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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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Steve, Host
Alright, I've decided that I'm going to go with a tein s.tech spring with koni yellows in the miata. It should offer a good ride and noticably better handling for the most part. The price is good too. I found the shocks and springs for a touch under 600, so I'm pretty excited. When that's done, I'm going to be getting another racing seat for the passenger side, just because having a tan passenger seat and a black bucket is kinda silly. Also, on that note, one of the passenger-seat-mounting bolts was stripped to hell and back, so that'll be replaced as well.
I'm very interested to see what the IS300 can do at an auto-x as well as a lapping day. It definitely has the power and braking abilities that'll make people say "whoa," but the handling is going to be strange. It's pretty softly sprung (eibach prokits), has stock shocks (Tokiko Illuminas will probably be their replacements), but has large sway bars (1.25" front, .75" back, both adjustable).
My friend has a greddy turbo in his miata.
That IS300. Is that 300HP? Would be a great touring car.
Cheers
Charlie
The IS300 is just the entry level into the Lexus (toyota luxury brand) line. the 300 denotes a 3 liter engine. The one that I have, however, is supercharged and should be making ~300 hp at the wheels.
Last year at the SCCA Solo2 Nationals at Topeka an IS300 took 2nd place in DSP (the class my Integra is in) and took everyone by surprise. It had 900lb springs (front or rear, can't remember) and guess which coilover setup it used? The Advance Designs! 1st of course was Dave Fauth with his '95 325 Bimmer. In an interview, Dave said that they (Bimmerhaus I think) had done every single mod to his Bimmer that is allowed in the rulebook.
I was suprised to see that the Lexus also had pretty large tires. I think they said they were 255's or 275's! That's a big tire for a relatively small car like that but the wider the better for auto-x. It seems the IS300's fender wells can accomodate very large tires. I 've been looking for last year's SCCA Sports Car magazine that described the Lexus but I can't find it. My wife probably threw it out.
I assume the Teins are used? $600 is not bad at all. Try those out first. I think you 'll be happy auto-xing the IS300 but in reality it won't be one of the leaders in Street Mod. There are ~400h EVOs, STIs and M3s out there in SM that are are VERY fast so I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. Just go out and have fun. You should be able to hold your own though. Also be ware of those little '92-95 Civic Hatchbacks with Type-R or GSR turbo motors. They are hard to beat too because they are very light and take turns very fast.
Your main advantage will be tires. You can fit larger tires than they can. Of course this is all assuming you 're willing to change over to R compound tires. Your street tire days are over my friend. You have an SM car now!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I don't mean to sound cynical. I understand your enthusiasm though. I 'd feel the same way.
This is not your typical "racer forum". People usually come here asking for advice on what performance brake pads to use or what kind of header or sway bar to get. Even engine mods are seldomly discussed because there are other forums out there much more technical and more suited for racers and hard-core enthusiasts.
Yes, the Word Challenge with the SCCA touring & GT classes is very popular here in the US and usually gets pretty good coverage on the SPEED cable TV channel.
The extend of my experience is an SCCA Solo2 divisional championship event. I usually just compete regionally. I have never gone to the National Championships because I know my limitations and that I don't have a competitive car in the class I 'm in. I am however an instructor in 3 different Solo2 regional clubs, 2 of them SCCA. I 'm probably the most experienced amateur racer you will find on this forum and most of the other Edmund's forums. In the 6+yrs I 've been on this forum (I created this), I think you are the first road racer that we 've had and definitely the first person to say "go sign up for road racing events in Canada!" We are not that kind of people here I wish I was! We don't even do it in our own country
I think your enthousiasm for road racing might be shared in other Honda/Acura specific or race forums. By all means though please stay and feel free to post as much as you want. Your posts are different and refreshing from what we are used to
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Actually, I'll just give you the specifics of my plan and look at your feedback:
Block:
-'98, LS - already got it, haven't pulled it apart
-ARP Head studs
-OEM gaskets/misc. parts all around
-OEM crankshaft (I'll have the machine shopo look at mine and see if it'll hold
-ACL main Bearings rods
Head:
-'96 LS, already got it - all the OEM parts look really nice and even though the cam shafts are perfect I was considering buying some turbo cams for $300
Bolt ons:
-Intake, headers, aftermarket throttle body, AEM fuel rail & pressure regulator, used turbo eclipse fuel injectors.
FI: T3 turbo, haven't figured out specifics b/c I want to get this new motor in my car first but basically no more than 6-7psi w/BOV, intercooler, the works...
