My EK1 daily/track day warrior diary (for now).

[eskimo_firefighter]

Thought it’d be a good idea to start a diary for my relatively new car. My EK1 CXi. As some of you guys might know I used to own an EP3. Decided to sell it after wanting an S2000, however midway changed my mind after coming to a realization that I don’t have much free time nowadays with work and school, I might as well wait it out until school holidays or until I graduate before purchase a more serious car.

So while I was selling my EP3, I decided to get a 1999 Civic EK1 hatch back. This was a pretty clean facelift EK, except for a few blemishes on the boot and front bumper, otherwise I was pretty proud of my pick up. With 88,XXX KM’s and full service books with servicing handled by Honda mechanics. Got roadworthy very easily and officially registered under my name. Pretty awesome daily as it was cheap to run and I wouldn’t have to worry about vandalism as much in comparison to the old EP3 I had. (I used to ride a push bike to the train station just to avoid parking the EP3 at the station).


It was nice coming home to two Civics for a while.

Having confirmed a spot at H-nationals for my supposedly future s2000, I decided to not pull out and take my stock EK1 to the track instead; however I came to a realization that taking a stock EK1 to the track with stock suspension might be a bit dangerous.


Breaking my own promise already to not modify the car, I went on a pursuit for cheap parts.

Found a cheap set of GAB SS coilovers. Installing these coilovers requires the use of OEM top hats from OEM struts. Spring rates are customized as they gave me a small range of spring rates to choose from. I opted with the highest rates offered. 10kg Front and 8 kg rear. These essentially transformed the car into a go kart. Allignment specifications are around natural -2.5 camber at all four corners just due to the drop in height. And 0 toe at all four corners as I wanted to preserve the tyres as much as possible.






Bought a set of brand new Yokohama A048’s for a steal. 195/60/R14, medium compound. Being thrifty as possible, I installed these tyres on my friends OEM DC4 GSI steelies, and borrowed my friends DC2 Vti-R wheels (fat fives) for daily usage (thanks guys, haha).



DC4 steelies are 14x5.5+45 which was mounted with 195/60/r14. Luckily according to the official Yokohama website, this tyre profile is the absolute limit for a 5.5 wide wheel. Whereas my OEM EK1 steelies were 14x5.0 which would not accommodate that profile.

Sorry didn’t take a picture of the hot steelies that I have.


Bought a CG-lock which locks the seat belt in place and safe to use for OEM seats. (poor mans racing harness). This thing actually works as it will hold you in pretty tightly around the waist going through corners.



Apparently the CG-Lock guarantees faster lap times.


330mm Personal Grinta suede steering wheel. Stupidly, I purchased a few modifications before buying an S2000. This was one of these modifications…. Luckily it was easily transferrable to my new car. The new wheel was much better compared to the ridiculously large OEM steering wheel which felt like steering a boat. Also love the suede and the more direct feel with its smaller diameter wheel.





And that was about it for modifications. Total cost for all modifications was about $1400. My semi’s being the best buy of them all only being $400, which I was really happy with.
So the total cost for the car was easily under $5000. Hopefully this would be a FUN track ready car, albeit still a slow one on the straights (d-series for life).


H-nationals.

It’s been quite some time since my last proper track day. (last proper track was May 2012, exe day). So I was quite nervous coming back.
So then tyre pressures set and first session out, decided to take it easy as it has been a while. And my initial impression with this car is that it is amazing to drive. It might not accelerate very well. But it handles like it’s on rails. Being so light, with a decent suspension setup and the semi slick tyres, it was so much fun handling this car around the circuit. I’m not sure if this is a problem but my car really likes to tripod through high speed corners. But overall I was really happy with the cars performance and reliability. The D16y4 felt strong all day long, along with the gearbox. However one thing that was evident was the brakes getting weaker through the day. After all it still had the OEM (I think?) brake pads that came with the car.

Results as shown below.

SESSION 1 2:10.1470 2:07.7070 1:54.1970 1:52.4320 1:52.1750 1:52.7190 1:52.2920

SESSION 2 1:59.7710 1:52.2880 10 1:56.1650 1:58.9900 1:51.9180 2:05.3880

SESSION 3 2:09.1870 1:50.5110 1:59.0750 1:50.9980 1:50.5590

SESSION 4 2:07.8730 1:53.0400 1:58.7070 1:50.9230 2:17.3660

SESSION 5 6:48.8920 1:54.3780 1:52.5660 1:51.9460 2:13.7190


Third session was my only session where I did not carry a passenger. My PB was achieved of 1:50.5110, which I’m really happy with. Like to thank Mugsee, ChargeR and anyone who helped with this day once again for this epic day.
The plan with this car is to leave the car as it is, and keep tracking it until the a048’s wear out of which I hopefully achieve my goal of a 48 with this car as it is. Until then it will be my daily and temporary track day warrior until my next project begins.
Photo’s courtesy of JC, MX photoghraphy, Gripshiftslide and J Brezic Photograpgy.

