YR523M EK sedan

[Devcon]

Wooo loooking good man! hahaha nice work!

ooh you going to ja-pan next month! wooo.. shotgun something funky for my ek from up garage pleaseee

I never thought about those CBS for 20 bucks you're right, can't go wrong with that..

[Toddxxx]

Nice!
Any plans for Japan yet? I want to go back over

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[Austro]

Wooo loooking good man! hahaha nice work!

ooh you going to ja-pan next month! wooo.. shotgun something funky for my ek from up garage pleaseee

I never thought about those CBS for 20 bucks you're right, can't go wrong with that..

You can buy from UpGarage through Jesse Streeter the BCS is closer to the $80-100 brand new IIRC, hence why I wasn't going to do it anytime soon to begin with.

Nice!
Any plans for Japan yet? I want to go back over

It's my first time going but it's also a trip with my misso, so I'm not going super heavy on the car stuff. Definitely hitting up Five Mart, Mechadock, Tactical Art and whatever other shops that can be squeezed into the busy schedule in Osaka as well as the Tokyo trifecta of Type One/FEEL'S/Seeker. Doubt I'll make it out to the Honda Collection Hall (+ a heap of other places lol) but there's always next time!

[Toddxxx]

Japan is awesome dude! You'll love it!
I honestly find myself wanting to do more non car related stuff there anyway.
Id say skip tactical art (it's hard to get to, not that great anyway and yasu left to do phase2 so I don't even know if it's still a thing?) and go to js racing instead. Just down the road from ibaraki station and on the same line you take to go out to kyoto so you can pop in on the way and then keep going. Hisaaki is super nice too and will show you around the shop.

Currently looking up flights to Japan hahaha - __-


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[Austro]

Yeah, J's was on the list too but I don't mind missing out on it this time if it's not convenient to make it there. Tactical Art is a must to check out Tomo's EK Ferio :P

[Toddxxx]

Ahh yeah sedan life haha. Js and TA are relatively close (unless TA has moved) js is the easier to get to. The first time we went we walked to js then hisaaki got us a taxi to TA then we figured out a bus back to the local station. Definitely do both. Js is awesome!

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[Austro]

Achieved shit all in the past two weekends/whatever days I had off. I completed a slightly overdue oil change, was finally arsed to put the stock airbox back on with a fresh Ryco filter (RIP induction noise and huge gains) when I found out that the Tegiwa intake elbow that I picked up for cheap fouls on the BCS, also finally replaced my parker bulbs which I should have done ages ago since one has been blown for months now. I also went to the wreckers in hopes of finding a GD Jazz with washer jets that I could use to replace the tragic stock 'squirt' style ones on the EK. I was so focused on getting the rubbers for the radiator brackets off the GD last time I was there that it completely slipped my mind lol. Anyway, for anyone that isn't aware of the difference, here's a photo.



New 5mm vinyl tubing from Bunnings and it was all done, so much better now. I also tagged along on a mate's Amayama order and now have some OEM rebuild kits for my front calipers on the way, although I later realised that I probably should have ordered new pistons and shims on top as well. Hopefully those can be sorted along with the new braided lines before December's track day, if everything works out I would like to have some actual track oriented pads put on in time for it too. Off to Japan on Sunday so I'll post some photos when I'm back

[Austro]

Track day was today. I finally put my Goodridge braided lines on two weekends ago, although you can't really pick them out in the following photo. Hopefully I'll be using my new phone soon so my pics won't suck complete ass anymore. It's been a while since I did the lines on my Prelude, but I swear both times they only supplied me with four new washers.... weird af. Did the usual dance of swapping the SP-G and 6ULs on, fluids and spark plugs, valve lash, brake bleed etc. I was pretty worried in the lead-up to the track day as my car start pushing coolant into the overflow despite bleeding the system after pulling off my TB & IACV to be inspected, but after a rebleed on a level surface it was fine.



