pastoli

Let me start off saying that I have gone through numerous set ups on my car. I bought my car back in February of 2009 while I was deployed to Iraq. I didn't even drive it until August of 2009. I wish I would of done more research on what I really wanted to get out of my car. This was my third "tuner car" needless to say. I was stationed in Germany and had a EG coupe that had a D16 that was fully built and turbo'd. That car was a blast and it held its own on the autobahn. I sold that to my buddy and bought a EM1. I bought every bolt on item, the next step was to open up the engine. I got hit with orders to deploy so I sold that. That was a really fun N/A car. When I bought my S I was planning on doing a NA build.... I just lacked a lot of knowledge for this car and the possibilities. Needless to say I figured it was like a regular Honda that loved to breathe. I only came to find out that Honda engineered the snot out of this engine and it really is hard to extract power. If you do get any power it will cost $$$.

-August of 09- Bought a K&N FIPK, 60mm test pipe, neuspeed exhaust. Modest gains over stock, it gave it a little OOMMMPPPPHHHH.
-Sept 09 added AUT cooling plate
-Dec 09 Bought J's Intake---- loved the throttle response, the midrange and the way the ram air effect worked while in upper speeds on the freeway was nice
-Feb 10 bought a 70mm test pipe and greddy ti-c single 70mm exhaust- This set up was soo much better than stock. I loved the way it pulled on the upper end and sounded!
-May 10- I found a stupid good deal on a SOS kit--- went boosted for 1 month before I deployed. It reached 6 lbs of boost. The power was soo nice for such modest boost!
-June 10-Jan 11- While on my deployment I started buying all my stuff for my build; 1000cc ID injectors, Ricks header, 8LB fidanza flywheel, CC stage 2 clutch, Volks Ce28's and TE37's, Bride seat, Eibach front sway bar, Innovative 75A motor mounts, diff collars. I was pretty much saying F a nice/comfortable daily driver. My ultimate goal was to get into tracking the car and having a fun daily driver that puts a massive on my face.

In Jan 2011 I got married and had a lot of expensives on moving my wife across the country and getting us a house. Needless to say the SOS kit had to go! I parted it out and made most of my money back. I never got a chance to finish the build, I was missing the last and final piece to the puzzle.... A AEM EMS. I will finish this build later on in life. For now I want to enjoy the bliss and the music that N/A brings . Nothing like revving it up to 9K daily

From Jan 11 to Nov 11 I finally figured my goal that I am achieving for on this car. If I had the knowledge then, what I have now I would be close to the end of my build. I can't complain, I have had a lot of fun swapping different parts out and actually feeling the claimed gains. Im sure a lot of headaches and $ could of been saved, but I have found most of my parts used so I can't complain on swapping parts out.

As of right now this is how my car sits
-BC stage 2 cams
-upgraded to AP2 retainers
-Custom 3.5" intake that goes in the passenger side bottom (waiting on parts to finish build)
-Skunk2 70mm throttle body
-Intake manifold port matched to throttle body
-Ricks header
-70mm test pipe
-70mm Greddy Ti-C exhaust
-AP2 tranny
-AEM EMS- It will be at my house today . Now I am just waiting to finish the intake and install the intake manifold then get tuned by Mase of Mase engineering. Hopefully next week! I will post up my results that way everyone can see the possibility to these cams.

-Future mods;
-I want to upgrade the valvetrain to rev it higher then 9K to see if the mods can support power past 9K.
-Get 4.3 or 4.44 gears. I might work on swapping in a 8.8 rear end.

As of right now this car is fun, the mid range is nice with these cams. I can't wait to get tuned!!!! I have learned a lot from this website. My knowledge has gone through the roof! I am just now beginning to expand my mechanical knowledge and love it learning! I feel from the headaches, the knowledge that I have gained I can help people make more and better decisions.

Hopefully from reading this, and you are new to this car or are about to start adding parts... This can serve as a learning lesson that you don't have to go through and you can see the potential of this car with modest N/A parts.

Other various mods and opinions--
-TWM A1 counter sunk shift knob--One of my favorite mods; top suggestion for a mod
-Innovative 75a motor/tranny mounts--- Love the feedback these give. They definitely vibrate my car, and the cabin noise is louder... I love them!
-Dunlop star specs 225/255 combo--Awesome tires, love the way they grip on the street and for auto crossing. Little noisier then my Sumitumo's.
-ksport coil overs with custom springs- not sure on the ratings, I bought them used. I believe they are like 14K and 18K. There stiff as shi*. Love the way the handle!!!
-Eibach front sway bar mated with a AP2 rear sway bar. I love this setup!!!
-Bride Ergo 2 seat-- love the way these hold me. It made auto crossing so much easier to drive. I didn't have to worry about bracing myself from sliding.
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cruc1a7

I read this and need some pics

Hirevs2k

in for pics

jonner

Pics..???

ian02s2k

Thanks, I enjoyed reading this. I have the FIPK, test pipe and 4.77's on my AP1 and looking at BC cams this spring. No one has talked too much about them after the install. I would like some more feedback from you on how the car performs especially right now without a tune. I wont be running EMS for a while. I noticed you said the midrange was improved. Im excited to hear more. Are they worth it? Also in for more pics since everyone else was chiming in

pastoli

I like them. They feel strong. The top end definitely pulls! I gave my buddy a ride last night he has a AP2 with test pipe tuned on EMS. His car pulls nicely and is smooth, he noted how they just kept pulling up top. I can only imagine what these cams will feel like once there tuned and everything gets smoothed out. I'll get pics up. I'll try to get a before and after video of me driving to show the gains of tuning in these.

pastoli

I updated this post up top with some more mods that I have done and my opinions on them. I decided to go with a E-Tune from Evans tuning. I am hoping to learn from each map about tuning. I have been very curios and I figured this would be a good way so I can see each adjustment. I am also moving to Idaho in 3 months so my settings my have to be tweaked a little bit. I tuned my VAFC2 myself, I know that these two systems are worlds apart.... But, I get the comprehension of the systems. Once the final tune is done, I will go to a local dyno and make a few passes. I could also take my stock ecu to see the difference in the two....

jh4db536

Sounds like these really worked out for you. I'm beginning to think that these work better on a ap1 than the ap2. My own personal experience has been that the top end power continues at a safe redline and is limited by it (the stroke of the f22).

I strongly believe that it takes real dyno time to get the most out of these cams. Do it right do it once.

If you could get a full tune on evans dynapack that would be great.

Let us know how it goes, etune etc

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

pastoli

Here is an update to this thread. I chose to get E-Tuned by Evans Tuning. I am currently on my 6th map. I can't say enough about this tune so far. My car pulls! The power is super smooth and the VTEC transition is smooth also. My wife made a note of how smooth the power felt. She said the car definitely feels faster .

-Evan emailed me and told me that the last 5-6 cars with these cams liked the VTEC set around 5k. That being said he has experience tuning these and the power is there. Granted the E-Tune will only get about 90% of my potential power, he tunes the car for reliability and fuel mileage. So far I am impressed!

jh4db536

Very nice.

i thought you would be in the 4000's with a TP, 70mm exhaust, and header. do you have the 2 datalogs from the no vtec pull vs the super low vtec pull?