[ChargeR]

This is great. Thanks for your awesome dedication in bringing this up to H Nats, it was excellent to see the EK go round mixing it with much more fancy machinery, in near silence!

[M@lew]

That badge...

[mugsee]

Nice writeup Pete! Good to see you maximising the EK1 and having some fun out there at H Nats.

[dnapol]

Great to see you back out there!
Somehow I knew it wouldnt remain stock hahaha
Great progress man

[rookie]

Boss times in the EK Pete! You were in the same class as me but i didn't manage to see you on the track We could have dueled! Maybe next time haha.

[jdm.itr]

Watching you drive that thing around the track was amazing, you were only a couple seconds slower than my mates ep3, shows how big a difference the driver makes!! Good job mate and goodluck with your future plans!!

[eskimo_firefighter]

This is great. Thanks for your awesome dedication in bringing this up to H Nats, it was excellent to see the EK go round mixing it with much more fancy machinery, in near silence!

Thanks ChargeR!

That badge...

Haha, best sticker out. Can't wait for the 2014 version.

Nice writeup Pete! Good to see you maximising the EK1 and having some fun out there at H Nats.

Thanks Mugsee. I wish I was maximising the EK1 to it's fullest potential, but I'm not quite there yet and hopefully with many more fun track days I can come close to it. . I still have much to learn about car control.

Great to see you back out there!
Somehow I knew it wouldnt remain stock hahaha
Great progress man

Thanks dnapol, I wish I still had the EP3 sometimes though so we can battle over who is the fastest EP3 in the world at Victoria, Winton. Haha somehow I knew this car wouldn't remain stock either, but no more modifications for this car! (I hope)

Boss times in the EK Pete! You were in the same class as me but i didn't manage to see you on the track We could have dueled! Maybe next time haha.

Thanks rookie. Yeah oddly enough I didn't see you out there either . But yeah for sure next time, hopefully some photographers can get some pics of the dc2 and ek1 on the track, haha.

Watching you drive that thing around the track was amazing, you were only a couple seconds slower than my mates ep3, shows how big a difference the driver makes!! Good job mate and goodluck with your future plans!!

Thanks mate. Haha i'm flattered but a couple of seconds at Winton is quite a lot.

One of the biggest advantages that my car has over his, is that my car is worthless and I have no fear of throwing this thing into the corners and riding the ripples. :P

[eskimo_firefighter]

EXE crew “Haunted hills” hill climb. 18/05/2013

Got a spot secured for the hill climb a few weeks back. Not doing much preparation for it. But after one winton track day, the brake pads that came with the EK1 were toasted. So I went out and bought the cheapest brake pads possible for the car at repco.

Got some Bendix general CT brake pads. Being an EK civic it was difficult to order brake pads online as the EK came with so many variations of models, for example Cxi, Gli, vti-r, type R etc. Of which all have different caliper sizes (I think?) so it was just easier to remove the brake pads and take it to the shop to compare the size and shape.

Decided not to use the A048’s as I wanted to preserve them for the more serious stuff (Winton) and plus there wasn't much time to actually warm them up to grip. So I went to this day with the thought of just having fun. So I took the street tyres to the track.

The front tyres were some unknown brand called “Hiflys”…. The rears were some extremely old and worn down Potenza g3’s. So already I was expecting to have too much fun with this tyre setup.

As I would’ve thought the tyre setup was really tail happy. Despite it’s handling characteristics I learnt quite a bit on how to handle a badly behaved car on such a tight enclosed track, with heaps of crazy turns and elevations, it was an awesome fun day.

For the clockwise run my PB was set on the first session out, of which I was taking it pretty easy. Second session was bad as I pushed it quite a bit harder and I ended up spinning out. Third session was wet due to the rain, of which I almost lost control again. 4th session was still wet but managed to get a relatively clean lap, this session I learnt heaps.
For the figure 8 in the first session I almost got lost in as the course just changed a tiny bit, I wasn’t thinking straight, haha. Second session I locked up my brakes at the 3rd corner, which made me poo my pants a bit. 3rd session I did a relatively clean lap with no passenger and the 4th session I got a decent lap with a passenger.

