flanders

Fast forwarding a bit for results after some street tuning by me.
VTEC at 4k and fueling cleaned up, no changes on ignition.
Blue curve is my best run with CT intake.

flanders

Some interior mods.
Glove box organizer from Modifry


Also got seat belt lock from Modifry.
No picture on the actual thing but it's basically an electromagnet that engages the stock seat belt lock.
Some wiring done


Button to engage it placed behind passenger seat



Backyard special lowered seat rail


Dark picture with stock rail


and with the new rail about an inch lower and no more banging the roof with the helmet

flanders

Next up was the suspension.
I got myself a late but very nice Christmas present


Instructions said cut the rubber boots but I just pulled them down further



Started with the front and like many other owners I found that my geo bolts were seized in the bushings


Went with the Powerflex compliance and camber bushings


After a few hours of cutting and swearing I got the lower arm off


The compliance bushing had some cracks but nothing to bad, anyways it was trash now


Thought I would need to cut the rear ones out as well but finally got them out with some heat


and lots of this stuff



While working on the suspension I took the opportunity to do some brake cooling as well


Brake shields looked a bit crappy so I blasted them clean


Got the stock bushings pressed out


100t press didn't even notice


Then blasted them clean


Some high temp paint on


Painted front control arms and new bushings installed



To keep the poly bushings work without binding I drilled and put in grease nipples and also cut some groves inside them.
Did another groove after this picture.


Grease nipple accessible from under the car


Close up on the new compliance bushing.

tama05

Wow you've done a lot of work so far and everything looks great. The thermal images were a great idea to show the comparison for the Hondata gasket. I also really like how you blasted and repainted the arms and dust shields when doing the bushings. Looking forward to more updates.

flanders

Thank you, well one of the few advantages on the long winters we got here is that you have a lot of time doing upgrades
Before moving on the suspension install I had a look at my spark plugs.
Pretty oily and to my surprise it was Bosch plugs

Cyl1


Cyl2


Cyl3


Cyl4



Pulled the valve cover to check


The seals looked good though so I just wiped everything clean and put it back on again


With new NGK plugs

flanders

With the new golden legs from Öhlins going on I had to get some new matching rims.
LSD Motorsport got me a really nice deal and after a few days UPS came to my door with some big boxes


yep seems to be a rim in there


mmh goold


Inspected and ready to go


Test fitted, wheel spec is 17x8 front and 17x9 rear both ET45


Got these red valves included but decided not to use them and got some black ones from 949 racing instead.
With matching lug nuts also of course, sorry no picture of that but you can check the link above


For tires I went with Federal 595 RS-R, 225/45 front and 255/40 in the rear

flanders

Moving on to the brake cooling.
Used a hole saw to open up the bumper


This hole saw was very angry when it came out on the other side which my left thumb soon realized.
Warning the picture is a bit graphical
After a few stitches, lots of grinding and sanding I got the ducts fitted







Silicone hoses connected and I guess the Öhlins also were installed by then


Got some leftover hose which I used to route a bit more cool air to the filter



To get the rims to fit without rubbing there had to be some work done on the fenders


Rear bumper tab relocation, put some rust protecting paint on there as well


Rear fender done




Looks like it should clear


Front before fender roll, used the same paint there for some added protection


Other side after roll, for some reason there was another type of damping mat on there.

d1000rr

Are you mechanic?
Your work and attention to detail is awesome... great job on your car so far.

flanders

Thanks and no I'm not a mechanic by trade, I'm a pretty meticulous person though and I love perfecting all those small little details
I'm at spring 2014 now and just getting the car ready for the streets again.
The front calipers were taken off, cleaned and got some new high temp paint on. Not sure why I didn't take any pictures of that.
Then of course some new fluid


and a new set of pads


When I got to change the engine oil there was a small disaster though.
Some remains from when I took the drain plug out, guess the previous owner didn't like torque wrenches


Now I was in kind of a rush to get the car ready, I got lucky though and found a "new" oil pan with small baffle


Cleaned it up a bit and put it on

This job actually took me a whole weekend, damn that stock pan was glued on super tight.

Some dirty remains in the stock pan, felt good to get that crap out

flanders

With all that done it was finally out from the garage again.
Super happy with the wheels and new suspension parts, the Öhlins felt amazing


It needed an aligment done though so went to a local Bosch car service place and had some lasers put on


After showing the mechanic how to adjust everything I got everything lined up pretty nice



Before the roof was taken off I took this nice picture


and a badass shot



Then it was time for the first track day and car felt great and it was really fun, for a few laps until I got black flagged for sound
Got recorded at 101dB and limit is only 95, only picture was from the meet before.


When I got home a ordered a Berk HFC to try and quiet things down a bit.


Inside check


With the new wide wheels I also had to make something to protect the sides from all the flying stone chips.
Found some rubber and made these flaps


Installed and ready