you got me there. I wouldn't know how to go about getting the hood opened if the cable got too loose or broken, let alone replacing the cable. I guess I 'd start by jacking the car up (get a $30-40 one from Sears if you don't already have one, well worth the money) and look to see if I can locate it although something tells me it's well hidden so thieves would have a hard time pulling it to pop the hood. Find a friend or someone that has an Integra technical manual. All the info on how to replace it should be in there. What year Integra do you have?
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Thanks for the reply. It is a 95. I have the jack, and most of the tools. I would have gone ot the library or the book store for the tech manual, but I am presently in Germany (along with my car). I could leave it as is until March to work on it when I get home, but I think the customs people will want to see it opened before I can bring it back in.
You could try to take the cable out of the handle. You'll see that you have to rotate the cable down, then the cylinder/cable is free to come out of the handle. After that, then you can pull the cable as far as it'll go. Hopefully the hood will release.
To take out or replace the cable, you'll have to do that step, then go into the driver-side fender. To remove the lining, it's just a few screws and then you pop out the housings. Once the lining is out, you'll see the cable up there, hopefully. It's held in by two or three zip ties. Just clip them, then slowly start to pull the cable out through the firewall. Then, you'll need to get the hood open for this next step, so hopefully you could with the step up at the top. The cable is then on the underside of the radiator support held on by some of those zip tie thingies. then you can pull the cable through, then you'll see how to take it off the hood release.
Then to install the new one, just connect it to the hood release, then route the cable in the engine bay, don't go through the fender. You'll see the main wire harness going through this rubber boot lookin thing. Cut that boot and you should be able to the route the new cable through there and connect it up to the handle. To get it through that hole, straighten out a clothes hanger, then tape the cable to the hanger. Then push the hanger through the hole, then go into the cabin and pull that hanger out slowly, and it should all work out. Good luck ^_^
i've done it once =P That was really painful cause I didn't want to take out the lining. Also, cutting that boot really sucked. I spent ... 20 minutes on it? Maybe it would've helped if my knife was sharp, huh =P The reason I routed my cable was because I found that if you yank on it from the fender well, the hood opens =\ So, just a little security and peace of mind for me.
Oh, during this winter break, I've been a little busy working on the car. I took out the engine and tranny, and sent the engine off to be rebuilt with new forged arais pistons (stock compression, oversized 10 or 20 thousand) and every bearing will be inspected, cleaned, and/or replaced.
I took a look at the bottom end, and I had scoring on one of the journal caps for the crank, but it wasn't too bad. The crank itself was perfect, so i think that bearing will just be replaced. The thrust bearings were looking good as well, it was a good, tight fit, but they'll probably be replaced as well.
The connecting rods looked good, their bearings looked good, and the didn't seem to have any abnormal wear and tear on them. The pistons also looked in good condition. The machining on the skirts was still there so they weren't abused too badly. I think my oil burning issues are coming from the rings and just extra wear on the walls from previous owners who probably took the car to redline while it was still cold or whatever. I took a close look at one of the pistons, and I found that the compression ring was all pitted. I don't know why, but it was. The oil ring looked pretty tired, and I think all of them are like that.
The head. Oh man, that thing looks nice. Although, I had an oil trail leading into the #1 cylinder. I don't know what that means. In the #4 cylinder, I burned two exhaust valves. I know it's from running lean, because the spark plug was all blistered and the ceramic was peeling off =\ so those two valves will be replaced, and I need to find some way to clean that injector. The head will be cleaned up, get all the carbon off of it, have the valves at the right height, etc. etc. Just a basic head job.
Gwah, the car has been sitting there for the last two and a half weeks. I'm getting all shifty-eyed and twitchy because I haven't been able to drive anything that even resembles my car. I have driven my dad's SVT Contour, and it handles incredibly well even with worn out shocks, but the body roll and the electronic seat... it's just unacceptable =P
Oh, and talking about the SVT. I was taking this turn pretty quickly, just trying to get my fix of lateral acceleration. Anyways, it's a nice sweeping right, with a decreasing-radius tail end. Anyways, there's a car that had just turned out into the inside lane. I'm in the outside. So, I'm hauling the chili around this turn, and I'm about 200 feet behind this fool, and he changes lanes and puts on the brakes. Initial reaction was to tap the brakes to get some oversteer and bleed of some speed. I wasn't expecting the car to oversteer at all, but it behaved just like my car ^_^ So, I bled off enough speed to allow me to get in the inside lane, floor it, bring the back end in, and then continue through the rest of the turn. Hehe, my dad was soooooo freaked out, but everything turned out okay, so it was all good. He then complimented me on my driving, saying that my auto-xing and high performance car control clinics and lapping days have really taught me how to control cars ^_^ So yeah, that's basically what I've been up to.
You are busy! Who did you send the motor to? How much does something like that cost?
The oil trail into cylinder#1 could be from a bad O ring gasket (you should have 1 for each plug). How many miles are on the motor & tranny again? Forged pistons hey? Looks like you 'll be racing in SM this year!
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I spent close to 3000 for the parts, machining, and extra parts to get the friggin thing running. So, here's the rundown...
Took the engine and tranny out, disassembled the engine, then took the disassembled block and assembled head to a local guy who has a fleet of spec miatas that are just incredible. I trust him because the miatas have never had any engine failures. He built all of them by hand, but sent them out to be machined out of the city. Really quality work. Got everything back and here's the setup.
block bored 20 over SRP pistons: stock compression, 20 over, spun-forged, floating wrist pin, mounted on stock gsr rods. JE piston rings, gapped for high-rpm endurance racing and higher boost levels ferrea stainless-steel exhaust valves all new gaskets, bearings, seals. The crank was polished.
I also got a late x-mas present from my bro. I black on black Apex'i v-afcII ^_^
Well, since I exceeded my budget by 2000 bucks, i decided to build the motor myself. Everything went together smoothly, but there were some things that sucked pretty badly. The rings were first. I spent a total of 20 hours grinding those friggin rings to their correct amount. Well, the bottom end came together nicely, all the bearings platigaged to the right specs, i lubed everything, put it all together, torqued it down, then put it into the car. I went to start the car, and it didn't turn ... at all. I don't understand, all the bearings plastigaged perfectly.
After many hours of cursing and fugging with the bottom end, I found that the connecting rod bearings were the wrong size. They were too wide and were rubbing against the crank, hence the binding. I went to Honda to get new ones, and got them the next day. Installed them, torqued down everything again, and started it, but it STILL didn't turn. Came to the conclusion that the mains were wrong, so the engine had to come out AGAIN so the crank could be removed to access the main bearings.
After disassembling the bottom end, the new bearings were put in, and they plastigaged fine as well. This time, however, I made sure the crank would spin, and it did, very easily. So, all of the timing marks lined up, did the proper tensioning procedure, and proceeded to button everything up.
Well, before the engine went back in, I went to check out and prime the bay to install the engine. Upon inspecting the rear torque mount, i found that it was almost completely torn out. So, i got new torque mounts inserts (polyurethane) all around. I got them from this guy out in NJ and was overnighted =P So the engine was then ready to go in and it went in pretty easily. The tranny was next to go in, all sensors connected, axles in, etc. etc., and that was earlier this evening. Then, with the fuel and ignition off, I cranked the engine and the oil pressure came up and it sounded really nice. I then turned the systems on, and cranked it over, and it started, and it was the best sound i have ever heard ^_^ A silky smooth purr, with a deep rumbling out of the exhaust and a slight sucking from the intake. Ah yes, that was good. So now it's been 2 months total and it's finaly running, and it's the best feeling to be behind teh wheel of my car again. So, that's about all. in 500 miles, I'll give a report. Take care everybody ^_^
You went through so much trouble, but it paid off! I would 've paid someone to do it only because I have the money. Someone who takes many Honda motors apart and puts them back together all the time. There are quite a few of those shops around that rebuild and soop up Honda engines, but they 're all in NYC and it's about 1.5hr drive for me. I don't know if it 'd be worth it for me to pay $1-2K grand in labor though. If I had someone do it everything you did, I 'm sure it 'd be around $5K. So how much whp do you expect? You have to get it on the dyno. I 'm really curious. Did you have a port & polish done on the head or port matching done? There 's so much to do!
A friend of mine that also auto-xes with me frequently, has a Civic ITR hybrid. All he did was head work and bought a new ECU. He sent the head out for port/polish as well. I think the ECU cost him and arm and a leg cause he sent that out to some company in Canada to have it programmed. He did nothing to the bottom end. The car pulled 194hp at the wheels! This Civic is very fast with the Type-R motor that's in it. He ran 13.6 with street tires with the stock ECU then and just the headwork. He has all top notch breathing apparatus though. Spoon exhaust & header (mucho $$)! He dynoed the car before and after the Spoon header and says he gained 8whp just from the header!! I 'm sure it has to do with the headwork he had done and the ECU. I doubt a stock Type-R motor gains 8whp with just a Spoon header. He came in 4th (or 5th?) at the Nationals last year. He raced in SM, Street Mod. He was up against dozens of supercharged M3s (E36 body) that put out 350hp or more (with all the engine mods they have on top of the S/C).
Anyway I 'm looking forward to your report after you break in your motor :-)
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I don't know what the deal is with my motor =\ It's really wierd. It RIPS up to 6k, at least =P That's what I'm up to now. I now have my power band back (2-5.5k), but I still need to keep the engine loaded, no cruising.
But yeah, to my knowledge, there were no porting, polishing, port matching, or other head work done. I need to talk to the guy, though, because it feels MUCH stronger than I remember. It could just be the presence of ring seal =P I had something stupid like 150 psi with a 20 psi variance for my compression check on the "old" engine. I'm curious to see if the new engine has higher numbers. Also, I'm not burning too much oil now, I think it has to do with the recent addition of VTEC and higher rpm's combined with a fresh block and bearings. I am really excited, just 200 miles left, then it'll be able to go up to 8000 rpm, which should be fun. Once that's done, I'll start the auto-x season out right ^_^
Oh, something really important has come up in my life. I finally have a steady job =P It's with the university's Science Fair division. They're really nice people, the job itself is wonderful, and I get fed often ^_^ So I'm hoping for some new wheels and tires before April. If not, then just new tires. I really want to get those darn 14" BMW wheels, but I don't know if it'll happen. If it does, I'll do one of two things.
