2017 Toyota 86 MT Street Build

[Borchert97]

So I picked up this gorgeous 2017 Toyota 86 in Oceanic, properly known as Lapis Blue by Subaru, about two months ago, and since it's my daily driver I can't afford to make the build too unreliable or extreme at this point in time, although my dream goal is to get it turbocharged and push 300whp, right now I'm mostly doing safety, aesthetic, and mild performance mods.

Mods:

Performance:

-TRD Performance Dual Exhaust
-Works Drop-In Hi-Flow Air Filter
-Perrin Intake Inlet Hose

Interior:

-Subaru OEM Auto-Dimming Mirror w/ Compass
-Subaru OEM Blue Footwell Lighting

Exterior:

-TRD License Plate Frame
-Carbon Reproductions 2017 OE Style Spoiler
-Rexpeed Wide Side Mirrors

On The Way!:

-TRD Carbon Fiber Strut Tower Brace
-Rexpeed Carbon Hood Damper Kit

Planned:

-K&N Drop-In Air Filter
-Helix Smoked Side Markers
-OLM Amber LED Bulbs
-OLM LED Interior Dome Light Black Series
-Rexpeed Carbon Fiber Door Handles
-Rexpeed Carbon Fiber Shifter Trim
-RSP TRD Lumbar Support Pillow
-TRD Quickshifter
-TRD Sway Bar Kit
-TRD Brake Pads
-TRD Oil Filler Cap
-TRD Radiator Cap
-TRD Fuel Cap Cover
-TRD Door Sills
TSW Nurburgring 17x8 Forged Matte Gunmetal Wheels
-Michelin Pilot Super Sports 225/45ZR17
-Eibach Pro-Street Coilover Kit
-Tomei Expreme UEL Header
-Drift Office Dyno Tune
-Raceseng Cam Plate
-Driveshaft Shop Carbon Fiber Driveshaft
-Sony XAV-AX200SXM
-OEM Audio Plus 450Q

I drove 90 minutes north of home to Bellingham to get this car, as it was the cheapest blue manual in the state.







I work at a Subaru dealership and because of that the most common question I get is why I didn't go with the BRZ, the answer is relatively simple:

1. I'm a big Toyota/TRD fan.
2. I much prefer the aggressive, mean lines of the 86 bumper vs. the happy passive lines of the BRZ.
3. The BRZ's contain a hexagonal headunit, and while both cars come with total garbage excuses for a headunit, at least the 86 is of a design that's easily replaceable.
4. Toyota was offering $1000 rebates on the car to move them off the lots, Subaru doesn't do rebates (although my employee discount would've easily matched this).

The ONLY reason I'm not 100% satisfied with my choice is that I'd love the performance pack off the BRZ, but seeing as I'd have to spend the extra money for the Limited that comes with all the (in my opinion) unnecessary goodie goodies, I chose to pass on paying $4-5k more for a $1200 package, I much prefer the turnkey ignition, the extra space where the push button would otherwise be, among a few other things, of course, as you'll see with my mods, I ended up spending quite a bit of money on things that the BRZ would've came with stock.

Mods Break Down:

-Carbon Reproductions 2017 OE Style Spoiler (TRD License Plate Frames)

I absolutely love the look of the 2017 low profile pedestal wing, and I had to have it on my car, besides, the rear of these cars just looks bare without a spoiler of some sort. The extra carbon fiber touch that doesn't come on any 86 or BRZ is also unique enough that I don't simply have "every BRZ's wing". The wing really pops in the sun too, I think it looks amazing. You can also see my TRD plate frames in this shot, I'm definitely doing a lot of TRD parts later on.



-Subaru OEM Auto-Dimming Mirror w/ Compass

I'm quite the night owl, and so doing 80-90% of my driving at night, glare from the headlights of other cars was getting REALLY annoying, so I had to upgrade my mirrors all around. The first thing I did was go to the parts department of my dealership and get the employee discounts on Subaru's Auto-Dimming Mirror w/ Compass (no Homelink, that mirror is like double in price), and Subaru's blue footwell lighting, we had a World Rally Blue BRZ Limited w/ Performance Pack that had both of these options on it, which is why I mentioned I'd been spending quite a bit on things that come on BRZ's. Anyways, the install was super easy, I borrowed some tools from a technician I'm friends with on lunch break and got it done in about 30 minutes, the hardest part was taking the headliner down to get to the correct harness, plug in the extension, and throw it towards the middle of the car (the passenger side of the headliner had to come down for me to find it), then get everything hooked up from behind the dome light. So instead of a flappy tab manual dimming mirror, my 86 now has this:



