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FN2 FN2 Track Project Set Up 2020

NPC

Messages
16
Hi,

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Bought a Lockdown Track Project, have read this forum a lot for help. Thought I'd post what I have done and keep it update to help others who might be doing the same.

Was quite hard to source a car, prices have gone up for used cars since Lockdown in general, but seems Type Rs are back in favour, saw some absolute bags of S**** asking for top money, both privately and from dealers, the latter especially.

Bought a 59 plate base car £4.4k, 94k miles, FSH, from dealer.

Currently running 240bhp (NA).

Chassis

Pollybushes front and back £330
BC racing coil-overs (may change these) £900
FRS geometry TDI South, roughly two hours at £90 (ex VAT)
Eibach 15mm spacers c£260
C£450-600 budget for chassis work.

StopTech BBK £1.2k (used)
Braided braking lines £133
Standards Callipers at rear (may replace the callipers)
Pagid flats at rear (c£50) with DS2500 pads (C£100)
Budget for c£200 in labour or roughly two hours to fit BBK.

Engine and drive train

RBC inlet c£350
4-2-1 headers £150
M2 resonated cat back exhaust £525
HKS RSK intake £450
EcuTek Map by TDI-N c£500
Honda OEM replacement chain + tensioner c£260
Valve clearances c£100
Clockwise baffle £130 (used, c£150 new, if you can find one)
Fd2 shaft delete conversion oil pump c£400
Acuity shifter base bushes (helped a lot with positive change) £30
OEM Exedy clutch £150
Lightweight flywheel £266.32
M-Factory LSD £650 (get the wavetrac if you can afford).
Gearbox opened and checked for syncho issues, all healthy

A few people have worked on the car, so difficult to give an accurate labour figure for engine and chassis, but I'd allow for at least two days labour.

Works been carried out by Grinspeed, TDI North and TDI South. And I rate them all.

Wheels

Two sets of standard 18-inch alloys, one with P4’s and testing different semi-slicks.

Next steps:


Lightweight wheels (open to suggestion for reasonably priced options)
Standard seats removed
Bucket seats install
Half cage and rear stripped
Harnesses
Dashboard flocked

Considering:

Toda Cams + TB + Remap
Tegiwa big radiator and fan
Mugen Style fibreglass front bumper + air feeds for engine/brakes. But don't really want the wing, slightly concerned additional downforce at front without rear will unbalance car. More research required.
Mugen Style fibreglass Front wings.
Carbon fibre bonnet if I ever see one come up cheap.

Review


The engine revs much more freely with the shaft delete kit, the power gains from the map and breathing mods give the car the kind of power and sound it really should have had from the factory IMO, and I wouldn't want to drive a standard car after completing them.

It's not just the extra power at the top end that's impressive, but the increased performance throughout the rev range, particularly low to mid range, which is always a weak spot with VTECs, but especially the standard car when I got it, which laboured in lots of situations, and after coming from a much more powerful car, it made lots of noise but didn't really achieve the speed the high revs gave you the impression it was. But now it feels rapid and is rapid.

The additional torque is really useful. Even driving around town you can poodle along at 30mph in 5th or even 6th at 1.5-2k revs and it doesn't labour and judder as the standard engine did even in 4th at those speeds sometimes. It's actually more fuel efficient driving around on the streets due to the torque. On the track with the chassis mods, I can carry more speed and go through corners in 4th that were 3rd when I first got it. Meaning not having to risk over revving engine downshifting at high speeds or putting lots of high rev loads all the time and getting it very hot, or having change the gear just after the exit when the car might not be straight or worse hold it pinging off the rev limiter (although that's fun sometimes :).

It sounds absolutely bananas in the VTEC zone, every passenger in the car on track has been laughing because it's such a exciting drama with the sound and vibration that fills the cabin in the higher revs when driven in anger, it makes all kinds of strange barking and growling noises on track under different loads. It gets quite a lot of attention in the pits with people coming over to ask what's been done. The sound is still within the track sound regs, which is obviously key. The M2 exhaust is probably one of the more quiet if not the quietest on the market. It's not too loud driving around at normal speeds, it's got a nice throaty exhaust sound, but not obnoxious (unless you put into VTEC), the intake sound is quite aggressive, but again, only really gets noisy above 4k. Unfortunately it does drone at motorway speeds, it's not just the sound, but the resonation/vibration at cruising speeds, it gives me a bit of ear / head ache on longer journeys, it's fine at 65 to just under 70. 70-80 is horrible and it's ok again at around 90 (obviously I tested this in Germany where that is legal). So I take ear plugs with me or use noise canceling headphones on journeys to and from track.