Oh, final thing. I got the VAFC2 hooked up, and it works wonderfully, but I don't know how to tune it =P Haha, the guages are wonderful and I really like the warning system. I set it to blink at me when I pass 4k rpm, for no apparant reason other than "just because" =P anyways, that's all for now. I can't wait for the racing season to start up again ^_^
Hi everybody...its been a while I posted here. No news from cj? Thanks to gardos & Harry for keeping this alive...
Couple of updates about my 99 4 door GSR..... My Valentine One have been saving me regularly. I think it makes you a much more safer driver.... Wouldn't go out with out that. Its an office joke that I take my Valentine to meetings and even to the rest room!!!! he he
Got my second set of RE730's....I still have the old set. Planning to get another set of rims to put the old ones.
Replaced 4 stock brake pads with AXIS ultimates..... Very good upgrade for the money.
Replaced the rear sway bar with the Type-R and BSQ kit....Worth every minute I spent to install ( btw I took almost 4 hours including a trip to Home Depot to buya chisel to knock off the welded nut !!!!!!) Not sure why I waited so long to do this??? I had the Type-R sway bar sitting in my garage for the last 8 months!!!!
Considering that I am not a dedicated auto-x guy ( auto-x ed may be 3 times in the last 3,4 years) & a daily driver for my commute of 70 miles/day , what is next upgrade I should go for? AEM CAI or Suspension upgrades (Shocks/springs)? or anything else?
Haha, I need to get me a valentine1 =P Anyways, the rear swaybar is a great mod, isn't it. As for the brake pads, did you just do those? Or did you also do a brake fluid flush? If you didn't, new dot3/4 fluid would be really nice. I'd recommend valvoline synpower, but I'm not biased ^_^
As for your next upgrade, what do you want to do? For power, I would go with a set of cams and tuning. The car will be much livelier and you'll still have stock components showing. I should have done that from the start, but I followed the crowd and went with an intake (went back to stock) and exhaust (went back to stock, then back to modified). So if you want some more power, I'd go with cams and/or other head work. I would recommend Skunk2 (intake and exhaust) or ITR/CTR cams (just the intake).
If you want to go with suspension, I would get some off-the-shelf ground controls and some nice shocks, like tokiko illuminas or koni yellows. If you don't want the adjustable shocks, I hear that bilstein's are nice and will damp the car sufficiently. I guess bushings would be nice, but with new bushings come more vibration and harshness, but if they're shot, then replace them with rubber, not polyurethane.
So I'm at 600 miles on the new motor, and it's pretty nice. I found that the guy that did the machine work opened up the intake valves and got about another 1mm in diameter. It is a significant modification. It's much torquier in the lower rpm and it breathes a little easier on the top end. So far, no burning oil, no abnormal fuel consumption, nothing's wrong. I'm loving it ^_^ I think boost will be good =P
So, onto preparations for auto-x season to start up. I recently traded my old 17" wheels for a set of 14" crx si wheels. They barely clear the caliper, but the rub near the hub, so I'm going to shave off some material off the caliper, near the hub, not near the wheel. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll also be purchasing some 195/60/14 falken azenis and going with a 215/45/16 all season for my daily drivers. Also coming soon is a wheel alignment =\ I need to find some stronger bolts for the camber kit because they always slip. So, new bolts, alignment, and tires ... I'm excited!
Glad you took your first step towards modding your GSR. I 've always said to people that once you do your first suspension mod, you 'll say "why didn't I do that a long time ago?" The 22mm rear sway I believe should be everyone's first mod so you 're on the right track. Like Garados said the next move depends on which path you want to take, power or handling.. As usual he got carried away a little with the head work and the cams :-) Next thing you know he 'll be advising you to rebuild the motor like he did! :=) Just kidding buddy!
An AEM Cold Air Intake gives you the most bang for the buck. The numbers don't lie. I had mine done at a dyno shop so I could see the gains before and after. I gained 12.4whp (wheel HP) and 7.5 ft-lbs of torque. From 139.6 to 152.0whp & from 109.0 to 116.5 torque at the wheels. That was when the GSR had 15k mi. on it. I can't think of anything else putting out so much power for <$200. You do get most of the power in the mid-high range though, although the torque curve was noticeably higher from 2K when we printed out the comparison before & after dyno graphs on the same sheet. Cams would certainly be nice and with a Skunk2 intake manifold (and some dyno tuning) I 've been told they 're good for 6-8whp but in conjunction with Intake (CAI), header & exhaust as they all work together. Cams and tunning can get costly though.. Forget about an exhaust by itself. You 'll lose low end torque.. Start with the CAI as a low cost power bolt-on mod.
What I would actually do next, is exactly what Garados said. Get some shocks and springs. You 'll be blaming yourself for not doing it sooner. H&R or Eibach sports springs, or the Ground Control coilover kit and buy some Koni adjustable shocks. Yes, I know it's about $800 for the shocks and coilover kit but it's REALLY worth it. Plus you can change out the springs later anytime you want with higher rates if you 're looking to get very serious with the suspension and handling. Bushings are not necessary. My car with the 650/750 spring rates (and double-adj. race shocks) is so bad on the road (ride-wise) that polyurethane bushings would make me drive it over a cliff What you should look for, is ~300-350lb spring rates with some decent shocks, adjustable ones, so you can set the ride, handling characteristics, etc. to your preference. With these spring rates the ride will remain very close to stock but the car will handle like a Type-R or better. Adjustable shocks provide great flexibility, especially if you plan on auto-xing more often. The GC kit also provides amazing flexibility by being able to install many different Eibach Race springs (ERS) with various spring rates. The stock Koni Yellows can handle up to ~450lbs/in. fairly reliably. Any combo of aftermarket springs and shocks will make the car a lot more fun to drive and basically faster when driving through country back roads or any "twisties". You can leave Bimmers behind provided you have those RE730s on. I auto-xed last March with them when it was cold out after having them for 3yrs and they were still great. I could not believe I came in 2nd with those "old" tires that were pretty worn out because I auto-x on them all of '00 and part of '01.
So as far as auto-x goes, you just bumped your car up to DSP with the 22mm sway bar. If you put cams or do anything else to the head, motor, etc. you 'll be bumped up again to SM (Street Mod) which is an extremely fast class. So depending how seriously you take auto-x, you have to be careful what kind of mods you do. Have fun and keep us up to date!
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Speaking of suspension mods, I have a 1995 GS-R which has about 13,5000 miles. It is definitely showing the age, and it still has the original shocks. As you can imagine the handling is, well, loose and all over the place. This is my commuter car and won't be using it for auto-x. I just want it to have the tight controlled handling. With that in mind, I'd appreciate suggestions on reaplcement shocks. Also, I am wondering if bushings should be changed in the process.
I am looking for an inexpensive update for an everyday car.
Depending on how much you want to dump on the shocks, here's my suggestions from simple to crazy, and what I beleive to be the best.
Tokiko blues n/a Koni reds n/a Kyb gr2 n/a Kyb agx adj Bilstein n/a Tokiko Illuminas adj Koni Yellows adj
Hopefully that comes out right =P I would recommend the gr2's for non adjustable shocks and illuminas or agx's for adjustables. For bushings, I wouldn't get anything harder than stock rubber, just because it would really be a rough ride... and squeak a lot if you don't lube them up real nice.
A rear swaybar upgrade would be the best upgrade for handling without hurting drive quality. You could run the stock springs with those gr2's and the itr rear sway and you'll have a really smooth ride and improved handling.
Harry: Haha, I wouldn't tell anybody to rebuild their motor unless it was like mine. I would produce a huge cloud of oil smoke which turned out to be 1 quart of 20/w50 valvoline every 100 miles or so. Faster if I take it racing =\ But yeah, head work is where it's at ^_^ I'm a firm believer in that now. But, forced induction will yield much more power than natural aspiration at my altitude (5500 ft), so a JRSC might be in the near future with conservative tuning from my new vafcII =P
Ok, here's my plan for racing season. I believe I'll have about 500 bucks to blow, so here's my rundown. Harry, please critique ...
I'm going to borrow my friends kumhos on his 14's this weekend and raise my car again to accomidate the increase in tire size, then get the car aligned with the 16's on there. When my paycheck comes in, get the tires ordered and have them mounted. 2nd paycheck will be going towards the cornerweighting. I'm excited ^_^
After two years of uncertainty, my wife has decided to keep her '97 Integra GS coupe with 31K miles. It's her "weekend" car now since she drives her 325Ci daily. She wants to keep the Integra in the family, but none of our kids need a car (son just bought a Corvette).
So, I am back to spending a modest amount to improve its performance, particularly handling. Previous advice from himiler and only1harry was to install a Comptech rear brace and larger sway bar. Is that still the advice? How much handling improvement will I see? I did replace the orginal Michelins with Dunlop SP 5000 (205/50-15 on the stock 15x6 wheels), and the handling improved a lot. Still, I can notice the understeer.
How much will a new exhaust header and exhaust system help the engine? I see that Comptech sells both, but I am wondering if anyone has other recommendations.
handling upgrades for the G3 integra will always be an upgraded rear sway bar ;-) It is an awesome upgrade. It's very noticable improvement over stock. Body roll is greatly reduced and understeer is also reduced. Read up on the last couple of posts. We've been discussing suspension upgrades for other users.
As for exhaust components, Comptech makes some good stuff. Their header with a 2" collector apparantly flows as well as other headers with 2.25" and 2.5" collectors. Their exhaust is a really good quality piece and it should give you some good gains. It's not loud at all, even at WOT which is a good thing, IMO, but I still have a fart cannon because I like to hear VTEC =P
I have kind of decided to go with a cold air intake...living in Phoenix, I am not that worried about sucking in water!!!! Now its comes to AEM V1 or V2. Given that power gains are more or less same, and the difference in price is around $70, I think I will go with V2 ( I think V2 sound better than V1 !!!!!! just one reason to justify the extra $70!!!!) what will you buy if you were buying an cold air intake now?
I planning to get a set of wheels so that I can swap wheels at weekend. Do you all reccomed getting a used set of GSR wheels (I think could get for around $200)? If that is the case I can use my old set of RE 730's with nearly 25% tread left. OR going for a brand new set of wheels? (a set of 15 in Konig Heliums for around $380..I have heard some hooror stories about wheels like Kong Heliums???) OR something totally different.