Results:

Clockwise
76.86 84.24 89.72 80.87

Figure 8
90.68 82.90 77.96 78.19

Overall, it was a fun day with the exe crew and friends, and learnt heaps about handling the car. Would love to go back to haunted hills with the Ek1 but just with a decent set of tyres. That’s pretty much it for the track days for a while. Unless I get a spot in the exe-crew track day on the june 2nd.


Went in a bit too hot. Courtesy of Team Itazura for the photo.



Video of the last session in the figure 8 with a passenger.

[felixR]

This EK is so cool.

No rear sway bar right?

[eskimo_firefighter]

This EK is so cool.

No rear sway bar right?

Thanks boss felix, I wish my EK was even half way as cool as your dc2r though.

And no sway bars, CXi's don't come with sway bars front and rear unfortunately. I have no intention of getting one as I already like how the car handles. However it would be a pretty good idea to get one since my rear inside tyre lifts up considerably in high speed corners at Winton.

[stienerv2]

Oh man i want a second car like this.

Good job Peter.

[jd m]

nice write up peter
this ek is amazing on the track!

[eskimo_firefighter]

Oh man i want a second car like this.

Good job Peter.

Thanks mate, highly recommend an EK as a daily. Awesome cheap car. I would be afraid to drive that EP3 of yours everywhere.

nice write up peter
this ek is amazing on the track!

Thanks man, I'm loving this EK at the track and as a daily. Got quite an awesome update coming up.

[eskimo_firefighter]

New daily wheels.

Right after the hillclimb, thanks to the help of a mate I was able to find a really cheap set of OEM BMW E30 wheels (apparently made by BBS) with relatively new Federal 595ss tyres. Decided I should pick it up as soon as possible as it was dirt cheap.
Specs are 14x6.5+30, looks okay and fits the car quite nicely. Came with 90% Federal 595SS tyres which should be more than adequate for future hillclimb events and even track days!


Not the best looking, but good enough for me now. Don’t mind that dent on the bottom of the drivers door. A guy reversed into me at a car park.


Getting ready for the track day with the best wheels in the world. Integra GSI steelies.


Ghetto fab fire extinguisher bracket.


I have not cleaned my engine bay every since I got the car, but it’s still looks pretty good. I love OEM stuff.


I wish I had a rev counter sometimes but no need for one. Suede Personal steering wheel a bit worn, featuring Civic Type R hat that I still wear around despite not driving an EP3 anymore (douchebag, poser, try hard).


Mega Update EXE-crew Winton Track day.

Initially I registered for EXE-crew track day earlier on but wasn’t offered a spot. Not that fussed as I should probably be studying for my semester 1 exams. However unexpected things do happen…. 5 days prior to the track day I was offered a spot and I snatched up the spot and made immediate payment!

Preparing for the track day.

I did no preparation for the track day. My brake pads (Bendix $40 general use brake pads) were fresh as I had replaced it a few weeks right before the EXE hill climb event. My fluids were left untouched, so I am still running OEM fluids for the engine and brake fluid (I kind of regret not changing the OEM brake fluid but oh well).

Was extremely eager to get back on the track to see what the car can do without a passenger.

Tyre pressures checked. 32 psi cold all round, this felt good so I left it like this throughout the whole day.

1st session – As usual EXE days the first session is the 80% familarisation session with a passenger. So I took it easy and see what I could’ve done. I managed a 1:51.9370 and didn’t get a single clean lap but not to worry as there were many sessions left for the day.

Second session – Was my first non passenger session and I pushed it quite hard and was happy to see that I reached my goal of dipping into the 40’s (1:49.6340)on the last lap of the session with the car which I was super happy with, I could finish the day very satisfied with this new PB of mine.

Third session – Kept going at it and did what I drove how I did before and further trimmed my PB down to 1:49.3970, which I again was super happy with. The day just kept getting better and better.

Fourth session- This time around I took out the passenger seat just to see how much it weighed, to be honest it didn’t really weigh that much, haha. But I can tell you guys for sure that it makes the OEM SR4 Recaro seats feel heavy in comparison.
My approach on this session was extremely aggressive as I wanted to experiment new braking points and lines (I highly don’t recommend using my driving lines if you value your cars wheels/suspension at Winton), however it wasn’t all that successful as I wasn’t used to the new braking points and led to understeer, even to the point of understeering straight through the s bend and going straight off the course :/. But seeing that the lap times were consistent with hitting the 49 mark 3 times in a row, I know more aggressive driving is what I needed to get into the 48’s, which was from the start was my ultimate goal with this car, however I had to be aggressive, while not screwing anything up. It was going to be a challenge but I persisted.

