[Llyr32]

Hello everyone!

Inspired by the idea behind this section of the forum I've decided to join in and plan to document, (as best as I can), the modifications and changes I make to the car. I do have some photos already taken of some light modifications when I was prepping the car for my first ever meet; Japfest 2021 and will post them later.

Feel free to ask anything about my car and I will try to help, the question is probably already answered but may be hard to find, hopefully, some things can be reanswered here in 2022. I will update this post from time to time with photos and chit-chat about the car.

It is amazing how much love and support is around for GT86's?!

Edit - Pixel Width 800 (I'll forget)

 

[Llyr32]

Testing how the Imgur links display if at all, or I'll just upload straight into the forum.

http://imgur.com/a/a5RGQrE

 

[Llyr32]

Before jumping into the 86 I'll start with a bit of background, I never planned to get a GT86 or a CR-Z! I was fixated on the 350Z, I always thought it was the perfect car, anyways after getting hit with reality and working out the running cost and expenses, I got myself a CR-Z The 350Z was unfeasible even if I drove 1/5th of what I was needing to do a week, so I did the best I could do when trying to balance the cost, efficiency, looks & performance. Took her out for a test drive from a dealership and was immediately in love, collected it the following weekend with 58000 on the clock. I was comfortably managing to get an avg; 48mpg from the 1.5l petrol mild-hybrid drivetrain, the motorways were a charm, which was the bulk of my travelling, the long motorway runs were totalling about 450 miles a week.

That mild-hybrid gave the car some poke and was fun for all of about one minute until it needed recharging! These are the photos prior to selling, and at 95,000 now clocked in I was ready to get something to bridge the performance gap this car, unfortunately, could not provide.

 

[Shad]

Looks good I'll stick with that and give a brief description in each picture and describe the rest in the post

No bueno.

 

[Llyr32]

View attachment 7374

No bueno.

Edit - The uploading straight to the forum is straightforward, but not all browsers like Imgur, what media sharing do you guys use? Google drive or Imgpile seems like a good alternative?

 

[Shad]

[SPOILER="Imgur test..."]

Direct Link image:
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/dsOGkXP.jpg[/IMG]
Seems to work. Just use the Direct Link value and and insert an image by URL.

[/SPOILER]

Big fan of the CR-Z by the way. It never had the cahonas to be a true successor to the CRX (I had a Mk 2 for quite a while) but great styling and innovative powertrain.

 

[Llyr32]

[SPOILER="Imgur test..."]
Direct Link image:

Seems to work. Just use the Direct Link value and and insert an image by URL.
[/SPOILER]

Big fan of the CR-Z by the way. It never had the cahonas to be a true successor to the CRX (I had a Mk 2 for quite a while) but great styling and innovative powertrain.

Oh! I will give direct links a go tonight thanks.

I quickly realized it was visually going for a modern CRX look with a hybrid 'prototype' for honda's future electric solutions. In reality, though it was fine for what I was doing was capable of just about 7/10th's before driving like a fat man in lycra, fast gear changes and hard cornering were the equivalents of stirring bathwater whilst being in the bath haha!

A trivial bit of info; the early models used a nickel-cadmium battery pack until 2013 which was then replaced by li-ion. Anyways I'll get back to gt86 stuff tonight.

 

[Llyr32]

Thanks for the advice there Shad!

Finally, with the CR-Z sold and a bit of Autotrader browsing, I found this listing a very well kept GT86, with two owners from new I was considering being the third. On arrival the previous owner was very nice, even let me take it for a quick drive before discussing further, which, well it was all I needed😅 the 86 had easily won me over and I knew I had to have the car.

I still remember getting in the car for the first time like it was yesterday and being so surprised by the gearbox, couldn't believe the night and day difference between the CR-Z and the GT86. After a bit of back and forth he would not budge, and for good reason! 47,000 miles, spotless paint/bodywork and with full dealership service history he was keen to get his asking price. Not wanting to let her go I buckled and paid the listing. £12,100. Good price or not? I didn't care, I was over the moon and agreed to pick her up the following weekend. I don't have any photos of the drive home but needless to say, it was a memory I'll forever cherish.

