T(h)or's GT86 hammer (Europe) - essential track setup
 

Here is my inferno orange GT86. Mod list below, but first some pics: :)

Most recent picture from Zolder circuit in May 2016 (now 2018, I have a ton more pictures, but the car looks the same):

https://s11.postimage.org/y3gr01ag3/DSC6020.jpg

March 2016, after coilover install:

http://s15.postimage.org/6m7wlyx8r/Untitled_1.jpg

From January 2016, stock except for the wheels which are OZ Ultraleggera 18x8 ET43, with 225x40R18 Pirelli P Zero Nero GT. The ET43 is specially made for the GT86 and only available through Toyota Europe:

http://s18.postimage.org/cwubttf89/title.jpg

http://s13.postimage.org/sj4ghvrg7/IMG_3672.jpg

In Europe, the GT86 used to correspond pretty much to the BRZ Limited edition in equipment, like keyless, Xenon, fog light etc. (nowadays there is a "GT86 pure", FR-S equivalent as well). My car is from 2013 and I had it for a little over a year now. Mine also has Alcantara, armrest, and a JBL audio package.

Mod list and mod philosophy:

I have 3 rules for my mods:

1) No stock part is exchanged for an inferior aftermarket part (e.g. to enhance looks).
2) Performance has priority over looks (see above).
3) I don't install stuff that doesn't serve a purpose (e.g. fake stuff for looks, diffusers that don't do anything etc.).

I can live with the rear wing that used to come as standard because it's better than holes in the trunk. ;) Some of the choices are made for street legality reasons. Like SPC control arms, they'll pass for stock, wheels and suspension need approval etc.

Anyway here goes (updated Juny 2018):

Wheels:
- OZ Ultraleggera 18x8 ET43
- 225x40R18 Yokohama AD08R
- Muteki SR35 Closed-Ended Lug Nuts

Suspension:
- Pedders SportRyder Supercar coilovers (rebound/compression adjustable with camber mounts)
- Suspension Technologies anti-sway bars
- Whiteline adjustable end links
- SPC adjustable lower control arms (rear)
- Whiteline Positive Traction kit
(Alignment specs: Camber -3 front, -2 rear. Slight toe-out front, Slight toe-in rear).

Brakes:
- GrimmSpeed Master Cylinder Brace
- Stainless steel brake lines.
- Castrol React SRF brake fluid
- CarboTech XP10 front/rear
- Porsche 964 brake cooling spoilers

Misc:
- Schroth Rallye 3 ASM harness
- Grimspeed Hood Damper kit
- Perrin Shorty (4inch) antenna

Engine:
- Gruppe-S header / overpipe
- Milltek Exhaust (stock frontpipe)
- Setrab 13 row Oil cooler
- K&N air filter
- RacerX catch can
- Selfmade Ecutek ECU tune

Wish list
- AP Racing Essex Sprint big brake Kit
- Lightened flywheel
- TrackSpec hood louvers

Looking good!:thumbsup: Wondering where my fellow European orders parts from, or you ship them from US?

I like your rules, and seems like it will be a great build :)

Thanks you :)

Sorry P3tras, I didn't find any real good places in Europe either. It's sad. Except for the coilovers and wheels, everything is shipped from the US.

Nice one, i wasn't a fan of the ultraleggeras until quite recently...

Regarding @P3tras comment, i get my stuff mostly from UK or Japan.

Picked up some Porsche 964 brake spoilers:

http://s24.postimage.org/l8zo6bffl/IMG_3911.jpghttp://s24.postimage.org/55n76idwh/IMG_3913.jpghttp://s16.postimage.org/r72gjh0n5/IMG_3912.jpg
(Part no: 96434108301 und 96434108401)

Thanks to @fstlane for his post over here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=80

I got some other stuff as well, so I'm running out of excuses not getting my coilovers installed:

http://s17.postimage.org/qyxoxqgh7/IMG_3910.jpg

I'm about to order the brake cooling spoilers as well along with some other stuff. Any specific reason you went with 964 and not 997 parts?

