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This has been an on going thread on the Civic Type R Owners forum. I'm more regularly coming here so thought I'd share. I've just copied and pasted the main parts of the build thread and will continue to update....
Hello. Done a few bits to my Civic and no doubt more to come so thought I'd share with you guys.
I'm a vehicle technician specialising V.A.G, currently working for a VW and I'd had my fair share of the buggers. Previous was a Seat Ibiza diesel. Mapped up and some suspension tweeking it was a good car for 6 years! I do miss the clutch shredding torque and economy. But after a days work fixing the same old vdubs I got bored of fixing, modding and driving mine. Fancied a change so bought the Civic.
Bought in March 2015 with just under 47k miles on the clock. Totally standard apart from the premier seats. Considered keeping standard as it a fine example. But after wanting some track action, things changed.
My intentions was still to keep the car looking O.E but improve performance and keep it as my daily driver. Now I have a daily driver, it's turning into a more track focused car!
As the car stands:
Engine
Injen CAI
RBC inlet manifold
Thermal inlet gaskets
Spoon Camshafts
Refurbished Cam Cover Spoon colours
Solid Fabrications race manifold with 3 inch collector
Solid Fabrications 3 inch exhaust system
Clockwise Motion drop in baffles
Mocal 19 row oil cooler
Mocal thermostatic oil sandwich plate
Front and rear mount inserts.
K Tuned idle assist delete
Mapped by Romain at Eurospec 2000. Max power 241.5HP
Suspension
MeisterR GT1 coilovers
Cyberspeeds rear camber arms
Powerflex front camber bolts
Tegiwa steering arm raiser bracket
Modified and shortened steering arms
JDM rear anti roll bar
Meyle HD drop links
Buddy club RCA ball joints
Super Pro castor increase bushes
Super Pro front and rear roll bar bushes
Tegiwa Subframe locking collars
Projekt-K solid brass rack slider bush
Corner weight checked
Track geo set up
Front: -3.5° camber, 0° toe
Rear: -2.0° camber, 0° toe
Brakes
Spoon front calipers
RPB discs and Carbotech XP10 pads on front.
RPB discs and Carbotech XP8 pads on rear
Motul RBF600 fluid
Brake cooling ducts
Transmission
New genuine Honda clutch kit
Mfactory helical LSD
Projekt-K solid shifter bushes
Wheels and tyres
Enkei RPF1 17x8 ET35
Toyo R888R 215/45 R17
Muteki steel wheel nuts
Interior
Half bolt in cage by SW Motorsport
Sparco Rev seats
Sparco 4 point harnesses
Steering wheel trimmed in alcantara
Here's some pictures when I first bought it totally standard. Apart from the ITG induction kit fitted.
March 2014 - MeisterR Zeta R purchase.
Fitted all the suspension this weekend and set it all up. Lucky for me I have keys to my work so everything was available for me to do.
Everything went fairly smooth. One of the rear shock bolts was seized but with lots of lube and a big bar we got there. Cut the old drop links off as I couldn't be bothered to try and undo the seized bolts. Fitted the steering arm raiser bracket with the rack in place. Not too bad of a job, just don't do it with a hot exhaust!
Spent more time setting up and getting the ride height even. After driving around for a day it's already settled and dropped so it'll need a tweaking.
Grabbed a few snaps, comparison of the new and old parts ect.
May 2014 - Track Day Snetterton
Went to Snetterton on Thursday 15th May. Open pit lane and it was a blinding hot day. Perfect conditions! Just a little hot and sweaty inside the cabin.
Had an instructor for 20 mins. He was really impressed with the car and couldn't believe it was just on normal Bridgestone re050a tyres.
Brakes managed well (DS2500 Pads, RPB Discs). Did give them some serious abuse. Possibly the odd 1 or 2 stress fracture but they're very small and hardly noticeable. Oh and cheap caliper paint doesn't hold up very well. After the first session the paint was already bubbling off!
Checked the oil twice, hadn't moved all day. Checked tyres pressures a few times and that was it. Faultless!
Became friends with a man who owned an ariel atom. Wow what a machine! After lunch he came for a ride in my car and again he was impressed with it's capabilities. Then we went in the atom and that thing was quick!
Gave some faster cars a good run for their money. Although being faster than an M5 and a Lotus Elise shows how much it's about driver than machine.
I'll get some more pics up as they're on my laptop.
Few more pictures from the track day
June 2014
Update!
Got modified arms and shortened them so I'm able to run more camber on the front. Running -2.0 camber on the front. Potential to go more but with it being a daily, it's twitchy enough already.
Comparison of the arms
Changed my pads from DS2500 to Carbotech XP8. Measured what was left of the DS2500 and I'd worn 60% of the pad after 1 track day at Snetterton and around 1,000 miles. I'm hoping the Carbotech's last longer and perform better. Although it's just started raining I struggled to bed them in yet.
Pad comparison
September 2014 - First Nürburgring trip
Went to the Nurburgring 30th-31st of August. Fantastic place. If you're into cars and track days it's a must visit.
Bought a fresh set of RE050a for the front. I thought 2.5mm of tread depth would be risky. And when it rains out there, it pours!
Stayed at a b&b called Ring Haus. It must be the closest accommodation to the entrance. 30 second drive!
Got 2 laps in Saturday evening and it was very wet. Crashes everywhere!
Sunday was better. Fairly dry to begin with some damp patches. A small shower and then the sun came out which dried it out enough to get in a few hot laps. Total laps we managed was 10 and I let my pal do 2 of them.
Car was faultless, although I had to hold back slightly going through the Karussell as the car was bottoming out.
Best lap was a 9:32. There was 2 incidents and a little traffic. I'd like to think with a few more laps practice and a clear run I'd be close to 9 minuets. Maybe go under if I push hard. But how hard do you go when you need the car to drive back!
I'm trying to convert and upload gopro footage to YouTube. In the meantime here's some pics
Here's the video
http://youtu.be/0NWVtf4oS9M
Changed the clutch and the diff today. Took me around 6-7 hours. Few pals came down to basically watch and take the **** so slight distraction at times. Plus another full geo set up after pulling the subframe down.