I wanted to order Hawk HP Street/Race while I was in Japan as they were up on eBay for around $180 landed from the states. I figured it would serve as a significant upgrade to my pads at the time while coming in cheaper than HC800s which were the next cheapest option. I found a supplier that had really competitive rates for standard international shipping but they never got back me when I enquired regarding their stock on hand/lead times. I ended up deciding to give Intima SRs a shot since they were listed for $100 on the JDMYard site, but alas, I was informed on the phone that they were actually $169 retail and I had no balls to back out at that point. They arrived in the quoted timeframe (super quick), but unfortunately I couldn't say the same about the rotors that were ordered from somewhere else. Everything seemed to fall into place this morning as I was running behind schedule and hadn't left home when the courier delivered them, so I was able to race over to my mate's place and receive some power tool assisted/qualified mechanic help with doing the quickest front brake change ever.



Also put on some JDM as fuck exhaust hanger bushes that I purchased at UpGarage. The 'C' type was listed for Honda applications and fit well, although you can see that it is marginally shorter than the muffler bush and longer than the one for the axleback piping. Not that it matters.



Squad for the day - AE111 was only spectating.



Not sure if I've mentioned this a few posts ago but I finally put my stock airbox back on.

Dot point recap of the actual track day:

- New pads were a tremendous improvement, pedal feel didn't soften up until the third session and even then it was quite marginal. Cold bite is also better. I'll see if I want to go the Hawks when it's due for a change but I'm quite happy with them for now, it'll probably be even better once again with upgraded fluid
- Kinda had to relearn my car once again with the upgraded front sway bar, feels great now so I've got a lot more confidence for the next outing. In conjunction with my staggered tyre setup it feels like a decent balance between rotating/straightening up when needed
- Was able to brake harder and later with less worries was which nice
- Improved my lines for some (not all) corners, refined gearing selection, also started barely clipping inside ripple strips. Might now have to do something about the gen 2 6ULs at the front :/
- Can carry more speed into T1 and T2, need to power on earlier and harder for basically all the corners now that I have more trust in the car not trying to spin so much
- The car wasn't very close to the threshold of grip or using the full width of the track space for a lot of corners so I know there is plenty of time left to be made up. I barely PB'ed on both configs: Clubman 71.94 -> 71.50, Sprint 67.74 -> 67.11. Keen to see what it can do next time

Maybe autocross in January, probably not back at QR in February due to exams, but definitely Japnats in April. Next post should be documenting major service and maintenance work, I'm quite happy with the suspension/brakes now!

[Austro]

Did some small things today: Hardrace torque mounts, post-trackday brake bleed, lowered rear ~10mm, quick look underneath the car to see if anything was amiss (lol).



I remember the passenger side torque mount being torn and really easy to pull down and out of the way when doing my accessory belts ages ago, so it was due time for a replacement. Just as I was contemplating ordering them from Hardrace with the 15% off and free shipping sale, I managed to snag them for a great deal locally the next day.



Yep, nothing exciting. Had to back off the bolts on the post mount to drop the engine enough to be able to slide the new one on and clear the chassis. The OEM torque mount on the gearbox brace looked like the Hardrace unit, but with two bits of rubber instead of three if that makes sense. The spacing of the bolt holes was a little off so it took some fiddling to get it in. I wasn't expecting that much increased NVH from upgrading to them, and it isn't anything too teeth-rattling to be honest. It kinda feels like a really mild massage chair vibration that you can feel in the pedals, seat and to some extent the wheel although it's obviously less pronounced once you're on the move. You can definitely feel it though, and I will admit that was a little sad considering how much time I spend in the car for my work commute. I'm just glad to not feel my engine lurching around anymore when shifting up to second and even into third. I imagine the completely urethane filled billet ones would be on a whole new level, let alone 80 duro and up engine mounts.



Potentially due to the rushed rotor change with minimal contact surface prep/cleaning, the pads aren't wearing that evenly on the rotor. They still feel excellent especially after the bleed though, so no complaints once again. I still have to order new pistons so I can get started on the front caliper rebuild....

Ordered Hardrace rubber front LCA bushes yesterday as well. That's all for now!

