JonT

FSH, 53k miles, most recently 60k service including spark plugs at Fensport in July 2020. MOT to September 2021 Makes a superb daily to sit alongside a caterham, or perhaps if SWMBO insists on something more comfortable for roadtrips SE Lux spec means heated seats with leather/alcantara rather than the cheaper fabric option. Completely unmodified. Within the last 1000 miles it has had new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres all round and new OEM front brake discs and pads. With superb steering feel, a supple ride and well balanced chassis, this is a great RWD sportscar unsullied by turbos or an excess of power. But don’t just take my word for it – this is what Chris Harris said back in 2012 about its twin, the GT86 when compared to the 370z and Cayman. With under 1000 BRZs on the road in the UK (according to howmanyleft), you even get some exclusivity I bought the car at 1 year old with just 5000 miles on it (previously owned by a private individual who was the first keeper; so it’s not an ex-demonstrator car), and have now owned it for 4 years and nearly 50000 miles. Considering I normally get bored of cars after 20000 or so miles, that’s a testament to just how good it is. Much of the mileage has been commuting, but with little prospect of needing to do that for another few months and other cars that aren’t getting much use either, I thought I’d see if there was any interest on here. Shortly after buying the car it was treated to a professional detail and protection coating. I always wash it using a 2 bucket method and the paintwork still comes up very well. There are a few minor marks on the car, these are mostly stone chips on the nose, and some very minor lacquer marks on the alloy wheels. It has been fastidiously serviced in my ownership – with oil+filter changes every 5k miles in addition to the manufacturers 10k/annual schedule. Several services have been done early due to timing of roadtrips/holidays. It has almost always been run on super unleaded, only precluded when not available such as in northern Scotland. On motorways and daily use it normally achieves around 40mpg, making it very reasonable to run. With folding rear seats, it’s very practical too. I have a spare set of 16” steel wheels with all season/winter tyres (available by separate negotiation), and these can readily be fitted in the car with the seats down. The interior pics are current, I’ll get more exterior ones once it stops raining! Test drives only with proof of fully comp insurance. Given the car is still standard, this should be easy to arrange through cuvva, tempcover or other similar insurance providers. Social distancing will need to be managed carefully too if you wish to view the car. Date Mileage Work done 19/09/16 5355 10k/1st year service (prior to purchase) 28/01/17 10069 Oil + filter change, Motul 23/03/17 New winter tyres 24/03/17 13996 20k service, Cambridge Subaru 29/07/17 19110 Oil + filter change, Motul 18/12/17 23140 30k service (3rd service), Cambridge Subaru 24/02/18 27393 Oil +filter change. 13/08/18 32738 40k Service at Fensport 02/03/18 38048 5k oil+filter change. New OEM rear brake pads + discs, bled brakes 05/08/19 43815 50k service at Fensport 05/01/20 48936 Oil + filter change 24/07/20 52032 60k service at Fensport, including plugs. 05/09/20 52225 Front pads and discs, OEM. 07/09/20 52253 MOT 15/09/20 52910 New tyres – Michelin PS4 More pics here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p78fnwsqbe9726f/AAB4IkP1-4gqL44jXSR6MLF5a?dl=0 or let me know if there's anything you particularly want a picture of! cheers, Jon

You can get a new one that will do a better job than the CTEK for £20 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maypole-7423A-Battery-Charger-Electronic/dp/B009A83P1E

Apollo still fits. I've even managed to get a laminova in the top hose of mine too, which makes things pretty snug. I used a silicon T off the rad. Couple of pics from when it was mid re-skin at 7workshop last year.

The fine for no plate is smaller than a misrepresented plate. Given the plethora of automated enforcement, I do wonder why it's not more common place for people to run without plates - other than the difficulty of getting fuel where AIUI stations often have ANPR systems to record in case of non-payment, and a lack of plate being fairly obvious on the rare occasion you might pass a real police car.

On sessioned days a cool down lap would be normal after the chequered flag - on an open pit lane day, it's up to you (it's certainly something I try and do, but you need to be even more attentive to mirrors!). The difficultly can be a red flag, particularly if it's near the end of the lap - but there's nothing you can do about it, other than maybe drive slowly down the track access roads?

Mine wasn't that far out, but it was a good 10-15% out (although not so much on the milometer, which I found even more odd). Discovered the gearbox connection was also weeping slightly, so in the end binned the lot, fitted blanking plugs in the gearbox and an electric Racetech speedo driven off the front brake disc bolts. Bonus is that it's very easily recalibrated if I change to a different tyre/wheel size with different rolling radius. The gearbox pinion drive seals were horribly worn so it wasn't surprising it was leaking. Although the cogs can be changed, I was told mine was as close to accurate as it could be made to be anyway.

Brough -> Middleton -> Alston. Could spend all day posting on this thread, but don't really want more drivers on /my/ roads

New isolator arrived yesterday and fitted. Car ran fine, but playing with the voltmeter I was still seeing 10.5V on the isolator mounting bolt in certain conditions. I got fed up and left it overnight, but carried on thinking. 10.5V suggests some sort of potential divider, or some resistive connection. So instead of measuring voltage, I changed the meter to resistance. Sure enough, the "earth" bolt wasn't actually a good ground, it was showing resistance to elsewhere on the chassis. I think that when the car got resprayed last year, Tony did such a good job the mounting bolt isn't actually making good contact with the chassis. So I've stuck on an extra earthing wire from that bolt to the another bolt (aeroscreen/windscreen bracket) Now seeing 0 volts on the FIA mounting bolt (and of course 0 ohm from it to earth), and everything else seems ok. Not sure why it's only just shown itself as a problem <shrug>. Or maybe it's always been like that, and it's only because the battery died I started digging. Guess it would have been interesting if the FIA key had been needed in anger as it wouldn't have earthed the alternator properly on disconnection.

