Hide's Pearl White GT86

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I've had the car for around 1.5 years now. Time goes so quickly! I've been taking pictures along the way documenting most of the changes made. I'm trying to improve on certain aspects of the car. OEM+ if you will.

Insurance for young drivers in the UK is really expensive - particularly on a rear wheel drive cars. The GT86 was one of the few cars that ticked both boxes in terms of what I wanted & what I could insure.

I loved the car in standard form but after around 6 months the itch begun. It started with some small cosmetic mods and hasn't gone too much further yet to be honest. The manifold & catback seems worth it to me whilst there is still 4 years of warranty to go. FI is planned 2-3 years down the line should I keep the car that long. Saying that I do love the car and don't see myself getting rid of it any time soon!

Exterior

Valenti Taillights
Valenti Rear Fog Light
BRZ Fender Trim
TRD Rear Ducktail

Engine

Borla UEL Manifold
Milltek Overpipe
Ordered - Berk HFC
Milltek Resonated Catback
Ecutek map by Fensport

Suspension/Wheels/Tires

Tein Luxury Master springs (approx 25mm drop)
XXR 550 18x8.75 +33 Chromium Black
Contisportcontact 5 225/45/18
Ordering soon - Rays ZE40 17x8 +48

Current setup:





First days:







First wash!



Installed the TRD wing:



Had to sneak a pic with a relative's R8:



Got hit by another driver on the way to work. This one sucked because it bent a small part of the aluminium panel. Fortunately it was a fairly cheap repair:



Another unlucky turn. My new Valenti's came with pretty small gaskets and I didn't pay enough attention when installing them:



Clean & waiting for new wheels to arrive:





My first track day, courtesy of Toyota. Oulton Park, UK. Annoying I don't have any pics on track:



Had fun cleaning this off after the drive home:



Car limits day with Andrew Walsh. Highly recommended!



Off to Fensport to have the Borla UEL & springs fitted, as well as a remap:









Went more locally to Amber Performance to have the Milltek catback fitted:





Excuse the poor parking!! It didn't look so bad until the guy on my right left...



As she currently stands:

[Agent 86]

Looks good, and welcome!

Do you have seat covers installed? I've never seen a seat like that?

Are you sure that your Valenti leak was caused by the gasket? I ask because my right side Valenti took on water like yours. I replaced the gasket. I replaced it again with a larger gasket. I covered all of the openings on the back of the tail light. I used silicon sealant on the body around all the openings. After each of these fixes, water still go in.

After 5 or 6 attempts to stop the leak, when I was finally totally frustrated and ready to give up, I rotated the tail light assembly with water inside. I allowed the water to circulate around the circumference of the tail light until I discovered water was actually entering between the black assembly backing and the red outer lens. There were actually 2 entry points. I was trying to solve a problem that did not exist by making new gaskets.

It's possible the gasket is the problem with yours, but maybe not.