The Lunchbox

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 03-04-2018

So no updates in a while, thats because theres been none! I don't have the car, since 5th Feb it's been at a fabrication shop having a bolt in half cage made for it via CAM's regulations. Yesterday I went in so they could measure me up sat in my seat (btw i got a new seat ) so the harness bar could be positioned correctly within the specs, whatever they are.. I should be getting the car back tomorrow with the cage finished and in!

I've also had to buy my future planned seat on the day I dropped the car off, as every seat is different and they needed to make the harness bar to suit the seat ^ . My future planned seat was a Sparco Ergo, a very comfy and well designed race seat, with the ability to remove the head guard pieces for driving on the street.

Also today I remembered I actually have a set of EF9 SiR door cards I got for free off someone lol.. Honestly forgot I had them. So I masked them up for some black paint to suit the rest of my interior, which I've already sprayed black

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 04-19-2018

Been lazy for a month on the updates, been working on my new RT4WD wagon project and uni semester has started, now half way through so been quite busy.

Received the car back the following week after going in to have me measured up for the harness bar. Cage looks bloody awesome, just driving around on the street I can kinda notice a difference. I decided to notch the bride side mounts as well to try lower the Sparco a bit more and put it on more of a leaning back angle, I felt as if I was sliding off the front of it.





Here's a flick of a night meet up from Club ITR monthly meet, pic with my mates AE86!



Also I happened to shortly after this bid on a special item on Yahoo Auctions from Japan. Quite a Nostalgic EF part from a well known time attack hero CRX.. Let's see if y'all can guess as the photos go on...




Can you guess it yet??





It's the custom, one off over fenders from the famous Deepseban CRX in Japan. I'm so lucky to of won the bid and got these here, I have a spare set of guards I will use for these, hopefully get them sorted out soonish. Here's some test fitting photos, not a proper test though as the side trim is still on the guard. However, I've tested on my spare guards with no trim and they sit pretty schmick!





Here's some pics of them on the Deepseban CRX so you can get a idea of the final product

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 04-19-2018

I was invited to be apart of a photo shoot the weekend that just past, for a uponing huge car show called Fitted Festival, think it's a bunch of people trying to match the massive car shows in America. They wanted 1 of each of the cleanest/fairly clean honda models, all in white. So it finally gave me a reason to paint my cracked front lip, rear boot debaged and also polish the whole car.. Did all the painting at home, very happy with how everything turned out. Heres some photo spam.

One pic before we get started!


Commence sanding! Wet/Dry 400 grit > 600 grit > 1200 grit #yolo



Primered:


Boot sanded down, same process (forgot primered pics)




Fresh paint!




Polished all the door/boot jams too, why not. Came out so bloody white too!

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 21-05-2018

Ahh super lazy on updates however there is a good reason for it (I guess?), at the last track day I did on the 21st of April was Honda Nationals 2018, first time it being held up at Wakefield in Sydney. All the preps I had done and also the cage, I was keen for a new PB, to dip into the 1.09s, big goal but I felt it was possible. First session I just played around getting used to the change, making a few changes with the dampenings. Second session there was a lot of traffic, I was put in a low group however I feel I should of been in the group above, was getting held up a lot. I only managed 2 fast laps, both being very low 1.11's like 1.11.1 and a 1.11.3 from memory, then that sesion was finished. On the next session it was passenger I took a mate out to show him how late you can brake with our pad setup (Intima), and then the good old friend, the check engine light appeared.. No Vtec, idling at 2k rpm.. Of course the one time I decide to not take the laptop is the only time I need. Flashed the CEL and got code 16 which is injectors, however its apparently known to really mean a corrupted tune/ECU.. Tbh I got the shits, barely got to drive it, when I had fast laps I was ducting through people.. so just put it straight on the trailer and drove home, shoved it into the garage and it has remained that way till now..

