Tire Temp Testing

We were able to get some numbers of our tire temps as well as record all of our current static settings.

200 ft skid-pad
70 degrees
Sunny with breeze
Pavement 82.2 degrees

Out/middle/in

1100 counterclockwise 38 mph
101/105/93 front
105/96/89 rear

1105 clockwise 40mph
122/113/110 front
109/110/89 rear

1110 counterclockwise 40mph
143/139/118 front
111/112/96 rear

1115 counter 40mph
142/139/119 front
122/114/100 rear

Roll Roll Roll the Fender

OK, well it came to our attention that we might be running to much camber in the rear which may have been causing some understeer and a few other related problems on the course so we decided to try the car out at around -2.0 degrees of camber in the rear. But to make sure that we would clear without rubbing. We were able to roll about 1/2 and inch off each side which gave us all the clearance we needed.


BEFORE:



AFTER:



CAMBER ADJUSTMENT:

UCA and Passanger Side View Mirror Install

So the parts come back with the old bushings pressed out and the new POLY energy bushings pressed in, they look great and we hurry into the garage to install them as soon as they arrive.




They go in without a hitch and they look AMAZING. I cant wait to drive on these.

Last thing for the night was a bit of cosmetics. We we able to source a NEW passenger side view from a VINTAGE Honda manufacture in Minnesota Via Power Honda in Costa Mesa. The install went without the hitch except for we broke the interior cover piece so we will have to get our trusty epoxy to put it all back together.

Upper control arms and Rear hatch stays

Lots of time but not a whole not a whole lot done =(

Well we started the night with the intent to do the upper control arm, remove the steering rack and replace the inner and outer tie rods and also install the rear hatch stays.

We started breaking apart the upper controls arm with ease, and we were quite surprised that everything wasw coming apart. Then we had to fight with the ball joint to break it loose but with our new best friend (our B.F.H./big fricken hammer) we were able to break the 2 parts apart.




We tried numerous ways to get the bushing out of the arm but to no avail. We retire after almost hurting each other and hope that in the morning I can find someone who can press them for us

As for the rear hatch we were able to have some fun for once. The upper mounts came out with no problems but the lower we had to grind off, well maybe we dident HAVE to but it was much funner that way and made for good photos.



Well wish us luck tomorrow on finding someone to get the bushing pressed

Enough about car building, time to have some fun

A lot of hard work has been put into the car to get it where it is today. Big kudos to Jason and Daniel for all the time they have put in. It's time to put the car to the test to see if the changes make any difference to the performance of the car.

Jason goes out of his way to drop the car off at Daniel's house before the practice event so that I don't have a super long drive before the event. Daniel is in a nice quiet residential neighborhood. We find the car outside the house and everything is so neatly packed - Jason style. I've never used a removeable steering wheel before and Jason has given me instructions on how to re-attach the wheel. The first problem to overcome - where is the #$%^ wheel. I finally find it neatly tucked behind the drivers seat.

With the steering wheel attached, I start the car. I get two surprises. Jason has left me a present. The stereo is cranked up jamming Initial D and the exhaust is LOUD. I expected the exhaust to be loud from previous conversations with Jason, but wow! It's early, way too early to be so loud, so I'm short shifting to try to keep the noise down and not wake the neighbors as we leave the neighborhood.

With the recent changes to the car, the expectation is that the exhaust and headers will make a noticeable difference in acceleration. Unfortunately, I can't tell any difference - though it may be because I have spent so little time in the car prior to the change.

In the morning, before I start my work session (before my practice), we find out that the support vehicle has a dead battery. Time to replace an old tired battery that failed without warning. This becomes the priority, so as soon as I'm done with my work assignment, we jump start the CR-V and go off to look for a replacement battery. By the time we get back, I've missed most of the 1st session of practice. No matter, we start going and with each run, we are taking almost a second off each lap until we are in the mid 56's (down from 59's). The car feels good and planted, not tail happy like we would have expected given the suspension settings.

Jason arrives after lunch and gets to try the car out and comments on how 'stable' the car feels. We look at the video footage and I'm surprised by how much I'm missing apexes. We figure out that even though we can't feel it, the car is understeering, so we have some suspension setup to work on.

We are concerned about the loudness of the exhaust, so we borrow a sound meter and find that @ 4000 RPM, we are registering 105 db @ 15 feet and 95 db @ 50 feet. This is way too loud for an exhaust that is claimed to be 89 db @ 50 feet. We'll talk to Chris about this and see how we can get this fixed.

Given that we knew going into this practice that we had a 'bad' upper control arm and questionable suspension setup, I'm still happy with the way the car feels and the speed that we are finding. I think we ended up around 1 second faster than any other STS car at the practice. Unfortunately, Steve Ekstrand wasn't there to serve up a benchmark for us. This time of course does not include Ken Motonishi's time that was 1.1 seconds faster than ours - on old Kumho MX's. We are looking forward to the Championship event on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the event crew decide to cancel the event for various reasons. I don't agree with the way the event was cancelled, but that's water under the bridge. We didn't get to race, which was a shame. Oh well. Until the next time.

Here are a few MakoFoto's from Saturdays Practice:

...In with the NEW

So im back from outatown and return to complete the job started this weekend. Looks like they did a great job at getting though some really tough items. I was able to find the cotterpins we need to lock the tie rods back together and we were ready to clean us the heads to mate them to the new headers.

Daniel went to work on scrubing off as much as he could of the old gasket/debris on the head and we realized that the seafoam did a very good job at cleaning the internals of the motor out.



I installed the new fuel filter with minimal resistance.



I then moved onto piecing together the new exhaust, first mating the CAT with the Catback system with a nice film of copper gasket maker in between to ensure no leaks.




We then work on preping the head with gasketmaker and and a new gasket, and we then apply the new headers on.



We quickly move to under the car where I already hung the new exhasut and install the downpipe of the headers to mate with the CAT. It all merged together like a great sandwich, it was a master piece.



Tommorrow, we wait for the gasketmakers to cure and we add oil and then start the car.

I cant wait to drive this weekend, looks like there will definetly be some performace upgrades as well as some maintainance issues addressed since the last event.

Some final pics of the bushing upgrades:

Long day and not much progress...

Daniel and I get together to work on the Civic on Saturday. Daniel shows he is a high tech specialist.


It's a frustrating day. We didn't make a lot of progress. We tried removing the steering rack bushings and there wasn't enough clearance to pull the bushings out, so we ran out to buy a ball joint remover. Jason wants the air tool version, but Harbor Freight doesn't have one in stock, so we buy the $3 Made in China manual one. With the ball joint remover, we undo the ball joints and still can't remove the bushings, so finally Daniel undoes the steering rack before the bushings come off. In the mean time, we also start removing the shifter bushings. I'm left alone to work on the car (scary thought) while Daniel goes out to buy some Seafoam.
.

In the mean time, I get to play with a heat gun in order to get the last shift bushing out. Then I put the replacement bushings in.


Here are some of the other bushings we have ready to go.


Here's the fun once the Seafoam starts working in the engine. It is very smoky in there because we don't have a powerful fan to clear the area.


Working under the car is hard. I ended up with a sore neck that lasted through Tuesday. Kudos to all the folks that like wrenching. I'm in decent shape, but my neck wasn't ready to spend a good part of the day under a car. At least Daniel made good progress after I left - he worked on the car till something like 4 AM.