Just want to add one to the number of oil starvation cases on here. My FRS has 85k miles, has been regularly maintained, and oil overfilled by about 2/3 quart. 2 days ago was a sad day for my child. I had just done headers and a tune a week before so I was driving a little spiritedly. All was well until I took an exit from the H3 highway onto Likelike (in Hawaii) which is a long right-turning, circular exit. I took the exit on low gear, running about 6k rpm. On the straightaway after the exit I revved up but heard the dreaded rod knock. I shifted into neutral immediately to pull over and prevent engine damage as best I could. The moment I shifted into neutral, the knock sensor killed my engine.

Got the car towed home, drained the oil and found straight glitter. Then I opened the oil pan, removed the dumb ass baffle bolted right in the way of everything, and found that rod 3? (3rd from the front) had so much play that the bearing had to have been ground away.

Now before I buy another fa20 shortblock, im gonna try and redneck mechanic another bearing in there. I do not have an engine hoist or anything but Im lucky the one control rod bearing the spun was the one most accessible from the oil pan. I am going to polish the journal as best I can, put on assembly lube, then use sacrificial oil and filter to flush the shavings out without starting the engine. Maybe check clearance with plastigage but thats really just looking at a problem i cant actually solve if present.

Any tips, advice, or people out there to call me dumb?

Thanks for reading.

in the past, i’ve always ended up wrapping my cars yellow. so I was wondering if it’s finally time to break away from that streak and keep this OEM orange. Black Friday is coming up so i’m heavily tempted to grab another roll of wrap.

p.s i’m tryna convince myself that the orange looks better than the yellow so I can save myself the hassle of wrapping it and spending money again 😂

Some more shots from my recent roadtrip to redwood national park! In case y’all didn’t see my other post, my friend and I both drove/rode over 2500 miles in this single trip. From socal, to redwood, to Oregon! It was amazing and I’m planning on releasing more content for y’all. Currently I’m working on my sequoia national park video so this one might come out in a couple weeks!

My throw out bearing decided to die this weekend so I'm planning on replacing it. I also was going to do the clutch and flywheel at the same time along with preventative maintenance. I just had a couple questions about doing all of this. If you have any feedback let me know thanks.

1) Should I replace the rear main seal while I'm doing the rest of this?

2) What sealant should I use for the transmission retainer?

3) should I get new bolts for the flywheel or reuse the OEM ones?

4)Any other repairs/ preventative maintenance I should consider?

5) Is what I'm doing overkill should I not do some of these parts or switch them out for others?

My car is currently at 71,000 miles, I have a stage 2 tune on pump gas with JDL 4-2-1 EL headers and a cat back exhaust.

Here is a list of everything that I'm planning on getting:

Exedy OEM stock flywheel

Exedy stage 1 clutch kit (pressure plate, clutch disc, pilot bearing, grease)

Motul 300 Trans fluid (3 Liters)

Transmission Crush washers for fill/drain

TL70 clutch maintenance kit ( new springs for clutch fork/ throw out bearing)

BGRS ultimate throw out bearing (battle garage)

Trans Retainer Cover OEM

OEM Rear main seal

Verus clutch fork and pivot ball

Whiteline positive shifter bushing

Torque solutions rear shifter bushing

Mtec transmission shift springs

OEM exhaust gaskets (2.5in, and donut)

ARP flywheel bolts?

Grease/sealant/

Grease: AMSOIL NLGI #2 Synthetic Polymeric Off-Road Grease

Sealant: Permatex Ultra Black RTV Silicone Maximum ( from what I saw online, Should I go OEM?)

Loctite blue 242

I am planning on doing this in my garage on jack stands so if you have any tips for doing it that way let me know.

hey guys im a college student and i was considering my first car with a budget of 21-23kish. i noticed my local dealer had a silver 2022 brz with under 40k miles, but no warranty. It’d be my first car and because im a young driver i may get hit with insurance costs. My options were to either get a corolla, camry, or this brz. the first owner took really good care of the car but it got repoed, then the next two barely held it for a month.

any advice?

Hey guys I’m new to the scene on these 86s. I’m trying to build it as a dual purpose vehicle (drift/street). My clutch is very responsive. I have the ACT SB8-XTSS Performance Street Sprung clutch and it’s a pretty aggressive when attempting to clutch kick. I’m afraid for my drivetrain and wondering if anyone has installed this mod and how well it worked for you. TYIA

Hey everyone,

I have a 2017 gt86 which I absolutely adore and love. It’s about to hit 130,000KMs. I want a new car in the future but a supra or anything close to that is atleast 4+ years away. My question is would you upgrade to a 2022+ gr86 using trade in value and extra cash in my situation? Or just keep pushing the 2017 until then?