I am very close to just replacing all of the internals that need to be changed with OEM - pretty much just rods & pistons & piston rings but if it's really worth it to spend the extra money on forged, and I can do it without any type of sleeving than I am game... otherwise I'll go with a fully rebuilt stock motor (cheap & reliable) - which will get me to turbo sooner! What do you guys think?
Make sure to refresh the head with new seals and valve guides. That'll be good for it. I'd hold off on the turbo cams until the turbo is actually on, just because it'll make crappy power in N/A trim.
The boltons look good, but I'd personally do the throttle body, an intake manifold, and MAYBE a 2.5" exhaust. All the other stuff will be replaced when the turbo kit is put on.
As far as the injectors go, you'll have to do a little fabrication to have the injectors fit into the bungs. I believe that the plastic o-rings the injector fits into will have to be opened up to accept the injectors. Oh yeah, you'll need a computer to control them.
If you're going to be going with 6-7 psi, I think you'll be fine with a stock buildup (with the ARP head studs and connecting rod studs). No need to go with forged anything. Good luck and keep us updated!
Garados, please tell me more about this "plastigage" tecnique; is it something I can do myself?
PS - I like what I heard from you... I'd feel so much more comfortable going with a fully rebuilt motor thats blueprinted just the way that huge Car Corporation's R&D team intended for it to be.
RE: Inatake Manifold, throttle body... I'm not to worried about that b/c I can change it once the motor is in the car.
I'll make sure to get the ARP rod studs u mentioned too.
Should I upgrade the actual fuel pump before the turbo? Is there any point? I was just going to get a Walboro when I'm ready for turbo...
Hmmm... micropolishing, interesting... is there anything else the shop can fix besides honing, decking, hot tanking?
As far as fuel pumps go, you'll have to see how much power you're pushing with your setup. There are two ways to get more fuel into the cylinders.
1) bigger injectors
2) bigger fuel pump
3) I know I said two, but you can put bigger injectors and fuel pump in there at the same time.
Anyways, with the injectors and a stock fuel pump, there is the possiblity that the fuel pump just runs out of pep. This is realized when the injector duty cycle is low, say they're open for 50% of a cycle (A cycle is from initial opening to just before the second opening) and you're running lean.
To tell if an injector is stressed, look and see if they're open all the time and if you're running lean.
For the machine shop, tell them to bore the cylinders a little bit, say 5 thousandths over as well. This will get you fresh cylinder to work with for the break in. It will also get rid of any imperfections in the actual shape of the cylinder. This, of course, requires the use of oversized pistons. You can find OEM pistons that are overbore through Honda/Acura, so it's really no big deal.
Make sure the shop bores, hones, and decks the block and also makes sure the head is flat. Last thing you need is a block that's flat and a warped head.
"To tell if an injector is stressed, look and see if they're open all the time and if you're running lean. "
-How do I see if they're open all the time? I haven't gotten the injectors yet, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just get some brand new ones that are gaurunteed to fit Hondas instead of getting used Eclipse ones that need to be retrofitted. What do you think? If so, than what size should I get given my set-up?
HEAD: Of course I'm gonna deck/hot tank the head too - Is replacing the valve stems/seals/guides something I can do myself? My motor guy actually recommended the exact same thing for the head. Hey, while it's open do you think I should spend the extra $300 getting some black nitrated or stainless steel valves? I remember when I blew my headgasket on this B18A about 3-4 valves were cajun cooked and thats the last thing I want but the stock valves that came with the head look beautiful (no imperfections) so I dunno.
Finally, I have yet to visit a machine shop. I plan on visiting more than one before I blow a grand on the blue printing/micropolishing/honing/decking/hot tanking/etc. - Is there anything in particular I should look for in search of a good machine shop? Any questions I should ask?
To replace the stuff in the head, you're going to have to take the thing apart, and that entails: compressing the springs, taking off the retainers, dropping the valve out, replacing the seals and guides, blah blah blah. You can do it by yourself, but I didn't =P If you want to have a little more insurance, get stainless steel exhaust valves. It's the exhaust valves that get roasted when things get out of control.
To find a good machine shop, ask around. Go to different car shops that send stuff out to be machined and ask who they send them out to. I'd recommend going to a reputable racing shop and see who they'd recommend. My stuff ended up being shipped about 100 miles north of my hometown to a guy that had been doing machine work for ~30years or so and had a bunch of CNC machines.
Yah I've heard RC injectors are good too.
OK- thnks for the advice on the machine shop.