From the pictures in the fstlane's posts, it seems to me the 964 sticks out slightly more in the free airflow below the car. Also I like that they have a smooth surface, that won't interrupt the airflow. The 997 seems to be made to click on the 997 control arm, since that does work with the Toyobaru arm, the install looks kind of messy to me.

Check out how clean the 964 install looks in comparison: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...3&postcount=78
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=80

http://s21.postimage.org/8cikzeruv/2...52_resized.jpg

Vs.

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psvyuvamnr.jpg

Have you installed the suspension? Impressions?

No my work had me away from home for the last weeks. My plan is actually to get it installed over the next weekend (fingers crossed).

I had the time! :)

http://s15.postimage.org/6m7wlyx8r/Untitled_1.jpg

Beautiful man

Thanks! A few pictures from the installation:

http://s28.postimage.org/3k04f95il/IMG_4094.jpg

The front stock swaybar endlinks had rusted together. Even though the car was never driven in winter conditions and even rarely when it rains. Fortunately I had Whiteline replacements ready.

http://s30.postimage.org/f9y4712pd/IMG_4097.jpg

Here are the rears:

http://s13.postimage.org/jqgnfe3yf/IMG_4090.jpg

http://s14.postimage.org/6by6v1u6p/IMG_4086.jpg

Looking good, can't wait to hear your (first) impressions!

I only drove it a small peaceful test drive so far.

No weird noises, no VSC light and it drive straight like on rails. So I guess I got lucky and didn't mess up the alignment left/right that much (or equally much both sides if you will).

Compared to stock, of course you feel the bumps in the road more.

But as a test I drove over a cobblestone pawed road near where I live. It was previously a jawbreaking experience, where the whole car was bouncing about. With the XTA in the middle rebound setting (I have it at 9 of 16 clicks towards soft), it feels a lot more comfortable! You still feel the wheels hit every stone, but it feels like it's the wheels being bounced around and the car is steadier.

With the stock shocks absorbers it felt like the shocks couldn't keep up, and would get "out of sync" and each subsequent stone would make the suspension travel exponentially bigger, with the result of throwing the car around.

Best way to describe the XTA, is that it feels like the shocks are working faster than the stock ones and thus keeping up with each stone and making a uniform minimum required travel for each stone.

As for performance it has less body roll as expected. I didn't push it in anyway though. And the of course I need an alignment. I think I gained a lot of toe out in the front, the steering feels a lot lighter.

(The test road: )
http://s30.postimage.org/lf4k8r9v5/S...g_Pflaster.jpg

I got the rear anti swaybar, together with Whiteline endlinks, installed today. It's a 2 way adjustable ST (exactly the same as KW, just grey instead of yellow). It's set at it's soft setting.

http://s22.postimage.org/bsioj3nld/IMG_4133.jpg

The install could be better as the endlinks shouldn't have been mounted centered in the lower control arm (it's adjustable). Next up is changing the control arm to camber adjustable SPC, however I need to take the car to a mandatory inspection and I'm not sure they will approve of the SPC arms. Hence they will be installed afterward and I'll correct the endlink position at the same time.

Since it held up to being babied yesterday, I took the car for a thrashing on a small back road. :) They swaybar install didn't make any noises despite the endlinks sitting at an angle. Despite my still lacking alignment, the car handles surprisingly well, definitely flatter in the curves and it felt there was reserves to levels where I didn't want to go. :D

I am satisfied so far... More to come.

Front anti swaybar installed. I forgot to take pictures, but I can chop one more thing off the todo list.

Brake cooling!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEhu1Oae8To"]Brake cooling![/ame]

Schroth Rallye 3 ASM harness installed:

http://s23.postimage.org/cr8u0is2z/IMG_4235.jpg

I've chosen the to use the isofix mounting for the rear strap. I know it might not have the same strength as the official seatbelt mounts. But I feel confident it is sufficient. I have from reliable source (seatbelt manufacturer, whose name I wont mention for legal reasons), that todays requirement for official mounts are way overkill. Or rather, the required strength of seatbelt mounts far surpasses anything the human body can withstand. In other words, if you crash hard enough to break the isofix mount, you are with all likelihood dead in any case.