One more question. I am planning to be a member of a sports car club as members gets discounts on the events. I understand that NASA organizes for HPDE's (road racing on tracks with or without instructors) and SCCA is mainly into Auto-x etc? but NASA accepts members from SCCA
btw Harry, does putting CAI bumps you up to a different class than DSP?
No, you stay in DSP with the CAI. If you plan on getting another set of wheels for auto-x, you MUST get 15x7"!!! No 15x6 or 15x6.5.. I 've been trying to get that through Garados' head but he still doesn't get it :-) In DSP you can basically use any wheels you want, DOT Race tires (auto-x R compound tires), any suspension mods you want, Limited Slip Diff (LSD), any Intake, Header, exhaust, straight pipe, free-flow Catalytic (my next mod) multiple throttle bodies, intake manifold, ECU, lighter pullies, Performance brake pads, and a couple of other things, but NOT larger rotors or calipers. Brakes also play a huge role in auto-x so get yourself some Hawk HP+ or Axxis Ultimates. They both dust a lot and HP+ are noisy but have a little better bite than the Ultimates. They 're both great for street and auto-x though. I have HP+ in the front and Ultimates in the rear with OEM Brembo rotors all around (my 2nd set of rotors in 4yrs - they 're cheap though!). Car stops extremely fast!
The SCCA does a lot more than just Solo events (Autocross). They have many Road Racing classes, they have Rally, and many other forms of Motorsports with different classes. They also have road racing for just Hondas! Talk to your local SCCA chairpersons when you get to your first event and join their forum if they have one. You can also call the SCCA (www.scca.org), pay for your memebership with a credit card over the phone, and ask them a lot of questions, if you plan on doing track events besides auto-xing. They 're very nice to talk to and overly polite and curtious especially to new or potential members
Not sure where you 're located, but most NASA clubs hold a lot of auto-x events as well. My regional NASA chapter in North Jersey holds at least 8 auto-x events a year in addition to 2 or 3 HPDEs/yr. You DO want an instructor at HPDEs. I never heard of HPDEs without instructors unless they know you and you 've done a few where they can leave you on your own the whole day. Normally the instructor is with you for the a 1/4 to 1/2 day and the rest of time you 're in the car by yourself. I personally won't do HPDE's or fun track days until I get a roll cage. I 've seen and heard too many stories of "newbies" and experienced weekend road racers rolling their car and getting injured. Just the idea of damaging my car has kept me away from HPDEs Plus I know once I attend one, I 'll get addicted and would want to do a lot more. Most of my friends are at that point where they can't wait to do it again, but at ~$250/day, it can become an expensive habit and one my wife won't tolerate
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
You 'll never get rid of understeer completely, especially not with just tires, but upgrading the tires like you did, is one of the most important things you can do for you car's handling so that 's a step in the right direction.
Your second upgrade should be a 19-22mm rear sway bar (stock is 14mm) and the Comptech sway/tie bar combo is an excellent choice. They make a great kit and I upgraded to it as well after having a Neuspeed 19mm sway for 3yrs. The Comptech tie bar is billet aluminum, extremely light and unbelievably strong. It also serves as a subframe reinforcement to handle the larger sway bar's forces, as well as doing its job as a "lower tie bar" connecting the control arm mounts together to reduce flex. The sway bar mounts directly on the ends of the tie bar. The sway bar also comes with top notch end-links, polyurethane bushings, and hardened steel fasteners (bolts, nuts, etc.). In my 4-5 years of auto-x racing experience I 've seen many sway bar end-links and bushings brake right in the middle of a course or a high G turn, but never a Comptech one. I 'm sure there 's probably some, but I 've never seen one. It's always Skunk2, Suspension Techniques, stock Type-R end-links and others (on Hondas, Acuras and other imports & American cars). I 'm not putting the others down (except maybe Skunk2, their end-links I think are very weak). I 'm just saying what I 've experienced.
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Thank you for the advice on the sway bar. I will order one from Comptech; I like the idea of the reinforcement bar. What setting do you recommend initially?
I also read your comments to bemathew regarding brakes and wheels. I'll keep your advice in mind when it is time to replace the brakes.
Regarding the change to 15x7 wheels...what is the advantage over the stock 15x6 wheels? What size tire do you recommend with the 15x7 wheels? What brands of wheels do you like?
I have the old style sway bar that is not adjustable. I believe the new ones offer 3 settings. I 'd use the middle one (2?) for street use if I had one, and the stiffest for racing. You should try all 3 but the stiffest setting sometimes I heard tends to offer a little oversteer (fish tailing) when letting off the gas or braking on a turn but I doubt with your soft stock suspension that will happen to you.
As far as wheels go, the wider they are, the better the handling. More tire on the ground. 205-50 is most commonly used on Integras with 15x7's but the rims will easily take 225-50-15 as well. I wouldn't recommend those for street use because they "track" the roads' anomalies more. On lowered Integras we can't put 225-50s without rubbing inside the wheel well. Even with 205-50s I still rub when lowered more than 2.25" (I can adjust the height of the coilovers) especially when turning the steering wheel all the way or on a high G turn when racing (with Race tires).
When you shop for wheels you must look for LIGHT wheels, or wheels that do NOT weigh more than your stock wheels, which is 16lbs on LS/GS and 15.5lbs on GSR. A very popular and inexpensive wheel is the Kosei K1 15x7" (see tirerack.com). I 've used it for 4yrs and it's very durable and light weighing 13lbs. It has also been the standard for the SPEC Miatas (very popular SCCA road racing class) for more than 2yrs now. There are others that are called Ultralight but I don't recommend them for street use. They bend easily unless you get forged aluminum wheels which can cost you a bundle. The lighter the wheel the more it costs. Heavier wheels will adversely affect your car's handling, acceleration, steering response, gas mileage, and will wear out bushings and other suspension components faster. There are many good deals $$ out there for some nice looking wheels but they weigh around 18-20lbs on the average. Beware of "cheap" wheels and no name brand ones. For every 1 lb the wheel is heavier, it adds 10lbs of unsprung weight to each corner of your car.
Another decent and fairly inexpensive brand is Rota. I have Rota wheels on my '01 Civic and they 're very popular as well. I 've put over 60k mi. on the Rotas, hit many pot holes, and they 're still holding up well. Most of the Rotas are 15x6.5" and weigh between 12.8 and 13.5lbs. They are just starting to make light 15x7's weighing about the same. 6.5" was a major improvement for my Civic since the car came with 15x5.5" steel ones, plus I drive it every day so I didn't want anything bigger. 15x7" affect your gas mileage a little too. I have a long commute and with the record gas prices we 're having I wasn't getting 7" rims. You also don't want to be driving through the winter with 7" wide wheels (not good!).
Another popular (and better) wheel manufacturer among auto-xers and road racers is SSR. 15" SSR Competition wheels range from 9 to 10.5 lbs but they 're $300-400 ea. and are competition wheels. You will not benefit from them because you don't use your GS for racing purposes, so don't consider fancy ultralight wheels. You want strong 'light' wheels for every day use (even if it's the weekends) and for imperfect roads, not ultralights designed for a smooth track.
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
i'm new to this site, i'm driving a 1995 gsr and i'm wondering if anybody know where can i get a replacement seats (front). i'm a short driver and i want to replace my seats with a 1998+ front seats with the height adjustment on the side. thanks for any info.
You should look at junkyards and web sites that sell 'used car parts'. Try doing a search using any of the Web's search engines using that phrase and you should find you 're looking for.
There's a very popular web site that has tons of used car parts, but I don't have it bookmarked on my PC at work. Last I looked they even had 1 or 2 GSR engines, one with 80 and one with 100k mi. on them. They also have a 1yr warranty for most parts they sell.
I have a '99 and the height adjustment does not raise/lower my (leather) seat that much though.. Have you sat in a '98+ and try adjusting the seat?
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
i have a 2000 accord that can adjust the height and i really like it. i've seen some forums that sell/trade parts, but the price they want is too much and most of them don't want to ship. junkyard and used car parts, i don't know if i want to get an interior parts from them, may be engine or something (exterior) but not interior parts. anyway thank you very much.
I have Axis ultimate brake pads in the front and back....With new Bridgestone RE730's all around and the rear sway bar in place, the car feels totally different. I didn't know that NASA events are that expensive ($250/day). As a start, I think I will join SCCA so that I could get the discounted rates in auto-x events. Roll cage seems to be out of my reach for the time being!!!!
In Tire rack the Kosei K1 Racing wheels are $129 each....I will start looking for some used ones.
What about the AEM CAI? As I said before, if there is some good reason to spend the extra $70 on the V2 AEM CAI?
Don't know much about the AEM V2. It could provide an extra HP or so, but I can't see getting more gains than that over the older CAI which was pretty darn good to begin with.
The NASA track events are $250/day, not their auto-x events. Their auto-x events usually run $30 for members and $40 for non-members. Many NASA clubs use the SCCA classes. Mine doesn't. They use only 7 classes. Here 's a pic of me racing at the last NASA event last year. (came in 1st out of 25 in my class). It's at Giants stadium and the 2 lots they use are really big. We often get up to over 70mph. Notice I have the stock wheels on in the rear. It was too cold out so I left the street tires on. Car was planted better because the Kumhos were not getting warm enough in the back and kept wiping out in the morning runs :-)
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
You show off =P You always do really well. Pfft, I got 4th in my class at the last auto-x on street tires ^_^ Hehe, there was this miata guy that's always bashing my car, so I decided to actually compete instead of just having fun, so I got to just within .5 seconds of him. He had shaved Kumho v700 Victoracers and I had my almost toast all-season Yokohama Avid h4's =P
I wanted to run my new 14" wheels with azenis, but when I put them on, they didn't clear the calipers =\ Now, after lots of shaving of the calipers and casting marks on the insides of the wheels, they fit really nicely and they feel freaking awesome. I heat cycled them first, then went for a testdrive the next day. With low pressure, I was able to increase turning speeds by 33-50% which is pushing 3x's the recommended speed limit ^_^ Now, with 40psi up front and 38 out back, the car is much more stable and it is really fun to drive, and at 50-60 bucks a tire, I WILL have fun with them =P
Well, hopefully cornerweighting and an alignment will come next week... hopefully. I really need an alignment. But yeah, that's about all for now.
wow, suspension travel is nice. I raised my car up about an inch and it is really pleasing to have done this change. Bumps, driveways, and potholes are no problem now. I have my illuminas set on 1 (softest) and I can take turns better than before because before, I would have the shocks on 5 (hardest) and I would run on the bumpstops or just kiss them against the shock body. I only had about .5" of suspension travel before. Now, with that extra suspension travel (1-1.5"), I can take those turns harder and with the shocks on 1, I don't have to worry about the car losing traction due to bumps and other crap on the road. Hehe, I'm excited. I can't wait to see what it does when I up the stiffness ^_^ Then, when it gets cornerweighted and aligned, and I believe it'll handle REALLY well.
