Advice before purchasing heavily modified 86
 

Hi guys,

New member here. I'm looking at purchasing an 86/BRZ in Australia and am looking for some advice about a potential car I've seen for sale.*

Its a highly modified 2013 86 GT, with 76,000 km.

The owner has dropped a lot of coin on the car, which is why it appeals to me over purchasing a stock 2nd hand or new one. The asking price is about $3,000 more than a stock 2017 86 GT.

The car will be my daily driver, but I love the looks of it and the fact that it has lots of extra power, I just really don't want to "buy someone else's headache" and get stuck with continued repair bills for one thing or another breaking for the life of my ownership.

The performance mods that may be of concern to me are roughly as follows:

- DTM wheels
- hancook RS3 tyres
- light weight p2 red pulley kit upgrade.
- raceseng oil cap/cover kit
- raceseng oil plate*
- BC blue adjustable coil overs
- zentronic e85 eflex converter
- zentronoc e85 interior display guage.
-upgraded mishimotor radiator
- extra heavy duty stage 2 race clutch
- blouch turbo kit
- adjustable sway bars and tail arms.
- full invidia N1 exhaust.
- perrin overpipe
- cat delete pipe comes with car not installed.
-catch can
- fuel pump
- 900cc injectors
- full Engineer certificate

Some red flags for me that I would like reassurance about..

- "So i have snapped in total of 2 axels, they snap when the car is under load and you hit a pump, one wheel lifts and touches the ground and all pressure goes to the axel, being very powerful causes it to snap. In saying that, ive only ever snapped axels when the car was very low, ive now had it raised to 140mm (over legal height) so that issue does not happen again) I have not had any issues since then and i don't expect to as the weight distribution is so much better than having camber. ". My research has indicated this is correct and that raising the ride height nearer to stock prevents axles snapping in most situations.

- Turbo.* " With my tune these kits are rated for over 300kw, i did not dare go past 280kw i left mine for street use at 255kw atw so its at a very very safe tune while still being very quick, there is alot of room to go faster but i would reccomend doing the internals first because after 270kw kts a risky game. It is tuned for reliability, and something that won't harm the gear box. Alot of guys push for more power however its pointless. Its not worth ruining the internals for the sake of another 30+kw atw. In short, i wasnt a idiot, i had the tuner have it tuned for reliability and where no harm can be done to the engine from trying to push out too much. "

I've seen SC kits etc that advertise about 190kw at the wheels as being safe for the engine, is 255kw really safe for these engines or is it just waiting to grenade? I would potentially be fine with lowering boost if necessary to provide reliability.

- The car has a front tow hook fitted, although the owner insists the car has never been tracked. Is this something people do for aesthetics or is it generally only functional and indicates that the car has been tracked heavily?

- The owner said "The timing belt snapped twice recently due to smooth pulleys so I had those replaced recently with brand new ones that cost about $800 installed. If there have been any issues they have been fixed right away by PVS tuning as those guys are the best tuners in the Sydney area for the 86/BRZ. "

This is a big flag for me potentially, is this a common occurrence with boosted engines? When the timing belt snaps, is there potential for it to damage engine internals? Slightly bent rods etc that are going to get worse? Is the fix for the belt snapping to replace the pulleys?

Thank you all so much in advance, I love the 86 and I love the way this one looks (I didn't list all the aesthetic mods) I just really don't want to purchase a lemon, and frankly I don't have enough money to be constantly replacing bits and pieces of the car as they break, over about $1500/year.* The odd problem from wear is fine though, just not whole assemblies.

Thanks
Insane

I'd want to scope those combustion chambers to see if the valves hit the pistons. Breaking timing chains is kind of a big deal. IMHO if you buy that with your heart and ignore your head you're going to break your wallet

Thanks mate.

I've been doing research and it doesn't even look like the car has timing belts as he has said, it instead has a chain. It's pretty unlikely to be snapping timing chains and repairing with a smooth pulley isn't it? Do you guys think he might be referring to the accessory belts??

There is no timing belt.

hmmmmm........note the bolded text ...... ;)


humfrz

I wouldn't touch any car that had been messed around with. Especially more expensive than stock.

Most likely.


humfrz

Why would you buy a 2013 for $3000 more than a stock 2017?
IMHO that's not a good financial decision unless you got $$$$$ burn. Just my 2 cents ;)

That would be a really bad decision to buy the car. When people mod like they they need to understand that they'll never get their money back and in fact make the car less valuable than stock.

I figured he got belt and chain mixed up which is a common mistake. Definitely make sure whether it was a serpentine belt (no big deal but make sure the pulleys are all good and straight) or a timing chain (really big deal).

Unless you can do a lot of the work yourself it'll get real expensive real quick. I don't know your mechanical skill level, but this will be a very high maintenance car either way.

Pretty much because he's pumped 30k into it, and it's now got the kind of performance I could never afford to give a 2017 86. Engineering here to make sure the turbo is all legal is about 5k by itself :/

Yeah.... don't buy an abused, high mileage car for more than a new stock one. That is a recipe for disaster financially, especially when the repair bills start stacking up and you already admit you can't afford to modify a car.

Walk away, let someone else discover the real abuse that car has taken.

I wouldn't buy it for $10k less than stock. The only reason to put performance mods into the car are if you are going to drive it hard.

Also in my opinion these cars aren't worth squat when modded. A guy I work with had to put the original rims and springs in his 86 in order to sell it because no-one was interested even with the minor mods. Ended up putting the original equipment back in and selling it for more.

This car's resale will plummet as a second owner on a high mileage, modded car. If a modded car is what you are after, buy a decent S15 or similar so you've got cash for repairs.