P.s.
Original first post in the thread updated.

Trackday at Zolder in Belgium booked for the 4th of May. :D

Installed the Carbone Lorraine RC5+ pads. WOW what a difference!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJHIADVz9yM"]Brake burnish attempt[/ame]

When overlaying the videos, I found the look of the audio interesting. You can visually see them getting more quiet (top audio outside camera).

http://s31.postimage.org/pnkc9scbf/S...t_22_03_46.png

I probably should have done a few more stops but I ran out of suitable road. Also it would probably be more effective to do the stops from a higher speed.

Where did you buy them ? The retailer I got the 997 spoilers from (for 7€ each) lists the 964 ones at 50€.

I paid 45€ for a used pair on ebay.

The are made from a semisoft rubberlike plastic and are quite thick in the material. The 997 spoiler looks like flimsy plastic compared as far as I can tell from pictures.

CL says to do just a couple of stops and you're good to go, but i think they get better with a bit more time, i've done 3 trackdays with them so far, the first time i wasn't so impressed...but since the 2nd one they are working just as i expected, pretty happy with them.

Huh, that Porsche Brake Cooling is neat!

I didn't find any instructions but I didn't look either. With a few stops only, I guess they barely get seated to the worn discs?

I looked at the discs in daylight yesterday and they have a nice greyish surface from pad material transfer. So I think I will leave it as it is for now.


Next up is alignment tomorrow. The car drives terrible after I installed LCAs, it must have messed up the toe in the rear badly. I'm taking it to a regular alignment shop. I went there yesterday and talked with the guy who will be doing the job. To everything I said he said "no problem", "we only do it accurately here", "we will adjust anything that can be adjusted" and "it takes an hour tops". :lol:

I hope I won't regret not taking it to a performance (race oriented) alignment shop. My thinking though, is that I won't spend too much money on an alignment before I know what I want dialled in. Also, since I already know what I want set I don't need expertise advice on the setup (yet), just someone who is proficient in swinging the wrenches.

My goal is -2.5 front and -1.8 rear with 0 toe all round. With this I will do the trackday on the 4th of May and there after see if I want something changed (maybe try to get some tire temperature data and base it on that). There after I can see what problems I may have, and then seek (and pay) for expert advice.

So I got my alignment done this morning. It took the guy 38 mins, including getting it on and off the rack, that really surprised me. And he did indeed keep his word to do it accurately. :respekt:

Cost 59 eurodollars compared to taking it to a race shop here where they charge 300-500€. Granted, it will including corner balance and damper setup. I'll live without the corner balance and my dampers are 1-way, so I'll mess with that myself.

Alignments reports are not that colourful in Germany: :D

http://s31.postimage.org/yeqxkkugr/F...e_Render_2.jpg

Translated to English and converted from deg/min to decimal and mm to inch:
The before values I find quite interesting, because they confirm what I assumed from the beginning:

1) The car gained toe out in the front from being lowered. It was also pretty even in the front as I assumed. In the rear I assume the toe remained relatively unchanged (regret not having it measured) on stock control arms - the car drove great before installing the SPC arms!

2) After I installed the SPC LCAs (and I think reducing the camber), the car drove absolutely terrible. Again as I assumed, it had gained a lot of toe out from standing the wheels back up. Most was almost a 1/4" toe out on the rear righthand side! :eyebulge:

Another interesting fact:
The top mount slipped to max negative camber during adjustment. It maxed out at -3.5 deg (-3 30'). :D
Also it had a negligible effect on toe, so it I want I can play around with that when taking it to the track.

I will drive it for a while with the new alignment, but I think I already miss the toe out in the front.

I had my first track day:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9qqv2lZb-o"]ST XTA coilovers for the GT86/FR-S/BRZ - track day[/ame]


I can now say for sure the 6 kg/mm front, 5 kg/mm rear springs are not an issue. I this the 2 axles should be viewed more independently.