Took a few photos but was more focused on getting the job done.
First of all the clutch. Absolutely shot! Old vs new you can see how worn the friction plate is.
The new diff
Now stripping the gearbox isn't all that difficult. The hardest part is trying to get the casings apart without damaging anything. I must of spent a good 15mins trying to break the seal. But when it's apart you get this.
As I was collecting the parts pre fitting I found Tegiwa's service bulletin on the final drive bolts. I'm glad I found this otherwise you can't bolt on the final drive gear to the new diff. I looked on Lings Honda to see if my car has these bolts fitted but it came up with a different number. I then tried earlier and later years and they all came up with the same number which is the longer bolt with the shoulder. So if you're going to fit an Mfactory diff be sure to buy these bolts!!
Haven't done much driving in it yet. But it's been raining and it makes such a difference. Normal driving you'd never know. But start being a prat accelerating in the wet round corners and it just pulls you round with no horrible wheel spin or understeer. Highly recommend doing this mod. I did consider changing the final drive but it's more cost and I wasn't so sure I'd like the higher revving on motorways etc.
Doubt I'll get anymore track days in this year. Planning another Nurburging trip around Easter. So maybe a pre track day before going.
If anyone would like more information or advice on changing the clutch or diff I'm happy to help :-D
October 2014
Got hold of some second hand Spoon calipers. These are pretty expensive for what you get. But, the running costs is far cheaper as they use the standard sized discs, pads and hoses. I didn't fancy wasting the set of pads I'm currently using as they set me back £180!
Calipers are in good condition. Just needed a little clean up. Can't get them fitted for another week as I'm going away. Will update when they're fitted.
Before cleaning
Progress
Finished
November 2014
Got myself some work to do Saturday morning.
Buddy club RCA ball joints. Super Pro castor increase bush kit. Super Pro front and rear anti roll bar bushes. Followed by another geometry set up.
March 2015
This arrived today. Beast! Solid Fabrication exhaust system
Email from area motorsport saying the drop in baffles should arrive tomorrow. So should be all here ready to fit at the weekend.
Put on the exhaust tonight in a bit of a rush to free up some time tomorrow.
Fitment I'd give it 9/10. Manifold clearance on the roll bar is excellent front and rear. The only slight issue was I had to extend the lambda wiring slightly. There was a slight knock here and there over bumpy roads after driving hard. It may settle down as it gets a few heat cycles or may need slight adjustment. Nothing serious!
As for sound, it's a little more civilised than the piper system. The tone is far deeper.
Little video pretty much as I finished fitting
The drop in baffled sump, oil cooler and brake ducts are all fitted. I done the majority of it last weekend but ran out of time due to 'date night' with the girlfriend so finished off the little bits today.
Fitting the drop in baffled sump is easy. Slightly fiddly getting it back on. Issue you get is the dipstick hits the baffles so I just trimmed around 10mm off the bottom to solve the issue.
Then onto the oil cooler. I decided to route the pipes around the gearbox side. Then onto the cooler mounting. Due to having A/C there's not much space behind the front bumper unless you start hacking away at it which I didn't want to do as I want to keep it looking fairly OEM. I ended up just slightly bending the A/C condenser inwards and making up brackets to bolt onto the crash bar. Then welded studding to the bottom panel and using one of the mounts supplied with the cooler bolted that to the studding and cooler. The only thing I need now is just some reflective heat sleeve for the oil pipes that run by the exhaust manifold.
Finish off with the brake ducts. Fitted them to the bumper using countersink black bolts and then used ducting routed to the inner archers where I made a hole and fixed just using cable ties. I might buy a duct mount to neaten up the inner arch.
Bumper all fitted.
RBC inlet, adaptor plate came through today. Other parts I ordered was new RPB discs, oil, oil filter and some heat insulation sleeving for the oil cooler pipes. Cheers Tegiwa!
Remembered the RBC needs a bung for a hole. Found a bung the right size, going to make up a small plate to bolt on top just to be sure it doesn't come out. Alternatively in time I might just get a local welder to tig up the hole.
Pads and tyres are left to buy and it'll be all go go go for the Nürburgring!
May 2015 - Nürburgring trip 2
The Nürburgring trip was epic! In total I managed 13 laps that weekend. Very busy at times and plenty of cars crashing causing closures (majority on UK plates) which was annoying at times.
Car was a joy to drive. Performed so well. Although next time I'm going to jack the ride height up a little. Even with the coilovers set on hard I was bottoming out. I dread to think what the exhaust and front arch liners look like!
Brakes handled very well. Although I've got some pad pick up of some sort and they don't sound too healthy. Bouncing over the kerbs may of knocked the wheel alignment out a little as the steering wheel is on the **** slightly.
My best time was an 8.45 with only a little traffic. A massive 47sec quicker than last time. Although I'm putting most of that down to me growing a pair rather than the cars performance. Full video will be up soon and a few other clips from other laps.
Full video of the 8.45 lap
https://youtu.be/-GG_iI3ufLs
June 2015
Not much going down recently. Noticed over the last week or 2 that I've been getting soot deposits on the rear bumper. Followed by an intermittent engine management light. Turned out to be the lambda on its way out. After fitting I did notice it was slightly crisper on part throttle.
As for the cam situation...
I got them pretty cheap. TDI North tested these on a DC5 (these are the exact cams used) and over majority of the rev range the produce the same or 1-2bhp less until past 8k where they make a little more power (comparing to the JDM cams). EP3 engine is slightly different so would be interesting to see how they perform. Either way they're a good upgrade over the OEM cams.
Reason I didn't go nuts with stage 2's is I'm a little undecided what I'm going to do with the car at the end of the year. My heart wants an E46 M3 and make it a pure track weapon. But that's an expensive route and would put my house buying fund on hold. Don't think I'm prepared to do that.
In talks with Meister R about their GT1 coilovers I'm keen in. So the current set up could be up for grabs!
