Imhotep's ever changing fleet - MG ZS180, Toyota GT86 - Big plans I likely won’t do!

[Anglevan]

Nice 86, I have one. Purchased  a year ago. They don't disappoint, enjoy. Would love a ZS 180 at somepoint, always liked em. 

[Muniphobia]

I don't have a GT86 but do have a blue car😉

[Imhotep]

Toyota has arrived so have a few photos. 
 

Issues so far - RCL doesn’t work, it’ll only lock with keyless but won’t unlock, I also don’t have the alarm code so I need to go to Toyota with my VIN and logbook and ask nicely at some stage. Apparently that should sort the remote out. And, to humour* @Lord Sterling - the AC doesn’t work. Else it’s all good. Not a huge fan of the wheels in truth. I like them and I like the colour of them but they’re a bit too big for the car for my liking, I need to go back to standard I think. And yes, I have managed to get 2 child seats in the back of it!
 

[Jazoli]

Look great, the wheels look like they have the wrong offset to me, is it running spacers? I'd definitely be changing them, you do know you can get of the shelf turbo kits for these don't you

 

[IronStar]

Wheels look lovely, but the car needs to be lower. So much gap there!

[Imhotep]

General update, Toyota has done Toyota things and just... Been reliable, as we'd all expect. Key issue still strange. I can now lock and unlock it with the keyless but the fob itself still doesn't work at all. Toyota also won't supply me an alarm code so I need to try Subaru and see if they can help me. As Subaru build the thing anyway, might be worth a go.

However, I REALLY need rid of the alloys. I either want to back to standard or maybe some in the correct offset would be nice...

[Imhotep]

Getting absolutely nowhere with selling the AX GT so I’m moving it to my more permanent storage and putting it on the ‘I’ll get around to it one day’ list. 
 

For now, the aim has been to get the ZS180 back home. Hopefully that’ll be next month or so. I’ve got to get rid of some of the spares for the AX. A lot of them are useless now so I may call a local scrap man and let him take them, and then some of the other bits I’ll take to the tip. 
 

Toyota, well, it’s got a failed offside taillight gasket so water keeps getting in:

This is becoming a weekly thing, having to empty it:

 

Seems to be a common fault as I can’t find offside taillight gaskets anywhere. Only nearside ones. Otherwise running okay. Managing 36mpg which is strange as I’ve not had an economical petrol car for a long time now, I’m enjoying the only having to fill the tank once a month. Oddly, this car isn’t too bad even with two kids. I’m not very tall and nor is Mrs Imhotep which helps. But all things considered, I am missing the MG and I want it back here so I can chop and change between the Toyota and MG at my own leisure. Toyota needs work before I do though. Needs the air conditioning mending, a service, and I really need to find some OEM alloys for it. Then when the MG is back that needs a service, the air conditioning mending, and a good detail to get that Monogram paint sparkling again. So, if anyone would like to buy one of my guitars to help me pay for this please do let me know. 

[Imhotep]

So yesterday the silly stretched tyres got some damage. Had to run them flat as I had nowhere to stop, this ruined the tyre. As I hated the alloys anyway, I decided to replace for OE. This is the offending item:

Anyway so £lots later I was making my very annoyed dad drive me to Tamworth for some OE wheels. As I’d left the GT86 at theirs we decided to change the wheel there. This went okay for the first wheel. Second one the stupid 6 spline wheel nut remover snapped clean in half inside one of the studs. Great. Anyway, I didn’t care about these alloys so my dad and I mullered them to no success at all:

 

Enter the long suffering @Heidel_Kakao who being the gent he is popped around this morning with an air drill and removed the offending wheel nut. (Poor bloke buys a Sega Saturn from me and is now made to suffer by fixing my cars forever). One hasty Amazon order later and I had a new 6 spline wheel nut tool where we then fitted the remaining wheels:

Vast improvement. Possibly one of the best I’ve ever made to a car. The eagle eyed among you will notice the centre caps are Subaru. This is because these wheels were on a BRZ, but they’re exactly the same as GT86 ones, sans centre cap. I’ll get a set of Toyota caps eventually.
The crap alloys are available FOC if anyone wants them. 

Noticed the door light on the driver side doesn’t work either, so I need to get a bulb for that too. 

Next up is air con…

 

[mintwth]

15 minutes ago, Imhotep said:

I’ll get a set of Toyota caps eventually.

The Toyota centre caps are also Subaru. 

Front of cap

 

Back of cap

[Imhotep]

1 hour ago, mintwth said:

The Toyota centre caps are also Subaru. 

Front of cap

 

Back of cap

May as well retain the Subaru ones in that case!