-Subaru OEM Blue Footwell Lighting

This was another piece I got at a discount (around $130 after taxes compared to the $150+ you can find it for online) from my dealership. This install took a little over two hours, the headunit has to come out, there's a harness right behind the hazard lights switch that has to come out, and you reconnect a new piece between that harness and the hazard switch that has two pieces branching out, each one needs to be routed to the corresponding footwells. Then you have to tie down some wires and line up the bulbs so that they're pretty centered, I almost ran into trouble centering them, one side was pretty tight because I had tied some wires down by the main harness before lining the bulbs up, make sure you give yourself enough slack to center the bulbs, or be smarter than me and tie wires down last. Here's the finished product.





The lighting is awesome to be honest, it's not too bright that it annoys you and it's not too dim that it feels like it isn't there, although it's worth noting that the footwell lights do get hooked up to the dimmer switch for the gauges, so you can dim it down pretty low, but at max dim, which is where I keep it in my car, the lights look really nice, all my passengers have loved them.

-Rexpeed Side Mirrors

These were obviously to complete my anti-glare mirror package, the rearview mirror was done OEM, but for the side mirrors I got the wide, polarized side mirrors Rexpeed offers, I have nothing but praise for these mirrors, the view is so much wider, not just left-right, but up-down too, at first it is a little weird though, after driving the car with the stock mirrors for a couple months, when I go to check my mirrors, I see things way different than how I got used to seeing them, I also had the right side mirror loose for a couple days, I apparently didn't snap it in all the way because when I did go to press on it, I did hear one more satisfying snap, so make sure your mirrors are snapped in all the way, if they move around on their own, that's how you know they aren't.

Before:



After:

[Clipdat]

That 2017 spoiler in CF is so cool. I wasn't brave enough to get one and drill my trunk.

[tawheed]

Are the TRD frames actual TRD parts? If so, do you happen to have part #?

[ajaxthebetter]

I almost drove all the way up to Bellingham to get mine a couple years ago. Ended up buying from Chaplin's....

To be honest, one of the things I really wish I had was a turnkey start. Just a small satisfaction but an important one I'm missing. But it is nice to toss the key in passenger seat and have nothing touch my knees.

New 86 bumper looks great. At first I disliked it, but with some low and nice fitting wheels, the car looks as aggressive as the bumper.

Great color choice. Shame they drilled for the license plate. I've not had a plate on since purchase--no problems yet.

[Ron B Avery]

Nice color, I have not seen an 86 in that color here is soCal.
Ron

[TylerLieberman]

Nice.

Oceanic is 100% the best color offered between the new 86 & BRZ. Love it!

[Borchert97]

Originally Posted by tawheed

Are the TRD frames actual TRD parts? If so, do you happen to have part #?

No, I don't think so. I got them on Amazon, but they feel like they're fairly high quality. It was this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WLJ6667/

I also got this to go with my car key, I think it looks pretty cool.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G527HI/

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter

I almost drove all the way up to Bellingham to get mine a couple years ago. Ended up buying from Chaplin's....

To be honest, one of the things I really wish I had was a turnkey start. Just a small satisfaction but an important one I'm missing. But it is nice to toss the key in passenger seat and have nothing touch my knees.

New 86 bumper looks great. At first I disliked it, but with some low and nice fitting wheels, the car looks as aggressive as the bumper.

Great color choice. Shame they drilled for the license plate. I've not had a plate on since purchase--no problems yet.

Yes, I was a bit bothered by that too, see at my Subaru dealership, we don't put a front plate on any WRX, STI, or BRZ until someone has bought the car and only if they ask for it. It's a shame not all dealerships can follow a similar pattern. When I got there, they had three 86's, all with the front plate on, as you can see here.



I suppose for some people, they'll like it that way because it covers up that awkward bump in the center, but honestly, when you see it in person, the 2017 bumper looks amazing.

[Borchert97]

So I ordered a couple intake mods, time to finally get some performance in this baby, I have the Works 2017 MT Drop-In Filter as well as the 2017 MT Perrin Intake Inlet Hose on the way, I get paid on the 5th so I'll order my TRD exhaust at some point then, I had already bought some plugs on Amazon for a couple bucks to plug the footwell but a buddy of mine who had a BRZ said his inlet hose came with a footwell plug, so we'll see if I get one, if not I have some nice black plastic ones that you can't even hardly tell are there, I already test fitted them, but until I get an exhaust I kinda want to have some intake cabin noise.

[Darth Khan]

Some nice options, keep up the good work.

Interested in the auto diming rear view mirror. Can you get me the part number?