Cam swap done this morning. Relatively easy to do and yes swapping the cams only takes 15mins like the Skunk2 video. What takes longer is setting the tappets and cleaning the Hondabond on the tensioner cover :lol:
Few pictures, nothing that interesting.
Swapping the inlet cam
Inlet cam in and exhaust one ready to go
Both in ready for the cam caps
Well a good morning at Eurospec 2000. Car is all tuned and it's all sweet.
We done a run on the old tune for comparison. I think it pulled 228hp or there about. Had a mega rich spot in the midrange so not sure if this was something done last time it was mapped or the cams and intake have caused it.
Final figure was 241.5hp (around 201hp at the wheels). Considering the weather is a little hot and sticky, then taking into account their dyno reads around 10hp less than say TDi, pretty decent figures. As you can see it makes power right up to the redline. Romain also mentioned that he had to take out a fair bit of fuelling on the lower cam so I should expect to see better MPG when cruising.
These have finally turned up!
They don't look a great deal different from the Zeta-R. From the looks of it they use the same body and top mounts ect but there's numbers scribed on the bottom of the shocks along with an Allen key bolt poking out. I've already dismantled the rears for a lick of grease on the threads to prevent seizing. The covers are a nice touch and should help keeping them clean and lasting longer. From memory the bump stops are a different design and the seal looks different as well. Should get these on at the weekend and put to the test in a few weeks at Silverstone.
July 2015
The new MeisterR GT1 coilovers are on!
Fairly straightforward swap as they're basically the same except the internals are different.
I've only done around 15 miles currently. Should have some free time tonight so may go for a little blast to see how they handle. But they're an improvement over the old Zeta-R. In the small journey I done, I noticed that it rides a lot more smoother and more composed over bumps. Also feels like there's less road noise. I'll do some further driving and probably start a new thread with a more in depth review.
Few snaps
Back from Trax at Silverstone. I've put a review update in the other thread I've started. In short they were amazing!
Managed to buy another session so had 2 20 min sessions. It was the short circuit so very easy to learn and pick up. First session was decent, found my self in some clear air and managed to catch and overtake a few cars. Second session I was caught in lots of traffic. People not moving over to the right to let you pass and just in general some terrible driving. But I expected it due to the nature of people this kind of show would attract. I really need to invest in some semi slicks. It was really hot in the afternoon and after a few laps the tyres were cooked. Also managed to get the hang of heel toe action which helped in the braking zones.
I've got some gopro footage of the 2 sessions which I'll get up in the next few days.
Videos online. I've trimmed down to the fairly clean laps.
First session was good. My lines were off a little. I don't think drinking the night before and having a massive hangover helped
http://youtu.be/PyobQGR9euo
Second session was better. Very little laps that were clear. Ruined by a red flag at the end
http://youtu.be/lKulzDSnJgI
February 2016
Yummy
Well some goodies came in the post today.
First was the steering wheel. Trimmed in black alcantara with a red centre stripe. Managed to throw it on quick before it gets dark. Only takes a few mins to do.
Rocker cover also turned up. Looks great. I'll try and find some time to fit this at the weekend as I need to send them back my old cover.
Tyres turned up today. Standing water isn't going to be my friend anymore.
Will mount the tyres onto the rims tomorrow. I'm hoping my wheel nuts turn up tomorrow as well so I can trial fit at the weekend. No doubt I'll need me mums hairdryer and a mallet to fettle the rear arches :lol:
Rocker cover on. New gasket as well. Thought about doing valve clearances but I left my feeler gauges at work. Can't imagine they'll be out anyway. Only done them last summer.
Wheel nuts turned up. Muteki steel nuts in blue.
Weather has turned for the worse now so won't be fitting today. Bought some Autoglym wheel protector to stick on the wheels to hopefully keep the wheels looking good.
Managed to find a little time to stick the wheels on the motor. Really happy with the looks.
Rear arches are definitely going to need some work. I'll get the hammer and dolly out to get some clearance.
Took the car into work to get an MOT done. Was also a drive to see if the wheels rub and I think the hammer to the rear arches has done the job. Paint cracked as expected so I covered the lip in some underseal to prevent rusting.
Tyres are... Interesting. It's not really warm enough outside and difficult to generate any heat but they feel great. I was struggling to get the ABS to cut in so there's good grip. Downside, they're noisy!
Then I though I'd **** about with the front suspension. Managed to get around -3° of camber up front. One of the steering arms has basically bottomed out in the track rod end and I've already trimmed 10mm off the end of them. But I'm not planning on anymore camber... For now.
There's slight difference in camber up front. This is because I'm OCD with everything being the same and wanted the top mounts to be both in the same position. The difference between the sides isn't massive, I can tolerate that.
Here's how the top mounts sit now
April 2016
New brakes on today.
RPB discs front and rear. Carbotech XP10 on the front and XP8 on the rear.
Few pictures, got my money's worth out of the old set up. Front discs are good enough to go again but didn't fancy running them with a different compound.
Rears totally dead
New discs on the front fitted and the fresh pads
Fronts nicely bedded in. Slight blue tinge to the discs where they got a beating.
Japfest was a success. I did speak to one or 2 of you but it was a bit of a rush sorting out track time and I wanted to have a mooch about.
Car was totally faultless on track. I'm extremely happy with how it performed. Managed to keep up and overtake cars that you wouldn't expect an EP3 to do. It just shows that a well set up car and a little seat time on track can put in some impressive laps.
Got some videos of the sessions. First session the track just about dried. It was cut short after only a few laps due to a red flag. Tyres didn't get enough time to warm up and scrub in so I was fighting the wheel a little.
https://youtu.be/HMZWDDP1vqM
Second session was much better. Slight rain but nothing to worry about. After I cleared the traffic I was going pretty well.
https://youtu.be/s-DH3418_Ro
100% happy with the car now. The brakes were amazing and the tyres when warmed up really performed well.
May 2016
Quick update. Had a track day at Snetterton on Thursday. Weather was perfect so was looking forward to a good day.