Maybe not the right post for this discussion but...
My '98 GS-R (stock - no mods) has picked up the most annoying buzz between 3500 and 4000 rpm after it's warmed up. I thought is was possibly one of the many heat shields but damned if I can identify where it's coming from. If I had to guess I'd say the engine compartment.
Willing to chop, chisel, cut and tighten but would kill to have my tight sounding GS-R back.
my guess would be a heatshield as well. The notorious ones are the exhaust manifold shields (front and back) and the shield above the catalytic convertor. I took all of them off and I haven't had any problems. Good luck
Yeah, the heatshield is one of them. On mine, I actually had the dealer put a couple of clamps to tighten it up and that fixed it. However, I also had the A pipe (or was it the B pipe) crack inside. Apparently they are double-walled and the internal ones tend to break off easily, causing a nasty rattle. I got fed up the first time so ended up getting a Comtech header since it was out of warranty at the time.
Already took of one...What's a couple more. I'll investigate the exhaust header area and report back if I find anything useful.
That is so long as I can find someone to tap the gas while I examine the motor. That throttle cable is damn hard to manipulate when you're trying to examine the other side of your rice rocket.
check back on post 1173 until now, and you'll get an idea of what kind of suspension mods we recommend. I believe Harry is running a Comptech sway/tie bar setup and I have a Suspension Techniquest front and rear sway bar upgrade, and I have no complaints (the car doesn't understeer too badly, very predictable) and Harry has proven his setup to work very well *cough*FTD's all the time*cough*
What is the Optimal tire preasure in the front and rear on Bridgestone RE 730's on a 4 door GSR for Auto-x? As you can know, I am in the Novice Group..... ( Stock set up.....only modification I have is a Typre-R 21 mm sway bar at the back, Axis ultimate brake pads)
I have the stock intake system but I have rmoved the cover for the air filter box......Is it OK to leave it like that or its better to put the cover back? Its sound great when you rev it up...
I think I messed up the Group in which I have to run...I selected STX....Hopefully I should be able to change that......I am going for an Auto-x after almost 3 years......will keep you all posted
do the chalk/shoe polish test. What you do is mark the sidewall, do a run, and see how the chalk looks. if you rubbed off down to the sidewall, then you need more pressure. if you don't rub off any chalk, lower the pressure. Ideally, you want the chalk to rub off just beyond the tread, but nothing on the sidewall, I believe. Maybe Harry will get back in here and help me out =P
For the intake, it's ok to run it without a cover, i think. I've been running it like that for a while (1+ years) and haven't had any problems. People say that it decreases performance, but I don't really care.
If I were you, I would reassign myself into STS-N just incase. I don't think it really matters since you'll be in the novice group. Once you're out of novice, be sure to pick the correct class to run in.
Oh yeah, I'm now in Street Mod, #13. I don't know what the deal is with me, my siblings, and the number 13. I'm #13, my bro's plane is 13, his squadron is vfc-13, his old one was vf-31, my sis' sport jerseys are 1 or 3 or 13 or 31. Kinda strange.
Anyways, I got the car cornerweighted ($90) and I have a 70 lb split in front and a 20 lb split in back, due to my massive physique =P With me in it, the car tipped the scales at 2914 lbs =O I need to lose some weight =P Anyways, with the cornerweighting and a good alignment ($80), the car has become much more stable, and with the added ride height and suspension travel, the car just sticks with the azenis. I'm really pleased. I can't wait until sunday's auto-x.
I'm 99% its your header. There's a technical bulletin for that but could not remember the number. I replaced mine with comptech header and was very please with it.
1997 GS-R 134K miles original owner 12K miles on front rotors(warp after 24k) 50K per clutch Transmission carrier bearrings went at 120K Radiator at 125K(cause water pump failure weeks later) 2 bent alloys tire problems no matter what brand I choose
I am a fairly conservative driver for a GS-R driver, but this reliability sucks.
My 1993 Civic went 153K miles without stranding me once! I count 5+ times for the GS-R which I drive more gently.
this is not an advice of any sort, but just my experience as a comparison to yours:
1995 GS-R with 137,000 miles (of which about 20,000 was spent in German Autobahn) Clutch replaced at about 100,000 only because of the leak in transmission main seal leaked oil into the clutch. P/S pump at about 55,000 under extended warranty First brake pad and rotor replacement at 60,000 driven mostly in DC area traffic) Exhaust "B" pipe replaced twice due to bad design, which Honda wouldn't admit. About 60,000 on the OEM tires (great), and 55,000 on the Goodyear RS-As (sucked), and now on Kumhos (noisy and hard) 1 battery, partly due to bad alternator, which was replaced under extended warranty. leaky slave clutch replaced under warranty Timing belt at 90,000 along with water pump (which leaked btw, and the warranty picked it up)
The engine and the transmission still doing well. I am guessing not having much torque is actually easy on the clutch and the synchros. Despite being driven on the autobahn at speeds of 100 to 120 for 3 to 4 hours at a time, the car held up, too well because I was actually going to junk it before coming back. So now it is serving as my commuter car and already I put 2000 miles in 3 weeks.
Wow a lot of activity on the forum the last few weeks.
Bemathew: Your car is in STS class and you should correct that even though your 're running the Novice class. The PAX (index) is smaller and to your advantage to be in STS. STX is for cars with an LSD and also allows higher horse power cars like the Type-R and WRX. Pressures for the RE730: I autocrossed on the same tires for more than 1 season. 37psi front and 34-35 rear. These are cold temps before you start racing. Don't let them go over 39 hot. They heat up quickly and will overheat and cause you to lose grip. Get a good tire pressure gauge. Doesn't hurt to get 2 (one expensive, 1 cheaper) so you can check for accuracy once in a while. Also see if you can find an alignment shop that is willing to give you a little toe out in the front and 0 toe in the rear. In the least, make sure you don't have any toe-in the front. Most alignment shops (and the factory settings) set the front to 0 toe on both sides. Tell them you want about 1/12th toe out in the front. That's -0.04 in. each side, -0.08 total toe. Anything betwen -0.03 to -0.5 is ok, any more and you 'll have some instability at high speeds, drifiting left & right plus excessive tire wear. Tell them to set their machine to INCHES (not degrees). I run -0.07" each side in the front which is -0.14 total. That 's a bit extreme but helps in auto-x. Some STS regional and divisional champs run up 1/4" of total toe in the front and even 1/8" in the rear but they trailer their cars to the events!
Garados: YES, more suspension travel does wonders for the handling plus it increases your shock's longevity. I just raised my car about 1/2" as well about 2 weeks ago and it handles better. No need to go with stiffer settings in the front with your Tokiko Illuminas. Leave them pretty soft, or 2 at the most. Experiment and see if 1 or 2 makes the car handle better at the event. Don't judge it too much by how it feels on the street. Use 3 or 4 in the rear when auto-xing regardless of spring rates. Congrats on your 4th position! That's really good (how many in the class? 5? just kidding)!
I was racing with the Porsche club yesterday because there were no SCCA or other events going on or that were near by. I came in 10th overall (about 100 cars). Only 2 Porsches did better than me and they were both modded heavily (at least ASP if not Prepared). The rest were Subaru STis (normally in ASP) and modified M3s. Actually I also lost to an STS car by a few tenth's. The driver is a divisional champ that bought the '02 STS champion Civic from the '02 National champ. It's an '89 Civic, standard body (not Si) with an '88 Civic Si motor in it (108hp) and the other mods it makes over 120hp (performance ECU too, straight pipes, no cat or muffler, etc.). It weighs only 2100lbs and handles like a go-kart on Falken Azenis! It also has very expensive shortened body Koni shocks. This car is actually now illegal this year in STS because they took out the rule from STS that said you can backdate or use motors from the model line of the same generation. These light Civics were way too fast with the Si motor at the Nationals in '02 & '03 and out paxed all the other cars. This year they also increased the PAX index for STS. The reason STS has become such a fast class is not only because the amazing Azenis street tire, but because they allow too many mods and have been allowing more mods to be added for the last 4-5 yrs.
Anyway I almost met my match with a BMW 330ci, a Subaru RS 2.5 and a Fiat X1/9 in DSP last weekend at the SCCA NY Region (NYR). I managed to come in 1st but all 3 of those cars were 1/100s sec. behind me! The guy with the 330ci was racing on street tires the last couple of years. The new 330ci is the car to have now in DSP and has increasingly become very competitive as people are modifying them. They have lots of torque and power as well. This guys has done a lot of the stuff allowed under the Street Prepared rules. The Subaru guy I used to beat the last couple of years has gone with much higher spring rates, new race shocks, pulleys and other stuff he didn't have before and I was really surprised how well his car handled. Plus now with the new rules you can remove the back seat which he did and I haven't. My heart just won't let me remove a perfectly nice leather seat Anyone knows what it weighs? The Fiat X1/9 which I also used to beat, had new 13x8" ultralight rims with Hoosiers! He used to be on regular 14x5" rims or something like that and Kumhos. BTW, the Fiat X1/9 has been taking the National championship in DSP for the last 10yrs except for last year when a BMW 325is took it driven by a multi-time National champ. SO, seeing how I almost lost an event for the first time in 3 yrs, and these guys will only get better with their new setups, it seems like I have no other choice to spend some serious money and take advantage of all the other stuff I 'm allowed to do to the car. I 'm pretty sure though, that I all I need, is 13x8" ultralight Panasports with 225 or 235-45-13 Kumhos or Hoosiers. This is also the most expensive way to go but I think it 'll help me out a lot more than my other options: Intake Manifold, header (yes I 'm still on stock header & exhaust!), free flow CAT, crankshaft and accessory pullies. I may get 8-9whp out those, but I think my best bet to continue beating these guys is with more grip and better handling. Thus the 13x8 $1200 wheels.
