Marko's 2013 Toyota GT86

[AutoCulture]

Hi all,

Quick intro:

My name is Marko and I live in Tokyo, Japan. I enjoy doing some photography and run a small media called Auto Culture. Will leave social links at the end of this post.

I also work in a supercar rental company and I got to drive and really get to know the GT86 as we had one in the lineup. I fell in love with it and ended up buying the company one and now it is mine. This is what the car looks like and list of mods follows the photos:









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2013 Toyota GT86 (ZN6) - AT
D6S - Sterling Silver Metallic

Mods list:

- TRUST | GReddy Engine Oil Cooler
- HKS Exhaust Manifold - SUPER MANIFOLD GT-SPEC
- HKS Hi Power Spec L Exhaust
- HKS Hipermax MAX IV SP Suspension
- Cusco stabilizer links
- Cusco front / rear strut tower bars
- Endless Basic Slit Rotors with MX72 Brake Pads and Endless Brake Lines
- ENKEI RPF1 - 18 x 8J wheels
- Yokohama ADVAN AD08RS tires
- BRIDE ZETA III full bucket seat
- MOMO Drifting steering wheel

Apart from that, minor cosmetic changes like eyelines on the headlights and new Crystal Eye taillights.

The car officially became mine in November of 2021 at around 75,000KM on the clock.

As it belonged in my company, I was able to purchase the car for an extremely low amount of money so the fact that it is automatic didn't bother me a single bit - the car came already with all the above mods as well. I had purchased it with a plan to in the future do an engine + manual swap when I saved up enough money.

The story continues in the next post, meanwhile you can find my social media at the following links:

Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/autoculture

Instagram (GT86 only):
https://instagram.com/autoculture86

Instagram (Auto Culture media):
https://instagram.com/autoculturej

[AutoCulture]

Some supporting photos:

[bcj]

[AutoCulture]

Right after I had done my new brake rotors, pads and lines, I had one last long road trip with her from Tokyo to Kyoto and back in the middle of cherry blossom season. Snapped up some great photos:

[Clipdat]

How do you like that Endless pad and rotor setup? I had those pads on my WRX.

[AutoCulture]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

How do you like that Endless pad and rotor setup? I had those pads on my WRX.

I've never used anything other than MX72 pads since even I had the OEM rotors so it's difficult for me to compare them to anything else, but I always felt they provided really good stopping power. Only downside is I feel like there is a lot of brake dust generated if that is something that bothers you. I have gloss black painted RPF1s that start looking brown after 1 week of daily driving and not washing.

As for the brake rotors, unfortunately I haven't had enough time to test them yet, as my next painful post will explain. :'(

[AutoCulture]

Back in November 2022, I went to my first proper track day with the 86 at a small track called Mobara Twin Circuit in Chiba, Japan. The circuit is mainly used as a drift track and hosts a lot of motorcycle events as well, but for cars powered and sized like the 86 and similar - Miatas, Civics - and even up to Imprezas and Evos, it is a fun and great track for grip time attack laps as well. On very worn out brake pads, I managed a best time of 56.489s. For reference, a professional driver did a best time of 49.269 in a Toyota GR Yaris RZ.



On my last session pushing quite hard, my brakes fried up and I had a lot of smoke coming out which is where I called it quits and immediately ordered new brake pads the next day and decided to do the Endless rotor upgrade for better cooling and efficiency, as well as the brake lines.

[Clipdat]

Lol, yeah, I hear you on the brake dust. They absolutely COATED the Enkei GTC02 wheels I had on the WRX after just a week or two of casual driving as you mention. I guess that's the downside of their impressive stopping power.

[AutoCulture]

On April 1st (April fools day lol), I headed to the same Mobara Twin Circuit with new brake pads and upgraded brake rotors determined to go faster than my previous best time of 56.489s. The setup was 5 X 15 minute sessions scattered throughout the day with plenty of rest time in between. It was a fairly warm day considering it was April.

I took my first session very easy I think. My aim was to warm up the car and see how it felt on the day, especially with the new brake pads. The car felt really great and after about 6 minutes in, I put in a time of 56.788s, coming within 0.3s of my best time. I have to stress one more time - I really was not pushing hard at this point. The new brake pads felt so good and I was able to brake much later and that made a huge difference. The session actually ended 12 minutes in as there was a car that had crashed out and we were all forced to pit in early.

A photo from the day




I had an hour break until the next session during which I did a short 10 minute drive to a 7 Eleven to get some food. Car was behaving normally.

I started the second session again at a slower pace to warm up the car, and there seemed to be more cars joining so the start was more congested making me go slower. On my second lap warming up, I started getting a knocking sound from the engine and pulled into the pit.

You can hear the sounds here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/h_7ZHQt8al4?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/HQs3j5KT7dE?feature=share


Pretty much looking at a dead engine - spun bearing and/or who knows what. I've decided not to overhaul it and also decided against swapping another FA20 or another engine due to not having enough funds to do so.

It's been a very sad and stressful few weeks but luckily the story doesn't end here.

[AutoCulture]

Wow, sorry haven't been able to update this in a long time so here we go.

After more than a month of mulling over what to do and being carless, I got a good offer from a friend to buy the GT86 with the broken engine, however he needed all the other stock parts on it, which of course I didn't have.

I went on the search for a new GT86 with as many stock parts on it as possible with the plan to just swap over all my aftermarket parts to the new car, and the stock parts onto the dead car. It didn't take me long to find some nice candidates with a certain budget in mind, and after a few days I went to check out this thing:









I wasn't looking for another silver one, but with the way it popped up at the right price, the right condition and of course, in manual this time, I decided to get it right there on the spot, and now I am back in the GT86 game!

The only differences I could find from my dead 86 was of course the manual transmission, a TRD trunk spoiler, and the slightly different interior trim on the seats.

Now we were looking at the big job of swapping over parts!

[EdBoy]

nice, good find, luckily you have a good list of mods to start with to transfer over

[AutoCulture]

Pick up day and first drive of the new, stock manual GT86!

[AutoCulture]

After a couple of days driving it bone stock, the work began on transferring all parts between the two cars.





Zombie 86




This is the first of two things I couldn't transfer over to the new car:



HKS GT-Spec exhaust manifold. While it came off the dead car fine, it wouldn't go back on the new car. The flanges would not line up no matter what, leading us to believe the piping was bent for some reason. Laying it down flat proved that, as one flanges had a 1-2mm opening between the flat floor and it. We managed to somehow get it on with the help of the jack, but once starting the car we noticed a lot of exhaust leaking from the bent flange. Ended up selling it on Yahoo auctions as junk and still rocking the stock manifold until I can afford to go full Tomei.




After extracting the engine oil out of the old car, a nice little metal afro greeted me on the tip of my Cusco oil drain plug. Glad I didn't decide to fix the old engine, and this is where #2 part I didn't carry over comes in - no photo but this is where I decided to leave out the Greddy Oil Cooler as well, not wanting to risk any leftover metal bits getting into the new engine.

[AutoCulture]

First drive after all the parts were swapped.

First stop alignment.




Second stop Super Autobacs to get some additional bits.