Awesome day for the part of which the car was working though, very well organised day, but hey thats racing first time the car has actually played up at the track. Heres some photos from the photographers. Ofc because saved of Facebook its now shit quality

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DATE of original upload: 21-05-2018

Now onto this CEL problem.. So I hooke dup the laptop to the Hondata and tried re-uploading the tune and that did nothing. So with the codes it has 3: TPS, IAT, ETC. With the car running, the ETC is stuck on 66.1% and the TPS is stuck of 25% via the Hondata, obviously pushing pedal it doesnt change and the ETC doesn't go up.. Weird, so I get out my wiring diagrams and see what they all have in common; all connected via the same ground. I test IAT & ETC grounds to get continuity between the ground wire to the chassis, all sweet. However the TPS doesn't, I then decide to check the ground wire for the plug with voltage, suprise suprise it has 5V. So at first I think okay a wire must be shorting somewhere or something similar, but then think hmm if that was the case and this ground was getting a positive feed, the other 2 (ETC & IAT) should also be recieving a 5V through the ground too as its a connected circuit.

So with this, and the knowledge of the code '16/Ignition' somewhat meaning a corrupted ECU, I'm starting to think possibly the ECU or Hondata chip is stuffed? I looked inside the ECU however the board seems fine. I am going to get a mates Hondata ECU to test, in a way I hope its the ECU or Hondata, yes more expensive but it'll be a 'easy' fix. I will report back once I have new further updates on this matter.

Also can't remember if I posted before, in the end I decided to sell the Sparco and keep the Bride, the sparco just isn't as comfy and secure as a Bride, facts are facts, Japan just does it better




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DATE of original upload: 22-05-2018

Ah yeah, I don't think I have that one, I only have the ED one (carby). GOOD NEWS THOUGH! Started checking all the voltages and grounds again last night with the multi metre, then checking continuity through to the ECU plugs. On plug D pin 24 I believe, I noticed there was some copper wires dangling out of it, bang a snapped wire! It was the green/white one you can see in the pic, initially when everything happened that wire was bent and tucked behind the black loom above it, I saw it but looked like I had tapped it back for some reason so I thought nothing of it.. The pin is a sensor ground. Soldered a new extended piece of wire in and she turned over with easier straight away!

Took it for a spin last night, still drives a dream. Gave it a few hits on the empty freeway in mexico, good to be back and running!

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 26-06-2018

Nothing much has happened with the civic since I fixed the wire problem. I've entered into a Wakefield day again in July 19th and Honda Nationals down in Victoria in August. I've finally purchased some semi slicks. I went with the Nankang AR-1, have a few friends that have run them and have good reviews on them, half the price of A050 Advans as well. 225/45/15 up front and 205/50/15 rear. Also purchased a eBay oil cooler kit as my oil gets very hot on track, I will install this later in the year as the next 2 track days will be during winter, quite cold, too busy working on my wagon at the moment as well to install the oil cooler.







The engine bay isn't too bad.. I've been meaning to get a new line for the booster to manifold vacuum and tuck it below the intake, just never got around to it. Also want to make a new pod box, I quickly made this one, bent it on the corner on my house, when I got the car back from the tuners with the new motor up and running, then havn't bothered changing since.


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DATE of original upload: 20-07-2018

Purchased some hardrace shifter bushings which are actually a alloy piece, they go on the linkage which braces the other shifter linkage. Awesome feel, much more solid than the old worn out rubbers.




Also took the car for an alignment with the Nankang AR-1's on, bad news the 205's on the rear scrub like crazy! Coming home it chewed up the tyre. I raised the car 5mm, then 10mm and 15mm, still scrubbed. In the end I did a total of 20mm which probably put the alignment out, but had no more time before track.

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 21-07-2018

So the run down.. with the Nankang AR-1's I was expecting to jump down a second or two from what everyones told me semis do. 1st/2nd sessions I was at 1.12.7's, couldn't seem to budge past, car felt very good though, probably the best it has ever felt on track. 3rd session I was down to a 1.12.3 and still confused, doing what I usually do however I'd usually already be back at 1.11.0 mark.

Gave the car to John Boston (Wakefield pro driver) who took it for a spin, told him the confusion I had. He went hard, and could only manage a 1.10.3 (my PB on RS3's was 1.1.0.8 ). He then thought maybe the overall diametre of the Nankang was greater than the RS3 which was ruining my gearing. After a google search it should the two are pretty much the same, he then wasn't really sure the reasoning. He commented the car was set up very well, handles awesome, brakes awesome and grips awesome, however still confused on this timing.. With this I'm also confused, so I guess its back to the drawing board to figure whats happening.. Tyres are awesome, very grippy, got maybe 5 laps and then after they felt like they were possibly getting a lil too hot, or the session had already ended... I finish with a 1.11.03 for the day.. I don't plan to change anything apart from alignment settings... until next time

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DATE of original upload: 25-07-2018

So the second half of my track update which I forgot to add the other night, was quickly trying to get something up before going to bed...