With the chassis properly balanced and geometry set for the upper side of road and lower side of track at the moment, and complimented by the LSD, the turn in grip, poise and general chassis balance is excellent and it's really pleasing to get turn in and exit just ride, it has a real sparkle which the standard car doesn't. It's one of the better handling cars I have ever owned now it's properly set up. On the road, the BC coils/bushes are quite harsh, you're going to get bounced and jiggled around in it, on a country road at high speed, it'll bump up and down with quite a lot of force, but it will hold the road like glue and handle like a dream, that's the trade off. With the dampers set to road use by TDI South, it's very usable as a daily, it is probably stiffer than other coil overs but I can cope with it. Both the bushes and the coils are a little noisy at times, expect them to squeak and groan over speed bumps etc. It was not good out of the box, it needs to be set up by people that really know what they're doing (more to follow).

It's also got tons of grip in the wet with Michelin PS4s on and using the additional traction of the LSD, see:

What would I do differently? I didn't have unlimited budgets and had to make difficult decisions as the bill kept going North, one of those was an M-Factory diff over a Wavetrac. After speaking to quite a few tuners and the guys at Tegiwa, the general consensus was, that whilst the WT is really a beast, the M-Factory will still be superior to standard diff and still make the car a lot of fun. And they weren't wrong, but with the benefit of hindsight, and extra c£400 would have been worth it for the superior product, given the labour costs taking the engine out, I'm regretting that now.

I had the geo re-done and chassis balanced with TDI South, there are lots of competent tuners around who can do geometry but bare in mind that some use equipment that is only accurate to .1 decimal place and probably has quite large tolerances. I.e, you could have set the camber to 1.1 all around, but it could be 1.075 / 1.125 different left to right, but the machine has rounded. TDI South do a lot of work for high end race teams, have people going in there with McLarens and Aston Martins to get their geo done. Their systems are state of the art and can make really fine adjustments. Mine was out when it was put on their system, despite just paying to have it done elsewhere. It could be it had been knocked out or something, but I think more likely was set correctly but the machine is just not very accurate or possibly needs recalibrating. The current FRS is quite incredible and is night and day better than before, and I thought the first FRS was good.

The standard brakes are awful, the feel and modulation is crappy, the ABS would go off all over the place and would fade suddenly without notice, sometimes even after second lap from warm up. Had several very frightening experiences with sudden brake fade. So they had to come off.

I was planning to get the Brembo Megan kit, but I managed to source a used set of StopTech for same price (£1.2k), they had sports pads and brand new discs. I'll re-update this when I have taken them on track, but after bedding in and testing on roads near me, I can confirm they're very good. The modulation and feel is very good and obviously he stopping power is very strong. I doubt they'll come into their own until up to higher temps on track. I still find the ABS fires off quite easily, it's not the best system, but it's much better with the Fast Techs.

Most people suggest the flat pagids with standard pads or DS2500/PBS are fine for the rears, mine currently has standard honda flats with Ds2500, but I may replace with Stop Tech grooved/drilled to match the fronts and see if they're worth the extra cash, but some of that is vanity, because it'll look cool! :D

Hope this is useful, any questions, let me know.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Great.
How much has this cost on top of the car price?

Thanks!!

I've updated original thread with some prices, need to look at the invoices later to get exact figures, but roughly right.

Bit more difficult to give accurate labour figures, because there have been a few glitches along the way, which meant various people have had it.
 
I know this is an old thread but I have recently upgraded to the same exhaust set up as you, 4-2-1 decat and M2 resonated, have you had any issues with noise restrictions on track at all, I know some are stricter than others so would like to know if there's any I need to avoid. P.s.nice build you've got there, you done much else in the last 12 months or so?

Thanks

Phill
 
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