[Austro]

I threw caution to the wind and signed up for Skid Control's first ever motorkhana/khanacross event, despite a) it being held smack bang in the middle of summer and b) the fact that I should have probably been doing other things. I felt that I couldn't pass up the opportunity at $64 for the whole day. In the lead up, I found that my brakes went from awesome to mushy overnight for no apparent reason. I quickly bled them and did an oil change and even managed to test fit some 4x100 14x7 +12 MK3s. My rack ends have also started knocking at parking lot speeds.



All was good until they went bad again after a drive or two. Not really spongy or anything, they kinda just went from having great feel/bite/modulation to feeling like the pads I previously had on. I was mainly perplexed by how it seemingly happened overnight and despite having done a bleed after the December track day. I opted attempt a full flush the next night after I installed the newly acquired Honed fire extinguisher bracket. Huge thanks to Tom for the great service and getting it to me in time for Sunday!





I'm pretty gumby at the best of times so I think the spots I marked out with paint pen were slightly angled and a little further back than what I thought they would be, oh well. It certainly does the job. While sweating my ass off that night I started to think that upgrading to RBF600 might not be such a bad investment after all if it were to save me from having to flush/bleed my fluid all the time. The fluid flush definitely improved the brakes tremendously but they eventually went a bit mushy again with normal driving, so I'm thinking I'll gradually work through rebuilding the calipers then the master cylinder to try and figure out if any of them are to blame. I was heading down that path anyway as the car is now at 290xxx km and the peace of mind wouldn't go astray for when I start tackling other tracks which aren't as forgiving.



I really like how the car looks in the photo, I think the grass makes it look lower than it actually is and the shadow cast by the front hides how weird the facelift front looks without a lip.



The day started off quite underwhelming as I soon found out that my power steering wouldn't keep up with quick lock to lock turns. Even just spinning it quickly to lock from centre caused it to drop out, sometimes it would briefly go light before returning to being basically non-assisted. I honestly spent most of my time on the first two layouts wrestling the wheel, at one point when it momentarily went light again I yanked the wheel and smashed my elbow into the door card lol. Hand-timed by the organisers, I ran 40.53 > 39.75 > 37.88 on the first layout and 38.62 > 38.2 on the second. I spent both runs on the second layout trying both handbraking and aggressive lift-off/trail braking to get the rear to rotate but the former didn't do anything and the latter didn't work out that well. At that point when they changed to another layout, I threw in the towel and went to run the khanacross which was also a huge failure as the steering gremlins plagued me at the jersey barrier chicanes and I also missed one of the turns. There was no course walk and that section of the course had the same tall cones evenly spaced on both sides so I beared right instead of hooking left :/



After lunch on the third layout, I had some good fun as there was no slalom to throw me off and the flow allowed me to focus on working with steering inputs/feathering the throttle then punching it when exiting the turns. They seemed pretty impressed with my times and I eventually managed to beat the time that one of the organisers set in their demo ZN6. That said, all the skilled FR guys were drifting and linking the entire course from start to finish so they definitely weren't running the fastest times possible. I went 28.10 > 28.23 > 27.89 > 27.78 > 27.31. Apparently a red Evo 8 out there almost ran a 25?

I'm really keen to drive more motorkhana now if I can fix or at least alleviate the P/S issue, any insight on what the issue might be is appreciated. I'm guessing the pump is just tired due to age?

The first Time Attack day at QR is coming up in February but I won't be able to make it, so the next outing will likely be at Japnats in late April. Bit of a bummer since Feb/March have a bunch of sprints on as well and even a come and try motorkhana day run by HSCCQ, but the car needs to be fixed up a bit before I track it again. Hopefully I can make it out to Norwell, Lakeside and Mt Cotton this year.

[ChargeR]

Looks like you had a good time, despite the PS issues. Not something I've experienced before, maybe start with some fresh fluid and a new belt on it and check the tension? Possible the belt is slipping under load, or the fluid is foaming excessively and then the pump sucks foam so you get no pressure assist. Just throwing ideas out there though, don't know much about these systems.

Good to see the bracket turned up on time, happy to help!

