Join the 8th gen track and autocross Facebook group!

 

There’s a group?! I will join it!

 

Hey, I just picked up a 2008 fa5 last week. 112k, 1 owner and mostly stock. I have the exact same plans as you.
Will update once I go to the track.

 

Fun parts ordered for the civic today. Should be here in the next few weeks.

we have a stagger set of konig hypergrams in matte grey. I have also gone with the stoptech c43 brake kit. This setup is all about reducing weight, extending pad and rotor life, and being cheap on consumables. The rotor rings are $99 per side to replace which is fantastic when you’re as brake heavy as I am.

Decided to go with hawk dtc-70 pads for the c43 kit. Those have been ordered as well. Can’t wait for my wheels suspension and brakes to show up. Some seriously nice parts coming in.

This bbk shaves 20lbs of unsprung weight per side up front. That is massive. The Konig wheels are 5lbs per side lighter vs the stockers. This should be pretty noticeable. Also went with the TL-s brake master cylinder. This should help when the brakes are hot and the pedal decides it wants to get longer. Having the larger master will mean it’ll take much much more abuse before soggy pedal happens. Awesome.

 

parts are starting to roll in…
TL-S brake master for the civic
Wheels for the civic
Pads/rotors/lines for my other car

 

Congrats and good luck with the car. Enjoy it

 

Awesome! Can't wait to see all those parts installed!

 

Thanks man! Can’t wait for everything to show up lol

 

That is funny how that worked out! What made you change your mind and want to track the civic vs your older track car?

 

There were a number of reasons for this change. The civic I took to the track once and immediately felt the difference. Chassis seems significantly more responsive to inputs to start. Not to mention the engine. The big thing for me was reliable simple track car. My other car is far more complicated, it’s turbo’d so high strung lots of heat and lots of maintenance constantly required. My little k series here did 8 track days this summer over approx. 3 months. All I did was change the oil lol. The civic seems happier on track, happier to be beaten on, handles better, and can be driven harder.

all of that said, my civic was almost stock for this summer. Once all the mods go on it should really be night and day. This ~195whp civic with bone stock suspension, skinny tires, and NO alignment came within 2 seconds of my 330whp big brake kit full suspension 255 wide r comp tire build in terms of lap time. That was enough to push me over the edge and make the change.

 

Dude, that's awesome!! I subscribed to your channel! Nice driving! Makes me want to go out for a drive here. We have no track but we do have nice winding roads around. How do you record with all the speed, lap, and Gs, on there?

 

thanks for the sub!

I do enjoy a good back road cruise as well!! Being winter here now for the next 4 months I won’t be driving much. Just waiting impatiently for spring lol.

the data overlay you see on that video is actually footage from my buddies veloster N. He is using the garmin catalyst which is a lap timer/data collection unit that includes a camera.

the other overlays on some of my other videos are from my GoPro using the internal gps for some telemetry data.

I have a lap timer I use for myself but it’s nothing fancy.

 

Well lately I’ve literally been weighing the options. Full race 3” exhaust? Or custom titanium exhaust. Price difference is about double but the weight savings with titanium is significant. With my other minor weight savings, if I went Ti for exhaust it would put the car down into the 2700’s. Wouldn’t take much more past that to get it into the 2600’s. Maybe I’m crazy but I think titanium exhaust will be happening this season!!

really wanna get rid of the crappy stock cat back.

 

If you do decide to go that route, I cannot wait to see the pics and how it affects your lap times!

 

Yea I really think I’m going to go with the titanium exhaust. To hit the weight I want to with the car, without gutting the interior the Ti exhaust helps shave some good weight.

 

Probably one of the nicest parts I’ve ever purchased.

Very very excited for these. The build quality is unreal. I was not expecting this.
Fortune auto 510 series with swift springs
10k front 16k rear

they include shock dyno graphs for front and rear. Build certificate is signed by the builder once, then the QA guy, then the final QA guy. These look amazing.

they are hand built to order in the USA. The valving and internal pistons are also built in the USA. Not just over seas crappy shim stacks.

Now just for my crazy stoptech kit to show up…

 

Damn those are nice! What made you choose those spring rates?

 

Spring rates were decided based on the weight of the car, and the tire I’ll be running. The staggered rate will allow the car to rotate easier and it will help eliminate understeer but it will be very oversteer heavy. Going to take me sometime to adjust to the new setup that’s for sure.

 

Couple of updates here as of late,


5.5 hour round trip for this great deal.

K20z3 long block with 70k miles on it. That’s like brand new for one of these fuckers. This is a spare for my car. It’s going to be getting some 9000rpm+ mods and some “it might see boost” prep but otherwise it’ll be stock.

SO clean lol. The valve cover underside is also CLEAN. This thing did not miss and oil change.

It’ll be getting valve train, ported type R oil pump, and arp head studs. That’ll support 9000rpm+ and a couple psi should that day come…

 

Little update on this “spare motor”.

my Honda guy has more or less complied a list for me, most of which is on order currently.

arp head studs
Gasket kit
King bearings
Super tech springs and retainers
Type R oil pump
…
Forged rods and pistons…

it’s about to get exciting. He’s hooking me up on the engine internals so yea…it’s escalating. I’ll be starting to tear this motor down ASAP to determine the condition of the cylinder walls…if it’s in good shape we’ll hone it and send it with 86mm pistons and good to go.

forged rods and pistons will mean I can spin the motor well into 9000rpm land reliably…I cannot wait.