Totally unrelated: BACK TO SUSPENSION!! :surprise:
Here's one component I completely looked over: Front traction bar! My understanding is that it's three light weight but strong bars that replace the front crossmember and eliminate wheel hop. If it's lighter than the front crossmember than I'm sure it must improve acc./handling/stopping too... They sell one for my car for $450, it's called Prostreet Full-Race bar... I wonder if this is a worthwhile addition considering I'm heavy into handling with this car... also: do any of you have any experience with a traction bar? $450 is a lot of money that could go the turbo, I'm thinking maybe I should just hold off... what do you guys think?
90gs: I don't have any experience with the black nitrated valves, so I won't comment =P As far as the stainless steel ones go, they're quite durable and should be able to handle a bit of heat. They won't change the flow characteristics of the head, so don't worry about that. Of course, you could get the valves that are a little bit ... thicker, and they'll increase compression, but not by much.
For the traction bars, I'd hold off. If anything, get better shocks and new motor mount inserts. I believe you can get the inserts for the mounts as well as the torque mounts. I did the torque mount inserts (~$40 shipped) and my wheel hop vanished. If I had to do it again, though, I'd do the mount inserts as well.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Regardless, I'll take ur guy's advise about the traction bar, just a few more follow up Q's though: First where do u find it for uinder $450?? 2nd) one thing that turned me off from motor mounts was the vibration @ idle (its my street car too) would the vibration be similar with the traction bar?? One of the other bigger reasons I was interested was b/c it LOOKS a lot lighter than the front crossmember but they don't really advertise the weight loss. Do you have any idea of the weight diff.?? Obviously I'd love to lose a few pounds off the front.
Side note: I'm feeling so much more comfertable with my cars settings now. I just took a five series yesterday on some hairpin turns. I can really see how important these suspension mods are. I want to learn more about balancing my weight. Do any of you know how to measure/weigh each corner of the car so you can acheive a 50/50 distribution? I'm going to relocate the battery when I do the swap.... which reminds me... is there a weight diff. from B18a to B18b??? All I can think of is maybe a bigger IM unless the block is heavier...
Where do the torque mount inserts go?? is that another thing to save for the swap?? will it increase the vibration sig.??? IT's street car too, girls already are nervous to ride with me?!?!! :P :P
I don't think a 50/50 weight distribution is ideal for a front-wheel drive car. I think it's something like 60/40. I could be wrong though. Hopefully Harry will clarify.
I have no experience with the traction bars, so I can't say if you'll lose any weight or not.
The motor mounts do make the car vibrate at idle and you feel it through the steering wheel. Mine recently started making some rattling noises at between idle which is 550RPM and 1,000RPM. I think the poly inserts are getting somewhat loose after a dozen race events or the factory rubber ones are destroyed causing some movement. You won't get vibration while revving or once you get moving, BUT they do produce noticeably more noise when the car is in motion. It sounds like additional road noise. It was immediately noticeable to me. Unfortunately it's normal and everyone gets that. After a couple of few days it was like it wasn't even there because I got used to it and accepted it. Didn't pay any attention to it I guess but my brother got in my car the other day and was like: "what's all that noise? is that road noise?" I used to think his Type-R was noisy (which actually is a lot more than all other Integras) but now mine is rediculous because of the polyurethane bushings and mount inserts, suspension, tires, etc. The rear one is the one that made the car noisier. We did the other 2 at my friend's house because he had all the tools and that tall thing (can't remember what it's called) that you put under the motor to move it up to get slack and remove the mounts. Well I only had very slight vibration with those 2 alone and they did help with wheel hop. We did them without taking the motor off, they weren't that bad but the rear one was a real pain and it got late and decided to quit. A few days later I went to a Porsche shop around the corner and had the guy do it. It was really tough without taking the motor out. I then read on H-T that everyone was having a really tough time getting the rear mount out so you put the insert on. Some guys said it took them 3-4 hrs and were cursing the whole time. Plus your hands get cut up too because there isn't much room. The trick is to push the motor up a full 2"! It wasn't till that rear one was in that the vibration got much more noticeable.
The "inserts" are actually "outers". They go on the outside and around the rubber insert. I guess they are inserts because they 're still within the metal mount bracket(s). There are 2 polyurthane pieces for each mount. They go on either side of the rubber mount, sort of like hugging it or like another layer. They fit like a glove though. Really nice fitment. All they do is reinforce the rubber ones. Some of my torque steer is gone too after I installed them but if I rev past 3500 RPM I still get some wheel hop. They didn't totally eliminate it but the wheel hop doesn't last as long either when I get overexited and launch at higher RPM's. So they definitely helped me launch a little quicker especially at 3K RPM. Before I had trouble at ~2.3K RPM or higher specially if it was cool out.