Ok I can go on forever. I 'm just catching up with everything :-) I gotta go bury my cat now. She died in my car about 1.5hrs ago while I was taking her to the Vet to have her euthenised. I just had to get distracted for a while so I figured I log on to the forums to take my mind off it for a while. It worked.. We had it for 16 yrs and she lived a good life. I just had hoped that I wouldn't see her die. Took her like 2-3 min. in my car. Looked like she was having a heart attack, having spasms and stuff and taking her last deep breaths.. oh well, life goes on.
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Sorry to hear about your cat. R.I.P. Little buddy.
Harry, I guess I came in 3/4 in my class at that last auto-x =P Haha, you'll like this. I was the only one in the top 10 that hit a cone =D Without hitting it, I would have been #2, .3 seconds behind the leader, .3 seconds ahead of the next guy. But since I tagged a cone, I ended up being at the end of the group.
So yeah, anyways, I've done some exterior modifications to my car ... vinyls and painting the wheels.
Don't you think that trash can adds a touch of class? Haha, anyways, I've basically toasted my current 16" tires, but I'm going to wear them down via burnouts and power slides, then put my summer tires on. I think I'm going to get 215/40/16 Hankooks as my next tire and 205/55/14 Victoracers for my next set of racers.
I was surprised to read that your car weighs over 2900lbs with you in it. How much did it weigh without you? Mine was 2595 lbs. With me in it, 2805. I also had the glove compartement packed with crap, CDs, phone charger etc. in the arm rest, and the rear wooden floor cover/board & carpeting in the hatch area. I 'm the only one in SP that has not taken that stuff out of the hatch 99% of the cars in SP (BSP, CSP, DSP, etc.) have taken the rear seat out which is legal now, and all the carpeting and stuff out of the trunk or hatch. You usually just see bare metal in their trunk or hatch. Many of them also have the A/C removed and even the stereo, all legal weight reductions in SP. The A/C in our cars I heard weighs more than 60lbs! When I beat someone who is complaining or is getting smart with me I always tease them and tell them they need to find something else to remove and maybe they 'll be faster next time :-)
'99 Integra GSR '06 Civic LX coupe '11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive '13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Garados, thanks for the cool pics of your car. Please tell me - what brand and size of wheels are on the car with the red stripes? Do you know if they are available in silver? I really like the way they look on the car. I think they would look great on my wife's '97 GS coupe.
Only1harry, I received the Comptech swaybar last week. Plan to install it next week while I am on R&R. Comptech has redesigned the endlink-to-control arm attachment to improve durability. I am eager to get it installed.
the wheel is a 16x7 that is made by MB Motoring or something like that. Thing is, I painted them that color =P So yes, for 6 bucks worth of spray paint, they can be silver ^_^ Haha, glad you like the pictures, the vinyls took a while to put on with the help of my brother. I think they turned out well.
Harry: The car weighs about 2650 lbs without me. What does that say about how much I weigh? Haha, anyways, I think I'm going to take out my a/c just because the compressor decided to take a crap on me =\ 60 lbs, eh? Sounds about right. The mounting bracket weighs about 20 lbs or something like that. It was a heavy piece. The compressor weighs a lot as well. Well, that's about all for now. Take care everybody ^_^
I went to two events so far (Apr-3 and then on Apr-10). On my very first event, I didn't do well. I had two DNF's ...it was a pretty long course with 2 slaloms. On the second event, I think I did OK...finished third in the Novice-3 class. (yes, there were more than 3 people!!!!!)
Questions: Earlier, Harry and gardos had advised me to go with Koni Yellows and GC coilover kit 1) Is this the best combination for a daily driver car commuting 70 miles/day with weekend Auto-x duties? 2) Considering reliability, price, performance etc are there any other good combinations of shocks and springs? 3) Can I have just the new springs or GC coilover kit with the stock shocks? how effective stock shocks with springs? 4) I installed the Type-R sway bar myself. How easy or tough is it install the shocks and springs?
Long wait for the next auto-x which is on May-8....it is addictive!!!
Comments
Find a friend or someone that has an Integra technical manual. All the info on how to replace it should be in there.
What year Integra do you have?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
To take out or replace the cable, you'll have to do that step, then go into the driver-side fender. To remove the lining, it's just a few screws and then you pop out the housings. Once the lining is out, you'll see the cable up there, hopefully. It's held in by two or three zip ties. Just clip them, then slowly start to pull the cable out through the firewall. Then, you'll need to get the hood open for this next step, so hopefully you could with the step up at the top. The cable is then on the underside of the radiator support held on by some of those zip tie thingies. then you can pull the cable through, then you'll see how to take it off the hood release.
Then to install the new one, just connect it to the hood release, then route the cable in the engine bay, don't go through the fender. You'll see the main wire harness going through this rubber boot lookin thing. Cut that boot and you should be able to the route the new cable through there and connect it up to the handle. To get it through that hole, straighten out a clothes hanger, then tape the cable to the hanger. Then push the hanger through the hole, then go into the cabin and pull that hanger out slowly, and it should all work out. Good luck ^_^
Sounds like you 've already done this..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Oh, during this winter break, I've been a little busy working on the car. I took out the engine and tranny, and sent the engine off to be rebuilt with new forged arais pistons (stock compression, oversized 10 or 20 thousand) and every bearing will be inspected, cleaned, and/or replaced.
I took a look at the bottom end, and I had scoring on one of the journal caps for the crank, but it wasn't too bad. The crank itself was perfect, so i think that bearing will just be replaced. The thrust bearings were looking good as well, it was a good, tight fit, but they'll probably be replaced as well.
The connecting rods looked good, their bearings looked good, and the didn't seem to have any abnormal wear and tear on them. The pistons also looked in good condition. The machining on the skirts was still there so they weren't abused too badly. I think my oil burning issues are coming from the rings and just extra wear on the walls from previous owners who probably took the car to redline while it was still cold or whatever. I took a close look at one of the pistons, and I found that the compression ring was all pitted. I don't know why, but it was. The oil ring looked pretty tired, and I think all of them are like that.
The head. Oh man, that thing looks nice. Although, I had an oil trail leading into the #1 cylinder. I don't know what that means. In the #4 cylinder, I burned two exhaust valves. I know it's from running lean, because the spark plug was all blistered and the ceramic was peeling off =\ so those two valves will be replaced, and I need to find some way to clean that injector. The head will be cleaned up, get all the carbon off of it, have the valves at the right height, etc. etc. Just a basic head job.
Gwah, the car has been sitting there for the last two and a half weeks. I'm getting all shifty-eyed and twitchy because I haven't been able to drive anything that even resembles my car. I have driven my dad's SVT Contour, and it handles incredibly well even with worn out shocks, but the body roll and the electronic seat... it's just unacceptable =P
Oh, and talking about the SVT. I was taking this turn pretty quickly, just trying to get my fix of lateral acceleration. Anyways, it's a nice sweeping right, with a decreasing-radius tail end. Anyways, there's a car that had just turned out into the inside lane. I'm in the outside. So, I'm hauling the chili around this turn, and I'm about 200 feet behind this fool, and he changes lanes and puts on the brakes. Initial reaction was to tap the brakes to get some oversteer and bleed of some speed. I wasn't expecting the car to oversteer at all, but it behaved just like my car ^_^ So, I bled off enough speed to allow me to get in the inside lane, floor it, bring the back end in, and then continue through the rest of the turn. Hehe, my dad was soooooo freaked out, but everything turned out okay, so it was all good. He then complimented me on my driving, saying that my auto-xing and high performance car control clinics and lapping days have really taught me how to control cars ^_^ So yeah, that's basically what I've been up to.
Who did you send the motor to? How much does something like that cost?
The oil trail into cylinder#1 could be from a bad O ring gasket (you should have 1 for each plug).
How many miles are on the motor & tranny again? Forged pistons hey? Looks like you 'll be racing in SM this year!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Took the engine and tranny out, disassembled the engine, then took the disassembled block and assembled head to a local guy who has a fleet of spec miatas that are just incredible. I trust him because the miatas have never had any engine failures. He built all of them by hand, but sent them out to be machined out of the city. Really quality work. Got everything back and here's the setup.
block bored 20 over
SRP pistons: stock compression, 20 over, spun-forged, floating wrist pin, mounted on stock gsr rods.
JE piston rings, gapped for high-rpm endurance racing and higher boost levels
ferrea stainless-steel exhaust valves
all new gaskets, bearings, seals.
The crank was polished.
I also got a late x-mas present from my bro. I black on black Apex'i v-afcII ^_^
Well, since I exceeded my budget by 2000 bucks, i decided to build the motor myself. Everything went together smoothly, but there were some things that sucked pretty badly. The rings were first. I spent a total of 20 hours grinding those friggin rings to their correct amount. Well, the bottom end came together nicely, all the bearings platigaged to the right specs, i lubed everything, put it all together, torqued it down, then put it into the car. I went to start the car, and it didn't turn ... at all. I don't understand, all the bearings plastigaged perfectly.
After many hours of cursing and fugging with the bottom end, I found that the connecting rod bearings were the wrong size. They were too wide and were rubbing against the crank, hence the binding. I went to Honda to get new ones, and got them the next day. Installed them, torqued down everything again, and started it, but it STILL didn't turn. Came to the conclusion that the mains were wrong, so the engine had to come out AGAIN so the crank could be removed to access the main bearings.
After disassembling the bottom end, the new bearings were put in, and they plastigaged fine as well. This time, however, I made sure the crank would spin, and it did, very easily. So, all of the timing marks lined up, did the proper tensioning procedure, and proceeded to button everything up.
Well, before the engine went back in, I went to check out and prime the bay to install the engine. Upon inspecting the rear torque mount, i found that it was almost completely torn out. So, i got new torque mounts inserts (polyurethane) all around. I got them from this guy out in NJ and was overnighted =P So the engine was then ready to go in and it went in pretty easily. The tranny was next to go in, all sensors connected, axles in, etc. etc., and that was earlier this evening. Then, with the fuel and ignition off, I cranked the engine and the oil pressure came up and it sounded really nice. I then turned the systems on, and cranked it over, and it started, and it was the best sound i have ever heard ^_^ A silky smooth purr, with a deep rumbling out of the exhaust and a slight sucking from the intake. Ah yes, that was good. So now it's been 2 months total and it's finaly running, and it's the best feeling to be behind teh wheel of my car again. So, that's about all. in 500 miles, I'll give a report. Take care everybody ^_^
I would 've paid someone to do it only because I have the money. Someone who takes many Honda motors apart and puts them back together all the time. There are quite a few of those shops around that rebuild and soop up Honda engines, but they 're all in NYC and it's about 1.5hr drive for me. I don't know if it 'd be worth it for me to pay $1-2K grand in labor though. If I had someone do it everything you did, I 'm sure it 'd be around $5K.