 

[DJM86]

Welcome! Looks very clean! I remember my first drive back in the car, I quickly realised the engine needed all of the revs but was instantly taken with how reactive the car felt. I paid full asking price and I don't have a single regret, keep us posted of any mods/trips etc!

 

[Llyr32]

Welcome! Looks very clean! I remember my first drive back in the car, I quickly realised the engine needed all of the revs but was instantly taken with how reactive the car felt. I paid full asking price and I don't have a single regret, keep us posted of any mods/trips etc!

Thanks! Yes, I do enjoy the ability to use all of the revs the engine can provide when going for it, quite a rare thing for a car now. Glad to hear you paid full too, that's why the used market is so strong, full-price, and with no regrets (Maybe apart from the plastic on metal rattle?) Or is that the car's character I have a the next few posts ideas lined up so I'll make some write-ups this month and get the photos uploaded, mostly soundproofing & maintenance posts but I do have some aftermarket projects in mind for the summer. I'm looking forward to it all!!

 

[Llyr32]

Hello! I hope everyone stayed safe from Eunice That wind really made light work of our power down here, the power went out Friday AM and didn't come back on until Monday PM, 4 days before UKPN had us back online, left us in the dark on any updates, literally. Anyways with the chaotic week out the way and finally returning to the usual routine it's time to follow up with what happened next with the 86.

I decided to make my first bit of tinkering on the car an easy one and start by replacing the egg colour indicator bulbs with the recommended chrome bulbs, super neat and nothing major. Oh, how I wish I could say that on reflection.

As I was still in the honeymoon phase, I was looking forward to my first ever mod being a quick 20-minute task, even the old man agreed a novice like me couldn't get this wrong but that just seemed to send me further down the rabbit hole. As I was unclipping the boot lining, much to my surprise there was some moisture on the inside of the lining? After fully removing the lining I could now see a considerable amount of water/moisture on the boot (floor?) which had been running in from the rear brake light gaskets every time it was raining!

I have no idea how long this has been happening but looking at the dirt build-up the timeline spans years... is this something anyone else has had to deal with in the past?

At this point, I've long past the 20-minute mark and by the time I had the gasket and housing cleaned up I had lost track of time. But here are the photos I remembered to take.

Clips out, Lining out.

The realisation that the puddle of water shouldn't be there.

Rust was coming from the screws in the brake light housing.

Dirt collects around the gasket, water gets free entry. Fortunately, the water had not managed to enter the lights/PCB itself.

Reallllllly dirty here.

The other side was equally as bad.

All cleaned up, small spot of rust on the paintwork too caused by the screw.

I was so sidetracked by the clean up I forgot to take photos of the before and after the bulbs! Sorry! I'll take some photos this weekend. But they do make the OEM brake lights look so much better, recommend it to anyone who hasn't done it yet, might also find a similar issue if you haven't checked recently? With the brake lights now dry, back in position and working, it felt like a task well doing with the added reassurance that the boot (floor?) is dry and that I had learnt something about my car. Even if it did take up almost all of my Saturday🙄😆 We also did the front indicators, which was equally as time-consuming getting the housing out, I'll drop some photos in another post tomorrow as I'm at the limit on this one.

 

[Shad]

Those rear light unit gaskets are a common failure point and often cause moisture build-up inside the light unit as well. They really a single use item so although they're nice and clean now I wouldn't put much faith in them working for long! Your best bet is to use a set from Gasket Ninja - Gasket Ninja - Tail light gaskets for 2013-2020 FR-S, BRZ, and GT86. Also the nuts to secure the light units only need a very low torque, over-tightening can also cause gaskets to leak.

 

[Subota Boy]

What Shad said is very important! Hope your problem is sorted.

I have done a similar thread and it is great fun to document your life with your car. Enjoy!!