You 'll definitely need the poly mounts when you install the turbo. They should be much cheaper than the traction bar if you can get someone to help you do it. If you have the motor out of the car it's easier and you should be able to handle that yourself. No special tools needed. Just basic stuff.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I wouldn't worry about that too much because you don't race. Besides if you have another person in the car your corner weighting goes out the window.
When you corner weigh your car you sit in it and you alone. The car should be the way you race it, with the amount of gasoline that you race with (1/4 tank, 1/2 tank or whatever), the spare tire out, empty trunk, no CD's, etc. Our cars are pretty much completely empty when we race and that's how it is when we do the corner weighting. So it would be very hard for you to keep the car's weight the same at all times when you drive on the street. Even if you corner weighted your Integra with the spare and jack in the car, most of the time the car wouldn't be the same weight as when it was corner weighted because you may have additional every day items in the car, groceries, people or other things, and especially a different amount of gas in the tank which throws the #s way off. So don't worry about the battery. Leave it where it is. It won't help. Most people move the battery because they don't have an adjustable height suspension. You have coilovers now don't you? You corner weight your car by lowering one side or raising another. No need to move things around.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I do NOT have coilovers... I've got the Tokico blues and HP spring set (has been working very well for me BTW) and I'm pretty happy with the suspension setup right now, my car is very predictable.
Harry, I still don't understand how to corner weight your car!?!? do you need coilovers to do it!?!? :confuse:
Oh yeah. My cd deck is in the lock mode or whatever it is and it asked to put in a code but my sister decided to try it herslef and now all it says is err-3, anyone know?
It's much easier to cornerweight with an adjustable height suspension. BTW, I had my GSR put up on the scales to see how balanced it was when it was pretty much stock and had a fixed height suspension. It was 50.1/49.9 with me in it. Not bad at all. I think Honda made it that way and compensated for an adult at the driver's seat. The suspension was H&R OE Sport springs (.75-1" drop) and Koni Yellows. The car felt very well balanced and neutral with that suspension and a 19mm rear sway bar. Afterwards I installed the GC coilover kit and I could tell the corner weighting was all messed up because I lowered all 4 corners by eye (counted the threads too) and there is a margin of error no matter what you do.
Also getting each corner dropped equally doesn't mean your car will achieve optimal cross weight distribution. That's a myth. Only when you start dropping one side and raising another, you achieve 50/50 cross weight distribution. At the end all 4 corners end up being anywhere from 1/2 to sometimes 2 turns (threads on the coilover sleeve) off from each other! It also depends how your bushings are wearing out and how the shocks and springs settle. Not all 4 corners settle the same.
If your car feels good I wouldn't mess with it. Leave it the way it is. I kept messing with it, the ride height, everything and kept making it worse. Most people fall in this category. So take my advice and leave it alone. More chances are you 'll make it worse than better by trying to corner weight but you have so little to adjust that I doubt it will make much difference in your case, where in mine I can make huge adjustments.
Also another thing you should know, is that cornerweighting is not as important on the street as it is in autocross. Cornerweighting helps a lot in the slalom and generally in auto-x when very fast left to right transitions are required where you don't want the car's rear to snap or loop around. You don't do that on the street. If you 're weaving in and out of traffic very fast sort of simulating a slalom, then I don't want to talk to you :P hehe
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Could it be some of these parts were missing and the shop that dropped the motor in installed some cheap 3d party ones? Is it possible someone put regular 87 octane gas in it?
As far as the stereo goes, you will only get it to work if you have the code. Disconnect the battery for about a minute or two and reconnect it. The error code will go away and it should say "enter code" or something similar. Enter the correct code. If you don't have it, after 3 tries, it gives you that same error your sister got.
Do all the lights come on the dashboard when you first start it up? Like the airbag/SRS light, ABS, etc? Do they go away promptly just like before?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Don't worry, I'm not going to mess with the corner weighting, it sounds too complicated and I haven't heard of enough people doing it successfully. Plus I haven't upgraded my shox/springs yet. When I do I know exactly what I'm going to get though.... I believe they're called "DB2"'s and they have an adjustable ride height thats independant from the spring compression, I guess a lot like the TEIN's. They're 1,200 but I rode with them in my friends 4D DA and they were unbelievable. He was changing lanes on almost a hairpin turn at about 70mph. :P His tires didn't even leave the ground!!!
