Green EK4

[iwearmoccos]

Over the weekend was H Nationals at Winton.
Maybe I'm a bit more involved in the Honda 'scene' than last year, or people were MUCH more excited this year than last.
Realistically, this was just another Winton track day for me and since this was the first time I was there on A050s, I was chasing a new PB and to confirm if replacing my thermostat, new radiator and coolant was going to have any major impact on my cooling issues.

The weather was supposed to be clear, with the chance of rain in the afternoon, so I was aiming to get straight onto pace and set a clean and fast lap nice and early, then try and beat it later on if the weather remained clear.

Let's get straight to the laps.

1:52.7730 1:41.2560 1:41.6920 1:39.0380
1:57.4500 1:47.0500 1:38.8180 1:39.0260 2:09.9410 1:38.7920
1:53.7490 1:38.2110 1:38.2350 2:01.0920
1:49.6710 1:38.3670 1:38.4350 2:05.5240 1:39.2730
1:58.0820 1:38.2750 1:38.5020 1:51.7020

Straight back on pace and breaking my previous PB of 1:39.1, this was a relatively easy lap and confirmed what I already knew about these tyres being quite fast. The surface wasn't as slippery as had been reported from a week or two earlier, though it really isn't a PI surface.
The group I was in was full of S2000s with big wings, with a couple of Civics and Integras. For the most part, everyone was very courteous except for a couple of strange spots people used to stay out of the way of faster traffic. I suppose that comes with knowing/not knowing the track very well.

2nd session is historically my quickest session, before I start trying to over drive the car and get frustrated.
I finally dropped into the 1:38s twice!
More than a celebration, it was a confirmation that this car is now running some reasonably quick laps! Feels good, both on and off the track!
My new PB of 1:38.21 can be found below.
Realistically, there are a few mistakes in there and that was a pretty common theme from the day. I am really feeling the pressures of driving this fast, it is a heap of work! I suppose, this is the game I'm signed up for with driving a really basic car as often as possible and improving my driving along the way. The corner speeds are comparable to cars running laps much quicker than myself, so that is a fair bit of pressure and a slight mistake has an impact on my corner exit and straight line speed due to lack of B16 power! Either way, I love it and it just forces me to focus more and more on what I'm doing. Any spare time I have is spent thinking about laps and watching my own videos for reference.

The rest of the day I chased a 1:37, but couldn't string one together. There were numerous 1:38s, so at least I was consistent!
I did experience a couple of traffic issues following S2000 drag races down the straight and into the esses. These may not have been 1:37s, but they would have been close laps. I did feel great that I was carrying more speed through the esses than those two S2000s! Though they had me on the straight pretty easily.

The A050s ran quite well, I ran the fronts at 29PSI hot and rear at 30PSI which seemed to work quite well.
In retrospect, I probably should have run more than one lap on Bill's Kumhos to get a bit more data on the difference in the tyres. Bill and I have spoken after Saturday and will look at doing a tyre swap for a session in the future to give each other our opinions.

Below are the results for Class 3, which I was more competitive in than I was expecting. Ben deserves the win because his S2000 is the best looking one around.
Class3_HNats_2017 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
A photo on the straight before everyone gathered for the post event photo. The Civic was relegated to the 2nd row later on, as the Sports Sedan took prime position. I look really tall here also.
20170902_160357 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
Here is a photo by Jonathon, who has a really nice turbo B series EK.
21273396_1166258293517936_4400351477408710012_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
And a photo coming through the esses chasing a S2000 post drag race! Photo by #1 Nguyen, who gave up his track time to run the event with Napo. Great work, Peter!!
21329834_10154972840678100_283454207_o by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
I also had some NSW good guys deliver some barely used 225/50/15 A050s, so I'm good for front tyres for a while!
20170902_213045 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

I still had issues with coolant ending up in the overflow, though I didn't see any movement on the stock gauge.
I plan to take it very easy with track days for the next 6 months, probably only running hill climbs in an effort to gather funds for my Japan trip in February and also to cover off a few things that I've probably mentioned more than once in this thread.
Great day with great people, running fast laps!
Thanks.

[Austro]

Killing it! Do you have many car/Honda related places lined up to visit while you're in Japan?

[Toddxxx]

Good seeing you as always rhys. Very nice driving. I especially like the off road bit [emoji14]
I reckon 1:37 easy on a clean lap.

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[iwearmoccos]

Killing it! Do you have many car/Honda related places lined up to visit while you're in Japan?

Thanks bloke!
I'll be going to Tsukuba for time attack, that is the main reason for the trip.
Suzuka should also be on a couple weeks earlier, so in the 3 weeks I'll spend there, I should be able to fit that in also.
I want to go to Garage Work, Honda Hall and a heap of the Honda workshops near Osaka - Zero Fighter, OneRank Up Auto, Five Mart, Mechadock etc etc.
I was originally going by myself, but it looks like a friend with very similar interests in Hondas and history/museums will be joining me.

My girlfriend and I went last year, and I didn't push the car boundaries too far. We only went to Spoon/Type One and Mooneyes. She was ready to kill me after the walk to Spoon was twice as far as I had quoted, then we walked even further to Type One!