Couple of questions about the fitting:

1. Does it fit the existing mirror mount attached to the windscreen?
2. Do you have to cut into existing wiring or was there an existing unused plug.
3. I'm worried about taking down the headliner and causing fitment issues when putting it back. Any pointers on taking down the liner would be appreciated.

[Borchert97]

Originally Posted by Darth Khan

Some nice options, keep up the good work.

Interested in the auto diming rear view mirror. Can you get me the part number?

Couple of questions about the fitting:

1. Does it fit the existing mirror mount attached to the windscreen?
2. Do you have to cut into existing wiring or was there an existing unused plug.
3. I'm worried about taking down the headliner and causing fitment issues when putting it back. Any pointers on taking down the liner would be appreciated.

Yes of course, the mirror part number is:

H501SVA000

There is an adaptor plate you will be required to use too if you're upgrading from the stock manual dimming mirror like I did, part number is:

H501SSA041

The install was honestly super easy, focus on taking down only the passenger side of the headliner, there is an unused harness that all twins come equipped with, and then only those badged as Subarus, at least for the USDM, ever make any use of it, it's somewhere on the right side and it has foam wrapped around it, what I did is I stood outside the passenger door with the door and window open, grabbed the harness, pulled it towards me so I could see if the harness extension fit, once I plugged the two together, I did my best to toss it towards the middle of the headliner so I could then grab the harness from above the dome light and then continue wiring my mirror.

It took me a lunch break at my dealership borrowing some basic tools from a tech. So 1 hour or less.

[jlimNW]

Nice ride! I just recently got a Oceanic 86 as well. I've just put the Perrin Intake hose in. Noticeably quieter cabin and (probably placebo) I feel like it has better throttle response.

[Borchert97]

Originally Posted by jlimNW

Nice ride! I just recently got a Oceanic 86 as well. I've just put the Perrin Intake hose in. Noticeably quieter cabin and (probably placebo) I feel like it has better throttle response.

Oh hey you're super close to me too!

Hopefully I'll see you on the roads one of these days, where did you get your car?

And that's nice to hear about the Intake Hose, did you get a drop-in to go with it? I had heard the two compliment each other nicely, so that's why I ordered both at the same time. Did your's come with a plug for the passenger footwell? If not I bought a box of like 10 on Amazon for a couple bucks.

[jlimNW]

Originally Posted by Borchert97

Oh hey you're super close to me too!

Hopefully I'll see you on the roads one of these days, where did you get your car?

And that's nice to hear about the Intake Hose, did you get a drop-in to go with it? I had heard the two compliment each other nicely, so that's why I ordered both at the same time. Did your's come with a plug for the passenger footwell? If not I bought a box of like 10 on Amazon for a couple bucks.

Yeah! Glad to see another NW 86 driver! I bought mine at Toyota of Bellevue by Bellevue College in the beginning of July or so.

I didn't get the drop in filter as I read the stock one is pretty good. I'll probably replace it eventually.

I'm not positive if it came with the plug. I had intended on removing the sound generator before I even thought of buying the intake hose so I already had a plug from Home Depot. I do recall seeing a small rubber piece included? I can find out once I get home since I'm pretty sure I kept everything.

[Borchert97]

Originally Posted by jlimNW

Yeah! Glad to see another NW 86 driver! I bought mine at Toyota of Bellevue by Bellevue College in the beginning of July or so.

I didn't get the drop in filter as I read the stock one is pretty good. I'll probably replace it eventually.

I'm not positive if it came with the plug. I had intended on removing the sound generator before I even thought of buying the intake hose so I already had a plug from Home Depot. I do recall seeing a small rubber piece included? I can find out once I get home since I'm pretty sure I kept everything.

Oh ok, I think you may be mistaken on the filter, what I've read is that the stock airbox is phenomenal but that the stock air filter is absolute garbage, in any case, I felt like a reusable Works filter was a good idea, but yeah maybe you misread about the filter vs. airbox? Who knows?

And yeah let me know if you find a plug of some sort, and Toyota of Bellevue is nice, I have a buddy who works there. They have/had a blue one fully kitted out with all the TRD goodies except they put some generic Focal wheels on it, if it had the stock wheels or TRD wheels, I would've gotten it, it'd have saved me the hassle of getting the TRD shifter, exhaust, and sway bars myself, and I would've had no front plate, and been sitting on TRD springs until I get around to coilovers.

By the way, they didn't just change out for generic Focal wheels for show, I saw that they actually used the stock 2017 wheels and put them on some used FR-S since we all know those cars had shitty looking wheels.