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A new chapter begins... apparently i have a coupe problem (CRX, Integra, bench seat F150, EM1, now this!)
We towed +2,300 miles down to Calhoun LA (from Northern Va) to get this beast. Its a 2007 Si coupe... OSG diff, Redshift Motorsports Double Adjustable coils, other suspension bits, Hybrid Intake, Skunk2 Alpha header, custom exhaust... hondata flash pro, spare trans, etc.
whats next? A trip to Piper Motorsports to get the custom cage installed... TL-S Brembos/Master, stainless brake lines, PCI seat bracket, all my old safety gear, my old 9 Lives wing, DIY splitter (i havent found one that is made commercially for the car), and 8 more RPF1s in 17x8 +45.... A2 oil pump conversion with a TracTuff baffle.
this car will be "built" for H2... 2725lbs, 200hp, and a 235/40/17 toyo RR
Edit: Here is the "after" build picture.
WARNING:
My VSA light is on because i removed the steering wheel angle sensor when installing the steering wheel setup. It is the green/white plastic that bolts to the turn signal stalk/steering wheel. THIS IS A MISTAKE... DONT MAKE THIS MISTAKE! You want to keep this product if you intend to run ABS... or potentially VSA in the r*&n. There arent many 8th gen builds online for racing... no one says this. they are yellow plugs, i assumed they were air bag BS and removed it.
The ABS and VSA use it to modulate the systems. I have had to order a new one (yay $80 because i threw stuff away lol)...
today (hopefully) the old car gets moved out of the garage. I was stopped short of removing seats and stuff by the rain yesterday. working outside is for the birds!
The car came with a pair of 17x8 +45s... when i get my caliper setup in, i'll check for sure. if they dont fit, i'll go to the 17x8 +35 and massage the hell out of the rear.
I'll be watching this one... I have a 2010 SI that is dog eared for GF to drive on the strip.
Slow changes to be made so if she decides to do some road courses it wont be too far gone to change the set up back.
The interior from the steering wheel back is done... honda put a lot of random stuff in this car.... piles of sound deadening (in plastic bags stuffed in the panels), heavy rear seats, crappy (and light weight in the grand scheme of things) speakers, etc.
this weekend we finish up the steering wheel, drill out the steering lock, dry ice the car, pull all the glass, pull the dash/radio/heater core... AND cut the doors (crap my list seems long)... then off to Piper Motorsports for a custom cage.
The amount of sound deadening in this car was significant. I wish i had a picture of the trash bag, but the wife was cleaning up behind me quickly. I weight the bag at just over 25lbs and that didnt include 2-3 more pounds of loose stuff i didnt sweep up with all the dry ice and alcohol still laying in the floor.
there are multiple large metal braces in the car that i need to figure out what to do with... i might talk to the cage builder and see what he thinks about them. once the cage is in, do i really need them? one pair look like specific side impact beams to help "score" higher on the test.
Pics of the destruction and sound proofing coming out?
Plans for the seats and interior? Im sure you are going to sell them to recoup some costs
the SI drivers seat is going to get cleaned up and turned into my new office chair. The rest of the interior is in the trash. The airbags and glass are getting sold to the local pick and pull place. My one season old OMP is getting mated to a PCI adjustable seat mount (short guy life... its rough on the tuners). I'll also be reusing my SMALL MOMO wheel, to try to wrestle this beast around corners and to keep from spinning. here are the big steel pieces that may or may not stay in the car.
I only have a few shots of the dry ice life... i was working solo so I was working quick. I need to rub down the chassis with rags and acetone to clean up the residue and miscellaneous stuff.
My TL-S brembos came in... i'll work on this stuff after the chassis is done and the car is back from cage work... i still have a lot of prep work to go.
I got a carbon sunroof plug in from Cody Loveland Racing... i'm going to assume its the last one he ever makes lol... The fitmet is going to be interesting. His website says they are sold out and there is no mention to it coming with zero clear coat and needing custom fitment. you live and learn.
The weekend of the dash... and NASA Nationals! There might have been an article in the NASA news letter that predicted a national championship for someone out of Texas... well here are your top 3... all from the Mid Atlantic Region. (the smack talk was great on the bookfaces)... yes thats a broom... because the boys swept the podium (as predicted).