Good seeing you as always rhys. Very nice driving. I especially like the off road bit [emoji14]
I reckon 1:37 easy on a clean lap.

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

Great to see you also, Todd!
Definitely a 1:37 in there, just need to link it all up!

[iwearmoccos]

Hot tip.
Add the below to your Chrome browser and you will be able to see all the photos hosted on Photobucket.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...flicjjgj?hl=en

[iwearmoccos]

I've set my Winton goal at 1:36, so figure I need to make the most of what little power I have. I have lost body fat this year, but my 197cm frame still weighs 100kg, which puts me at a disadvantage to these tiny guys who seem to drive Hondas.
With that in mind, I figured I'd start pulling some things out of the car to help improve the power/weight ratio and also so I have some regrets from this year.
Here is a photo from Saturday when I changed the oil.
20170910_105942 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

There isn't much left in the rear of my car, so I thought I'd look under that OEMISBEST engine bay and see what could be removed.
The obvious choice was the air conditioning, which is one of the best air cons I've ever had in a car.
I looked at just releasing the gas into the atmosphere like most seem to do, but the Earth made me feel too guilty. I went to my local mechanics who looked at me like I was stupid for wanting to pay someone to do it correctly. I stood by my earthly conscious and ended up paying $35 to remove all the terrible gases from the air con system. They still thought I was stupid. I felt really good about myself.

Removing the air con system in a car is really straight forward. Unbolt a few lines, disconnect a few plugs and then throw it all in the bin/sell it to someone who regrets pulling their air con system out.

I was surprised at how many plugs there were for the system. When I get a bit more adventurous/have someone with knowledge near me, I'll look at removing these plugs from the loom.
20170913_162736 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

After about 30 minutes, I ended up with a crate that now weighed just over 12kg.
20170913_165748 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

And a more spacious engine bay. My stock headers really stand out here. I should do something about that.
20170913_171110 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

This leaves quite a bit of space for the previously mentioned oil cooler I have yet to buy/install and also a full size radiator if I feel like filling the space.

The long weekend coming up will also be used for more light weight activities, so stay tuned for more really exciting photos of that.

Well, what an update!
Thanks.

[Toddxxx]

The lightweight era has begun!

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[iwearmoccos]

Todd, 'Free' horsepowers!!


Saturday morning I went in for a wheel alignment with Ray at Raceline.
20170916_094806 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
Looking at tyre wear, I decided to go with slightly more camber front and rear, as well as moved my toe from 0 to -2mm total in the front to dial in a bit more initial turn in. Once I install the rest of the Honed geometry kit, I will dial this back to zero total and assess.
Rear camber, -2.3
Rear toe, 0
Front camber, -3.1
Front toe, -2mm total.

It is nice having an alignment guy who watches your videos and can make suggestions, as well as understands what you're trying to achieve with the car. Slow and steady, single changes between track days so the benefit/disadvantage is easily quantified.

I then went home and looked at other bits I could pull out of the car. Grant said there was a box under the dash that holds more aircon parts and pieces, so I pulled this black box out after a bit of fiddling.
20170916_144234 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
The internals looks like this. If you remove your aircon, you can see the silver connection through the fire wall.
20170916_141418 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
Once removed, I sealed up the box with some race tape and installed again.
This exercise removed 2.1kg from under the dash, which realistically was dead weight considering the aircon no longer lives in the engine bay.
20170916_141914 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

I always run with my passenger seat, though rarely carry a passenger, so I figured I'd weigh that also.
14.5kg in my EK1 seat, so that can come out at the next track day.


There really hasn't been many photos come from H Nationals, but here is one from our tall Honed mate.
Loaded up about to make the journey back down the Hume.
RY Hnats by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

This weekend is a hill climb at Haunted Hills, then Winton with EXE is two weeks later.
I've got my Honed geometry kit that needs to be installed, which will wait until after Winton and then there is talks of one more Winton track day with SUCC in November.

I have also ordered a Mishimoto oil cooler kit, so that will be installed on the long weekend. That seems to be a straight forward affair.


Cool story, Rhys.

[RC_dc2]

What size cooler did you pick?

[iwearmoccos]

What size cooler did you pick?

19 row with a thermostatic sandwich plate.
Still waiting for it to arrive.

Here is a photo from the hill climb last month, while I wait for the timing to be sent through for the weekend just gone.
Quick summary, very good weekend!

Jamar_Image_1_EK4 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

[plAythiNG]

HI Rhys,

Looking forward to pics of the install on the b series!

I just picked up an oil cooler kit too, so any photos would be great.

WOuld highyl reccomend a block off plate on the cooler core for street driving, as the temps will be too low imo. sub 80C.

the thermostat doesnt do anything imo

[Alex_Walker]

What are you going to do about windscreen demisting? I'm considering ripping out the aircon system and maybe running one of those 12v heater demisters?

[iwearmoccos]

HI Rhys,

Looking forward to pics of the install on the b series!

I just picked up an oil cooler kit too, so any photos would be great.

