ichi's 86 Project

[ichitaka05]

Finally had a time to install hub centric rings. Enkei Raijin have 72.6mm OD, which is I guess rare. Had to do extra search, but found it!





Fit nicely and working perfect!

I've ordered few other things, which I'm hoping to receive soon. So stay tuned!

[ichitaka05]

I was gone for 2 wks in Japan to help people in Kumamoto Japan. While I was gone, guess what came in?

Big thanks to @AceHeader-MT for this awesome header.




Both header and over pipe are made nicely. It was packaged very tightly and no space for header & OP to move around to get dent or scratched.

Header:


Not sure you can see, but welding on this header is AMAZING! It's a top quality.


They made sure to flat the surface of the connecting area to make sure it doesn't leak. Of course that's a common thing, but you'll be amazed some header doesn't.

Here are more photos of the header








Over Pipe:
Of course, it goes same with OP. Without a doubt, they're top quality.




Bonus:
They sent me stickers and this pretty tag for keychain. It's pretty niffy swag, I just say...


What's next?
I'll be getting it ceramic coated. Where I live, it gets really hot! Not hot has Arizona or Texas... but hot enough to bake a cookie under the hood. I want to avoid overheating much as I can.

After get it coated, I'll be getting it installed and tuned. If you're wondering which tuning I'm going with, I'll be going with Ecu-Tek at the moment.

Hopefully, I can get some update next month.

[Clipdat]

Looking forward to seeing what it looks like after coating!

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Looking forward to seeing what it looks like after coating!

Me too! But I gonna be gone next week for business trip, so hopefully I can get it done after that trip.

[ichitaka05]

After several days of checking to see how it looks and so on. I'll write to you @wheelhaus 3rd brake light.

I wasn't a fan of stock 3rd brake lights, so I was looking into different 3rd brake lights. I had 2 choices.

INTEC


or Wheelhaus


Price itself is pretty close, so I went with Wheelhaus. Why? I like to support forum member, plus I had an option of carbon fiber or fiberglass. I didn't want "CARBON FIBER" looks, so I went with fiberglass, plus save a bit more. Weight between CF and FG is very small, I didn't really care.

What do you get?


What you get is 3rd brake light, wires, cloth thingy to cover the holes and paper instruction. Not too complicated and instruction explains it very well.

Quality

Quality is amazing. No offense, but I wasn't expecting much... but wow! part is made very well. Everything was top quality! To certain point, I'm very picky, so I went corner to corner to see some flaw on this brake light. I didn't see any flaw that I can say was flaw. Not even small nick or chip was on the brake light. I'll let the photo do the talk for the quality now.







Installation
As long as you follow the instruction, it's not hard. I was a bit scared of working around c-pillar due to airbag, but not too bad. Just take your time and don't force anything, you can install it within an hour.

Now here's an idea/upgrade. While lining up the 3rd brake light to make sure it's in the center... instruction say it'll have a mark where's the center. Sadly on the FG, it doesn't have it. Looks like it's only for CF ver. might be good idea to have that on the FG ver as well. It only took extra 30secs to measure the center and align it with rear glass, but it's nice idea to have.

Looks


Over all looks of 3rd brake light is very low profile. You can't see it from rear view mirror. From outside, you can't even see there's a roof brake light, until you hit the brake, as you can see from the pic below


Light itself lights up solid LED and looks pretty. 100x better looking than OEM for sure.


Now, this part is up to everyone, so take it as a grain of salt... but I wish brake light is little bit brighter. This issue is an issue for BOTH INTEC and wheelhaus. Night time feels weaker output than stock, in the day time, you can totally tell that it's weaker output than stock. I'm not asking for bright LED lights to blind the driver behind me, but a bit more brighter.

Overall
Price, is it worth it? Oh yes, it is. If you're interesting in getting one, check this thread for general info: Wheelhaus 3rd Brake Light or check here to get a group buy deal: Groupbuy Wheelhaus 3rd Brake Light

Pics
Here are more pics if you're interested.

[bhmax]

That third brake light looks great! I've gotten one from Wheelhaus also, but it might be a while before I have it installed because of work. I was hesitant because of it being too dim. Hopefully it'll be good enough. Aesthetically much better though. Will be interested to hear your feedback on the Ace header. Hoping to have one within the next few months.

