06/10/00
Went
to Buttonwillow raceway with Open-Track. I've run this course
before, but this time they ran it counterclockwise, so I had
to learn it again. Also finally got my JDM 4-1 header and 2.5"
AT catalytic converter installed. Car definately pulls harder
in the upper rpms and easily revs to 9000 if I let it. Still
needs some tuning, but the car runs really good. My tires seem
to be the the weekest link at this point. Need to start thinking
about R compound tires for the track. But even on street tires,
I was able to hold my own against many other cars on R tires.
Car went off track a couple of times (twice while in the hands
of an instructor - go figure!), so it's *really* dirty! got
to bust out the shop vac next weekend and clean it.
Also
installed a camera mount, and thanks to Zak N. from the SE-R
club, I was able to get some in-car video footage on the track.
I didn't have the mount totally figured out until the end of
the day, so most of the video has a lot of rear view mirror.
Next time, I'll be ready though. I'll post some video when I
get it, it will be off this site on my shell account hosted
by a bud in San Diego. Stay Tuned.
05/06/00
I
attended the Nissan SE-R dyno day. This event was organized
by the SE-R club, and was held at R&D Dyno Service in Gardena,
CA. The guys at R&D really knew what they were doing and
were able to dyno over 30 cars on the dynojet. Some notable
highlights were a few turbo SE-Rs, one car dynoed at 252 hp
at the front wheels at his "normal" boost setting.
he then cranked up the boost and laid down 393 hp at the wheels.
And this was on a totally stock motor! That SR20DE is one strong
motor.
I
finally got my turn at the end of the day and after a cold run,
the civic put down 166.4 hp and 125.6 ft/lbs of torque at the
front wheels (corrected). This was about what I was expecting,
since I still have the stock exhaust manifold and stock throttle
body on there. But not for long. I recently acquired a JDM type
R 4-1 tube header! As soon as I get a larger diameter catalytic
converter, it will go on the car. Taking into account the standard
15% loss through the drive train, my car is currently putting
out 195 hp and 147 ft lbs of torque.
click
here for a printout of my dyno
03/13/00
Went
to Willow Springs Raceway with the SoCal MR2 club. We ran the
"big track" this time, a 2.5 mile course known for
high speeds. This is the fastest track on the west coast. I
was hitting just over 120mph on the front straight, and entering
turn 8 at close to 105mph. Cars shod with race tires were going
through turn 8 at over 110mph. Toyota Corp. showed up to film
a commercial for the new MR2-spyder. They brought 3 spyders
with them and were letting people take them out on the race
track for test drives! The new MR2-S handles awesome! makes
me want to get a rear wheel drive car. Could use a bit more
power, but it was just too easy to get it to do exactly what
I wanted it to on the track. My car held up well, especially
considering I was placed in the fastest run group. I was the
only car in my group that did not have R compound tires on.
I drove my ass off keeping up with the other cars on the track,
and did very well consering the company I was in (RX-7 turbos,
300zx turbo, MR2 turbos, BMW M3, Porsche 911 turbo, and a couple
of very fast fox body mustangs).
01/22/2000
Well,
happy belated new year! I'm in the middle of completely redoing
my website, hope you like the new format. I went to Laguna Seca
just before thanksgiving - had a blast. That little civic works
really well on the track. I was very impressed with the car.
I didn't feel like I was pushing the car to it's full potential,
yet I had now problem passing just about everyone in my run
group. I ordered a JDM 4-1 header from Erick's
Racing Engines. Hopefully it will go on by the end of January.
Then it's off to the dynojet to let Erick work his magic and
tune it. I signed up for two more events. The big track at Willow
Springs in March with the SoCal MR2 Club and also a "streets"
of Willow event with honda
hybrid.
Rick
has got the 13B in the 510 and Able (flaco) did all the wiring
with leftover DFI components. Rick has been porting some motors
recently for Able and Rotory Power and has been super busy.
He might be able to fire it up in a few weeks.