Here are the time sheets from the Natsoft timing website of the day, some fast cars out there, 2 Audis at the top of the board were very fast, few corners I was able to stick with them but when there was any resemblance of a straight they'd just leave me on the spot. So the final time for me (William Mitchell [Position 10]) of a 1.10.3890 was set by the Track Pro who teachers there, my faster time for the day was the final lap recorded, a 1.11.0368 (PB = 1.10.80), you can see that time at the end of the photo below. Been discussing with a few people since that day of possibilities to why it was so hard to get a good lap time, and smash my PB with semis. Some reckon the Nankang AR-1 arn't a 'true' R compond semi, possibly too grippy, possibly too heavy as well. I got an alignment a week before the day, and had to raise the car a total of 20mm at the rear to try and stop the scrubbing, which still occured at the track here and there, that possibly could have put the rear alignment out, whether that would affect the times that much, not sure.

I'll have to upload a photo, but I was scrubbing say 1/4 the way down the side wall of the tyre, when the pro drove it we noticed he managed to scrub about 1/2 way down the side wall, and theres already a knuckle gap between top of the tyre and the wheel arch. We feel there shouldn't be that much travel, so blown coilover/incorrect spring rates could possibly be a area to look into. I was going to look into getting them rebuilt, however I've had an idea since that I could buy a new set of 'track' spec coilovers, and move these GAB SS over to my RT4WD Wagon I'm building (I'll link in my signature) as I'd be needing to buy some for that as well.

A friend in Melbourne has a EK4, stock B16, suspension work and a built gearbox with a shorter 3rd, 4th, 5th and 4.4FD, he runs low 1.10s at this track with the Advan A050, so possibly building a gearbox could be an option, however I don't want to go down that path yet. Another friend on Instagram with a B18C7 CRX managed high 1.08's with stock motor and gearbox, and thats where I want to get to before any motor or gearbox work.

[Afx31]

DATE of original upload: 09-08-2018

So a wheel alignment was booked in for Friday morning, 1 week before H Nationals 2018 Rd 2 at Winton. I removed all the coilovers and reset the preload by loosening the collar against the spring until the spring freely moves, then tightening that collar against the spring until as tight as possible by hand, then tightening it another 4mm-5mm with the C spanner. The rear was set an even height and the front right was raised to match the front left, all coilovers put back in and car into garage. The Friday morning I took the car for an alignment from my mechanic first thing in the morning, here's the print out for the alignment. I asked -2.5 camber front, -2 to -2.5 camber rear to help reduce this scrubbing. Not sure if these initial values are actually true, but chance they are and that might explain the trouble I had at Wakefield with the Nankang AR1's. I did notice once the car was home after the track that the rear right which we had stuffed around with so much actually had positive camber.. So maybe I'll have to return to Wakefield soon with a proper alignment.



Cool drawing aye (lol), the first figure is the initial value, with the second after the | being the final value.

[Afx31]

OKAY SO!

This is finally up to date apart from the recent Honda Nationals, waiting for some professional photos to come through before updating the build thread. Stay tuned! Keen to hear from people, anyone with questions regarding the build feel free to post away

[mlracing]

What an epic story ! Makes me miss my old EF9

[Afx31]

What an epic story ! Makes me miss my old EF9

Cheers, the story will only continue!

EF9! Noice! Any pics of her?

[iwearmoccos]

I'm impressed in the effort you put in moving all this across!!

[Afx31]

I'm impressed in the effort you put in moving all this across!!

Took a few hours surprisingly, had to re-upload about 20 or more photos to relink from Flickr. Happy its done though

[Toddxxx]

Thanks for the night shift reading material will. Its cool to see how much of the work on the car you've done yourself! Sub 10s will come eventually!

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[felixR]

Epic read.

I'm also impressed with how much work you've done yourself!

[Afx31]

Epic read.

I'm also impressed with how much work you've done yourself!

Thanks for the night shift reading material will. Its cool to see how much of the work on the car you've done yourself! Sub 10s will come eventually!

Cheers guys! Always done everything myself (apart from alignments and tune obviously) and plan to keep it that way!