[Heidel_Kakao]

@Imhotep No worries dude happy to help! I will probably rope you into helping fix the ZT when that time comes anyway lol. The 86 certainly looks way better on the OEM wheels.

[Imhotep]

So I’ve had this irrational fear (though I live in Birmingham so maybe it’s a rational fear?) of the car being stolen. Liberated this: 

 

Gearknob also being kept warm by an innocent smoothie hat. Kids find it hilarious too. However I am looking at additional security measures - anyone used a ghost immobiliser? I’ve got a tracker to fit too. I realise this is likely over the top for a 12 year old sports car but I like it and I don’t want it missing really. Will be doing similar with the MG, but maybe no ghost immobiliser for that one. 

Speaking of the ZS…

As I can now keep it, I’ve been thinking of a few little jobs to do on that. First one being something looks not quite right with the suspension in the below photo:

 

It’s either too low at the front or too high at the back. There’s definitely no broken springs as I’ve had the wheels off and had a good look, so I’m going to assume tired shocks. If this is the case I’ll likely get myself some Bilstein B4s or B6s and some OE spec springs and refresh the lot. I’ll be glad when winter is over so I can get the ZS back out properly (will be out in January for an MOT).

I’m also looking at solar powered trickle chargers if anyone has any suggestions for any decent ones. Where the car is at the moment has no power and where it will be also has no power so a plug in one isn’t viable. My flat isn’t on the ground floor either so I can’t run a cable out the window to the car. 
 

I’m also looking into an oil catch can for the ZS. I’m not sure if the KV6 suffers with valve deposits, but it is direct injected, not port injected. I will inspect them when I replace the VIS however. On a similar note, one of the PCV breathers has a knackered seal so drips some oil. I can replace it for £40(!!!)
 

And finally for the most boring car repair on Autoshite - I changed a bulb. Look, it works and everything:

 

 

[mintwth]

4 hours ago, Imhotep said:

solar powered trickle chargers

Got an AA branded 2.4W one that seems to work OK and can be plugged into the OBD port or croc clipped onto the battery. Think they're meant to be about £40 or so but they're usually on offer for about £20 somewhere. 

No idea if they're any better than the no name ones that you can get for £10 or so but you'd hope the aa insist on some quality control before they let their brand be used. 

[Imhotep]

2 hours ago, mintwth said:

Got an AA branded 2.4W one that seems to work OK and can be plugged into the OBD port or croc clipped onto the battery. Think they're meant to be about £40 or so but they're usually on offer for about £20 somewhere. 

No idea if they're any better than the no name ones that you can get for £10 or so but you'd hope the aa insist on some quality control before they let their brand be used. 

Thank you - might give it a try. For the sake of £40 it’s worth a go after all! 

[iainrcz]

I had my 86 for about 3.5 years. It was great.

 

Having owned a string of Peugeots it was nice to own something that didn't break every few minutes.

[Spiny Norman]

Looks so much better with the proper wheels. 

[Imhotep]

On 24/10/2025 at 21:44, iainrcz said:

I had my 86 for about 3.5 years. It was great.

 

Having owned a string of Peugeots it was nice to own something that didn't break every few minutes.

As a fellow serial PSA owner, I am fully understanding of your plight there. That said, one of the best, most reliable cars I ever had was a Peugeot 306 1.8 cabriolet. Just wouldn’t fail an MOT or die.

Then my Godmother borrowed it and overfilled it with oil. Shame. 

On 25/10/2025 at 01:34, Spiny Norman said:

Looks so much better with the proper wheels. 

Night and day isn’t it? Much happier with the car now. 

[iainrcz]

1 hour ago, Imhotep said:

As a fellow serial PSA owner, I am fully understanding of your plight there. That said, one of the best, most reliable cars I ever had was a Peugeot 306 1.8 cabriolet. Just wouldn’t fail an MOT or die.

Then my Godmother borrowed it and overfilled it with oil. Shame. 

Night and day isn’t it? Much happier with the car now. 

Funnily enough I had a petrol 406 and that was a fantastic car. Definitely better than the 407s that came after. Had a 2.2 508 GT too and that was decent. Fucking fast as well.

[Imhotep]

As we all know the last few days have been cold. This is showing a number of issues for the Toyota. 

First, the starter is REALLY tired. I’ve done a voltage test on the battery and it’s fine, fairly new too. Would be something more difficult wouldn’t it? Cranks very slowly when it’s from a dead cold start. -3c when I left this morning and I really thought the car had no compression suddenly. 
 