My main priority now is putting this B18b together fast!!!!! My thermostat went out on my B18a (the one thats in there now) and this stupid old motor overheated again!!!! This just happened a couple of days ago and I can already tell it's eating oil AND coolant like a fat guy at a buffet I showed my new machine shop guy my rods and pistons and it seems like I just need one more OEM rod (the guy I bought it from threw it pretty bad) and than 4x new pistons & rings (he said that the sides/skirts were pretty chewed up). So since I've got to get 4 anyway I think I'm going to pick up some WIseco low compressions...Wiseco sells them at 8.4:1 & 9.5:1
Garados: I should go with the 9.5:1 right?
I'm bringing in the bare block 2maro and see if I need to get it overbored. And now the financial aspect is starting to kick me pretty hard. I want to balance the rotating assembly (obviously I can't sacrifice my drivability to pull my stock pressure plate & flywheel, plus they're 15yrs old each, plus I wanted to get a lightweight flywheel anyway persuant to Harry's recommendation so I've got to order all that stuff too...
What do you guys think about Exedy? ACT?
I'd recommend ACT, just because that's the only one I have experience with. I had the Heavy Duty pressure plate with a Street/Strip clutch. That's the HDSS package, just incase you were wondering =P It was very streetable, held really nicely, took lots of abuse (8k rpm clutch slips ... don't ask, I was young and stupid ... now I'm just young ... and mildly stupid), and was overall a really nice clutch kit.
Good luck with the buildup and continue with the updates
So, I just installed a new suspension setup on the miata. Tein S-Tech springs on koni yellows. It's absolutely amazing compared to the stock setup, but I found that the front driver bumpstop is GONE, so I need to take that one back out and put a new stop in.
Anyways, onto impressions. First off, the parts. The konis were everything I hoped they'd be: easy to adjust, easy to change height, and overall was a good product. The Tein springs were really nice for the money. They have plastic/rubber coatings on the bottom and top coils, so it should stay quiet for a while.
Installation was fairly straight forward. About 1.5 hours per corner in the front, 1 each in back. The front was a little tricky. I had to break the front balljoint loose that connects the control arms. Other than that, it was a standard install. When it came time to put the Teins on the konis, they were much shorter than the stockers, like 2-3 inches shorter than stock in front, and more than 5 in the back! I put the springs on the stock location in the front and about a quarter inch higher in back, just to save some suspension travel.
After installation. Put the car down and I was VERY surprised. The front was about an inch higher than before. The back was the same height as before. The Teins offer .75-1" drop all around ... so that tells me that my stock suspension (konis with stock springs), especially in the front, was SHOT.
Driving impressions. On full hard, the car is much flatter and much more predictable around rougher surfaces, and sticks to the road much more than before, especially on bumps and such. Under braking and acceleration, the car doesn't pitch up as much. I don't know if I'm feeling the car correctly, but it seems as if braking is much more efficient (it stops real good now).
Real driving impressions: on full hard, turn in is wonderful, stability is good, still understeers a little bit (gnarly front sway bar :P ), and full-throttle exits are very controlled, with a little bit of neutral sliding on the way out. On soft, the car soaks up bumps very well. On railroad tracks in a turn, the car tracks nicely, whereas before it would skitter and drift out of the turn.
Final review: tein did a good job with the springs, they're very nicely packaged and the spring rates are very nice for a street car, but having them be a little stiffer would be nice. The drop is reasonable, but even so, I'll choose travel over looks anyday of the week. Konis ... well, there's nothing really to say. They're a great shock.
Last things to do: get the front bumpstop installed, get sticky rubber, go auto-x when the season starts up again ..., oh yeah, and get an alignment
As far as the car handling better with the bumpstop, it means that you are riding on the bumpstop when turning. That's not supposed to be the case. You 're only supposed to hit the bumpstop when you go over a large bump or a pothole. This means the springs rates are too low/soft. I 'm not saying oh no, take the springs off the car, etc. Many people ride on the bumpstops. It's ok to touch them a little under hard cornering, but in auto-x it usually hurts your times. The tire should not have scraped on the fender without the bumpstops. I really think the springs are too soft and I would do one of the following in that order of preference:
1. Cut the front bumpstops in half (it's usually recommended by the spring manufacturer)
2. Raise the front springs on a higher spring perch (like 1/2" or so) on the shock.
Another strong possibility is the front Konis are old and worn out and are compressing easily and excessively. I had this happen to both my front Konis after 4yrs of racing and abuse. The rebuild took care of that. I also found out that the lower your car is the faster the Konis will go unless you get them shortened. So you 're doing the right thing by not going too low.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
The koni's are new, and the fronts can only be taken up about another 1/4 of an inch, so i don't think it'll help much. maybe when I get a little more adventurous, i'll pick up some ground controls with higher spring rates and see how it works.