WOuld highyl reccomend a block off plate on the cooler core for street driving, as the temps will be too low imo. sub 80C.

the thermostat doesnt do anything imo

Thanks for the advice, will look at that after the install. I should be able to knock something up quite easily with some scrap from Dad's garage.

What are you going to do about windscreen demisting? I'm considering ripping out the aircon system and maybe running one of those 12v heater demisters?

The heat still works with the air con removed, as I've left the heater core alone to be able to demist and not freeze to death driving to the track early in the morning.

I always demist with the heater instead of air con, which works very well if you keep the windscreen clean.

[iwearmoccos]

Friday night I trekked back to my parents in what was the easiest traffic I've dealt with for a while!
I installed my head lining again as my sunroof plug hasn't leaked all year. Conveniently, I can still mount my GoPro to the roof. I though I had a photo, but I don't.
Already, it has kept the noise down on the freeway runs and should keep it cooler/warmer by providing some insulation. Also weighs absolutely nothing.
In my Dad's garage. Mum's car always gets put outside when the Civic comes home!
20170922_214551 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

Saturday was practice for hill climb, so after some delicious soup for lunch, I headed up to the track and it was the busiest I've ever seen it on a Saturday. There were maybe 20 cars, which is a huge increase over the 4 from last month.
As I had changed the alignment slightly, I wanted to see what improvements that had and also run my rear coilovers at full 'hard'.
You can see the changes in the alignment in a previous post, and other than the toe out, it really isn't anything dramatic, but it really woke the car up. The rear rotated much easier but without being snappy. Very easy to manage.
I ran a few laps and also took a friend for a run who owned a turbo EG. He was obviously impressed by the handling of my little EK!
He also offered me a few laps in his B16 turbo EG and I thought I better not turn down that offer.
20170923_152234 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
I don't know the exact setup except that it makes 215ish KW and is on E85, it was also VERY fast!! A much more 'street spec' setup than mine, and I didn't push it as hard as I do my own car, but the power from so lower in the rev range was ridiculous!! It really was unbelievable how fast it accelerated, even with the wheels spinning through 2nd and 3rd gear. I was suitable impressed, and it was nice to discuss the pros and cons of each of our cars.
I want to drive his car on the street next time and give it a few on ramp runs!!

The weather on Saturday was really hot, but there was some rain on its way through overnight. It did rain, as it always seems to on a Saturday, though the HECTIC winds dried the track pretty quickly. We were threatened by rain through the day, though there was no downpours for the day.
Gippsland CC has been mixing it up a bit of late and this day we were running 3 layouts, appropriately named Triple Treat. We were told the first two layouts at drivers briefing, with the third being a 'surprise!'
The first layout was the short clockwise, which I haven't run for quite a while.
As the conditions/weather had changed ever so slightly since the day before, I was a bit more cautious than I would have liked to be, considering we were only running 3 times on each layout.

The 2nd lay out was the classic figure 8, where the class lap record was set way back in 2011 and I'm still over a second off it. The last couple of years they've put really bumpy ripple strips (bricks, basically) behind the actual ripple strips to stop people shortening the course, so I'll use that as an excuse why I can't run the cross over as fast as possible. There is more time there though, I hope we run this layout more often as it backwards around the rear loop is quite difficult.

The 'surprise' layout is called the out and back anti clockwise. These reverse layouts (ran out and back clockwise last month) are REALLY fun and quite difficult. It also spices it up for everyone because we're all in the same unfamiliar state.

I've kinda only told you about the layouts.
In terms of handling, I've said it previously but I probably now mean it, the car handled EXACTLY how I wanted it to. I'd turn in, the car would rotate and I could get the power on nice and early in the corner. If the rear did let loose, I could stay on the power and it'd straighten up without much fuss. It was a great day!!

Times for the day.
21979277_10154680519800738_1447581119_n by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr
As you can see, I was 2nd fastest overall for the day on all layouts, which got a few people talking!!
I've never had so many people come up and ask questions about the car. I think a few people were a bit disappointed that it wasn't more modified, though a few people had some cheeky smiles on their faces when I ran through my plan/goals/progress with the car and keeping it as reliable as possible and basically only playing with suspension/tyres.

My fastest laps for the day.
40.91 on the clockwise short course.

64.93 on the clockwise figure 8. The panicked turning on the car is because there was an incident with another car and they took a few minutes to recover it.
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXAm-y-yGE[VIDEO] (Can an admin fix this so I can embed more than one video? I'm trustworthy, I swear!!)
And finally, an 81.44 on the out and back clockwise.
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZf5HnY4_hY[VIDEO]

I've been chasing up this oil cooler, so should be here before the long weekend for installation.
The weekend after is EXE Winton, where I start working on my 1:36 goal. I'd be happy with consistent 1:37s in the first instance. That'll be my last track day for the year, though there are two more hill climbs in Nov and Dec.
I can install the last bits of my Honed geometry kit somewhere in that period also.

Thanks for reading my mumblings, here is (my) teenager dream R33 for you.
20170924_113035 by I WEAR MOCCOS, on Flickr

[plAythiNG]

were those 5 spoke wheeel from ROH wheels? i used to love that set of wheels when looking at a page full of wheels reading HPI or hot4's back in my teen years olol