So how much whp do you expect? You have to get it on the dyno. I 'm really curious. Did you have a port & polish done on the head or port matching done? There 's so much to do!
A friend of mine that also auto-xes with me frequently, has a Civic ITR hybrid. All he did was head work and bought a new ECU. He sent the head out for port/polish as well. I think the ECU cost him and arm and a leg cause he sent that out to some company in Canada to have it programmed. He did nothing to the bottom end. The car pulled 194hp at the wheels! This Civic is very fast with the Type-R motor that's in it. He ran 13.6 with street tires with the stock ECU then and just the headwork. He has all top notch breathing apparatus though. Spoon exhaust & header (mucho $$)! He dynoed the car before and after the Spoon header and says he gained 8whp just from the header!! I 'm sure it has to do with the headwork he had done and the ECU. I doubt a stock Type-R motor gains 8whp with just a Spoon header. He came in 4th (or 5th?) at the Nationals last year. He raced in SM, Street Mod. He was up against dozens of supercharged M3s (E36 body) that put out 350hp or more (with all the engine mods they have on top of the S/C).
Anyway I 'm looking forward to your report after you break in your motor :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
But yeah, to my knowledge, there were no porting, polishing, port matching, or other head work done. I need to talk to the guy, though, because it feels MUCH stronger than I remember. It could just be the presence of ring seal =P I had something stupid like 150 psi with a 20 psi variance for my compression check on the "old" engine. I'm curious to see if the new engine has higher numbers. Also, I'm not burning too much oil now, I think it has to do with the recent addition of VTEC and higher rpm's combined with a fresh block and bearings. I am really excited, just 200 miles left, then it'll be able to go up to 8000 rpm, which should be fun. Once that's done, I'll start the auto-x season out right ^_^
Oh, something really important has come up in my life. I finally have a steady job =P It's with the university's Science Fair division. They're really nice people, the job itself is wonderful, and I get fed often ^_^ So I'm hoping for some new wheels and tires before April. If not, then just new tires. I really want to get those darn 14" BMW wheels, but I don't know if it'll happen. If it does, I'll do one of two things.
1) 14" = Azenis, 16" = Avid H4
2) 14" = whatever tire, probably really cheap, 16" = 215.45.16 Azenis, 225.45.16 SO3
Oh, final thing. I got the VAFC2 hooked up, and it works wonderfully, but I don't know how to tune it =P Haha, the guages are wonderful and I really like the warning system. I set it to blink at me when I pass 4k rpm, for no apparant reason other than "just because" =P anyways, that's all for now. I can't wait for the racing season to start up again ^_^
Couple of updates about my 99 4 door GSR.....
My Valentine One have been saving me regularly.
I think it makes you a much more safer driver....
Wouldn't go out with out that. Its an office joke that I take my Valentine to meetings
and even to the rest room!!!! he he
Got my second set of RE730's....I still have the old set. Planning to get another set of rims to put the old ones.
Replaced 4 stock brake pads with AXIS ultimates..... Very good upgrade for the money.
Replaced the rear sway bar with the Type-R and BSQ kit....Worth every minute I spent to install ( btw I took almost 4 hours including a trip to Home Depot to buya chisel to knock off the welded nut !!!!!!) Not sure why I waited so long to do this??? I had the Type-R sway bar sitting in my garage for the last 8 months!!!!
Considering that I am not a dedicated auto-x guy ( auto-x ed may be 3 times in the last 3,4 years) & a daily driver for my commute of 70 miles/day , what is next upgrade I should go for? AEM CAI or Suspension upgrades (Shocks/springs)? or anything else?
Thanks guys
As for your next upgrade, what do you want to do? For power, I would go with a set of cams and tuning. The car will be much livelier and you'll still have stock components showing. I should have done that from the start, but I followed the crowd and went with an intake (went back to stock) and exhaust (went back to stock, then back to modified). So if you want some more power, I'd go with cams and/or other head work. I would recommend Skunk2 (intake and exhaust) or ITR/CTR cams (just the intake).
If you want to go with suspension, I would get some off-the-shelf ground controls and some nice shocks, like tokiko illuminas or koni yellows. If you don't want the adjustable shocks, I hear that bilstein's are nice and will damp the car sufficiently. I guess bushings would be nice, but with new bushings come more vibration and harshness, but if they're shot, then replace them with rubber, not polyurethane.
So I'm at 600 miles on the new motor, and it's pretty nice. I found that the guy that did the machine work opened up the intake valves and got about another 1mm in diameter. It is a significant modification. It's much torquier in the lower rpm and it breathes a little easier on the top end. So far, no burning oil, no abnormal fuel consumption, nothing's wrong. I'm loving it ^_^ I think boost will be good =P
So, onto preparations for auto-x season to start up. I recently traded my old 17" wheels for a set of 14" crx si wheels. They barely clear the caliper, but the rub near the hub, so I'm going to shave off some material off the caliper, near the hub, not near the wheel. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll also be purchasing some 195/60/14 falken azenis and going with a 215/45/16 all season for my daily drivers. Also coming soon is a wheel alignment =\ I need to find some stronger bolts for the camber kit because they always slip. So, new bolts, alignment, and tires ... I'm excited!
Glad you took your first step towards modding your GSR. I 've always said to people that once you do your first suspension mod, you 'll say "why didn't I do that a long time ago?"
The 22mm rear sway I believe should be everyone's first mod so you 're on the right track.
Like Garados said the next move depends on which path you want to take, power or handling..
As usual he got carried away a little with the head work and the cams :-) Next thing you know he 'll be advising you to rebuild the motor like he did! :=) Just kidding buddy!
An AEM Cold Air Intake gives you the most bang for the buck. The numbers don't lie. I had mine done at a dyno shop so I could see the gains before and after. I gained 12.4whp (wheel HP) and 7.5 ft-lbs of torque. From 139.6 to 152.0whp & from 109.0 to 116.5 torque at the wheels. That was when the GSR had 15k mi. on it. I can't think of anything else putting out so much power for <$200. You do get most of the power in the mid-high range though, although the torque curve was noticeably higher from 2K when we printed out the comparison before & after dyno graphs on the same sheet.
Cams would certainly be nice and with a Skunk2 intake manifold (and some dyno tuning) I 've been told they 're good for 6-8whp but in conjunction with Intake (CAI), header & exhaust as they all work together. Cams and tunning can get costly though.. Forget about an exhaust by itself. You 'll lose low end torque.. Start with the CAI as a low cost power bolt-on mod.
What I would actually do next, is exactly what Garados said. Get some shocks and springs. You 'll be blaming yourself for not doing it sooner. H&R or Eibach sports springs, or the Ground Control coilover kit and buy some Koni adjustable shocks. Yes, I know it's about $800 for the shocks and coilover kit but it's REALLY worth it. Plus you can change out the springs later anytime you want with higher rates if you 're looking to get very serious with the suspension and handling. Bushings are not necessary. My car with the 650/750 spring rates (and double-adj. race shocks) is so bad on the road (ride-wise) that polyurethane bushings would make me drive it over a cliff
What you should look for, is ~300-350lb spring rates with some decent shocks, adjustable ones, so you can set the ride, handling characteristics, etc. to your preference. With these spring rates the ride will remain very close to stock but the car will handle like a Type-R or better. Adjustable shocks provide great flexibility, especially if you plan on auto-xing more often.
The GC kit also provides amazing flexibility by being able to install many different Eibach Race springs (ERS) with various spring rates. The stock Koni Yellows can handle up to ~450lbs/in. fairly reliably. Any combo of aftermarket springs and shocks will make the car a lot more fun to drive and basically faster when driving through country back roads or any "twisties". You can leave Bimmers behind provided you have those RE730s on. I auto-xed last March with them when it was cold out after having them for 3yrs and they were still great. I could not believe I came in 2nd with those "old" tires that were pretty worn out because I auto-x on them all of '00 and part of '01.
So as far as auto-x goes, you just bumped your car up to DSP with the 22mm sway bar. If you put cams or do anything else to the head, motor, etc. you 'll be bumped up again to SM (Street Mod) which is an extremely fast class. So depending how seriously you take auto-x, you have to be careful what kind of mods you do. Have fun and keep us up to date!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I am looking for an inexpensive update for an everyday car.
Tokiko blues n/a
Koni reds n/a
Kyb gr2 n/a
Kyb agx adj
Bilstein n/a
Tokiko Illuminas adj
Koni Yellows adj
Hopefully that comes out right =P I would recommend the gr2's for non adjustable shocks and illuminas or agx's for adjustables. For bushings, I wouldn't get anything harder than stock rubber, just because it would really be a rough ride... and squeak a lot if you don't lube them up real nice.
A rear swaybar upgrade would be the best upgrade for handling without hurting drive quality. You could run the stock springs with those gr2's and the itr rear sway and you'll have a really smooth ride and improved handling.
Harry: Haha, I wouldn't tell anybody to rebuild their motor unless it was like mine. I would produce a huge cloud of oil smoke which turned out to be 1 quart of 20/w50 valvoline every 100 miles or so. Faster if I take it racing =\ But yeah, head work is where it's at ^_^ I'm a firm believer in that now. But, forced induction will yield much more power than natural aspiration at my altitude (5500 ft), so a JRSC might be in the near future with conservative tuning from my new vafcII =P
Ok, here's my plan for racing season. I believe I'll have about 500 bucks to blow, so here's my rundown. Harry, please critique ...