All signed on and ready to go. Also had the other half with me as she's coming to the Nordschleife and needed a taster on what track driving is like. Second session in and I'm shown the black flag. Noise level too high. I measured 96db on static and 95db on drive by. Limit there is 92db. After messing about, driving around to a few local garages I thought that was the end of my day. Luckily one of the organisers at Javelin had some spare universal exhaust baffles and one fitted perfect onto the back box. The day was saved! For future I'm going to try and find a decent insert for the exhaust to save my bacon. Some of the cheaper ones I've seen don't look great and look really restrictive.
Unfortunately I got no footage as they don't allow helmet cams. Forgot to set my timer up so no lap times either.
Other than noise, the car was faultless. The level of grip with this suspension set up and tyres is unbelievable. To the point the premier seats don't hold me in position enough and I'm nearly falling out the seat. My forearms hurt at the end of the day where I was trying to hold myself in position. In comparison to when I last went there on standard road tyres, my corner speeds were around 10-15mph faster!Seats and roll cage are now a priority. The brakes again are amazing. They get hot and feel like they loose their initial bite, but just press harder on the pedal and they really come into their own.
Not sure when my next track day will be. Probably not any before the Nordschleife in July. I've booked myself in with so many events in June/July. Various concerts, Le Mans, Goodwood, 3 days at F1 and probably more I've forgotten.
Anyway, only picture I took was of the exhaust. Enjoy....
July 2016
New seats and harnesses have arrived. I did want Schroth belts with ASM but Demon Tweeks only had one in stock and couldn't get another until late July. So settled for some Sparco belts. I suppose it's all matching.
Hoping the cage comes next week before the weekend. I've got SW Motorsport making me a rear cage.
Added in 29 minutes 12 seconds:
Oh and this also means that my Premier Recaro's and seat rails will be up for sale soon!
Well I've got all the seats and cage in. It's been a hot and sweaty affair. Lovely weather but the car turns into a greenhouse!
So everything just about turned up on time. Tegiwa nearly longed me off on engine and gearbox oil but managed to get it to me by Friday. But managed to get seat rails out to be on Tuesday... Anyway.
Credit to SW Motorsport for the cage. I told them I was desperate to have it before the weekend and they delivered it on Friday.
So I had work Saturday morning. Took the car in with me to do the oil changes. Millers Nandrive, genuine oil filter and went for some Torco gearbox oil. No pictures of this, we've all seen what oil looks like.
Then onto getting the cage in. It was a little awkward getting in. All interior out basically, passenger door strap disconnected to open the door wider and manoeuvre the cage in trying my hardest not to scuff too much.
Then the point of no return, buzzing holes through the floor. I spent a while with the tape measure trying to get the cage as square as possible. Then went ahead drilling holes. Tub of Waxoyl at hand to spread about. Small issue with the bolts coming through the rear arch were too long and risked hitting the tyre. So the grinder came out and cut them back as much as possible.
Now I wanted to fit as much interior back as possible to make it a little more presentable and more civilised. I ended up having to cut the rear quarter trim into 3 pieces and for the time being have just used black tape over the joins to keep things together. Amazingly there isn't any rattles. But I'd like to do something with the joins other than black tape. For now it'll do. It looks good from afar... But far from good.
Then onto the seats. No real dramas here, the Tegiwa sliding seat rails are pretty shîte. But they do the job well enough, just don't expect the seat to slide at all. I'm not happy with the inner lap mounting point. It goes into the seat buckle mount on the rail but the angle isn't ideal. So may have to stick more holes in the floor for them in the future.
I've set my belt lengths about right. Need to do the same for the other half. Tidy the belt ends and then it's all done and ready. Nordschleife bound Friday morning!
Well I'm back from the Green Hell. I'm alive and the car is all good!
Set off nice and early Friday morning for the Euro Tunnel for a 7am train. Missed all that shîte with the queues on the M20. Nice drive across Europe into Germany and our apartment in Adenau. Got all checked in, chilled out for a while and then went over to buy some laps and get some in that evening.
First lap I took it easy. With the other half being with me I knew t would be a big shock to her. Also I forgot to wind up the stiffness on the shocks and it didn't feel as sharp as I liked it. I ended up filming me and the other half this lap just to see her reaction. I didn't time it officially but looking at the GoPro footage it was a sub 10 lap. The track was soon closed after a car fire which we happened to pass on that lap before it went into full flames
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SN2mdNGUfWs
Onto Saturday where the weather wasn't any good. We took a little trip to the castle in Nürburg and the views are pretty awesome!
Morning was misty and light rain and then later on it rained fairly heavy for the whole afternoon. Knowing what it's like in the rain I decided not to even bother going out so we spectated which was amusing. Until near the end of the day there was a large accident. Seeing all the emergency vehicles take to the track, we knew it wasn't good. Unfortunately 2 people died when their EG Civic crashed into a marshals car that was attending another accident.
https://www.facebook.com/lsaktuellrp/videos/1114373711934688/
With this in the back of mind, I had a pretty terrible sleep Saturday night and the other half wasn't keen either. But Sunday morning we got up early and took to the track. Weather was decent but on the downside it was extremely busy.
1st lap out was sub 9 mins. Then every lap after kept coming down in time. But the traffic was really bad and with the crash from Saturday in the back of my mind, I knew times weren't going to be what I would of liked.
Track was closed for a good few hours middle of the day. I had 4 laps left of the 9 bought and I was worried I wouldn't have time to get them in. Reason for the closure is this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MBWh49ehZs4
Finally it opened. Back out and despite the traffic I was trying pretty hard to nail a nice lap in and on camera. The final lap of the day ended up being the best at an 8:25. A good 20 seconds faster compared to last time but a few mistakes made and some traffic. Less traffic maybe closer to 8 mins? Maybe I don't handle the traffic well or just a bit of bad luck. But I was pleased I got a good time in. Sub 8 mins? It's on the cards but I need more seat time at that place. I only done around 30 laps to date.
I've ripped off some photos off the net. I might actually buy some as they're decent. Videos will be up on YouTube soon if my laptop stops playing up.