11/14/99
Haven't
updated in a while. Been pretty busy with work and stuff.
I'll have pictures up soon of the regional SCCA auto-cross event
held at Hollywood park last October. But I'm going to
wait until I get back from Laguna Seca next week!!! That's
right, I'll be hot-lapping the famous track in Monterey, CA
during the week of thanksgiving. Only new upgrades to
the civic are an adjustable rear camber kit, and a new fuel
filter and spark plugs. I'll probably be selling the 510
to a friend of mine. Just can't seem to find the time
or money to restore it right now, and my GF's been bugging me
to get it out of her garage. At least he'll do good things
with it. First on the list is a bridge-ported 13B rotary
engine. And by selling it to a friend, at least I'll be
able to drive it and see it.
07/26/99
I went up to Willow Springs "Streets"
track with the SoCal MR2 club. I dialed in a little more
stiffness on the rear shocks since this is a tighter course
than Buttonwillow. Wow, had a blast! After
a few laps of warming up and getting comfortable on the track,
I was able to push the car pretty hard. Great speed down
the front straight and I was taking many corners on 3 wheels!
Even got a picure to prove it (thanks to Dave - AKA "miataracer").
Jeff H. gave me some good criticism and got me to adjust my
racing line a bit which really helped out. I was real
impressed with the car. I had previously raced on this
same track in my integra, which didn't do nearly as well.
Only mechanical problem was an exhaust flange that came undone
(fixed it at the track with "loc-tite") and a broken rubber
exhaust hanger. Found out the next day when I crawled
under the car to check things out. Fixed it, and tightened
up the rear swaybar link. Car held up well, Can't wait
for the next event. Oh, still haven't touched the datsun.
07/18/99
Well, had to make a decision a few weeks
ago. Chris's truck blew it's oil pump and took out the
rest of the engine with it, So he asked me if he could drive
one of my cars for a couple of weeks until his truck is fixed.
Tough decision. I let him take the civic finally, because
it would be cheaper to fix/replace if anything happened to it.
Plus I'd kill him if he dinged my integra. Anyway, I finally
got the car back on Saturday, after arguing with him (he wanted
to keep it longer). I put in an integra master cylinder
and brake booster for next week's willow springs race, and only
have the weekends to work on it, so I had to have it back by
saturday. He also didn't wash the car at all in 3 weeks,
and the Carbotech brake pads give off a LOT of dust, and if
you don't wash the wheel, that stuff gets baked on. So
now my front wheels have black stains on them. Arggggh!
Some people!
Got the brakes done and the car is ready for willow springs.
06/24/99
Went road racing with Open-Track
on June 24, out at Buttonwillow Raceway. This was the
first real test for the civic. I was pretty happy.
The car handled pretty well and had some real good speed on
the straights. I set the front shocks on 4 (stiffest)
and the rears on 1 (softest). Didn't want to get caught
in a spin, so I played it safe.
05/04/99
I finally got around to going to the drag
strip this weekend. Went down to Carlsbad in the Civic
and ran a bunch of 14.3x @98 and 99mph (on street tires).
Not bad considering I haven't done a lot of breathing mods or
tuning yet. You can check out the times on the new
Drag Racing Page.
04/17/99
Finally
got some pictures of the datsun developed. I think a new
camera is in order. I can't seem to get any of the pictures
to come out well. Anyway, I don't think I'll be doing
anything with the datsun until late summer or fall. IRS
reamed me this year, so extra funds are tight. Plus, I
still have to get some things for the civic.
02/09/99
Minor
updates to the site. Added the Engine & Installation
pages and updated some civic pictures. I've got some more
film to pick up, so hopefully, I'll get some cleaner pictures.
And I may be acquiring another project car to work on!
I have to get the details, and its not even certain, so I'm
not going to say just yet, but it's an 'old-school' type of
car. Keep your fingers crossed!
01/07/99
Happy
New Year! I Just got back from a week's vacation in Puerto
Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico! Man vacations are soooo great.
I didn't want to come back, but you know how that goes.