The front is very planted and is very roll resistant with the higher spring rate. It has a firm grip in the corners and I didn't remember having understeer at any point at all! The stock understeer at speed is completely gone as well. As an example, I come into the first 3rd gear lefthand curve (Earste) slight fast at approx. 10:55 into the video and have to counter steer a bit.

The softer rear has very good traction and but is still slightly tail happy. It actually caught me by surprise on the very first lap, that it was possible to get the tail to step out in 2nd gear by applying power. :D

With this setup I would say the car is neutral biased towards oversteer. :party0030:

Next up:
- I really need an oil cooler. Oil temperature was around 130 C degs / 265 F.
- I really need to change to Castrol SRF brake fluid, the brakes got mushy after 4-5 laps.
- I really need proper track tires.

Glad to see the suspension set up is working nicely, might have to copy you for the next year.

I just installed the Forester XT oil cooler, will see how it does. First impressions of 'heavy street driving' is that it definitely keeps temps cooler (couldn't get over 116c driving on windy roads in 3rd at 6.5-7k) and when you ease off, the temps drop ALOT faster than before. I used to back off when temps hit like 127-128 at the track, hope I won't have to anymore. What engine oil are you using?

I considered the Forester oil cooler, but in the end I found it too expensive compared to the effect. From what I researched your 116 C sounds about right, I think they say 120 C on track. While it might be fine for the engine, the oil will deteriorate faster at that temperature, requiring it to be changed more often.

I already ordered a Setrab 13 row cooler, as a kit from HEL Performance for 340€ incl. shipping, from their ebay shop. I expect the temperature to stay below 110 C with that. Unfortunately they were too slow to deliver it in time for the track day. I spent a lot of laps cooling down (for brake fluid to cool too).

I am running Liqui Moly Special Tec AA 0W-20. And I will be sticking to 0W-20 as prescribed.

So I finally got around to playing with the dampers. Until now I've left them at the recommended 9/16 clicks towards soft like recommended by KW (including at the track day at Zolder). As I was to find out, I've been lapping there in Cadillac mode! :bonk:

Anyway I started out changing them to 7, I didn't expect much of a change with only 2 clicks, but boy I was wrong!

Much firmer and better contact with the road! I then went down to 5, once again an equally surprisingly big change - that setting was really really hard for my taste and the backroads here. When I was done messing around I dialled them back to comfortable 9 clicks, that's plenty hard for spirited driving on the road. Especially where I live, though mostly good quality, it's a very hilly landscape and hence, uneven roads (think Nürburgring).

I am by far an expert, but from logical deduction seeing such big change on only a few clicks suggest to my that the valving is actually working well in the dampers. Which again logically must suggest that the valving is good quality.

Speaking of Nürburgring I will go to the Grand Prix circuit on Wednesday. I'll try the dampers in a harder setting of 7 or 6. Also at Zolder I was too busy driving to really think about tire pressure. I only set it before going on the track to 2.1 Bar (30 PSI) cold and only did one check after the first 3 rounds. At that point the pressure was 2.4-2.5 (34-36 PSI). But those were my first 3 rounds and I went a lot faster later on in the 3 sessions, so I suspect I ran far too high tire pressure, which would probably explain why the car was fairly loose.

So besides getting some more laps under the belt, the goal will be to try out the dampers at harder setting and watch out more for the tire pressures and temperatures.

To sum up Zolder: Too soft dampers, to high tire pressure, pretty lousy street tires and short shifting to keep the engine temps down, I still managed to do laps in approx 2:08 according to my video. Fast GT86/BRZ guys on UHP/Semis laps in just below 2 mins. So I definitely think I hit at good starting point to work from, especially when I change tires at some point. I can't really decide what to do with that - either new tires for my 18" wheels, or get some dedicated 17" wheels/tires? Of course thats a financial consideration too.