Overall a really decent trip!!
Video is up on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/lBnqMC5nk44
Hello. Done a few bits to my Civic and no doubt more to come so thought I'd share with you guys.
I'm a vehicle technician specialising V.A.G, currently working for a VW and I'd had my fair share of the buggers. Previous was a Seat Ibiza diesel. Mapped up and some suspension tweeking it was a good car for 6 years! I do miss the clutch shredding torque and economy. But after a days work fixing the same old vdubs I got bored of fixing, modding and driving mine. Fancied a change so bought the Civic.
Bought in March 2015 with just under 47k miles on the clock. Totally standard apart from the premier seats. Considered keeping standard as it a fine example. But after wanting some track action, things changed.
My intentions was still to keep the car looking O.E but improve performance and keep it as my daily driver. Now I have a daily driver, it's turning into a more track focused car!
As the car stands:
Engine
Injen CAI
RBC inlet manifold
Thermal inlet gaskets
Spoon Camshafts
Refurbished Cam Cover Spoon colours
Solid Fabrications race manifold with 3 inch collector
Solid Fabrications 3 inch exhaust system
Clockwise Motion drop in baffles
Mocal 19 row oil cooler
Mocal thermostatic oil sandwich plate
Front and rear mount inserts.
K Tuned idle assist delete
Mapped by Romain at Eurospec 2000. Max power 241.5HP
Suspension
MeisterR GT1 coilovers
Cyberspeeds rear camber arms
Powerflex front camber bolts
Tegiwa steering arm raiser bracket
Modified and shortened steering arms
JDM rear anti roll bar
Meyle HD drop links
Buddy club RCA ball joints
Super Pro castor increase bushes
Super Pro front and rear roll bar bushes
Tegiwa Subframe locking collars
Projekt-K solid brass rack slider bush
Corner weight checked
Track geo set up
Front: -3.5° camber, 0° toe
Rear: -2.0° camber, 0° toe
Brakes
Spoon front calipers
RPB discs and Carbotech XP10 pads on front.
RPB discs and Carbotech XP8 pads on rear
Motul RBF600 fluid
Brake cooling ducts
Transmission
New genuine Honda clutch kit
Mfactory helical LSD
Projekt-K solid shifter bushes
Wheels and tyres
Enkei RPF1 17x8 ET35
Toyo R888R 215/45 R17
Muteki steel wheel nuts
Interior
Half bolt in cage by SW Motorsport
Sparco Rev seats
Sparco 4 point harnesses
Steering wheel trimmed in alcantara
Here's some pictures when I first bought it totally standard. Apart from the ITG induction kit fitted.
March 2014 - MeisterR Zeta R purchase.
Fitted all the suspension this weekend and set it all up. Lucky for me I have keys to my work so everything was available for me to do.
Everything went fairly smooth. One of the rear shock bolts was seized but with lots of lube and a big bar we got there. Cut the old drop links off as I couldn't be bothered to try and undo the seized bolts. Fitted the steering arm raiser bracket with the rack in place. Not too bad of a job, just don't do it with a hot exhaust!
Spent more time setting up and getting the ride height even. After driving around for a day it's already settled and dropped so it'll need a tweaking.
Grabbed a few snaps, comparison of the new and old parts ect.
May 2014 - Track Day Snetterton
Went to Snetterton on Thursday 15th May. Open pit lane and it was a blinding hot day. Perfect conditions! Just a little hot and sweaty inside the cabin.
Had an instructor for 20 mins. He was really impressed with the car and couldn't believe it was just on normal Bridgestone re050a tyres.
Brakes managed well (DS2500 Pads, RPB Discs). Did give them some serious abuse. Possibly the odd 1 or 2 stress fracture but they're very small and hardly noticeable. Oh and cheap caliper paint doesn't hold up very well. After the first session the paint was already bubbling off!
Checked the oil twice, hadn't moved all day. Checked tyres pressures a few times and that was it. Faultless!
Became friends with a man who owned an ariel atom. Wow what a machine! After lunch he came for a ride in my car and again he was impressed with it's capabilities. Then we went in the atom and that thing was quick!
Gave some faster cars a good run for their money. Although being faster than an M5 and a Lotus Elise shows how much it's about driver than machine.
I'll get some more pics up as they're on my laptop.
Few more pictures from the track day
June 2014
Update!
Got modified arms and shortened them so I'm able to run more camber on the front. Running -2.0 camber on the front. Potential to go more but with it being a daily, it's twitchy enough already.
Comparison of the arms
Changed my pads from DS2500 to Carbotech XP8. Measured what was left of the DS2500 and I'd worn 60% of the pad after 1 track day at Snetterton and around 1,000 miles. I'm hoping the Carbotech's last longer and perform better. Although it's just started raining I struggled to bed them in yet.
Pad comparison
September 2014 - First Nürburgring trip
Went to the Nurburgring 30th-31st of August. Fantastic place. If you're into cars and track days it's a must visit.
Bought a fresh set of RE050a for the front. I thought 2.5mm of tread depth would be risky. And when it rains out there, it pours!
Stayed at a b&b called Ring Haus. It must be the closest accommodation to the entrance. 30 second drive!
Got 2 laps in Saturday evening and it was very wet. Crashes everywhere!
Sunday was better. Fairly dry to begin with some damp patches. A small shower and then the sun came out which dried it out enough to get in a few hot laps. Total laps we managed was 10 and I let my pal do 2 of them.
Car was faultless, although I had to hold back slightly going through the Karussell as the car was bottoming out.
Best lap was a 9:32. There was 2 incidents and a little traffic. I'd like to think with a few more laps practice and a clear run I'd be close to 9 minuets. Maybe go under if I push hard. But how hard do you go when you need the car to drive back!
I'm trying to convert and upload gopro footage to YouTube. In the meantime here's some pics
Here's the video
http://youtu.be/0NWVtf4oS9M
Changed the clutch and the diff today. Took me around 6-7 hours. Few pals came down to basically watch and take the **** so slight distraction at times. Plus another full geo set up after pulling the subframe down.
