Well, on saturday Lotus and I (well... mostly Lotus) installed my ATS final drive kit and Clutchmasters flywheel. All and all the install went fairly well, considering I have never seriously wrenched a car before. This is also my first major mod to my R, and the only "go faster" parts on it. I learned alot, and I would advise any newbie here to tackle something like this, the experience is worth all the blood sweat and tears. The hardest part was getting the tranny back up on the engine and properly aligned. Took us about 45 minutes just to do that. The entire install took 12 hrs!!! What can I say, we work slow.

The revs rise and fall about 30% faster with the new flywheel. Not the dramatic difference I was expecting, but noticible non the less. The quick revs make for easier rev matching as the revs really shoot up when I blip the throttle. Stalling has not been an issue, and the clutch engages pretty much like stock. The fd may have something to do with that, however.

The fd made a big difference as far as acceleration is concerned. First gear is a violent struggle for traction, with wheelspin occuring from 6k up on all but the nicest roads. When it does hook up...WHOA!! A lot of that probably has to do with the flywheel, though. Second gear feels like a tall first. Third feels like second. Fourth and fifth pull good too. Driveability is nice. Its easier to launch in daily driving, and I can cruise around town in fourth instead of jumping to third and back all the time. On ramps are alot of fun, and drop a gear on the freeway and I'm gone. This car just got ALOT more fun to drive! Top speed has suffered though, as third used to top out at 140kph and now goes to ~125kph. Theoretical top speed is now ~230 in fifth. I didn't get the GSR fifth as I don't need to hit 245 all that much .

I would highly recommend this combo to anyone as their first mod. Known results, no tuning needed, and I think the parts will fit in nicely with the basic bolt-ons I have planned in the future.

I would like to thank B18C5-EH2, jonnyR, anyone who has come before me and posted info and pics for me to learn from, and last but not least, Lotus, for letting a cripple watch as he ripped my car apart and threw it back together.

Cliff notes:

Clutchmasters flywheel=
ATS FD===========
Honda-Tech people===


Dylan

 

Post some pics. j/k. Enjoy the goodies!

 

glad to here you like it good luck .good review

 

 

everything went well with the installation??
no mess ups??

any chance that a mechanically challenged guy like me could do it himself??

 

Well if Pooface is a cripple, I sure couldn't tell.. He works hard. The swap was fun,
and I think we could do it again in much less than 12 hrs.. actually I had to leave after about 9 hours, but the two of us together could have finished it in about 10 or 11 I'm sure...

The tranny was a pain to line up, but in all fairness the car wasn't very high off the ground so it was hard to get in there. The tranny came apart great, and installing the fd and main shaft was no sweat. Over all this WAS fun, right up to the point where Pooface drove a nail through his hand ( don't ask, but there was mucho blood everywhere by the time I left ). He also installed the motor mount inserts at the same time, so we really did quite a few things.

It was way easier to remove the front half of the a-arm to drop the knuckle than it was to seperate the ball joints, so that's what we did. Thinking about all the things that we got stuck on... maybe we could do it in 6 hours or so next time ( on my car ).

Any way I did take some pictures of the mighty hunter, so we will try to post them when I get my camera and tools back from Pooface..

And Pooface... That is one tight *** seat you have in that car.. LOL

When are we going to have that ?

Just a note.. Get the manual if you haven't done this before.. Then find someone to hold the bandages and you are away to the races


[Modified by lotus, 5:49 AM 2/12/2002]

 

Congrats guys. I do want to hear about the nail incident though..

BTW, it's easier to pop the ball joints. You put the car on jack stands, open a beer, drink 3oz of beer, jack up the hub, drink 3oz of beer, insert 1/2" drive socket behind the joint, drink 3oz of beer, lower jack quickly, finish beer, get another beer, move jack to other side, repeat steps above.

That's two full 12oz beers and two balljoints out in about 45 seconds

 

OOOOHHH YES.... that would of worked! Now we could do it in 5 hours heh heh..

Keep thoes tips coming and soon we'll be down to 3 hours

I'll let Dylan describe the nail incident, but lets just say that if in desperation you need to use a nail instead of the correct pin in your adjustable jack stand, don't try to force it into place with your hand ( ouch ouch ouch )


[Modified by lotus, 6:04 AM 2/12/2002]


[Modified by lotus, 6:04 AM 2/12/2002]

 

Lotus's cheep *** jackstand didn't have pins, so we use a nail instead. In an effort to quickly wedge the stand hard againsed the tranny, I found an easy way to fill a latex glove with blood.


Oh ya, one thing... I'm getting a whine from my tranny now, verry soft and changes pitch according to speed, not rpm. It goes away when I push the clutch pedal, and I only notice it on deceleration. I'm thinking its just the new parts breakin in, any ideas??