I am so thrilled with this overall setup! Not just the coilovers, but the combination with the swaybars, brakes etc. :happyanim:

It was a hectic day... Starting out with this:

http://s32.postimage.org/fp9rew891/IMG_4522.jpg

Oil cooler installed:

http://s32.postimage.org/4lazhy405/IMG_4516.jpg

I went with nylon hoses on purpose (stainless steel was the same price), for ease of install and more flexibility on routing:

http://s32.postimage.org/y3iwwr5qd/IMG_4523.jpg

Putting it all back together in a hurry and meeting up with GT86 friends at the Nürburg Grand Prix Circuit:

http://s32.postimage.org/3n9bnmsp1/IMG_4549.jpg

I didn't have time to connect the cooler to the engine yet. I wanna do that in peace and quiet to make sure it's leak free before putting load on it.

I only ran 4 laps and was struggling with figuring out lines, brake points and the right gears, all while constantly looking in the mirrors for Porsches, Lotus' etc. To top it off I had an electronic "beep-beep" sound every time I was breaking! I was wondering WTF it was! Only to find out afterwards it was my IR/Laser thermometer in the tool bag I had in the rear seat. :clap: It was pretty distracting as I was certain it was the car making the noise while I was driving, the beeps were similar those the car makes.

Another lesson: I really didn't study the track enough before going. At some point I wasn't sure if the next turn was left or right (so I'm not going to upload a boring video of me taking 3 mins to lap around leisurely not knowing when to brake or turn).

Not that any of the above matters, I enjoyed it anyway on a turn by turn basis. And it was enough that I could tell that running at 6 click in the front and 7 in the rear (vs. 9/9 on Zolder) seemed like a massive improvement. The car felt more stabile in high speed curves and I got it to slide over all 4 wheels while putting power down mid-turn, so I am guessing the oversteer was caused by the rear being under-damped set at 9.

I went with the same 2.1 bar cold tire pressure as on Zolder to only change one thing at a time. I managed to get some tire temperature readings afterward. On all 4 wheels the inner and middle section is 10 C degs hotter than the outside. As far as I can conclude that would indicate the pressure is too high (as already presumed). Next time I'm going to go directly to 1.9 cold and see if I can get more heat on the outside and less in the middle.

"Great success". :thumbup:

http://s32.postimage.org/b0sdxl491/IMG_4539.jpg

Afterward eating some grilled food with even more GT86 friends. Finishing off the great day by going through the pitch black woods working my way out of the forrest of Eiffel back to civilisation.

#FantasticDay :thumbup:

How are your pads holding up? I bought a set of RC6's for track only. I had Carbotech XP8's last year and after the second trackday they were totally worn out (should last 6+ trackdays from what I read), mainly because I engaged ABS way too much (with stock Michelins). Hoping it won't be a problem with the Advan AD08's.

Great build! Excellent list of track mods. Really digging the 964 brake ducts. Ive been googling around and having a hard time finding them. 993 ducts seem much more plentiful and cheaper. Im thinking maybe modding the 993 for better flow along the middle but the 964 looks to move more volume of air. Definitely going to do something similar to my car.

I didn't look at the pads yet.

Yesterday wasn't a real trackday. They open the track for the public and anyone can drive there for a fee and you get 15 mins time on the track. I only drove once - with getting in and out it's 5 laps. I mainly just wanted to feel the difference the damper setting made and I think that was enough.

I bought tickets for 9 stints but I didn't want to use more of them, until I have studied the track better at home. I watched so much video from Zolder, that from the first lap each corner felt like I'd driven it before. Next time at Nürburgring GP circuit I would like to focus more on the driving and I felt I needed to be better prepared. Driving that one stint will definitely help, because I can watch my own video.

At Zolder I drove 40 laps, and that's a very brake intensive track. It has lot of braking from 170 kmh down 80 kmh, with no cooling in between. I didn't check what they looked like afterwards.