195/60/14 falken azenis ~$230
mounting and balancing ~$70
alignment ~$80
corner weighting ~$100
I'm going to borrow my friends kumhos on his 14's this weekend and raise my car again to accomidate the increase in tire size, then get the car aligned with the 16's on there. When my paycheck comes in, get the tires ordered and have them mounted. 2nd paycheck will be going towards the cornerweighting. I'm excited ^_^
So, I am back to spending a modest amount to improve its performance, particularly handling. Previous advice from himiler and only1harry was to install a Comptech rear brace and larger sway bar. Is that still the advice? How much handling improvement will I see? I did replace the orginal Michelins with Dunlop SP 5000 (205/50-15 on the stock 15x6 wheels), and the handling improved a lot. Still, I can notice the understeer.
How much will a new exhaust header and exhaust system help the engine? I see that Comptech sells both, but I am wondering if anyone has other recommendations.
As for exhaust components, Comptech makes some good stuff. Their header with a 2" collector apparantly flows as well as other headers with 2.25" and 2.5" collectors. Their exhaust is a really good quality piece and it should give you some good gains. It's not loud at all, even at WOT which is a good thing, IMO, but I still have a fart cannon because I like to hear VTEC =P
I planning to get a set of wheels so that I can swap wheels at weekend. Do you all reccomed getting a used set of GSR wheels (I think could get for around $200)? If that is the case I can use my old set of RE 730's with nearly 25% tread left. OR going for a brand new set of wheels? (a set of 15 in Konig Heliums for around $380..I have heard some hooror stories about wheels like Kong Heliums???) OR something totally different.
One more question. I am planning to be a member of a sports car club as members gets discounts on the events. I understand that NASA organizes for HPDE's (road racing on tracks with or without instructors) and SCCA is mainly into
Auto-x etc? but NASA accepts members from SCCA
btw Harry, does putting CAI bumps you up to a different class than DSP?
In DSP you can basically use any wheels you want, DOT Race tires (auto-x R compound tires), any suspension mods you want, Limited Slip Diff (LSD), any Intake, Header, exhaust, straight pipe, free-flow Catalytic (my next mod) multiple throttle bodies, intake manifold, ECU, lighter pullies, Performance brake pads, and a couple of other things, but NOT larger rotors or calipers. Brakes also play a huge role in auto-x so get yourself some Hawk HP+ or Axxis Ultimates. They both dust a lot and HP+ are noisy but have a little better bite than the Ultimates. They 're both great for street and auto-x though. I have HP+ in the front and Ultimates in the rear with OEM Brembo rotors all around (my 2nd set of rotors in 4yrs - they 're cheap though!). Car stops extremely fast!
The SCCA does a lot more than just Solo events (Autocross). They have many Road Racing classes, they have Rally, and many other forms of Motorsports with different classes. They also have road racing for just Hondas! Talk to your local SCCA chairpersons when you get to your first event and join their forum if they have one. You can also call the SCCA (www.scca.org), pay for your memebership with a credit card over the phone, and ask them a lot of questions, if you plan on doing track events besides auto-xing. They 're very nice to talk to and overly polite and curtious especially to new or potential members
Not sure where you 're located, but most NASA clubs hold a lot of auto-x events as well. My regional NASA chapter in North Jersey holds at least 8 auto-x events a year in addition to 2 or 3 HPDEs/yr. You DO want an instructor at HPDEs. I never heard of HPDEs without instructors unless they know you and you 've done a few where they can leave you on your own the whole day. Normally the instructor is with you for the a 1/4 to 1/2 day and the rest of time you 're in the car by yourself. I personally won't do HPDE's or fun track days until I get a roll cage. I 've seen and heard too many stories of "newbies" and experienced weekend road racers rolling their car and getting injured. Just the idea of damaging my car has kept me away from HPDEs
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Your second upgrade should be a 19-22mm rear sway bar (stock is 14mm) and the Comptech sway/tie bar combo is an excellent choice. They make a great kit and I upgraded to it as well after having a Neuspeed 19mm sway for 3yrs. The Comptech tie bar is billet aluminum, extremely light and unbelievably strong. It also serves as a subframe reinforcement to handle the larger sway bar's forces, as well as doing its job as a "lower tie bar" connecting the control arm mounts together to reduce flex. The sway bar mounts directly on the ends of the tie bar.
The sway bar also comes with top notch end-links, polyurethane bushings, and hardened steel fasteners (bolts, nuts, etc.). In my 4-5 years of auto-x racing experience I 've seen many sway bar end-links and bushings brake right in the middle of a course or a high G turn, but never a Comptech one. I 'm sure there 's probably some, but I 've never seen one. It's always Skunk2, Suspension Techniques, stock Type-R end-links and others (on Hondas, Acuras and other imports & American cars). I 'm not putting the others down (except maybe Skunk2, their end-links I think are very weak). I 'm just saying what I 've experienced.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I also read your comments to bemathew regarding brakes and wheels. I'll keep your advice in mind when it is time to replace the brakes.
Regarding the change to 15x7 wheels...what is the advantage over the stock 15x6 wheels? What size tire do you recommend with the 15x7 wheels? What brands of wheels do you like?
I believe the new ones offer 3 settings. I 'd use the middle one (2?) for street use if I had one, and the stiffest for racing. You should try all 3 but the stiffest setting sometimes I heard tends to offer a little oversteer (fish tailing) when letting off the gas or braking on a turn but I doubt with your soft stock suspension that will happen to you.
As far as wheels go, the wider they are, the better the handling. More tire on the ground. 205-50 is most commonly used on Integras with 15x7's but the rims will easily take 225-50-15 as well. I wouldn't recommend those for street use because they "track" the roads' anomalies more. On lowered Integras we can't put 225-50s without rubbing inside the wheel well. Even with 205-50s I still rub when lowered more than 2.25" (I can adjust the height of the coilovers) especially when turning the steering wheel all the way or on a high G turn when racing (with Race tires).
When you shop for wheels you must look for LIGHT wheels, or wheels that do NOT weigh more than your stock wheels, which is 16lbs on LS/GS and 15.5lbs on GSR. A very popular and inexpensive wheel is the Kosei K1 15x7" (see tirerack.com). I 've used it for 4yrs and it's very durable and light weighing 13lbs. It has also been the standard for the SPEC Miatas (very popular SCCA road racing class) for more than 2yrs now. There are others that are called Ultralight but I don't recommend them for street use. They bend easily unless you get forged aluminum wheels which can cost you a bundle. The lighter the wheel the more it costs. Heavier wheels will adversely affect your car's handling, acceleration, steering response, gas mileage, and will wear out bushings and other suspension components faster. There are many good deals $$ out there for some nice looking wheels but they weigh around 18-20lbs on the average. Beware of "cheap" wheels and no name brand ones. For every 1 lb the wheel is heavier, it adds 10lbs of unsprung weight to each corner of your car.
Another decent and fairly inexpensive brand is Rota. I have Rota wheels on my '01 Civic and they 're very popular as well. I 've put over 60k mi. on the Rotas, hit many pot holes, and they 're still holding up well. Most of the Rotas are 15x6.5" and weigh between 12.8 and 13.5lbs. They are just starting to make light 15x7's weighing about the same. 6.5" was a major improvement for my Civic since the car came with 15x5.5" steel ones, plus I drive it every day so I didn't want anything bigger. 15x7" affect your gas mileage a little too. I have a long commute and with the record gas prices we 're having I wasn't getting 7" rims. You also don't want to be driving through the winter with 7" wide wheels (not good!).
Another popular (and better) wheel manufacturer among auto-xers and road racers is SSR. 15" SSR Competition wheels range from 9 to 10.5 lbs but they 're $300-400 ea. and are competition wheels. You will not benefit from them because you don't use your GS for racing purposes, so don't consider fancy ultralight wheels. You want strong 'light' wheels for every day use (even if it's the weekends) and for imperfect roads, not ultralights designed for a smooth track.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
There's a very popular web site that has tons of used car parts, but I don't have it bookmarked on my PC at work. Last I looked they even had 1 or 2 GSR engines, one with 80 and one with 100k mi. on them. They also have a 1yr warranty for most parts they sell.
I have a '99 and the height adjustment does not raise/lower my (leather) seat that much though.. Have you sat in a '98+ and try adjusting the seat?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I think I will join SCCA so that I could get the discounted rates in auto-x events. Roll cage seems to be out of my reach for the time being!!!!
In Tire rack the Kosei K1 Racing wheels are $129 each....I will start looking for some used ones.
What about the AEM CAI? As I said before, if there is some good reason to spend the extra $70 on the V2 AEM CAI?
The NASA track events are $250/day, not their auto-x events. Their auto-x events usually run $30 for members and $40 for non-members. Many NASA clubs use the SCCA classes. Mine doesn't. They use only 7 classes.
Here 's a pic of me racing at the last NASA event last year. (came in 1st out of 25 in my class). It's at Giants stadium and the 2 lots they use are really big. We often get up to over 70mph. Notice I have the stock wheels on in the rear. It was too cold out so I left the street tires on. Car was planted better because the Kumhos were not getting warm enough in the back and kept wiping out in the morning runs :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I wanted to run my new 14" wheels with azenis, but when I put them on, they didn't clear the calipers =\ Now, after lots of shaving of the calipers and casting marks on the insides of the wheels, they fit really nicely and they feel freaking awesome. I heat cycled them first, then went for a testdrive the next day. With low pressure, I was able to increase turning speeds by 33-50% which is pushing 3x's the recommended speed limit ^_^ Now, with 40psi up front and 38 out back, the car is much more stable and it is really fun to drive, and at 50-60 bucks a tire, I WILL have fun with them =P
Well, hopefully cornerweighting and an alignment will come next week... hopefully. I really need an alignment. But yeah, that's about all for now.
My '98 GS-R (stock - no mods) has picked up the most annoying buzz between 3500 and 4000 rpm after it's warmed up. I thought is was possibly one of the many heat shields but damned if I can identify where it's coming from. If I had to guess I'd say the engine compartment.
Willing to chop, chisel, cut and tighten but would kill to have my tight sounding GS-R back.
jp
That is so long as I can find someone to tap the gas while I examine the motor. That throttle cable is damn hard to manipulate when you're trying to examine the other side of your rice rocket.
jp
Damn I love these cars,
jp
I have the stock intake system but I have rmoved the cover for the air filter box......Is it OK to leave it like that or its better to put the cover back? Its sound great when you rev it up...
I think I messed up the Group in which I have to run...I selected STX....Hopefully I should be able to change that......I am going for an Auto-x after almost 3 years......will keep you all posted
Thanks in advance....