 

[Llyr32]

Those rear light unit gaskets are a common failure point and often cause moisture build-up inside the light unit as well. They really a single use item so although they're nice and clean now I wouldn't put much faith in them working for long! Your best bet is to use a set from Gasket Ninja - Gasket Ninja - Tail light gaskets for 2013-2020 FR-S, BRZ, and GT86. Also the nuts to secure the light units only need a very low torque, over-tightening can also cause gaskets to leak.

Thank Shad, seems like I will need some thicker gaskets so thanks for recommending them. Guess I won't need to learn double wrenching then at least not for those nuts hah!

 

[Llyr32]

What Shad said is very important! Hope your problem is sorted.

I have done a similar thread and it is great fun to document your life with your car. Enjoy!!

Thank you! Will get some new gaskets on order and continue to document things; as and when I remember, I'm not even that old...

 

[MR2]

the nuts to secure the light units only need a very low torque, over-tightening can also cause gaskets to leak.

4Nm I.I.R.C.

I bought one of these to do mine, under £20 and seems to work well :

BlueSpot Adjustable Torque Wrench 2 -24Nm 1/4" Square Drive Hand Ratchet Tool | eBay

<p>The BlueSpot 1/4" Torque Wrench </p> <p>Designed to be utilised where fixings are required to be tightened to a predetermined torque load. </p> <p>The wrench comes complete with a useful storage case. </p> <p>Warning: All torque wrenches must be stored on the lowest torque setting to avoid a...

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Llyr32]

4Nm I.I.R.C.

I bought one of these to do mine, under £20 and seems to work well :

BlueSpot Adjustable Torque Wrench 2 -24Nm 1/4" Square Drive Hand Ratchet Tool | eBay

<p>The BlueSpot 1/4" Torque Wrench </p> <p>Designed to be utilised where fixings are required to be tightened to a predetermined torque load. </p> <p>The wrench comes complete with a useful storage case. </p> <p>Warning: All torque wrenches must be stored on the lowest torque setting to avoid a...

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks MR2, I should consider a lower end torque wrench, I was not aware that they needed such little torque, but thinking about what Shad has mentioned that does make sense.

 

[Llyr32]

Hi Guys,

Been a while since I've posted an update, but a lot of little bits here and there have been taking place as I slowly spend more and more on the 86! It will be a bit of a data dump and certainly won't be in chronological order as I've forgotten myself, however, the pictures should be time stamped which may make more sense when considering the order I may have done things! Enjoy.

After daily driving for many miles per week, it became apparent to me, that these cars do in fact rattle a lot. And to add, this car was specced with the JBL package which most likely assisted in developing some of these plastic on metal rattles. So with a week off, I decided to tackle the rattles with a roll of soft-sided velcro.

And with a bit of camera magic, the car came apart.

I tried to tackle the C-pillar but couldn't really get around the airbag with confidence and decided against it... Half a roll later going around the second brake light, rear speakers, boot & general rear area of car all visible contact with plastic on metal were all padded out.

Then I went on to the door cards, which reminds me, for anyone else who has taken off their door card, did it look like this? Or has someone been back here before? It looked like a mix between someone having a go & a Friday job at the factory. 😆

Left side was much better, but was still rattling so I taped up a few bits just like the driver side.

All I'm going to say is. If you know, you know...

And with all the photos I could remember to take, that was my attempt at soundproofing the car, and I am pleased to say 6 months later of daily driving there are almost 0 rattles, one more rattle has since developed which I'll get around to on some time off but all in all, it was certainly worth the time it makes the car much more tolerable on motorways journeys.

 

[Llyr32]

A few weekends before Japfest last year I headed over to Signworx for this banner, simple job in and out within 20.

 

[Llyr32]

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18

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Purchased a much-needed centre console armrest for the 86, and went for a genuine piece to ensure stitching matched, which cost an arm literally, but the quality is great and would recommend it to anyone considering. Installation was easy just following the Toyota instructions provided online

Go faster shoes for when I need them too.😂