I dropped off my new driver-side fender today to get painted black, it should be done saturday morning, if I'm lucky. I think it's been quite long enough, as the replacement fender has been sitting in the garage for about a year now. I think it'll be nice having a smooth fender instead of a crumpled fender that was banged out with a hammer.
So anyways, I'm also thinking about unbolting the rollbar and welding it to the chassis. I don't know if I should really do that, though. Perhaps re-aligning the bar mounts and tightening the bolts would be the better option. Anyways, the reasoning behind this is because I believe the chassis is twisted. This being said because neither door seals against the hard top, the driver side door doesn't close quite right, and the back passenger side of the car is just a little bit higher than the rest of the car.
Anyways, I hope everybody had a good and safe Christmas and New Years. Hopefully y'all start posting again =P
Take care,
Phoy
Anyways, boom1, 20-30hp from two mods on a n/a gsr would be a very overexaggerated statement. Now, I could see that with cams ... after upping the compression and getting a freer flowing intake system(intake, throttle body, intake manifold) as well as the necessary exhaust modifications. I'd say that my old gsr got about 10 hp from ITR cams on top of the intake, header, test pipe, and exhaust along with the 7pound flywheel, mild headwork, widening of the intake valve seats, and new stainless steel exhaust valves. It could keep up with ITR's, so I'd say that those mods were good for 20-25 hp, if that.
Anyways, where is everybody else?
Updates: block is done, balancing rotating assembly. going with a T03/T04e hybrid turbo and I'm gonna have the IC tubing custom made to fit my FMIC and my DSM BOV. I figure I'm only about $1,000-2000 away from having a 2100lb g2 w/~220HP & 190 ft./lbs torque... wooohoo!!! :surprise:
No blockgaurd- I heard if they don't do it right I can lose the block to warped sleeves or overheating issues b/c of cooling probs. plus I heard that the stock sleeves should be good to 15psi- and I have the ARP head studs too. The guys on H-T seem to boost a lot harder on stock internals so Im not too worried.
I haven't even gotten to the head but I plan on doing a Crower valve train w/turbo cams... the machine shop wants $300-400 to put the valvetrain in and seat the valves and deck the head... is that reasonable??? seems high!!
I want to get the $150 Full Race IC-8.0" - I want to paint it black (sleepermode) but I've heard you can get it anonized (do u know about this?) and it has a similar effect. I haven't bought it yet... open to suggestions
The 300-400 bucks sounds about right for that work ... going off of 75/hour, that's 4-5 hours of work there, and that's about right for all of that stuff. Of course, you could always assemble the head yourself, and only take the bare head there to get it decked.
As far as an anodized intercooler, I'm not sure. Haha, I've been out of the honda game too long =P Anyways, if neither of those don't work, perhaps some black pantyhose or stalkings to put over the intercooler :P
I see we made a monster out of 90gs! Mostly your fault Phoy because you recommended he rebuild the motor and mod it I only recommended sway bars and a spring/shock combo and look what happened!
So 90gs how much have you spent so far? What will be the total after the turbo is in? Just curious.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Look at my GSR. It went up 12.4whp with just an AEM CAI and when I added a basic DC Sports 4-2-1 header it went up another 5.3whp. A total of ~17.8whp, and that's with a stock exhaust and factory CAT! The 8.9lb flywheel freed up about 2whp too.
I 'm hoping with the addition of the JDM 4-1 race header (2.5" collector), 2.5" resonated T1R Test Pipe, plus one of the best 2.5" catback exhausts out there for Hondas, the T1R, I should easily see an extra 10whp, or a total or 25-28whp. The test pipe alone I 'm told is 5whp over an OEM CAT. T1R claims 9-11whp for their exhaust for B-series. We 'll see. I got all the parts I 'm just missing the donut which I 'm told the S2K donut for the collector works well so I ordered one. If I get 165-170whp I 'll be happy. I 'm at 158.3whp now with really not much if you think about it, up from 139whp stock. 49k mi. on the odo now. The last dyno was taken when the car had 43k mi.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
$$$$ I don't want to talk about it!!! This IS Phoy's fault. I did not think I was going to blow this much but it was just like...hmmmm... $100 for one more OEM rod or $300 for 4 billet rods, until I eneded up upgrading pretty much the entire block minus the crank! Lets see just for the block heres what it looked like:
$520- in and out of the machine shop, included grinding the crank, bore, hone, hot tank, piston to rod assembly (sorry Phoy I didn't feel good about the whole Oven&Freezer trick - at least not over $50!) and blance the rot.[non-permissible content removed].