[Modified by Dr Pooface, 10:14 PM 2/11/2002]

 

That's CHEAP *** jack stands to you buddy

 

Lol sorry.... this is turning into an IM

 

the sound should be ok. it's common on cars with modified transmissions

 

Quote:
everything went well with the installation??
no mess ups??
any chance that a mechanically challenged guy like me could do it himself??

Sure, should be fine, ask Pooface to buy the pizza and I'll bring the beer and a 1/2 inch drive socket for the ball joints

 

hey dr pooface, i live in vancouver too...any chance i could sit in your car to feel the difference??

 

I'm from Vancouver too. Enjoy the mods.
Where did you get the parts from?

 

TypeRare: IM me

Nunracer: Got the parts from the wonderful people of Honda-Tech.

 

Awesome man! I'm glad you like it.

Enjoy

 

What? No props for me, you sonofabitch!

j/k

Seriously, though: why not four since there were two of you there? .....Ok, three since the fourth is covered in band-aids.

to you guys for doing the work yourselves. And on another convert to the Final Drive cult. I don't get the wheelspin you get at 6k... But maybe because your vtec crossover is a little more abrupt than mine..... What tires, btw?

 

Well.. let's see..

we can drop the tranny in 30 minutes (from the vehicle being on the ground to the tranny being on the ground), then figure another 15 to crack it open, then a solids 30-45 to install the FD, countershaft, all gears, 30 to get that f'ing tranny case back together, and 45 to get the car back on the ground.. so that's 150-165 minutes or 2 hours 30 minutes to 2 hours and 45 minutes total.. we'd be working too much though, we'll stick with 4ish hours, too hard to drink chitloads of beer doing it that fast.

 

Congratulations!

Another ATS FD convert, Ha Ha Ha the FW is just a bonus the way I look at it. I drove rodney's CTR/ITR hybrid a couple of Sundays ago so I could feel the difference. Of course I was pleased but I have to take into consideration all else he has done to his car, "toda B's and RG coilovers and all." Needless to say I had an absolute ball tearin it up with him for a couple of hours. We actually put like 80 miles on his odometer while doing all sorts of driving. From twisty back roads ,"where the R already shines, the gearing makes it an even more pleasurable trip," and on the highway and parkways it pulls so nicely through all the gears and feels strong as Hell. The top speed I really did feel that I'd lose, I didn't. When he was driving we did a top speed run and I'll just say that you can make it to the indicated 140 mark even if it really is like 135 or so. Who the Hell needs to go that fast anyway? Although his ECU is reprogrammed and he is running a full Toda powertrain buildup and can pull safely to at least 9K.

I was mostly concerned with highway cruising speed and everyones preconceived notion that it just won't be able to drive on the long cruising trips. to those who speculate and have never driven with this mod or know much about it. There are theories and there is real world. We were cruising at 75MPH which is already 20 MPH over our state speed limit, and the tach was reading 44 RPM. So big deal. When cruising at that speed in 5th ant you want to pass just go to 4th and G'bye, no more wanting to go to 3rd and wondering just where the tach will fall?

I have recently succomed to the addiction of Auto-X and road courses for me and my R, so I felt that the ATS FD would suit me nicely!

As an interesting side note, Roger Foo ran the ATS final drive in his civic when he won the Speedvision touringcar race at Laguna Seca. Yasu sold a couple to him last year and Foo ran it for at least a few races with Laguna being one of them and a Win for him!

I am impatiently waiting for my install to be done on the 26th by Yasu's mechanic/partner Anthony. I just can't wait...

Good luck, and you know I'll post my results.

BTW I went with the Toda wheel,

A. Cheers, and ATS

 

What's the ratio of the ATS FD? I'm currently using JDM 4.785 FD in a USDM R tranny with Spoon flywheel. I'm happy with my setup and i'm glad to see that you are too.. good stuff man!
so what's next for you? engine work? more bolt-ons?

 

4.929

 

Current setup is as folows:

Comptech "icebox"
Spoon 4-2-1 header
Carsound cat
ATS 4.929 FD
Toda flywheel

Steel wheels for the snow with Pilot Alpins
Volk Te-37's with Khumo ecsta V700's for track
Stock R rims with Falken Azenis for daily use

A couple of Auto-X's under my belt to help me really learn how to drive

So far all has worked out well, and everything has lived up to my expecatations.

Good luck,

A.

 

Pinion gear.. 14 teeth

Crown gear.. 69 teeth = 4.9285714

besides anything with 69 on it will make anybodies car faster..


And yes I think the next trans swap will be way easier.. Thanks everyone..

And Pooface is coming over this weekend for a hot tub, beer and maybe a meal, and I get to try the car and make my own comparison.


[Modified by lotus, 3:08 AM 2/13/2002]

 

congrats.........