[wheelhaus]

Looks great! Thanks for the honest review, glad to see you're happy with it!

A brighter LED strip can certainly be used, but it will only be the type that has individual LED chips, so it would look like a row of red dots. This is the only light bar I could source that has a diffuser for the solid appearance. I could manufacture something brighter myself, but then the price would be unreasonable.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

Looks great! Thanks for the honest review, glad to see you're happy with it!

A brighter LED strip can certainly be used, but it will only be the type that has individual LED chips, so it would look like a row of red dots. This is the only light bar I could source that has a diffuser for the solid appearance. I could manufacture something brighter myself, but then the price would be unreasonable.

So it'll look like INTEC style ones?


LED light bar looks better than dotted LED lights in a row. You wanna avoid unreasonable price ones... EVEN though it legit parts, if price doesn't compete with other competitors, it's hard to sell. If you can make in same price or +$0~+$25 for lil bit more brigher dotted LED, I can see myself upgrading it.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

LED light bar looks better than dotted LED lights in a row. You wanna avoid unreasonable price ones... EVEN though it legit parts, if price doesn't compete with other competitors, it's hard to sell. If you can make in same price or +$0~+$25 for lil bit more brigher dotted LED, I can see myself upgrading it.

That's exactly why I chose the light bar, its not super bright, but it's very good quality.

From what I've seen, the Intec uses bulb-type LEDs. I prefer SMD-type LEDs that look like chips on a circuit board. The effect is the same, being small bright dots, but the quality of light produced by SMD is better and brighter since SMD can have up to 3 diodes per LED (a.k.a. 3-chip LED) so they can appear much brighter. Bulb style only have one, and need a lens to direct the light to make it appear brighter on-center, but they look dim off-center (like a flashlight).

Here's a comparison I did, the first is the standard black aluminum LED light bar, second is with the diffuser removed exposing the bare LEDs, and third is an alternate strip with VERY bright LEDs. #3 is just a bare circuit board with exposed LEDs, so by itself it's less attractive than the light bar, but if the glass is tinted it would be nearly invisible. Note- the camera can't show how bright this light bar really is; it's BRIGHT!
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...2&postcount=87

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

That's exactly why I chose the light bar, its not super bright, but it's very good quality.

From what I've seen, the Intec uses bulb-type LEDs. I prefer SMD-type LEDs that look like chips on a circuit board. The effect is the same, being small bright dots, but the quality of light produced by SMD is better and brighter since SMD can have up to 3 diodes per LED (a.k.a. 3-chip LED) so they can appear much brighter. Bulb style only have one, and need a lens to direct the light to make it appear brighter on-center, but they look dim off-center (like a flashlight).

Here's a comparison I did, the first is the standard black aluminum LED light bar, second is with the diffuser removed exposing the bare LEDs, and third is an alternate strip with VERY bright LEDs. #3 is just a bare circuit board with exposed LEDs, so by itself it's less attractive than the light bar, but if the glass is tinted it would be nearly invisible. Note- the camera can't show how bright this light bar really is; it's BRIGHT!
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...2&postcount=87

Yeah... I've read that post before. Tbh I don't mind dotted brake light instead of light bar as long as it's decently bright and good quality. Maybe next update, make it lil bit longer and brighter ver? ...but don't get me wrong, current kit is a very good brake light kit and would recommend to anyone.

Just my 2yen

[Clipdat]

Is it DOT legal?

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Is it DOT legal?

My guess is no. I highly doubt he got it DOT approved. But I could be wrong

[Silver Cervy]

How's the ride been after you installed your enkei's? I've already lowered my car 1" and I've been looking at the Raijin too but I don't want to make my ride too harsh.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

How's the ride been after you installed your enkei's? I've already lowered my car 1" and I've been looking at the Raijin too but I don't want to make my ride too harsh.

I have RS-R Sport-i (Moto-Spec) in full soft with 225-40 tires, so ride itself isn't bad... but that doesn't mean you'll feel the same. If you have different coils or tires specs, you'll feel stiffer or softer ride.