[Austro]

Looks like you had a good time, despite the PS issues. Not something I've experienced before, maybe start with some fresh fluid and a new belt on it and check the tension? Possible the belt is slipping under load, or the fluid is foaming excessively and then the pump sucks foam so you get no pressure assist. Just throwing ideas out there though, don't know much about these systems.

Good to see the bracket turned up on time, happy to help!

Thanks again Tom, yeah I'm confused since I replaced and bled the fluid maybe four months ago and the belt is new. That being said, I've noticed some some really mild belt squeal occasionally on startup so maybe I do need to reset the tension as well. Not going to rule anything out just yet, though I don't think I was pulling enough Gs to starve the pump of fluid haha.

[Austro]

Picked up an EK B series rear T bracket on a whim last week, just as I was about to leave the guy asked if I was looking for anything else and I ended up getting a two bolt B series post mount as well. I don't think I've mentioned much about my plans for the engine in this thread, but I'll probably just be going B16A2/B18C2 when the D banger pops/funds permit and I feel like it's time to step up. It would be nice to keep the car 1600cc but I wouldn't mind the extra fun of the C2, either way I mainly want to buy one that I can see running and has been cared for. I also don't think I've mentioned that I have a DC2R swap package sitting at home intended for a different application - I figured it would be good to have these bits on hand in case of dire circumstances where I end up throwing it in the EK lol.



A few days later, someone wanted to get rid of some parts so I scored an OEM DC2R exhaust manifold and an OEM strut brace. Unfortunately the guy had thrown out the heat shield already it's different to the non Type R ones. I probably won't bother using the latter as I'd prefer to not drill into the chassis for no real reason, one day when I'm balling I'll buy a Carbing two point brace.



Around two weeks ago I noticed that the car was really unstable on one of my long highway drives home. The car wasn't veering to one side or trying to pull the wheel out of my hands, but the front end felt like it was constantly wandering even when driving in a straight line. I figured it was just due to really strong crosswinds that day (which wasn't a false observation), until it felt the same way at high speed every day from that point on. Prior to this I had noticed that the steering was knocking on occasion at parking lot speeds when crossing back over centre and when slightly moving the wheel from side to side at a standstill. Inner tie rods had been on my to-do list for a while so I ended up biting the bullet and ordering some, along with a fresh pair of axle nuts as I noticed one of my reused ones had started backing off although the stake stopped it from going any further.



I think the ones currently on there were some random generic aftermarket brand, they looked different to the new OEM ones and even between left and right there were small differences. One was labelled 3010-F12 and the other 3010-A15. There didn't seem to be any play in the ones on the car, which I was kinda worried about as I really didn't want to have to fuck around with chasing the issue further.



I remember the LHS inner tie rod having already been cut down when I did the tie rod ends last year, as well as needing to cut down the right to match in order to be able to attain zero toe at my desired camber settings and ride height. I test fitted the tie rod end on the OEM unit and found that it bottomed out almost at where the rear of the nut was sitting on my current settings. I had a mate lined up to come around and chop these ones too but thankfully we were able to save the time and effort!



The aftermath of trying to get the car to tripod at motorkhana, + super bumpy surface around one of the cones.



I didn't realise just how toed in the front left was until after I put my car back on the ground, but at that point I really couldn't be assed to redo it. I'm yet to make the usual daily commute since the fresh alignment, but so far the car feels better at highway speeds and the knocking symptoms are gone. Steering feels a bit more direct as well, but that could be placebo for all I know.

[iwearmoccos]

I have the same issues with my EK power steering during motorkhanas, it just doesn't seem to like lock to lock to lock etc etc.
I've never had an issue with it on the track, only trying to go fast around car parks!

[Austro]

I have the same issues with my EK power steering during motorkhanas, it just doesn't seem to like lock to lock to lock etc etc.
I've never had an issue with it on the track, only trying to go fast around car parks!

I think I recall you mentioning that in your thread, that sucks. There's another one scheduled for the 8th of March which I might attend after re-tensioning my belt, but it really wasn't much fun when the steering didn't want to cooperate