Thanks Whooosah. I got lucky and found a used pair on eBay. I think (guess) they are better that 993, because they have a smooth surface and the really scoop the air onto the brakes. At Zolder I had excellent braking capability with the RC5+ pads, and even when the brakes heated up und the pedal go mushy they kept braking just as well. I hope the mushiness will go away once I get changed to Castrol SRF fluid. It will be done next week when I get stainless steel brake lines installed.

For the brake spoilers, there is also the 996 GT2 route. I am not sure it will fit and it's quite pricier ($150 per side)... But damn it looks effective:

http://rennlist.com/forums/upload/duct1.jpg

Parts:
996-341-117-90
996-341-118-90

I finished the oil cooler installation. Damn what a PITA!

I wish I had ordered a kit from a reputable dealer (Perrin and RacerX are my favourites). But they are not options here in Europe. To the European readers, I want to warn against HEL Performance. They advertised a Setrab cooler and delivered a cheap Chinese copy. Granted the kit was cheap, but that no excuse for delivering something different than what you claim to sell. I would expect that if I bought from some China-ebay-store, but not from a UK based company.

Also I ordered AN10 hose and fittings, but the cooler itself is AN8 and they just sent two AN8 to AN10 adapters along. That kind of takes the point of the rest being AN10 away.

I should have returned it all, but I need an oil cooler NOW. The AN10 fittings and sandwich plate didn't fit behind the air box without interfering with the oil cap. So I had to do grind some material off of the sandwich plate and the stock plastic oil cap. My pretty Grimmspeed red anodised oil cap doesn't fit anymore (it was the only "bling" I had on the car :brokenheart: ). Maybe I will change out some of the components down the line...

http://s32.postimage.org/nngss3yt1/IMG_4566.jpg

http://s32.postimage.org/jrhpkpywl/IMG_4571.jpg

http://s32.postimage.org/dxdkb5bsl/IMG_4579.jpg

The oil cooler is doing it's job though. It's pretty cold here at the moment (10 degs C / 50 F), and the oil got 75-80 (167-176 F) after normal warmup. After wringing it out I only got up to 93 deg C (200 F).

I booked an hour on Zolder again next wednesday, can't wait to see what temps I will see there.

Back at Zolder for a very short 40 min session of the last 1 hour stint. I was too late due to previous appointment that had taken longer than expected and having to take a huge detour after missing an off ramp. To top it off it was raining the whole drive going there. I was just about to give up and turn back home.

At Zolder it hadn't been raining all day, but of course stated as I arrived. I silenced the voices in my head saying, "it's a sign, don't drive today etc." and went out and had a great time.

The track was only damp, but enough that the difference in traction was noticeable. So I left ESP on and it didn't bother me too much, probably because I was way slow. :D

For the first time I felt the understeer under power, especially in the chicanes. So I switched to trail braking instead and it seemed to put more grip on the front wheels to make it go away. ...or it could be me just going being slower.

In any case it was fun to try out some different techniques. I also experimented with left foot braking in the short stretch between turn 1 and 2 where I don't have to change gears. That worked out great too.

So I got a lot of take-aways from the short session, and was happy that I hadn't turned back home. And I even kind of look forward to a proper wet session now.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cONPG8-yUbw[/ame]

I have 3 coats of Rain X on the windscreen, so that's why I only use the wipers in the pit lane.

The oil cooler worked great too, highest temperature was 112 deg C (233 F).

HEL had a recall on their brake lines too, so their customers can have an oil fire and brake failure all at once just to make their brief lives extra interesting before securely planting the fiery inferno in the wall.

lol

I forgot to update on that... After leaving negative feedback on their ebay-store they owned up and sent me a genuine Setrab cooler.

http://s32.postimage.org/iejaunnyt/IMG_4610.jpg

So I'll revise my warning to a caution. Keep an eye out on what is actually delivered!

With the Setrab cooler the kit is actually a great deal. 340€$ is unbeatable. The sandwich plate is mocal and the fittings and hose is good quality. So I have no complaints now.

The china-cooler is actually the one that's installed at the moment and it's working too. I'll switch it out later on, probably at next oil change.