$400- 12.5 flywheel, ACT press. plate & ACT 6-puck
$385- Wiseco 9.5:1
$310- Eagle Billet
$100- Kings bearings
$30-50 worth of imported 6-packs (usually full sail) for motivational purposes.
Oh and $95 for the ARP Head studs which I haven't used yet.
Ouch... no wonder I haven't been eating out recently!!!
Also, I want to re-enforce my current Oil pan since it's just lying in my living room and collecting dust. I think also won't I need it tapped for an oil feed line for the turbo or is that just for LS-VTEC? Either way maybe u guys can point me in the right direction (i.e. what kind of metal to be used, does it need a coating?, who could do it, etc.)
for the oil pan, it will need to be tapped for the oil lines. I believe it's steel, so reinforcing it shouldn't be a problem. I guess if you want to, you could put another piece of steel behind (perhaps a 1x1" square) and weld it in.
Man, I feel dumb for not getting an s2000 now =P "It's so much fun, vtec this, blah blah blah" whatever! My miata is definitely a ton of fun, but if it had the power of the is300 (250whp), it'd be a nasty car to drive ... and I mean that in a good way ^_^. Hmm, perhaps a turbo kit of my own is in order. Should only be about 3500 bucks.
I can't believe I said "only 3500." Hmm, perhaps after a summer internship =P The kit should make about 180hp at the wheels after it's tuned, but how much tuning could there be with an AFPR? Haha, anyways, that'll definitely come after the new springs, frame reinforcements, and a new flywheel and clutch.
So harry, what do you think? I'll be changing out my Tein s-techs with ground controls (yes, I'm addicted to them now ... and that's your fault, Harry). I think going from ~250 lb/in front and ~180 lb/in in back to ~375 front, ~250 back will be a good upgrade. Just to keep me off the bumpstops. Also I might get a rear sway bar, but we'll see how tailhappy the car gets with the new springs.
Glad to see the regulars posting again ^_^ Take care everybody.
Yeah the S2K is awesome. I can't wait to be able to afford one. Unfortunately the only way I see me getting one is if I sell the GSR or find another job closer. I do 40K+ mi/yr. That's why I 'm stuck with buying Civics for the last 12yrs
I 've driven and raced modified Type-R's, GSR's, Civics, BMW's (don't forget I 'm an auto-x instructor at 3 different motorsports clubs), modded WRX's, Camaros, etc. but the S2K beats them all and is my favorite. Oh I 've also autox-ed (all day) my friend's 333hp '03 M3. I 'd still take the S2K for auto-x racing. For the track (road racing) I 'd probably take the M3 though. The S2K is just unbelievable for the price, especially like low-20's for a used on I autocrossed an '05 this past summer. Its quick steering is so precise (even with factory tires), it took me by surprise, ie: the fast turn-in.. the brakes are unbelievable. I found myself braking too soon and having to get on the gas again! (I must 've looked like an idiot - I still beat its owner's time by a whole second though). I thought the Type-R had excellent brakes but the S2K beats everything I 've driven, plus that 5.3/5.4s 0-60 (I saw a road test 13.6 in the 1/4!) is exhilerating too, but most of all I loved the handling and the way the car behaved. The sound, the smooth fast shifter, all that. The S2000 is in A stock which has the same PAX (in SCCA) as my GSR in DSP class. That means a stock S2K is supposedly as fast as my modified GSR. Well let me tell you, that's bull. I pulled the same times as my GSR with that S2K that I had never raced or driven before, and the S2K was on factory street tires!! My GSR had race tires. I 'm glad I didn't drive an S2K with R compound tires. That would have been sick. I would have gone out and bought one the next day or next week probably and gotten deep into debt Around here S2K's that come out to race with R tires, come very close to FTD and we did have one that got FTD once or twice. All this one had was Koni single adj. shocks, rest was all stock, hehe. You should see the faces of the M3 owners who are in the same class as the S2Ks :-) They 're thinking "I spent $50-55K on my M3 only to lose to a $30K Honda with 100hp less".