For the intake, it's ok to run it without a cover, i think. I've been running it like that for a while (1+ years) and haven't had any problems. People say that it decreases performance, but I don't really care.
If I were you, I would reassign myself into STS-N just incase. I don't think it really matters since you'll be in the novice group. Once you're out of novice, be sure to pick the correct class to run in.
Oh yeah, I'm now in Street Mod, #13. I don't know what the deal is with me, my siblings, and the number 13. I'm #13, my bro's plane is 13, his squadron is vfc-13, his old one was vf-31, my sis' sport jerseys are 1 or 3 or 13 or 31. Kinda strange.
Anyways, I got the car cornerweighted ($90) and I have a 70 lb split in front and a 20 lb split in back, due to my massive physique =P With me in it, the car tipped the scales at 2914 lbs =O I need to lose some weight =P Anyways, with the cornerweighting and a good alignment ($80), the car has become much more stable, and with the added ride height and suspension travel, the car just sticks with the azenis. I'm really pleased. I can't wait until sunday's auto-x.
12K miles on front rotors(warp after 24k)
50K per clutch
Transmission carrier bearrings went at 120K
Radiator at 125K(cause water pump failure weeks later)
2 bent alloys
tire problems no matter what brand I choose
I am a fairly conservative driver for a GS-R driver, but this reliability sucks.
My 1993 Civic went 153K miles without stranding me once! I count 5+ times for the GS-R which I drive more gently.
Is this normal? Am I unlucky? Is there a trick?
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
1995 GS-R with 137,000 miles (of which about 20,000 was spent in German Autobahn)
Clutch replaced at about 100,000 only because of the leak in transmission main seal leaked oil into the clutch.
P/S pump at about 55,000 under extended warranty
First brake pad and rotor replacement at 60,000 driven mostly in DC area traffic)
Exhaust "B" pipe replaced twice due to bad design, which Honda wouldn't admit.
About 60,000 on the OEM tires (great), and 55,000 on the Goodyear RS-As (sucked), and now on Kumhos (noisy and hard)
1 battery, partly due to bad alternator, which was replaced under extended warranty.
leaky slave clutch replaced under warranty
Timing belt at 90,000 along with water pump (which leaked btw, and the warranty picked it up)
The engine and the transmission still doing well. I am guessing not having much torque is actually easy on the clutch and the synchros. Despite being driven on the autobahn at speeds of 100 to 120 for 3 to 4 hours at a time, the car held up, too well because I was actually going to junk it before coming back. So now it is serving as my commuter car and already I put 2000 miles in 3 weeks.
Bemathew: Your car is in STS class and you should correct that even though your 're running the Novice class. The PAX (index) is smaller and to your advantage to be in STS. STX is for cars with an LSD and also allows higher horse power cars like the Type-R and WRX.
Pressures for the RE730: I autocrossed on the same tires for more than 1 season. 37psi front and 34-35 rear. These are cold temps before you start racing. Don't let them go over 39 hot. They heat up quickly and will overheat and cause you to lose grip. Get a good tire pressure gauge. Doesn't hurt to get 2 (one expensive, 1 cheaper) so you can check for accuracy once in a while. Also see if you can find an alignment shop that is willing to give you a little toe out in the front and 0 toe in the rear. In the least, make sure you don't have any toe-in the front. Most alignment shops (and the factory settings) set the front to 0 toe on both sides. Tell them you want about 1/12th toe out in the front. That's -0.04 in. each side, -0.08 total toe. Anything betwen -0.03 to -0.5 is ok, any more and you 'll have some instability at high speeds, drifiting left & right plus excessive tire wear. Tell them to set their machine to INCHES (not degrees). I run -0.07" each side in the front which is -0.14 total. That 's a bit extreme but helps in auto-x. Some STS regional and divisional champs run up 1/4" of total toe in the front and even 1/8" in the rear but they trailer their cars to the events!
Garados: YES, more suspension travel does wonders for the handling plus it increases your shock's longevity. I just raised my car about 1/2" as well about 2 weeks ago and it handles better. No need to go with stiffer settings in the front with your Tokiko Illuminas. Leave them pretty soft, or 2 at the most. Experiment and see if 1 or 2 makes the car handle better at the event. Don't judge it too much by how it feels on the street. Use 3 or 4 in the rear when auto-xing regardless of spring rates.
Congrats on your 4th position! That's really good (how many in the class? 5? just kidding)!
I was racing with the Porsche club yesterday because there were no SCCA or other events going on or that were near by. I came in 10th overall (about 100 cars). Only 2 Porsches did better than me and they were both modded heavily (at least ASP if not Prepared). The rest were Subaru STis (normally in ASP) and modified M3s. Actually I also lost to an STS car by a few tenth's. The driver is a divisional champ that bought the '02 STS champion Civic from the '02 National champ. It's an '89 Civic, standard body (not Si) with an '88 Civic Si motor in it (108hp) and the other mods it makes over 120hp (performance ECU too, straight pipes, no cat or muffler, etc.). It weighs only 2100lbs and handles like a go-kart on Falken Azenis! It also has very expensive shortened body Koni shocks. This car is actually now illegal this year in STS because they took out the rule from STS that said you can backdate or use motors from the model line of the same generation. These light Civics were way too fast with the Si motor at the Nationals in '02 & '03 and out paxed all the other cars. This year they also increased the PAX index for STS. The reason STS has become such a fast class is not only because the amazing Azenis street tire, but because they allow too many mods and have been allowing more mods to be added for the last 4-5 yrs.
Anyway I almost met my match with a BMW 330ci, a Subaru RS 2.5 and a Fiat X1/9 in DSP last weekend at the SCCA NY Region (NYR). I managed to come in 1st but all 3 of those cars were 1/100s sec. behind me! The guy with the 330ci was racing on street tires the last couple of years. The new 330ci is the car to have now in DSP and has increasingly become very competitive as people are modifying them. They have lots of torque and power as well. This guys has done a lot of the stuff allowed under the Street Prepared rules. The Subaru guy I used to beat the last couple of years has gone with much higher spring rates, new race shocks, pulleys and other stuff he didn't have before and I was really surprised how well his car handled. Plus now with the new rules you can remove the back seat which he did and I haven't. My heart just won't let me remove a perfectly nice leather seat
SO, seeing how I almost lost an event for the first time in 3 yrs, and these guys will only get better with their new setups, it seems like I have no other choice to spend some serious money and take advantage of all the other stuff I 'm allowed to do to the car. I 'm pretty sure though, that I all I need, is 13x8" ultralight Panasports with 225 or 235-45-13 Kumhos or Hoosiers. This is also the most expensive way to go but I think it 'll help me out a lot more than my other options: Intake Manifold, header (yes I 'm still on stock header & exhaust!), free flow CAT, crankshaft and accessory pullies. I may get 8-9whp out those, but I think my best bet to continue beating these guys is with more grip and better handling. Thus the 13x8 $1200 wheels.
Ok I can go on forever. I 'm just catching up with everything :-) I gotta go bury my cat now. She died in my car about 1.5hrs ago while I was taking her to the Vet to have her euthenised. I just had to get distracted for a while so I figured I log on to the forums to take my mind off it for a while. It worked..
We had it for 16 yrs and she lived a good life. I just had hoped that I wouldn't see her die. Took her like 2-3 min. in my car. Looked like she was having a heart attack, having spasms and stuff and taking her last deep breaths.. oh well, life goes on.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Harry, I guess I came in 3/4 in my class at that last auto-x =P Haha, you'll like this. I was the only one in the top 10 that hit a cone =D Without hitting it, I would have been #2, .3 seconds behind the leader, .3 seconds ahead of the next guy. But since I tagged a cone, I ended up being at the end of the group.
So yeah, anyways, I've done some exterior modifications to my car ... vinyls and painting the wheels.
Here's my car in its racing gear http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/p7550ddf- 11199eda8047fa76a168611e3/f917a1c3.jpg
and with the new exterior ...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid114/p097f31d- 1c761eecd0ae7f96b7b9b7356/f8e1d4b9.jpg
Don't you think that trash can adds a touch of class? Haha, anyways, I've basically toasted my current 16" tires, but I'm going to wear them down via burnouts and power slides, then put my summer tires on. I think I'm going to get 215/40/16 Hankooks as my next tire and 205/55/14 Victoracers for my next set of racers.
Well, I'm off to school. Take care everybody.
I was surprised to read that your car weighs over 2900lbs with you in it. How much did it weigh without you? Mine was 2595 lbs. With me in it, 2805. I also had the glove compartement packed with crap, CDs, phone charger etc. in the arm rest, and the rear wooden floor cover/board & carpeting in the hatch area. I 'm the only one in SP that has not taken that stuff out of the hatch
When I beat someone who is complaining or is getting smart with me I always tease them and tell them they need to find something else to remove and maybe they 'll be faster next time :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Only1harry, I received the Comptech swaybar last week. Plan to install it next week while I am on R&R. Comptech has redesigned the endlink-to-control arm attachment to improve durability. I am eager to get it installed.
Harry: The car weighs about 2650 lbs without me. What does that say about how much I weigh? Haha, anyways, I think I'm going to take out my a/c just because the compressor decided to take a crap on me =\ 60 lbs, eh? Sounds about right. The mounting bracket weighs about 20 lbs or something like that. It was a heavy piece. The compressor weighs a lot as well. Well, that's about all for now. Take care everybody ^_^
Nerd
I forgot you had a 4-dr! Yeah those wheels do look pretty cool on the car. So your car has those red stripes on it now? You have a ricecar!!! hehehe
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
On my very first event, I didn't do well. I had two DNF's ...it was a pretty long course with 2 slaloms. On the second event, I think I did OK...finished third in the Novice-3 class. (yes, there were more than 3 people!!!!!)
Questions:
Earlier, Harry and gardos had advised me to go with Koni Yellows and GC coilover kit
1) Is this the best combination for a daily driver car commuting 70 miles/day with weekend Auto-x duties?
2) Considering reliability, price, performance etc are there any other good combinations of shocks and springs?
3) Can I have just the new springs or GC coilover kit with the stock shocks? how effective stock shocks with springs?
4) I installed the Type-R sway bar myself. How easy or tough is it install the shocks and springs?
Long wait for the next auto-x which is on May-8....it is addictive!!!
Picture of me doing 3 wheeling in the last event.