Took a few photos but was more focused on getting the job done.
First of all the clutch. Absolutely shot! Old vs new you can see how worn the friction plate is.
The new diff
Now stripping the gearbox isn't all that difficult. The hardest part is trying to get the casings apart without damaging anything. I must of spent a good 15mins trying to break the seal. But when it's apart you get this.
As I was collecting the parts pre fitting I found Tegiwa's service bulletin on the final drive bolts. I'm glad I found this otherwise you can't bolt on the final drive gear to the new diff. I looked on Lings Honda to see if my car has these bolts fitted but it came up with a different number. I then tried earlier and later years and they all came up with the same number which is the longer bolt with the shoulder. So if you're going to fit an Mfactory diff be sure to buy these bolts!!
Haven't done much driving in it yet. But it's been raining and it makes such a difference. Normal driving you'd never know. But start being a prat accelerating in the wet round corners and it just pulls you round with no horrible wheel spin or understeer. Highly recommend doing this mod. I did consider changing the final drive but it's more cost and I wasn't so sure I'd like the higher revving on motorways etc.
Doubt I'll get anymore track days in this year. Planning another Nurburging trip around Easter. So maybe a pre track day before going.
If anyone would like more information or advice on changing the clutch or diff I'm happy to help :-D
October 2014
Got hold of some second hand Spoon calipers. These are pretty expensive for what you get. But, the running costs is far cheaper as they use the standard sized discs, pads and hoses. I didn't fancy wasting the set of pads I'm currently using as they set me back £180!
Calipers are in good condition. Just needed a little clean up. Can't get them fitted for another week as I'm going away. Will update when they're fitted.
Before cleaning
Progress
Finished
November 2014
Got myself some work to do Saturday morning.
Buddy club RCA ball joints. Super Pro castor increase bush kit. Super Pro front and rear anti roll bar bushes. Followed by another geometry set up.
March 2015
This arrived today. Beast! Solid Fabrication exhaust system
Email from area motorsport saying the drop in baffles should arrive tomorrow. So should be all here ready to fit at the weekend.
Put on the exhaust tonight in a bit of a rush to free up some time tomorrow.
Fitment I'd give it 9/10. Manifold clearance on the roll bar is excellent front and rear. The only slight issue was I had to extend the lambda wiring slightly. There was a slight knock here and there over bumpy roads after driving hard. It may settle down as it gets a few heat cycles or may need slight adjustment. Nothing serious!
As for sound, it's a little more civilised than the piper system. The tone is far deeper.
Little video pretty much as I finished fitting
The drop in baffled sump, oil cooler and brake ducts are all fitted. I done the majority of it last weekend but ran out of time due to 'date night' with the girlfriend so finished off the little bits today.
Fitting the drop in baffled sump is easy. Slightly fiddly getting it back on. Issue you get is the dipstick hits the baffles so I just trimmed around 10mm off the bottom to solve the issue.
Then onto the oil cooler. I decided to route the pipes around the gearbox side. Then onto the cooler mounting. Due to having A/C there's not much space behind the front bumper unless you start hacking away at it which I didn't want to do as I want to keep it looking fairly OEM. I ended up just slightly bending the A/C condenser inwards and making up brackets to bolt onto the crash bar. Then welded studding to the bottom panel and using one of the mounts supplied with the cooler bolted that to the studding and cooler. The only thing I need now is just some reflective heat sleeve for the oil pipes that run by the exhaust manifold.
Finish off with the brake ducts. Fitted them to the bumper using countersink black bolts and then used ducting routed to the inner archers where I made a hole and fixed just using cable ties. I might buy a duct mount to neaten up the inner arch.
Bumper all fitted.
RBC inlet, adaptor plate came through today. Other parts I ordered was new RPB discs, oil, oil filter and some heat insulation sleeving for the oil cooler pipes. Cheers Tegiwa!
Remembered the RBC needs a bung for a hole. Found a bung the right size, going to make up a small plate to bolt on top just to be sure it doesn't come out. Alternatively in time I might just get a local welder to tig up the hole.
Pads and tyres are left to buy and it'll be all go go go for the Nürburgring!
May 2015 - Nürburgring trip 2
The Nürburgring trip was epic! In total I managed 13 laps that weekend. Very busy at times and plenty of cars crashing causing closures (majority on UK plates) which was annoying at times.
Car was a joy to drive. Performed so well. Although next time I'm going to jack the ride height up a little. Even with the coilovers set on hard I was bottoming out. I dread to think what the exhaust and front arch liners look like!
Brakes handled very well. Although I've got some pad pick up of some sort and they don't sound too healthy. Bouncing over the kerbs may of knocked the wheel alignment out a little as the steering wheel is on the **** slightly.
My best time was an 8.45 with only a little traffic. A massive 47sec quicker than last time. Although I'm putting most of that down to me growing a pair rather than the cars performance. Full video will be up soon and a few other clips from other laps.
Full video of the 8.45 lap
https://youtu.be/-GG_iI3ufLs
June 2015
Not much going down recently. Noticed over the last week or 2 that I've been getting soot deposits on the rear bumper. Followed by an intermittent engine management light. Turned out to be the lambda on its way out. After fitting I did notice it was slightly crisper on part throttle.
As for the cam situation...
I got them pretty cheap. TDI North tested these on a DC5 (these are the exact cams used) and over majority of the rev range the produce the same or 1-2bhp less until past 8k where they make a little more power (comparing to the JDM cams). EP3 engine is slightly different so would be interesting to see how they perform. Either way they're a good upgrade over the OEM cams.
Reason I didn't go nuts with stage 2's is I'm a little undecided what I'm going to do with the car at the end of the year. My heart wants an E46 M3 and make it a pure track weapon. But that's an expensive route and would put my house buying fund on hold. Don't think I'm prepared to do that.
In talks with Meister R about their GT1 coilovers I'm keen in. So the current set up could be up for grabs!
