Lonewolf's Civic track toy

[Lonewolf]

well im told that the test may not be 100% so could still have a blown HG
The bubbles in the coolant dont look good, but may just be airpockets, not sure.

Dont want to have to fork out for new radiator if i can avoid it, but may well be on the cards

[tinkerbell]

Dont want to have to fork out for new radiator if i can avoid it, but may well be on the cards

hmmmm - you realise going fast around a track is not an inexpensive way to spend a day of your life?

now - to trouble shooting your overheating - can you describe or explain the "Gates high-flow thermostat"

this could cause overheating?

if the coolant flows too fast through your system - there wont wont be sufficent time for the radiator to cool the fluid down enough...

[Lonewolf]

Ha yes, i have been tracking cars for the past 10 years, but also know that spending money on items that don't actually need replacing isnt smart either
A full length ITR radiator should be able to last more than 1 lap

Honestly not sure, that was part of the mod lists I was given when i bought the car, i presume its like the lower temp thermostats offered by other manufacturers, to open earlier than factory.
Had advice from a few people to put one of these in to assist with the overheating haha.

Like I said, there is a leak in the system that showed itself under pressure and I will be looking to deal with, just want to rule out other issues as well

[Lonewolf]

So the car is now at Galvsport getting the bits and bobs fitted.
Unfortunately the mishimoto fans + shroud didnt clear the headers (the joys of conversions!), so Josh will mount some other fans there instead.

RE the cooling issue....I had ID'd that there was a leak around the thermostat housing when doing the pressure test, but didnt have the tools/hands to get in there and really investigate.
The Galvsport teams petite hands got in there and found this:



Pretty much corroded to fuck.
So will use a combination of honda OEM and fabricated parts to get it all going again.

Also apparently the center muffler has broken (I didnt even notice), so that will be turfed for some straight pipe for more VTAK sound.

[Shaun]

This is a super impressive EG. And i rarely say that about EGs
Shame about your cooling issues, but once it's all fixed this should be a weapon.
Keen to hear straight pipe also

[tinkerbell]

that's pretty bad!

make sure all the earths are good on the block/gearbox

[Lonewolf]

car has an earthing kit by the looks of it (going from battery terminal to various places).
Mechanic has fabricated new ends for the above parts and seems to be no more leaks - hopefully no more corrosion inside the block etc

[Lonewolf]

Galvsport handywork - nice welds!



and the replacement radiator + slimline fans.
Should shit all over the factory ones, even without shrouds




Will give the car a shakedown workout at trackdayz on the 2nd March, and if all ok at No limits on the 20th.
Hopefully the end of cooling system dramas!

[Lonewolf]

Finally got a chance to take this for a drive this morning - hit up some hills roads.
Temp gauge didn't budge at all, which is a good sign.

Enjoyed buzzing the peloton of sunday morning pushbikers @ 8500rpm

I drove the same route in the Astra a few weeks back, and suffice to say that the civic was much more fun.
So involving to drive, amazing response from the chassis, brakes, and engine.
Engine wise it actually feels quite torquey (pulls up hills no problem from 2000rpm), and then the power takes over with RPM and doesnt die off.
Shift up, and repeat!

The exhaust is a fair bit louder now which is good, but now has the raspiness that i dislike at high RPM.
At this stage not wanting to spend more money on the exhaust but one day may put a resonator back in.

Going to hit the drag strip on Wednesday night and see how it goes.
Any thoughts on what it should run?

[Lonewolf]

Didnt end up getting to run at the drags due to my helmet not meeting regs there now, oh well.

Did Midvale speed dome day yesterday, good fun chucking the civic around, 2nd fastest just behind an Evo, cant complain about that

And No limits full day today at Barbagallo.
Was pretty worried about the whole cooling system issues after the last time, and saw a temp spike once on the 2nd session to about 3/4 of the gauge....
But in the end it stabilized and gave me no dramas at all, didnt budge from the normal temp markings at all even with some warm temps.
Very glad to get that out of the way!

Ended up doing 20 laps of the long track, and 32 of the short track, so safe to say the car copped a major hiding.
Rear muffler started coming off its hangers (I suspect due to engine mounts being on the way out), but a quick put to bash it back into them between runs and was good to go.

Other random thoughts:

- Civic is fun to drive, and instructor happy with my driving
- Slower than the astra for now, 1:14 long track and 1:01 short track
- More time to be gained, fastest lap of the day was the last one
- heavier than I thought, ~1050kg
- Needs Hondata and tune, lack of power in the midrange (and up top) sucks

Video of long track:

Long Track

[tinkerbell]

good stuff mate - hope you are enjoying it!

get a tune happening and really find out how she handles...

[Lonewolf]

yeah from what i've seen of stockish B18cr's they respond pretty good to a tune

definitely enjoying it, just want to get faster than the turbo 2L on the other side of the garage!

[Norm]

Don't mind me sharing a few thoughts. Definitely some good times you've done. I have no doubt you'll crack the 1 minute barrier. My goal on street tyres is to hit 58 seconds this year on the short and 55 seconds on semis. But here is abit of my analysis from the video on seconds where you can improve.

0:10 seconds - Your late apex point is good. I would suggest though entering it using a slightly larger radius (0.06 seconds) as your line through the "S"" will be much more linear. It looks like you have made a few adjustments to the steering wheel and really it should be more or less a straight line through that section. The S section is technical not because of its bends, but because of the hair pint before that. More straight you can travel through the S's, the more speed you can put down.
0:18 seconds - That big g-force corner I can see you wiped a fair amount of speed off. I believe you can probably brake a little bit later. Looking at you driving through that section and hearing your throttle response, you should be able to maintain a consistent 100km/hr+ around that corner. It sounded like you backed off the throttle abit. Especially with your weight category. My car is (1.2tonnes). Having said that I don't know how accurate Harry Lap timer is.
0:57 seconds - Sounded like you brake quite early. Did you back off the throttle and glided into the corner and it seemed like you took a wide and latish apex. You had alot of room to exit on the straight at 1:05 seconds. Just need to commit to your late braking and be confident to take that apex.

Norm

[Lonewolf]

Yes I still have a few items to tidy up on my lines and braking points, I havent hit ABS yet and hence didnt pass the threshold braking point so there is more room for improvement there as I gain confidence in the braking of the car.
I also need to trust the cornering capabilities, as you said the car is lighter and i'm still learning that I can carry more speed in most corners than I am accustomed to, and in a low powered car corner speed is king to a good lap time.

Instructor (Geoff Duckworth - who races streetcar/ipra in a mirage and soon to be K20 EK) said overall not bad bar not using the full width of the track

[Norm]

Duckie is an amazing front wheel drive instructor. His my instructor too. If you ever get the opportunity you should join me some time to book the whole track out for 3 hours. I plan to do that some time in the next couple of months to have more 1on1 time and to do some data analysis. Overall your doing great!