Lakitu's Toyota 86 Journal

[Elliotw]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

After a lot of cuts, bruises, aching muscles, sweat and swearing, I managed to install the BC Racing coilovers. Job took me about 15 hours total, but I tried to do the stainless steel lines, rotors, and hub studs all in the same job and ran into issues. Started with driver side and couldn't get the damn rotor free from the hub so that knocked 2 things off my immediate task list for the day, and then when trying to replace the brake lines I stripped the brake line fitting where the host clip is. Instructions called for 10mm flare nut wrench and I thought I could just do it with a 10mm normal wrench. I was wrong. I should have realized something was wrong when after the very first attempt the wrench skidded off of it. I kept trying and worsened it until I realized something was wrong. Brake lines off my list for now.



So, went ahead and just installed the coilovers and Red Stuff brake pads. Coilovers were not easy, spent about 5 of the 15 hours total. Specifically the rear. The coilovers arrived super collapsed and threw me off a lot. Getting the lower control arm in the right position so that the coilovers, end link and whatever that other thing on the driver side is..holy crap... I swear this is a two-man job - having someone just to hold stuff in place and check the nuts that go through the other side of the control arm would be awesome.



So I finish up, put the wheels on, let the car down, torque the lug nuts. Start it up, press the brakes and foot sinks to the bottom. "FUCK." So had to take the wheels lose again, bleed the brakes. By this time I've made no ride height adjustment and it looks just like stock. My motivation went from 100% to 10%, just enough to get things done as minimal a way as possible. Started out ready to get shit done, as the photo shows below. Started at 2pm sat, went to bed at 6am sun. Hands look like I put them into a blender.

Sounds rough. Good on you for finishing it up. Ive been there working on a car project and at the end you think your hands went through a saw movie lol.

[Lakitu]

That said, some good definitely came out. Just the brake pad upgrade and Motul 5.1 brake fluid alone feels really nice. Really responsive, quick to engage unlike the stock pads/fluid. These engage sooner and harder. It's also nice to experiment with the dampening on the coilovers. The ride at 10 clicks is actually pretty pleasant, nowhere near as violent as stock struts were whenever the wheels encountered rocks and humps. Overall, I'm pleased. Just need to get it lowered. Those adjustment tools got the palms of my hands sore as hell. Would it have killed them to upsell these tools with a rubber handle? lol


I'll deal with the rotors, steel lines, and hub studs soon, then get an alignment done. Really concerning having broken studs on the car, but the good thing is I don't have to drive much at all on a weekly basis..

[Lakitu]

Installed the JDL front (single non-resonated cat) and over pipes, took about 4-5 hours to remove the old and 20 minutes to install the new pipes lol. WTF, subaru!!


Car sounds quieter in lower rpms, cold/warm start, and idle than the stock pipes, and sounds much louder in higher rpms than the stock pipes. Really interesting. I like it. I like it a lot. I was worried it was going to just be louder all around, but instead I'm pleasantly surprised by such a nice balance. The exhaust tone has more character and harmonics to it as well. I also like that the over pipe does not curve downward over the car's frame like the stock, and instead, the front pipe is what curves downward. Makes installation super easy where you can rest the front pipe right on top of it. Well done, JDL! It was a month and 2 weeks wait, but well-worth.

[Clipdat]

Looks very high quality with those.. god I'm forgetting what they're called now. The gasket-less joints with those special clamps.

[Vital]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Looks very high quality with those.. god I'm forgetting what they're called now. The gasket-less joints with those special clamps.

Vband Clamps

[Clipdat]

Yes! Those! Thanks, had a brain fart and even google couldn't rescue me.

Anyway, looks like a nice front pipe!

Originally Posted by Vital

Vband Clamps

[Lakitu]

Lowered! (finally)

Stock (rear)
Attachment 168356

Current
Attachment 168357

Attachment 168358

Attachment 168359

Outside of the deep barbed wire scratches all over the driver side, car looks great! Sadly, it drives kinda worse than I remember it and has more unsettling noises I need to figure out now. Gonna have to switch up some things as I discover my preferences for car feel by trial and error.


Things to buy/replace:
- Need to replace this frontpipe for a more quiet one (JDL dual resonated/catted). I thought it would be fun, but I think the loud life is not for me. I don't like the rasp and I lost low-rpm rumble.