As they say... iron sharpens iron... and knowing I race against the fastest Honda Challenge drivers in the nation just means I'll be getting much faster, in a shorter amount of time.
My "seat" for the National Championships ... all day long!
I'm not sure how the honda mechanics put up with this dash stuff... fixing a blower motor or heater core... what a pain in the butt. Thank god i love race cars and i just remove it all and move on. the dash shell was such a pain to remove... i needed a 24inch long philips to get the passenger side dash skin to come off lol... who does that?!?!?
Ummmm you remove the dash as an assembly. Like 4 bolts and the whole damn mess comes out. That has been true from 88 to 15. I haven't put my hands on anything newer but I suspect they are the same.
Gotta think like the assembly line. Or check the factory service manual.
Ummmm you remove the dash as an assembly. Like 4 bolts and the whole damn mess comes out. That has been true from 88 to 15. I haven't put my hands on anything newer but I suspect they are the same.
Gotta think like the assembly line. Or check the factory service manual.
This is a 2007... its definitely not like a golden era in any way (so far). I too thought... should be a hand full of bolts and we can slide it all out... nope... not even.
The "main" dash is held in with 8 bolts/screws (one of which requires a 24 inch philips to reach)... i'm going to assume to reduce the potential rattles. There are several panels you have to pop to expose them and/or remove the radio/cluster/speedo and other electric hook ups. Then to remove the sound deadening/insulation AND the heater core/blower motor... the dash bar has to come out and thats another 7 bolts.
Just looked it up in the service manual just to be sure the 8th gen was the same as the 9th gen. I have a 9th gen full complete dash in my shop waiting for a new home that was removed in about 20 minutes.
1. Remove steering column.
2. Unplug all the dash harness in the kick panels on either side and in the bottom of the center console.
3. Unbolt the dash bar from the floor under the center console
4. Unbolt the dash bar from the a pilars, bolts are in the door jambs.
5. Lift the whole mess out as a unit just like they installed it at the factory.
You get everything and then you can flip the mess over on the bench and cherry pick what you want to keep. Makes access to all those hidden screws plain as day.
Gawd I wish I could move this fast on a build... How much are you expecting the cage to cost?
I'm motivated... and i have funds available (thanks to folks buying up my EM1 part out)... and watching my friends race without me is extra motivating.
My budget is about $5,200... and i'm trying to save money in the prep work to get a little more of what i want in the cage. I'll be doing some things simply (flat X on the passenger side vs. nascar bars on both sides)... i'll be adding some things i want... like jack points tied to the cage AND getting it prepped for air jacks. You might be thinking "why both?" ... well in my limited time with the car (I literally jacked it up for the first time this sunday... and i have yet to pull a wheel lol) I have realized that it will need to get in the air to do most things (you cant remove the engine/trans from the top easily for example... it must come out the bottom) so i want multiple ways to get it where it needs to be.
Originally my budget as around $3,500... but i decided to beef things up a bit and take it to someone i know does only the best work. it comes at a price, but my wife is happier i'm going with "the best."
Originally Posted by Ryanthegreat1
You totally went the hard way on the dash.
Just looked it up in the service manual just to be sure the 8th gen was the same as the 9th gen. I have a 9th gen full complete dash in my shop waiting for a new home that was removed in about 20 minutes.
1. Remove steering column.
2. Unplug all the dash harness in the kick panels on either side and in the bottom of the center console.
3. Unbolt the dash bar from the floor under the center console
4. Unbolt the dash bar from the a pilars, bolts are in the door jambs.
5. Lift the whole mess out as a unit just like they installed it at the factory.
You get everything and then you can flip the mess over on the bench and cherry pick what you want to keep. Makes access to all those hidden screws plain as day.
yes it probably could have come out that easy... or at least close to that easy. we were actually hoping to just pull the radio (weight), dash skin (to modify for the "hot rod" heater core), blower motor/heater core, and the insulation blanket out and toss the skin back on... i didnt realize it was this layered in. I dont have a factory service manual... though i probably should get one since the rules lead with "to the specs in the factory manual" for the engine modifications.
we live, we learn, we watched a lot of National Championships.