Cam swap done this morning. Relatively easy to do and yes swapping the cams only takes 15mins like the Skunk2 video. What takes longer is setting the tappets and cleaning the Hondabond on the tensioner cover :lol:
Few pictures, nothing that interesting.
Swapping the inlet cam
Inlet cam in and exhaust one ready to go
Both in ready for the cam caps
Well a good morning at Eurospec 2000. Car is all tuned and it's all sweet.
We done a run on the old tune for comparison. I think it pulled 228hp or there about. Had a mega rich spot in the midrange so not sure if this was something done last time it was mapped or the cams and intake have caused it.
Final figure was 241.5hp (around 201hp at the wheels). Considering the weather is a little hot and sticky, then taking into account their dyno reads around 10hp less than say TDi, pretty decent figures. As you can see it makes power right up to the redline. Romain also mentioned that he had to take out a fair bit of fuelling on the lower cam so I should expect to see better MPG when cruising.
These have finally turned up!
They don't look a great deal different from the Zeta-R. From the looks of it they use the same body and top mounts ect but there's numbers scribed on the bottom of the shocks along with an Allen key bolt poking out. I've already dismantled the rears for a lick of grease on the threads to prevent seizing. The covers are a nice touch and should help keeping them clean and lasting longer. From memory the bump stops are a different design and the seal looks different as well. Should get these on at the weekend and put to the test in a few weeks at Silverstone.
July 2015
The new MeisterR GT1 coilovers are on!
Fairly straightforward swap as they're basically the same except the internals are different.
I've only done around 15 miles currently. Should have some free time tonight so may go for a little blast to see how they handle. But they're an improvement over the old Zeta-R. In the small journey I done, I noticed that it rides a lot more smoother and more composed over bumps. Also feels like there's less road noise. I'll do some further driving and probably start a new thread with a more in depth review.
Few snaps
Back from Trax at Silverstone. I've put a review update in the other thread I've started. In short they were amazing!
Managed to buy another session so had 2 20 min sessions. It was the short circuit so very easy to learn and pick up. First session was decent, found my self in some clear air and managed to catch and overtake a few cars. Second session I was caught in lots of traffic. People not moving over to the right to let you pass and just in general some terrible driving. But I expected it due to the nature of people this kind of show would attract. I really need to invest in some semi slicks. It was really hot in the afternoon and after a few laps the tyres were cooked. Also managed to get the hang of heel toe action which helped in the braking zones.
I've got some gopro footage of the 2 sessions which I'll get up in the next few days.
Videos online. I've trimmed down to the fairly clean laps.
First session was good. My lines were off a little. I don't think drinking the night before and having a massive hangover helped
http://youtu.be/PyobQGR9euo
Second session was better. Very little laps that were clear. Ruined by a red flag at the end
http://youtu.be/lKulzDSnJgI
February 2016
Yummy
Well some goodies came in the post today.
First was the steering wheel. Trimmed in black alcantara with a red centre stripe. Managed to throw it on quick before it gets dark. Only takes a few mins to do.
Rocker cover also turned up. Looks great. I'll try and find some time to fit this at the weekend as I need to send them back my old cover.
Tyres turned up today. Standing water isn't going to be my friend anymore.
Will mount the tyres onto the rims tomorrow. I'm hoping my wheel nuts turn up tomorrow as well so I can trial fit at the weekend. No doubt I'll need me mums hairdryer and a mallet to fettle the rear arches :lol:
Rocker cover on. New gasket as well. Thought about doing valve clearances but I left my feeler gauges at work. Can't imagine they'll be out anyway. Only done them last summer.
Wheel nuts turned up. Muteki steel nuts in blue.
Weather has turned for the worse now so won't be fitting today. Bought some Autoglym wheel protector to stick on the wheels to hopefully keep the wheels looking good.
Managed to find a little time to stick the wheels on the motor. Really happy with the looks.
Rear arches are definitely going to need some work. I'll get the hammer and dolly out to get some clearance.
Took the car into work to get an MOT done. Was also a drive to see if the wheels rub and I think the hammer to the rear arches has done the job. Paint cracked as expected so I covered the lip in some underseal to prevent rusting.
Tyres are... Interesting. It's not really warm enough outside and difficult to generate any heat but they feel great. I was struggling to get the ABS to cut in so there's good grip. Downside, they're noisy!
Then I though I'd **** about with the front suspension. Managed to get around -3° of camber up front. One of the steering arms has basically bottomed out in the track rod end and I've already trimmed 10mm off the end of them. But I'm not planning on anymore camber... For now.
There's slight difference in camber up front. This is because I'm OCD with everything being the same and wanted the top mounts to be both in the same position. The difference between the sides isn't massive, I can tolerate that.
Here's how the top mounts sit now
April 2016
New brakes on today.
RPB discs front and rear. Carbotech XP10 on the front and XP8 on the rear.
Few pictures, got my money's worth out of the old set up. Front discs are good enough to go again but didn't fancy running them with a different compound.
Rears totally dead
New discs on the front fitted and the fresh pads
Fronts nicely bedded in. Slight blue tinge to the discs where they got a beating.
Japfest was a success. I did speak to one or 2 of you but it was a bit of a rush sorting out track time and I wanted to have a mooch about.
Car was totally faultless on track. I'm extremely happy with how it performed. Managed to keep up and overtake cars that you wouldn't expect an EP3 to do. It just shows that a well set up car and a little seat time on track can put in some impressive laps.
Got some videos of the sessions. First session the track just about dried. It was cut short after only a few laps due to a red flag. Tyres didn't get enough time to warm up and scrub in so I was fighting the wheel a little.
https://youtu.be/HMZWDDP1vqM
Second session was much better. Slight rain but nothing to worry about. After I cleared the traffic I was going pretty well.
https://youtu.be/s-DH3418_Ro
100% happy with the car now. The brakes were amazing and the tyres when warmed up really performed well.
May 2016
Quick update. Had a track day at Snetterton on Thursday. Weather was perfect so was looking forward to a good day.