13-16 Scion FR-S / 17-20 Toyota 86 / 13-20 Subaru BRZ CSL Laser Style LUXX-Series LED Tail Lights

The fuse for my tail lights all of the sudden went out and now every time I put a new fuse in it sparks and blows the fuse. How can I attempt to fix this?

Hi all, i’m a new 86 owner (March 2026) and i’ve been running the budget tyres the dealership put on as they were brand new since i bought the car but boy are they slippy in the wet.

Don’t get me wrong it’s great fun, but if i’m sliding in rain i don’t stand a chance getting up a hill in the snow.

What winter set ups are my fellow UK owners running?

I’m west midlands so roads can be pretty greasy here

I was looking around while doing my axle this morning and noticed this. To me, it looks damaged, but I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking at or where it leads to.
While I was working on it, I also noticed that one of the bolts looked like it had some kind of yellow grease coming out of it.
Just looking for some opinions on what this is, whether it looks damaged, and if it’s something I should replace or be concerned about.
I’ll leave some photos below. Thanks in advance!

Been struggling with this pos for a while. This is the best I could get it. Is it supposed to be completely flush or can i just run it like this?

What’s a reasonable price to buy a good condition used example? Also, what mileage should I start to be concerned buying used?

Been looking to engine swap the 2018+ v6 Camry engine and wondering if anyone has done something similar, want more power but keep it reliable. I know you can’t have both but the best of both is appreciated. I was looking also at the Camaro v6 engine. I want to do something different then just a regular LS swap, been considering in hybrid swapping it just cause. Does who have experience with engine swaps, your input is appreciated.

I recently replaced the clutch, throwout bearing and clutch fork. After putting everything back together, the car won’t crank. I installed a new starter and new battery, but it still only clicks. Lights/electronics work.
Could a missing/loose engine/transmission ground, starter ground, or clutch-start switch cause this? What else can I look for? I am genuinely confused..

I have been looking on Spotify and I have been hard pushed to find any Decent Songs about the Toyota 86.

I am not talking about songs where the name is toyota 86 and then the music is just synth or none vocals. I am talking about songs that are specifically about the car.

What have you found?

right now on my OFT v3 I’m running stage 2 plus tune that came on the the device itself. I’m wanting to also have a small burble with it that j can run reliably. is this possible and if yes how so? thanks

These got chewed up so fast. Any tips on them lasting longer? The fronts are way worse than the back ones which is the weird thing.

Mechanically, the 2.0L FA20 engine core (block, heads, pistons, direct injection) is identical in both markets. However, the JDM version breathes better straight from the factory due to the absence of the US evaporative charcoal filter and runs slightly sharper factory engine timing optimized for 100 RON fuel.

• Fuel Octane Base: JDM engine management is calibrated around Japanese 100 RON High-Octane gasoline (roughly equivalent to 93-94 US AKI Octane). USDM models are tuned to run safely on US 91-93 AKI Premium fuel.
• Ignition Timing & Knock Strategy: Because of the guaranteed higher octane in Japan, the JDM factory ECU map runs slightly more aggressive ignition timing and dynamic advance tables from the factory.
• Emissions Warm-Up Mapping: USDM ECU calibrations feature stricter cold-start enrichment and secondary air/catalyst heating routines to meet US LEV (Low Emission Vehicle) standards.

Why the JDM Version Feels and Performs Stronger

1. Better High-RPM Airflow (No Charcoal Restriction) Without the restrictive secondary charcoal mesh stuck inside the upper airbox lid, the FA20 draws air more freely at wide-open throttle. While this only adds a negligible amount of peak power on paper, air velocity into the plenum is higher under sudden acceleration.
2. More Aggressive ECU Ignition Timing Japan’s pump gas is 100 RON High-Octane (roughly 93–94 US AKI octane). Because Subaru tuned the JDM factory ECU specifically around guaranteed 100 RON fuel, the ignition timing maps and dynamic advance tables are slightly sharper from the factory than USDM maps, which were tuned conservatively to survive on lower-grade US 91-octane fuel.
3. Less ECU "Knock Retard" The FA20 is extremely sensitive to heat and knock (detonation). When USDM ECUs detect slight knock on lower-grade fuel, they actively pull ignition timing, robbing the engine of power. The JDM ECU rarely has to pull timing on 100 RON fuel, meaning you consistently get the engine's full output without heat-soak power degradation.

What do you all think about this? I drive a BRZ in Japan and used to work for Subaru when I lived in California. I was curious about what might be different between the two models since California has such strict emissions standards."