8th gen was still a printed manual. Faxon Auto Literature . Com go get yourself a copy and an ETM. They are so full of tricks that save a lot of labor.
Chassis prep is important. If you want the car to last, be easy to work on, and stay that way for a long time... you must PLAN your chassis prep and be patient when you are doing the work. I've used aftermarket harnesses in the past... on gold era cars. the 30 year old harnesses get brittle and its almost a necessity. Since this car isnt "that old"... i'll be keeping the stock wiring harness (chassis, dash, engine) as long as possible... BUT be prepared to easily remove it if and when the time comes.
We are building a race car... obviously we wont have rear defrost (lexan) or the 4 airbags... and all the sensors related to it. SO it was time to open up the chassis harness and remove it all. wires were every where and yes there is a module and a plug... and then honda put it all in the main chassis loom.
it took about 1.5 hours to remove 5ish lbs of wires and sensors (just chassis airbags and sunroof wiring... the dash harness will be done after the cage work since there will be a lot of relocation going on due to cage placement)... close the chassis loom back up and relocate it outside the quarter panel tunnel. was it worth it? hell yes... do people think i'm crazy for "wasting time" going into the harness and pulling all this stuff... they sure do. do i want to do this after the cage is in? heck no!
How detailed you want to be with your chassis prep is up to you. but there is no need to take any short cuts whenever you set out do a project.... but you set your own standards and work within them... stay dedicated. BUT i promise the more time you spend in prep, the more you plan it out... the easier your race car life will be in the long run.
the CAGE is in and the car is back from Piper Motorsport! 1.5x.120 main cage and supports... 1.5x.095 for the "accessory" bars
When you have divorced springs/struts... +1k spring rates, large geometry differences in spring height and shock travel... and you plan to drive all OVER gators in a 2725lbs car... you beef up that part of the suspension. 100% Honda Challenge legal... i can have any number of attachment points and doing it for "stiffening" is spelled out as legal.
I'm a big boy (weight) but not in height... there is a lot of room in the 8th gen... i'd actually say the taller you are the more likely you will need to notch your B pillar if you want a nascar door bar. the Nascar bar is optimal for space, while weighting more thats okay on this chassis. you might wonder what that bar is coming from the door bar to the floor... it actually goes through the floor and is my built in jack point (my old car had a 1x1 inch square tube welded between the two jack stand points... that eventually started flexing and flattened the floor board a little... lessons learned)
FIA bar on the passenger side. it uses less bar, its lighter, and has big enough gaps to allow passengers if needed... but it was mostly weight balance design after talking with Mitch Piper.
The stock dash bar is chopped up and added back to the cage as a bolt on unit... because it literally holds everything under the dash... my "hot rod" heater core will go in with TONS of room to spare. Its a really basic thing, but i'm really happy with it.
My old car didn't have one of these. While i hate to add weight up here... i don't want to die either.
this cage is TIGHT... so tight to the car that i scrapped the idea of painting the cage a separate color... hell its going to be a pain in the butt to put the weatherstripping back in this thing.
some folks have asked me "why didn't you run a bar between two lower points of the main hoop!?!?!" They care "close enough" to the back seat shelf in the car that is already naturally stiff... ALSO i try to keep the weight as low and in between the axles as possible... so the battery and fire suppression are going to be bolted in tight to the back seat shelf. at some point you are making compromises. if this car was going to pikes peak, i might add one in and have it bow back to the seat shelf... but it likely won't be.
NEXT STEP: put the car on the scales as it sits... pick which battery i need (for weight) and then pick placement for the battery, fire suppression, and cool suit system. and then we paint. i don't know what color yet... i'm waffling like a politician over here.
I'm big fan of Carrera Weiss and The Acura Vortex Blue Pearl (Look up the 2nd gen TSX Blue) colors these days.
Nice progress!
i'm not rich... think Rustoleum enamel lineup of colors... i'll probably be doing a gray as white is too dirty... i just don't know how i feel about mismatch grays (outside and inside) on the car.... ricer problems, color blind problems, etc.
Honda Challenge: Civic 2.Slow
