround, door handles and the round vents. I’ll get rid of all that silver eventually. Black badges in place but decided not to put the rear “GT86” and “Toyota” ones back. Left it a little cleaner and had just the Toyota emblem on the rear. July and another trip to Abbey to get the Rear bushes changed along with the diff fluid and an oil change for good measures. August and after one of our Cornwall trips involves me having to swerve into a curb because of some road hogging c**t I end up scraping the front left wheel. Time to get the wheels refurbed and change out from the gunmetal grey to a satin bronze. I quite like it and I think it goes well with the orange. November, a few phone calls and emails to Chris over at Tarmac Sportz and a nice little order is then placed. It didn’t reach me in time for Japfest due to having to be imported (no fault of Tarmac Sportz) but the excitement is second to none. October and it’s the big one! Early start on a foggy Monday morning, drop off the car with Abbey again, pick up the Nissan Juke and the wait begins.. It’s Supercharger time! I went with the Vortech kit and replaced the stock valve with a Turbosmart Kompact BOV. This gives me that nice woosh sound that’s noticeable but not as full on ASBO as the other Vortech Maxflow that I could have gone for. LED side indicators for good measure also and 1 week later it’s all installed! Being an American kit there were a few hurdles to overcome but nothing the team at Abbey couldn’t take care of. This did involve going back to the stock manifold though so no more rumbly noise for now. Boo. Gained 100bhp and supercharger noises. Yay!!

You need to start saving for a supercharger mate 😉