All signed on and ready to go. Also had the other half with me as she's coming to the Nordschleife and needed a taster on what track driving is like. Second session in and I'm shown the black flag. Noise level too high. I measured 96db on static and 95db on drive by. Limit there is 92db. After messing about, driving around to a few local garages I thought that was the end of my day. Luckily one of the organisers at Javelin had some spare universal exhaust baffles and one fitted perfect onto the back box. The day was saved! For future I'm going to try and find a decent insert for the exhaust to save my bacon. Some of the cheaper ones I've seen don't look great and look really restrictive.
Unfortunately I got no footage as they don't allow helmet cams. Forgot to set my timer up so no lap times either.
Other than noise, the car was faultless. The level of grip with this suspension set up and tyres is unbelievable. To the point the premier seats don't hold me in position enough and I'm nearly falling out the seat. My forearms hurt at the end of the day where I was trying to hold myself in position. In comparison to when I last went there on standard road tyres, my corner speeds were around 10-15mph faster!Seats and roll cage are now a priority. The brakes again are amazing. They get hot and feel like they loose their initial bite, but just press harder on the pedal and they really come into their own.
Not sure when my next track day will be. Probably not any before the Nordschleife in July. I've booked myself in with so many events in June/July. Various concerts, Le Mans, Goodwood, 3 days at F1 and probably more I've forgotten.
Anyway, only picture I took was of the exhaust. Enjoy....
July 2016
New seats and harnesses have arrived. I did want Schroth belts with ASM but Demon Tweeks only had one in stock and couldn't get another until late July. So settled for some Sparco belts. I suppose it's all matching.
Hoping the cage comes next week before the weekend. I've got SW Motorsport making me a rear cage.
Added in 29 minutes 12 seconds:
Oh and this also means that my Premier Recaro's and seat rails will be up for sale soon!
Well I've got all the seats and cage in. It's been a hot and sweaty affair. Lovely weather but the car turns into a greenhouse!
So everything just about turned up on time. Tegiwa nearly longed me off on engine and gearbox oil but managed to get it to me by Friday. But managed to get seat rails out to be on Tuesday... Anyway.
Credit to SW Motorsport for the cage. I told them I was desperate to have it before the weekend and they delivered it on Friday.
So I had work Saturday morning. Took the car in with me to do the oil changes. Millers Nandrive, genuine oil filter and went for some Torco gearbox oil. No pictures of this, we've all seen what oil looks like.
Then onto getting the cage in. It was a little awkward getting in. All interior out basically, passenger door strap disconnected to open the door wider and manoeuvre the cage in trying my hardest not to scuff too much.
Then the point of no return, buzzing holes through the floor. I spent a while with the tape measure trying to get the cage as square as possible. Then went ahead drilling holes. Tub of Waxoyl at hand to spread about. Small issue with the bolts coming through the rear arch were too long and risked hitting the tyre. So the grinder came out and cut them back as much as possible.
Now I wanted to fit as much interior back as possible to make it a little more presentable and more civilised. I ended up having to cut the rear quarter trim into 3 pieces and for the time being have just used black tape over the joins to keep things together. Amazingly there isn't any rattles. But I'd like to do something with the joins other than black tape. For now it'll do. It looks good from afar... But far from good.
Then onto the seats. No real dramas here, the Tegiwa sliding seat rails are pretty shîte. But they do the job well enough, just don't expect the seat to slide at all. I'm not happy with the inner lap mounting point. It goes into the seat buckle mount on the rail but the angle isn't ideal. So may have to stick more holes in the floor for them in the future.
I've set my belt lengths about right. Need to do the same for the other half. Tidy the belt ends and then it's all done and ready. Nordschleife bound Friday morning!
Well I'm back from the Green Hell. I'm alive and the car is all good!
Set off nice and early Friday morning for the Euro Tunnel for a 7am train. Missed all that shîte with the queues on the M20. Nice drive across Europe into Germany and our apartment in Adenau. Got all checked in, chilled out for a while and then went over to buy some laps and get some in that evening.
First lap I took it easy. With the other half being with me I knew t would be a big shock to her. Also I forgot to wind up the stiffness on the shocks and it didn't feel as sharp as I liked it. I ended up filming me and the other half this lap just to see her reaction. I didn't time it officially but looking at the GoPro footage it was a sub 10 lap. The track was soon closed after a car fire which we happened to pass on that lap before it went into full flames
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SN2mdNGUfWs
Onto Saturday where the weather wasn't any good. We took a little trip to the castle in Nürburg and the views are pretty awesome!
Morning was misty and light rain and then later on it rained fairly heavy for the whole afternoon. Knowing what it's like in the rain I decided not to even bother going out so we spectated which was amusing. Until near the end of the day there was a large accident. Seeing all the emergency vehicles take to the track, we knew it wasn't good. Unfortunately 2 people died when their EG Civic crashed into a marshals car that was attending another accident.
https://www.facebook.com/lsaktuellrp/videos/1114373711934688/
With this in the back of mind, I had a pretty terrible sleep Saturday night and the other half wasn't keen either. But Sunday morning we got up early and took to the track. Weather was decent but on the downside it was extremely busy.
1st lap out was sub 9 mins. Then every lap after kept coming down in time. But the traffic was really bad and with the crash from Saturday in the back of my mind, I knew times weren't going to be what I would of liked.
Track was closed for a good few hours middle of the day. I had 4 laps left of the 9 bought and I was worried I wouldn't have time to get them in. Reason for the closure is this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MBWh49ehZs4
Finally it opened. Back out and despite the traffic I was trying pretty hard to nail a nice lap in and on camera. The final lap of the day ended up being the best at an 8:25. A good 20 seconds faster compared to last time but a few mistakes made and some traffic. Less traffic maybe closer to 8 mins? Maybe I don't handle the traffic well or just a bit of bad luck. But I was pleased I got a good time in. Sub 8 mins? It's on the cards but I need more seat time at that place. I only done around 30 laps to date.
I've ripped off some photos off the net. I might actually buy some as they're decent. Videos will be up on YouTube soon if my laptop stops playing up.
Overall a really decent trip!!
Video is up on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/lBnqMC5nk44