5th session – I took the same approach as the session before as after experimenting with this new found style of driving, I did a few clean laps of which I felt confident that was the best of the day. Walking back to the screen with my mate (Dnapol) who has been egging me on to achieve my 48 and I saw my new PB of 1:47.8400!!!!!! I couldn't believe it but at the same time couldn't hide my excitement, haha. I managed to hit 47 twice in this session. I was a happy man.

6th session – Final session of the day. The car still felt great but the brakes gave out throughout the session but I persisted anyways. Despite the crappy brakes the car managed to hit consistent lap times. 1:58.5360, 1:48.3100, 1:49.0950, 1:48.5050, 1:48.1570. I was really happy to see this car be so reliable and consistent. On the last lap the brake pads totally gave way and it sounded like metal was in contact with the brake rotor and that was the end of the session. ChargeR and MacGillaZ laughing at me as my brakes were making funny noises as I pulled out of the track and into the pits haha, but it was more than worth it .

That was it for the day. I am more than happy with the cars performance. I am pretty much over the moon with the new PB. Of which I managed to shave off around 3 seconds from my previous PB from H-nationals, from 1:50.5 to 1:47.8. As usual EXE-crew track days are top notch as everyone is all friendly and hanging out with mates at a track day is awesome, I really couldn’t have asked for more. So thanks everyone for the awesome day!


The car has remained the same ever since Honda nationals, the only thing I had less was a passenger and a passenger seat this track day. But having less weight was one of the best modifications I could do with the EK as you may know the D series ain’t no K series. Acceleration and handling were noticeably better without a passenger as on the back straight before the S-bend, I never used to hit the 3rd gear rev limiter, but now I bounce off the 3rd gear rev limiter with less weight in the car. But then again I’m not entirely sure if it’s the weight or somehow I grew a larger pair to brake later in the corner, haha.

The brake pads were gone, so on the journey home I had to use the hand brake for stopping (highly not recommended). So next time I will bring myself another set of brake pads. I may consider using a higher quality set of brake pads as these Bendix brake pads literally only lasted me ONE TRACK DAY, but I have trouble finding quality brake pads for the EK1 calipers. And before the next track day I will bleed the brake fluid and use the ATE Super Blue Racing brake fluid, which was a prize I won from a raffle (Courtesy of Mugsee from Autosphere) and see how that goes compared to the OEM Honda brake fluid, as throughout the day the brakes were extremely spongy.

That’s pretty much it for now. I have no plans of modifying this car any further.

Current Modifications-
-GAB SS coilovers, 10kg front , 8 kg rear.

Brake pads
- Bendix general brake pads

Interior
- Personal Grinta 330mm steering wheel with HKB boss kit.
- CG Lock.

Fluids-
Valvoline Semi synthetic oil 10w40.
OEM brake fluid.
OEM Gearbox fluid.

Track Spec wheel setup
- Yokohama ADVAN A048 tyres. 195/50r14
- Integra GSI steelies 14x5.5 (Weighs a lot, but extremely tough. Will take all the ripple strips you throw at it)

Street Spec wheel setup
- OEM BMW E30 wheels 14x6.5+30
- Federal 595SS 185/50/r14


EXE Crew track day lap times.
1st session - 2:13.2750 1:58.1860 1:54.8340 1:51.9370 1:56.8460 1:53.8040 1:52.0560

2nd session - 2:02.7580, 4:54.3670, 1:55.2480, 1:50.7340, 1:50.6520, 1:49.6340

3rd session - 2:01.0140, 1:50.2410, 1:49.3970, 1:58.8600, 1:55.0340, 1:50.5120

4th session - 1:59.0660, 1:49.5840, 1:49.4680, 1:49.3190, 1:51.5810

5th session - 2:00.3040, 1:48.7440, 1:47.8400, 1:49.5490, 1:57.5500, 1:47.9780

6th session - 1:58.5360, 1:48.3100, 1:49.0950, 1:48.5050, 1:48.1570


According to Natsoft, my car had done 40 laps. So proud of this machine. . The most I've ever done at a track day by far and perhaps the most memorable track day I've had.