- Get better coilovers with rebound adjustment or try Swift Springs replacement, ride quality is now either too harsh or too bouncy. I should have heeded the advice given!

- Really interested now in focusing on improving the shifter feel so I'm going to order the Whiteline trans mount insert, MTEC springs, and Perrin shifter bushing, then if maybe a short shifter. Even with Motul300 the shifting is still not quite as comfy as I would like.


Things for a shop to do:
- Clutch/transmission idle with clutch-out knocking sound, warm or cold irrelevant (possibly throwout bearing)

- Get alignment done (haven't done yet now with new wheels, tires, and coilovers)

- Get the barbed wire scratches on roof, driver side, front and rear repaired and painted


Things to research/troubleshoot:
- Figure out why car more sluggish in below 4K rpms driving. Embarassing to be so loud but hardly moving until 3rd-4th gear

- Potential exhaust leak at front pipe and mid pipe, looks like not seated right in donut gasket but upper bolt is stripped...

- Figure out rubbing noise when maxed steering turn, doesn't seem to be the tires - plenty of clearance with fender

- Figure out how to fix OL without screwing up CL in MAF scale


After CL adjustment

Attachment 168362


After OL adjustment (wtf?)
Attachment 168361

[SuperTom]

Looks right with that drop. I was considering those wheels on my Halo 17' good choice!

[Lakitu]

Rescaled the MAF and corrected the CL a few days ago, no more crazy fuel trims. I'll figure out how to do OL later, it screws everything up.

Installed the following today with very few issues:

Driveshaft - Car doesn't feel faster, but it feels more... lively? Blipping the throttle to downshift is a better experience. No longer need to downshift when driving up long hills in the neighborhood. There's some cabin noise at below 2k rpms, but its barely audible.

Shift Knob - Amazing! Shifter feel in the palm of the hand is very reassuring

Reverse Lockout - Looks good, doesn't rattle.

Shifter Springs, Bushings & Trans Insert - Love these! Shifting is so much more dialed in than ever. It feels almost impossible to partial shift or mis-shift. Feels a lot more precise and and movements are clean. Some central cabin noise at 3.8K rpms, nothing too bad. The vibrating interior light switch is the loudest thing in cabin right now.

Everything went smooth during installation. I went ahead and also took down the frontpipe and midpipe to examine for exhaust leaks and I found some all over the FT86SpeedFactory V2 midpipe. Every welded seam had soot... so I rubbed copper RTV all over them, then added some between overpipe, frontpipe, midpipe, and muffler connections. Car is MUCH quieter and far less raspy.

[Lakitu]

Best mod ever!

[Lakitu]

DSS drive shaft





MTEC springs, Whiteline bushing, Perrin shifter bushing





ARP studs, DBA rotors

[Lakitu]

Installed STi Engine Mounts and also the Radium Master Cylinder brace. Night and day difference!! I couldn't recommend these enough.

For my case, I didn't need to remove my JDL UEL catless header, just needed to lift the engine high enough to clear the mounts to pull them out from underneath the header, and made sure nothing can stop the engine from rising (in my case, GrimmSpeed strut tower brace, Grimmspeed CAI).

The following are observed:

- Idle gear noise reduced
- Exhaust sound reduced
- Quicker throttle response
- Quicker braking response (actually quite shocking... I have to change myself now because its more sensitive!)

This was such a good run! Cheap mods, quick install, and huge positive impact! Things like this makes modding very fun and rewarding, no matter how much swearing involved, and how cut up and bruised your fingers are after the job is done.

Tried to fit the Whiteline steering rack bushing in with those changes, but I broke the $30 Cusco tool by stripping the bolt due to not knowing how to use it, due to Chinese instructions... Sigh.

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

Quicker braking response (actually quite shocking... I have to change myself now because its more sensitive!)

really eh? I didn't feel any difference from the radium MCB brace. Maybe I didn't wind the bolt out far enough?

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

really eh? I didn't feel any difference from the radium MCB brace. Maybe I didn't wind the bolt out far enough?

I have the green bolt extended out to just where it is physically touching the master cylinder. It didn't come with instructions, but I'd assume the adjustment is up to preference. For me, there is virtually zero dead space on my brake pedal now and I like this feeling, and that's without stainless steel lines. I have Motul600 brake fluid, and Red Stuff brake pads but those might be irrelevant to this mod as the slop existed with those installed, and disappeared after the MCB brace was put on.