When it does start, it’s initially running up to 2000rpm until the block gets a bit of heat and it goes down to 1300rpm to then warm up properly. However while at 2000rpm it’s misfiring badly. This could be due to the fuel though as it demands 97RON but the station I went to on fumes the other day only had 95. Will test that with some 97 and see if it’s any better/worse. Clears up as soon as it drops from 2000rpm. Doesn’t to it at all after that. Still drives like it has 197bhp so I’ll figure it out.

Budget tyres on the OEM alloys I got are the worst thing in the world. I shouldn’t be able to see the traction control light while driving normally. It’s also chewed a wheel bearing. 
 

It’ll get some love soon, next month I’ll likely sort tyres and wheel bearing, then mend the still broken air conditioning early 2026. 

[mintwth]

59 minutes ago, Imhotep said:

demands 97RON

For added inconvenience, fairly sure it's meant to be 98+RON.

Batteries on the 86 are a weak point. It'd be worth checking the capacity and CCA on yours. Most people replace the battery with an uprated one, if yours has had a like for like  replacement it'll crank slowly if it's not used for a few days.

Also, oem spec oil is 0w20 but they often get 5w30 bunged in. 

A better battery and/or an oil change could help with the slow cranking. 

On the tyres front - most end up using Goodyear Eagle f1 or Michelin Pilot Sport 4s or 5s. Getting the traction light on if you're using budget tyres (/the oem Michelin Primacy 4s) is easily done even when driving normally.

[Muniphobia]

Replaced the battery on my BRZ after about 5 years when it started giving me problems, bit of a contrast with the Ford Puma I had before it where at 13 years old never had any problems with it.

It won't pick up from cold in the cold weather, unfortunately I live in a traffic bottleneck so from pulling out on to the main road I end up crawling along in stop start traffic and by the time I get away from the traffic it has normally warmed up.  It also is difficult to engage lower gears when the temperature drops below freezing.

I replaced the OEM Michelin primacy tyres on the rear with the latest ones and the grip was much better although since then I had a couple of punctures from the work car park, one was unrepairable and I couldn't get another primacy so got a Pilot sport 4 and that seems to grip really good.  The front tyres are still the ones supplied with it from new and it's just sailed through an MOT at 11 years old (well apart from an advisery about the wipers but they are the Subaru originals too...)

[Imhotep]

Currently, I have Covid so enjoy this cold and flu tablet, sleep deprived, fever dream-esque post. If it makes no sense I already apologise. 
 

AX GT has gone now. This means I have a nearly empty garage. Once I’ve cleaned the garage out, the ZS180 can come back from storage and go into my garage. This’ll save me a bit of cash and means it’s closer to me (as in, in the immediate vicinity of my flat, not Cambridgeshire).

Unfortunately, my dad’s Puma was the victim of car cannibals so that’s currently being repaired, so he’s had my Toyota for a week or so now as I’m poorly anyway. The wheel bearing is at a point where it now needs doing rather than just an annoyance. We will be getting this done very soon I hope. 

I’ve taken the above suggestions on board re the tyres, but I do have to prioritise the wheel bearing. Couldn’t come at a worse time could it? Christmas on the way and that. 
 

So with the fleet now nicely condensed down, this thread is going to turn very boring (sorry), but it’s going to be more intricate repairs on the ZS and generally how the GT86 handles being a daily driver for a family of four. (I’m mad, I know). 
 

As such when the ZS has returned the first thing on the list is underseal, a service and MOT preparation. While I was extracting the AX GT on sale day, I found an oil catch can from an Integra Type R in the garage. Seems a bit appropriate to be fitting that. Since the ZS isn’t port injected I’ll get a look at the valves when I do the VIS, if they’re grubby I’ll give them a clean and fit the catch can. Then it’s just little things that are bothering me, e.g. the steering wheel is from a Rover 45 and beige, so that’ll be changed for black leather Rover 45 V6 one. Reason for this is because of retrofitting bits. Rover 45 V6s had steering wheel controls and cruise control, the ZS has neither. However we have created a loom for steering wheel controls, and adapted it into the stereo. We’ve also made a hidden DAB aerial so it looks OE. Next (and I’m very excited about this one), we’re going to buy a new roof light and cut a section of it out, then have an E46 BMW phone module grille grafted in, at which point I’ll be making the phone function appear OE too. After that we’ll be looking at Rover 75 powerfold mirrors. JDM Civic EK9s had powerfolds and they use the same mirror switch as a 45/ZS so it’ll plug straight in. I may just need to run a wire to the powerfold button, easy enough. 
 

The more complex stuff (suspension, clutch etc) is a bit beyond me so I won’t be doing that myself, it’ll go to a garage. I’m struggling to find OEM shocks so it’ll be going to (decent) coilovers set to stock ride height once the shocks fail. 
 

How much of this will I likely do? Most likely none of it, but that’s what I want to do.