GR86 Ohlins DFV Transformation

[ctecperformance]

So, approximately 4 months after placing an order, we received our first Ohlins DFV kit for the GR86. After 20 + years experience using Ohlins products, I was very confident that the DFV road and track kit would be a significant upgrade versus the OEM GR86 dampers. However, a 4 months wait for our customer, definitely ramped up the stakes.

The kit arrived with us late last week, and with very little time to spare before the customer was booked in to drop his car off with us Monday this week.

To avoid any unwanted surprises during the install week, I completed the kit assembly on the Saturday ahead of our customer drop off. I was able to complete the front and rear damper assemblies, all except for the top mounts. Ohlins do offer adjustable camber top mounts as an additional cost option. However, for this customer application, we used the OEM top mounts and Eibach camber bolts for the front.

There is zero camber adjustment available from the factory, front or rear, so it is important to plan and factor in any other supporting hardware you require to achieve the target geo settings.

So, this was as far as I could go with the Ohlins assembly until we receive the car and remove the OEM dampers. It's then a case of removing the OEM top mounts and transferring across to the Ohlins, and that's the Ohlins ready to install on the car.

Once on the car, spring preload can be accurately set (Ohlins recommend a significant amount of preload, especially on the fronts). We ended up going with a different spring preload given the owners brief to us for his intended application. Then, I set a base ride height on each damper, which I hope will give our target ride height following a road test to settle the suspension. Back into the workshop, measure ride height versus the OEM ride height data we took before commencing works. Adjust as necessary. The car is then ready for a full geo set up.

GR86 Ohlins DFV assembled dampers minus top mounts shown below

 

[ctecperformance]

In addition to the Ohlins DFV install and set up, we also had a nice list of other parts to fit. Nothing too extreme, as this is primarily a road car, with occasional track day use.

SuperPro gearbox torque mount bush insert

Whiteline rear diff bush mount inserts

MCA Traction Mod kit

Eibach Pro Spacers 10mm Hubcentric

We removed the OEM wheel studs and installed longer Eibach wheel studs. It is essential to use a longer wheel stud when using a 10mm spacer, or above. The longer studs also allow the use of the OEM wheels with the OEM closed wheel nuts. Do nut cut corners to cut costs when purchasing any aftermarket part. The Eibach Pro spacers are expensive, but you get a premium quality aircraft grade lightweight TUV approved hubcentric spacer. The finish and fit is perfect, and you are adding an absolute minimal amount of rotational mass to each corner of the car.

Eibach camber bolts to allow for an increase in front camber.

Other modifications included a TRD short shift kit, Cusco steering rack braces and a Cusco rear diff brace to follow.

Next up for this car, the topic of brake upgrades. Does it warrant a BBK with the hefty price tags attached to these, or start out with a proper brake pad material upgrade with braided hoses and a high performance brake fluid.

 

[mackie]

Very nice. I got impatient and went HKS which come with the added bonus of coming pre built and corner balanced. Overall v happy but looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Ohlins setup.

 

[ctecperformance]

Back to the star of the show, the Ohlins DFV dampers. To be expected, the fabrication quality is exceptional. Granted, at just over £2,100 + Vat, these are hardly budget spend territory, but the closer you inspect, the more impressive they are. Ohlins have clearly acknowledged the class of the GR86, and these DFV's handle/mirror the little OEM details such as drop link mounts and ABS sensor brackets perfectly.

The Ohlins in their striking brand Gold colour is clearly aftermarket, but they look so perfectly at home at each corner of the GR86. You just know that if Toyota didn't have to keep production costs under control, they would surely bolt a set of Ohlins DFV to the 86.

GR86 Ohlins DFV and OEM GR86 dampers.

 

[KobayashiMaru86]

Those are stunning. Still looking into options myself. A few went Pedders topmounts instead of camber bolts. I have camber bolts currently which gives up to -1

 

[Conscript]

They look too good to fit to a car where they'll get all muddy

 

[sim61]

Yeah, my late mother-in-law would say "too good to use"!

 

[mackie]

A key requirement for me was monotube with inverted struts and independent preload and ride height adjustment. Ohlins was originally top of the list for this reason.

HKS Dual PVS is similar to DFV, it certainly 100% solved the occasional traction issues on the stock suspension despite the spring rate being considerably higher.

A friend has Ohlins DFV on his 996 and said it was transformative.

After nearly a year these do not look like this anymore

 

[ZN8]

They do look beautifully made. Will be interesting to get the owners review on these, Ohlins R&T didn't have the best reputation on the previous generation.

 

[ctecperformance]

They do look beautifully made. Will be interesting to get the owners review on these, Ohlins R&T didn't have the best reputation on the previous generation.

The owner is a Zoo member, so I'm sure he will be along to post his take on not just the Ohlins, but the other changes he's specced to get to this stage.

What I can say is that it will be very well informed feedback from the owner. He came from the previous generation, and in fact still owns his GT86. He's covered 13k miles from new in his GR86, and other than us fitting our C-TEC front pipe back exhaust approx 9k miles ago, this is the first round of significant upgrades, and these recent mods are all chassis performance based. So, he is very experienced with both GT86 and GR86, and has both road and track experience in both models.

 

[AEG86]

Id be interested to hear of the owners thoughts on these. I think the car as standard goes down bumpy roads rather well at speed as it is but these must offer a performance unknown to the stock setup..