I did manage to do some racing while I was there. There
was a go-cart track just outside of town with these 9 HP lawnmower
engines. They were pretty quick, I think it was the only
time I've ever driven a go-cart that I actually had to use the
brakes. Maybe I'll post some pics soon.
12/19/98
Wow,
a whole month and no updates.. I had been working everynight
for almost 2 weeks
straight on the car until I got it running on Saturday 12/5/98.
I had dropped the motor
in the week before and had spent the weeknights getting everything
connected and ready
to go. fired right up without any major problems!
Sounded like a harley or something
running on just the open header until I made it to the muffler
shop. I do have a check
engine light - code 14, which is the Idle Air Control valve.
Traced it down to a damaged
wire, so I'll have to run another wire manually. My GC's
and front GAB shocks came
in which I installed. the rears should be here before
the new year. Now I have the
pleasure of breaking in the car and getting used to the quickness
compared to my
integra.
11/14/98
Yes!!
The motor is 95% complete. My cams aren't in yet, so that's
all that's left to do with the engine. I've got the hoses,
vacuum lines, and wiring all hooked up and ready to go.
And I did it all by myself (I'm so proud). I also ordered
the Mac-Daddy suspension this week (yes, it is fully Mac'd out).
GAB adjustable shocks, Ground control coil overs, and some sway
bars. My mouth is watering, I can't wait to get all this
stuff on the car. Could be running as early as next weekend!
11/8/98
Put
together the entire bottom end today. Tried to install
the shifter bushings and they were the wrong part. The
mfr switched the parts in the box accidentally, but Summit
is sending out another set on Monday. Next weekend, I'll
put the cylinder head on and then after I get a couple of misc.
parts, It'll be ready to drop in the car.
11/7/98
Picked
up my crankshaft last night. Today I picked up my bearings
and went around to the auto part stores getting miscellaneous
items like assembly lube, perma-tex, etc.
11/4/98
2
main bearings are still on backorder from Ohio. I got
my flywheel lightened by 3-4 lbs. Also went to pick up
my cylinder head from RES/portflow. DEEEYAMMMN!!
some of the cleanest headwork I've ever seen. It's all
done and looks sweet! I dropped off my intake manifold
also to get match ported. Will be ready for pickup on
Saturday.
11/3/98
Worked
out the details with a hook up on some JDM spec Civic type-R
cams. Sent my deposit today.
10/31/98
Dropped
off my crank at Hitchcock for balancing. I wanted to get
my stock flywheel shaved, so I held off on the flywheel/clutch
assembly balancing until next week.
10/22/98
Ordered
new main bearings and new rod bearings from the dealer.
Also picked up a gasket set from Trans-pac
in Carson.
10/10/98
I
bought some B16a pistons from a friend of mine and had them
pressed onto my B18c rods. This should give me a 10.6:1
compression ratio. Did you know that the B16a rods are
thicker/stronger than B18c rods?
9/28/98
I
just ordered a 6-puck clutch with heavyduty pressure plate from
RS Motorsports. They let me drive an integra with this
clutch in the parking lot. Very easy to drive on the street.
While I was there, I picked up the Unorthodox Racing underdrive
pulley - Damn that thing is light!! I'm getting one of
those too.
In
the Beginning....
After
I decided to keep the engine, I tore it down to inspect all
the parts. The previous owner had thought he cracked some
pistons, due to his improperly tuned turbo kit. It took
me all day on a Saturday with regular hand tools to dissasemble
that thing. After further inspection, I found out that
two pistons were cracked between the rings, but luckily, no
pieces had come off and the cylinder walls looked perfect.
I would also need new cams, since the regrinds that were in
there looked pretty crappy. Since the head was off, I
recently dropped it by Port Flow Design in Wilmington, CA for
a mild street port, titanium valve retainers, and an upgraded
spring package. I figured I might as well get the flywheel
lightened up too, and then get the crank, flywheel, pulley,
and clutch assembly balanced before everything went back together.
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