I said unless you want track day tyres, and I'd put those firmly in the track day category. Normal high performance I'd count things like Pilot Sports, Goodyear F1s etc.

Exactly - new FIA switch is on order...

Unfortunately there aren't any performance road tyres in 13" unless you want track day tyres (and I put the NSR2 in that group). There's not a lot in 14s either - it's just the trend of modern cars moving to bigger and bigger wheels so I guess manufacturers don't see any demand :(

With the new battery it starts and runs fine now (sorry, should have updated that bit). But my concern now is that the new battery will get killed in short order if there's a short somewhere causing undue drain. The fact that a mounting bolt on the isolator appears to be at 12V when the ignition is on definitely isn't right.

There's a trade off between sliding on track and just tearing chunks out of the tread though. I've so far stuck to "road" tyres, since I agree about not wanting too much grip on a lower power car (mine's also a 1.6 K-series) but too little it just becomes tedious. And similarly with respect to wet, I'm going to be driving more cautiously anyway. The rainsports were surprisingly good in freezing conditions in the Alps, and I wouldn't want the NSRs in those places, but the Contis were fine, and they also stood up to track use in warm conditions pretty well. I don't think the rainsports would, but I'm not planning to test them either.

Ah, thanks, that's useful to know. Yes, I head the IACV recycle but it had finished by the point I was still seeing 0.5A.

I've got some, they're /ok/ for touring, but I don't really like them. As you say, they're unbelievably good in the wet, but in the dry they are very squeally, and the limits are /much/ lower than other tyres (the rain experts were new to me as I bought some 13s, previously running 14s with Conti Premium contact - sadly no longer available in 14). I certainly wouldn't want to take them on track. I might try higher pressures and see if that helps. Agree they last fairly well - I lost about 3mm on the rears on a 4000 mile road trip through the Alps and Dolomites, although I'd trade a bit more wear for better grip. I'm planning to try Nankang NSR2s next (in 185/60/13 and accept the change in diameter/loss in ride height) and use the 13s more for track and keep the 14s (now running Dunlop Bluresponse) for road.

So the plot thickens. New battery fitted, and I started sorting out the other bits of wiring I'd been fiddling with. I've got a fan override switch and lights on buzzer fitted behind the drivers knee panel, and I was suspicious something there might not be right. Some of the grounds are connected one of the mounting bolts on the battery isolator (ie so definitely connected to the scuttle/chassis and should be ground). Wierdly I measured 10V on that pin when the ignition was on. So I pulled off my additions, and it's still doing it - so now I think it might be the isolator. In any case, I've ordered a new one. I also stuck the ammeter on the battery - it was showing ~100mA off (which seems high). Turning the ignition on, it pulsed to 5A while the fuel pump primes, then back down to ~1A. Wasn't going to try starting as the multimeter is only rated to 10A. However turning the ignition off, it was still showing 0.5A, which disappeared when I turned the isolator off. So I suspect the reason I couldn't see a short is because it's the isolator and it's shorting directly to the chassis, which is a pretty big ground and has a fat supply cable. Anyway, I'll get the new isolator fitted and see what happens. Meanwhile I've disconnected the new battery to save that!

Would drilling the thermostat have the effect described? You'd always get some flow through the rad, so it would take longer to warm up, but you'd also then need /much/ more flow to push it open under flow rather than temperature alone.

So I've been checking my records - battery was new Nov 2017, however during early 2019 the car was off the road for a while at 7workshop, so maybe that didn't do it any favours? It's usually left on a CTEK at home, so that might have hidden a brewing problem? Having said that, it started fine this morning first thing. But having stuck a voltmeter on the battery a couple of hours after getting home it's on 10.5V. I checked on getting home and it was seeing 14.5V ish, (and it got me home!) so alternator is good. Going to start with a battery and see how things go from there. Then I just have to sort out all the other bits of electricals I was fiddling with trying to get it working at donny

Battery is newish. I've just limped home. We got it bump started but I wasn't prepared to go out on track. Seems to run OK although idling at 2000rpm. Driving home seemed the better option than recovery. Nothing even clicks now when i turn the ignition on. Will double check battery voltage but i think it's OK. Wondering if it might be the fia isolator switch or ballast resistor.

Thanks Jonathan. Now seems like complete electrical failure. Almost certainly something trivial given it drove here this morning, but don't think I'm going to fix it in the pit garage :(

1.6 k series. Just arrived donington for a track day and the car won't restart. Mfru just clicking away madly whenever i engage the stater. Already has an external relay bypass. Any ideas? Was slightly reluctant to restart after getting petrol on the way here but otherwise has been fine.

If you can lock the tyres up, you don't need more powerful brakes. If you can't then maybe there would be some benefit.

Road force balancing - https://www.balancemycar.co.uk/ Not that many places around unfortunately. Costs can vary - I think I've paid standard balancing at ~£10/wheel if they haven't needed to rotate it on the rim, and ~£25 if they have. But still worthwhile - at the least for the front tyres (mine are same f/r and I rotate them, so got the lot done).

Consider going somewhere that offers Force Road balancing. I struggled with a similar problem until I got the wheels force road balanced. I also noticed that my wheels don't have hub locators - instead they're just located by the wheel nuts. So I've wondered if the nuts aren't torqued evenly and while the vehicle is in the air (or only very lightly loaded) whether you could end up with the wheel being torqued up very slightly off centre - just enough to produce some vibration in the wheel at speed.

It was a year or so ago I did it, but IIRC very easy. Same wiring as the existing one (12V, gnd, signal and backlight). I think the instructions are linked off the Merlin website. Seems very well damped in use - certainly much better than the old one!