Things have been very busy around here over the past few weeks. It all started just over 2 weeks ago when we received a new addition to our family. Katelyn was born on September 4th after a massive effort on the part of her mother who was nothing short of inspirational.

Here are a few customary shots:




It's hard work being dad!


More hard work...


Mommy... just 2 weeks after delivery and wearing pants she last wore a year before getting pregnant...


In other news, and to make this thread ITR related, I received a few care packages from Skunk2 over the past few weeks and finally got time to install all the little goodies.

New parts include:
- intake manifold
- 70mm throttle body
- VTEC solenoid
- Low profile washer kit

New engine bay shot




New VTEC solenoid baby!

 

That's awesome, Doug. Congrats on the little one.

 

Hey Doug...it's Paul....we GOTTA get together BEFORE the snow flies...and have coffee AGAIN.....A LOT has changed since our last coffee meet. PM me!

Also I have another new addition to my family as well....and it's HONDA related.....traded the pretty darn mint 1993 DA9 LS Special Integra in on a 2007 RL3.....Odyssey EX-L......now the eighteenth Honda between my brother and I over the years.....did the deal last week in Ottawa (Civic Motors) and saved over $4000 dollars over any other GTA dealer listed price.


Congrats on your new family addition and your NEW family. You must be feeling a lot better these days....we gotta meet.



Paul

 

Congrats on the new addition to the family!

I saw the low profile washer kit from a friend but I refuse to pay that much for a washer/bolt kit. I also saw the VTEC solenoid and thought "why?"

I do think it does look extremely clean though!

 

I realized something when installing the low profile washers. As a consequence of their design they actually create conductive contacts between head and valve cover which the OE washers do not do. As a result, the valve cover is now grounded in 8 different locations, where the OE setup has the valve cover actually floating.

The OE setup requires that the ground strap run from the washer screw location because mounting it to the valve cover itself does not actually ground the engine (because the valve cover is floating). With the Skunk2 low profile washers now grounding the valve cover (very effectively) I can now move the ground strap to any place on the valve cover.

While this may be of very minor benefit, It is well understood that good engine grounding is beneficial to engine control systems. Not long ago people payed much more than what these washers cost for grounding kits that did pretty much the same thing these do, so considering this, they are a relatively cheaper solution for those looking to improve their engines grounding. And they look a heck of a lot better!

This all may be of minor importance, but what at first appears to be strictly cosmetic, may actually be a performance oriented part.

 

Congrats on the new one, and the bay looks sick! lots of skunk 2 for real. lol

 

Looking good in both dept bro! Skunk2 stuff is sooo clean. Congrats on your daughter as well. My wife has been bugging me about kids now for the last 2 years...looks like some projects of mine are going to have to get sold, or back seated. :/

 

was going to say your on way to getting a skunk 2 plaque but u got it already. congrats with your baby

 

congrats!

diggin the new parts

 

Explain the solenoid cover...

 

What's to explain... It's a cosmetic accessory.

 

Did anyone truly gain HP on a Honda motor by "grounding" it better? I've never found fault with Honda motors and the grounding strap--other than people don't like the way it looks.

And FWIW, I'd seriously trust the way Honda manufactured their motor and the whys and hows of their ground method vs. how an aftermarket company does so when making bling upgrades. That's just me, though.

I'm neither here nor there on the parts, but I'm not sold on the justification that it is a performance upgrade, either.

 

I love you Todd.

 

Is there any power gain from the intake manifold over the stock ITR manifold?

 

I know that Mugen intake does I'm in for the word Skunk2 vs ITR manifold. I thought they were exactly the same (runners) expect that you can bore out the Skunk2 intake manifold to "port match" a larger throttle body i.e his 70mm throttle body.

Congrats on the new healthy baby and parts to the caR!

 

Congrats Doug! Baby, mom and car all look good!

 

I'm not making any horsepower claims here at all and wont try to argue against your points. I believe Honda knows what they are doing as well... I was just making an observation about an apparent benefit of these parts that I recall people spending coin on back in the day to achieve the same effect.

I have now finished getting the car ready (needed coolant) and took her for a spin the other day. I can say that things did feel much snappier and the engine pulled strong. I believe the larger perceived benefit likely came from the larger throttle body (which of course opens faster now because of the increased surface area), although there is likely a small but real increase in power as my OE TB was likely undersized for my setup.

The intake manifold is very simular to the OE ITR manifold but I do believe the runners were slightly shorter and the plenum a little larger. But otherwise they are hard to tell apart from a distance.

Oh yeah... the new VTEC solenoid kicked hard and almost broke my neck.

Thanks everyone for your best wishes. Katelyn has been a real joy and we are all having a real blast with her.

Cheers,
Doug

 

You are using the RTW ported v3 solenoid arent you?

 

LOLZZZZZzzz Doug My Man!

LOL

 

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

 

Congratulations on everything......your R is beautiful like your baby

 

i know this thread is alittle old. but i just recieved my skunk2 solenoid cover and was wondering is it suppost to spin and move, or clamp down somehow?

 

I used 2-way sticky tape. You have to secure it down yourself. The part doesn't not come with anything else.