BTW, I saw a dyno of an S2K that had installed a 70mm (it's around a 2.8") T1R catback exhaust and nothing else. 16whp gain! Too bad the exhaust is almost $1K though. My T1R (2.5") was close to $700. I like the 2.2L S2K's because you don't have to wind them to 9K RPM to get the power like the older 2.0L ones. The redline on '03 models & up (I think, it might be '04+) is at 8K like the GSR's, so you get the power earlier on and man does it rev fast. I couldn't believe I was hitting the rev limiter so quickly in 2nd. But you 're still doing over 60mph when it hits 8 grand. I think around 62mph is 2nd gear top speed which is not bad at all. I also flew through the finish lights hitting the REV limiter. I was one of the very few people to do that because I was standing by the finish for about an hour and only 2-3 other (very fast) cars did that and one or two that had the final gears swapped out. I know if that S2K had R tires I would 've gotten FTD that day. So now you know why I can't wait to get one I got FTD once with my GSR when all the conditions were perfect (tight course, etc.) and my car was in top shape but I want to do it again and I know it's nearly impossible with the GSR so the S2K is actually the logical choice.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Yeah those spring rates look pretty good for the Miata. This guy I race with (he 's actually in the same class as me in a non-SCCA club!) has similar rates. I think he 's 375/300R though and he doesn't bottom out at all. He Miata is even lowered 1". Looks good though.
How did your IS300 get 250whp? Is it superchared? turbo? I forgot.. That's a lot of power for that relatively small car. What does your Lexus weigh? about 3,000lbs? Oh btw, we have a turbocharged Miata that puts down 170whp, or so its owner says. I think the guy said he 's using Mazdaspeed's small turbo or the same turbo that came out in the Mazdaspeed cars a couple of years ago. Anyway this car is very fast and handles very well. It's a '90 or '91 Miata. The guy is a really good driver too. He in SM2 of course. He gets very FAST times. The closest I 've been able to get to him was 1sec behind.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Harry- The used '98 B18b1 block w/ the crank, rods, pistons, oil pan and other misc. stuff cost me $180 - I think I'm going to save the three out of four rods that didn't spin a bearing and use them to rebuild my B18a once I pull it out for the swap (assuming I can match it up with the best 1 B18a rod thats in my car now... And than of course I'll use my current crank and block and get new pistons but honestly I'm not sure how much I can salvage since this motor has overheated about 4-5 times that I know of!!!
The 96 LS head I picked up complete w/ cams for $60 but the valve train is gonna cost me $350 + $140 for SS ex. valves and than another $350 to put all that shet in... oops and than prolly another $350-400 for the crower/crane cams... still don't know what kind to rock.
This beast is coming a long though. I sold my headers (after I smogged it) and I'm thinking that since I'm prolly just going to put this fully built motor in my chasis before I can afford all the turbo parts I'll just run the OEM headers... I'll lose HP but I will gain some torque- ahhh torque... I guess thats just the domestic in me
Harry, thanx 4 confirming my intuition about the S2K... I figure once I've maxed out this guy and I've got more cash to through around and the S2K gets older (~5-7yrs) I'll pick up an '04 or '04 - whichever has the 2.2 and just max out the suspension. Than, if I haven't killed myself in a horrible car wreck I'll be investing in a killer turbo set-up that should hopefully bring it up to par with $80,000+ cars (exotic europeans) and watch them get taken by an over modded honda!!! woohooo!! :P
Alright... getting ahead of myself again... as far as exhaust goes I really, really dont want it b/c I hate loud exhausts but if I do I'll prolly have my muffler shop do like a custom 2.5 straight pipe w/ the tailpipe tucked under my bumper for full sleeper mode... hehehehe! I'll be asking u about that soon enough though Harry, thanx again for all ur help!
Just remember if you 're going to go with a 2.5" exhaust and straight pipe, or anything bigger than 2.25", you will need a Type-R aftermarket header (or JDM ITR header) because they come with a 2.5" collector. You definitely don't want to stay with a regular header and 2.25" piping though. Even a 1/4" difference robs so much power from your car, torque too!
Also there are companies out there that make 2.5" mufflers with optional silencers that you can remove or add any time you want so noise won't be much of a problem even though it would still be louder than stock, it won't be that bad.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
-But I don't plan on getting any more headers! Good to know though but I was going to either use the stock exhaust manifold or a down pipe (once I have all the other turbo parts). I guess a good question to ask here is how small can I keep it without losing too much HP? My car will only be around 200-250 HP so I wanna stay away from anything bigger than 2.5" - I was thinking about getting the 2.5" Spoolin Peformance DP + than a custom exhaust w/CAT (im in Cali) and 2.5" tubing and prolly a couple of resonators as Garados suggested... Hey I wonder if I just ran 1-3 Resonators and no muffler if that would be quiter or what... the way I see it, mufflers weigh more than resonators, any help w/ this?