Car:

08 Honda Civic si

Mods:

Injen CAI
Skunk2 Exhaust
Skunk2 Header
Skunk2 Stage 2 Camshafts
Skunk2 Intake Manifold
Skunk2 Valvetrain
Skunk2 Exhaust Cam Gear

Problem:

I have been having problems with my second gear. This has been going on for a while now. I only have problems with it when im driving hard.

For example when im over 6k-7k I push my clutch pedal all the way down and shift, but second gear always gets stuck... It doesn't go in and it starts grinding. Normal driving is fine I have no problems but if i want to downshift in to second going over 40 mph it feels like its trying to fight me and i have to force it in.

Lately I have been having the same problems with all the gears. I didn't know if I needed a new clutch or just need to put some more tranny fluid.
Not only that but when I let off my clutch I can feel the car bouncing and the exhaust hitting the car.

Figuring out a solution:

So I called up a shop called :roject Import:: technology & spirit in Anaheim Ca cause I have gone to these guys for advice, help and because they know there stuff... I took the car down there and told them about my problem. So Bryan came out and checked the car out, put the e-brake up, and let off the clutch and told me that it could be the motor mounts, the tranny, or worse the clutch :sadface:.

So he said that they will take a look at everything, change the fluid, order the mounts and install them. I came back the next week and dropped it off.

Solution:

The owner of the shop Steve called me up 2 days later saying that the car was ready and to come by and pick it up. So I went and he told me they put the motor mounts on. And the car wasnt bouncing as much and the exhuast wasnt hitting the bottom of the car any more.

INNOVATIVE MOTOR MOUNTS





















Now the bad news...

It was the clutch :facepalm: He said that it could have been from all the dyno runs and driving the car hard with all of the power that I am making with the setup that I have now. He says that the clutch and pressure plate can not hold down the amount of torque and hp that my motor is producing.

So basically it is spinning freely against the flywheel tearing the disc apart slowly. In the pics they gave me you can see the clutch material through the inspection plate area. The organic material fibers are just hanging there. They said they had just experienced this on an RSX they had just taken to the dyno, pointing out that with that much power it is pretty common.






Overall:

The motor mounts are awsome... It doesnt have the nasty feel of the exhaust hitting the bottom car and it feels so much better. I thought that the motor mounts would make everything in the car have and annoying rattling sound but all I seem to notice is a lot of vibration and I can feel the engine more.

The guys at :roject Import:: technology & spirit are good at what they do and I highly recommend them to anyone that lives in Southern California. They have been working on hondas ever since the honda import scene started and they work on all types of makes and models. And I also like buying my stuff from them cause they price match and warrenty their stuff. So check them out.

 

Nice. I've been thinking of upgrading from the damper to mounts.

My second can be pretty bad, also.

 

Op how much power/torque are you making?

Why would the dyno runs be bad for your clutch? When people do dyno pulls there should be no slipping. It's just casual starting til they get to 4th gear or whatever gear he will do the pull in. Then the clutch stays out and they just go wide open from 2grand til redline.

 

^also curious as to how much power you are making.

Mainly I want to know how your motor mounts weren't strong enough....

Edit: Is it possible that instead of too much power, your pure skunk set up was very loud and had huge resonation that overwhelmed the mounts?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't think his set-up was causing his transmission problem. Many stock SIs have the 2nd gear problem. He thought it would be fixed by installing motor mounts, which didn't really help. And it turned out to be the clutch. Long story short, the stock motor mounts are irrelevant to the 2nd gear problem.

 

I agree that his clutch problem is unrelated, but in the conclusion of his post he states

"The motor mounts are awsome... It doesnt have the nasty feel of the exhaust hitting the bottom car and it feels so much better. I thought that the motor mounts would make everything in the car have and annoying rattling sound but all I seem to notice is a lot of vibration and I can feel the engine more."

So his motor mounts were insufficient and I am curious as to why because most of his modifications are simple bolt ons and changing the motor mounts is a fair bit of work.

 

i think its your tranny def not the clutch

 

Well I'd say that front mount at the bottom of the radiator is weak and a stock si could tear it like his pic. Wheel hop wreaks havoc on that mount. And you get wheel hop from spinning the tires with no engine mods. I just did the homemade solid mount like they did on the skunk 2 website because mine was ripped as well. At the track one time when I let the clutch out kinda high I got real bad wheel hop and had to let off. I'm convinced that's what ripped the front mount and not nessassarily the power that I make.

I didn't really want to spend 300 or 350 on mounts but they look nice

 

Looks to be the clutch to me, look at all the clutch material in the flywheel inspection area.

 

Just worked a K accord, he was saying he was having shifting problems in second and fourth (lower gears in the pattern). Then his clutch went out, changed it out and with proper pedal adjustment, bamn no more problem. Not to mention brand new fluids.... As well as an RSX type-s with blue print k2 cams and manifold. Clutch gave out day after dyno tune. Tooo much power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BQPA...eature=related

 

If the clutch is starting to slip, then Dyno pulls are very hard on it. Other than that, dyno pulls should not be any worse than a normal gradual pull to redline.