 

Damn bro! How did you score finding that motor?! Congrats man!! Excited to see this as I have the same goal to get a spare motor and build it. Looking forward to seeing more updates!

 

Haha so it was listed on Facebook market place but the guy was way out of the city. Figured most wouldn’t be willing to make the drive so I did and it looks like I got a pretty good deal!
I’m going to pick up one more of these motors and just leave it assembled stock as another spare. Since I’ll be tracking the car heavily spare motors are great peace of mind lol.

 

Lol what are the price ranges over there? Looking online for one looks like 4-5k for completed with trans. That's almost as much as I bought my entire car lol

 

The motor I just picked up was $800cad. They are 800-1100cad for complete long blocks.
The transmissions are going for 1100-1500cad around here. Little steep I think lol.

 

No way! I wonder what shipping would be lol? I think you are a ways away from Hawaii though. Last I checked it was around $4k to ship an integra from the east coast of the US. Maybe $1-2 to get it to Hawaii? Not worth it if shipping is more than the motor but if it's cheaper than anywhere else I'm looking than it may be worth it 😂.

 

Shipping definitely won’t be cheap. I’m in Canada lol!! I mean we can look into it worst case sure but yea it’ll be a little money for sure haha

 

Picked up my stoptech c43 big brake kit today. Uses a 309x32mm 2-piece floating rotor. Also uses a 0.800” thick brake pad vs your standard brake pad of around 0.650”thick. This is aimed to help extend service life.
This kit also removes 21lbs of unsprung mass per side vs my tsx setup. That’s a big weight reduction. Super excited to get this kit installed!!

 

Did a little weight reduction today cause the weather was nice enough. 12c and the sun was shining so why not lol.

I will call this “stage 1” weight reduction.
I removed the rear speakers, factory sub, rear headrests, factory amplifier, and spare tire for a total weight savings of 50.4lbs. That’s not bad for stuff that literally doesn’t matter!!

Factory sub, and rear speakers removed.
(pulling out my 12” sub is something I do the night before a track day)

50.4lbs

wiring my head unit to the output of the factory amp so I can still have some music. Just did the fronts of course.

Next up the car will go to the body shop. It has two small rust spots on the rear quarters where they meet the bumper. Planning to get that fixed and a small rust spot near the gas cap.

after that, it’s go time for installing the Coilovers, then getting my titanium exhaust done, then installing my brake kit, then my wheels and hopefully my falken rt660’s are here by then to go on my new wheels.

then…it’s off to the race track to fully send it.

I’ve been invited to a private track day planned for April 10th, a friend hooked it up! Video to come

 

Can't wait to see the video and hear how all these changes affect your lap times! Sick build bro!

 

sold my gauges from my previous build. I had my oil temp/pressure gauge and my wideband boost fail safe gauge. I intended to use them in the civic, i even bought the expensive AF dual gauge pod for the civic...but plans changed. Sold off the gauges and the pod.

i will be doing something a little different in the civic.

i was planning on buying an aim solo DL 2. This is a laptimer with telemetry data, as well as a can/obd2 logger. this thing aint cheap but its one of the best.

Well with the mazda being gone now...i dont really need something portable to move between cars so i will be going with the aim Mxm dash logger.

this thing is badass. 3 digital inputs, 4 analog inputs, laptimer, logger, telemetry collector. This unit will display my oil temp/oil pressure, boost in the future, as well as afrs or whatever else i want. I will also still have my hondata which displays a ton of good info on my phone.

excited to get just a little more serious on the whole "going fast" thing. doing laps forever and getting tons of seat time is GREAT...unless youre practicing bad habits/going slowly. Data will show all.

AiM MXm

AiM MXm, the complete but easy-to-use dash logger.

www.aim-sportline.com

 

Debating on having my RBC cut open and ported. Been reading around and I do see there are small gains, larger gains with cams. I can have it done locally for $400…still unsure.

 

So as is known in this thread, I’m new to Honda’s. I still can’t get over the fact that this is oem head/port. Like it’s no wonder these cars make power. How am I even gonna port this any better lol. Guess I’ll see

 

Spent a few hours yesterday cleaning up the cars subframe. Prepping it for some por15.
I was expecting it to be pretty rotted but surprisingly it was all just surface rust which was great!

wire wheeled it off.

degreased it.
wiped it down with acetone.
tomorrow I’m going to prep it with por15 metal prep then start painting it. The cars never going to see winter again but I’d just like to clean it up. I’m waiting for the intake manifold to be ported anyways so not like it’s going anywhere lol.

one casualty while trying to replace a coolant hose

knock sensors busted. I barely touched the thing lol

 

Looking good 👍

Recently picked up a rust-free, one-owner FA5 and I'll be doing some rust prevention myself sometime soon.

 

Looking good 👍

Recently picked up a rust-free, one-owner FA5 and I'll be doing some rust prevention myself sometime soon.

Yea I used por15 on the subframe. Laid it on a little thick and have some drips but otherwise coverage is fantastic and the stuff seems solid. Should be there forever lol.

I started prepping a few spots on the under body/exhaust tunnel today. All surface rust nothing major but I’ll be giving it all the por15 treatment as well. Should be good.