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February 17, 2022
So for these new wheels, I am not running TPMS. The downside to this is there are roughly 3-4 systems that run off of the sensors which are ABS, power steering, TCS, and something else. Why Honda designed this sytem makes no damn sense but when you have defective TPMS, your traction control cannot be turned off. Well thats not good when you find yourself in situations when you might need more wheel slippage. I found this guy that makes a custom PCD to trick the ECU into thinking that I have working sensors. Are there better ways to to trick the system, maybe, but this is far cheaper than just throwing in new sensors and programming them.
February 21, 2022 Alrighty, so the 5mm spacer arent working so its back to the drawing board. I need to run -3.5 degrees of camber to get the most out of my car up front and right now the wheels are gonna rub the springs. A lot of the track guys are saying 17x9 +12 - 25 is the ideal offset to pull this off so Im gonna order a 15mm bolt on spacer to push my offset to 25mm and maybe raise the front .5". Its crazy just how much of a change a few mm in tire construction does to your whole setup.
March 2, 2022 Got all my most recent parts installed tonight. Did the Wavespec rotors, camber bolts, and spacers. I wish I had brought one of the Hypergrams with me but I kinda forgot. I ended up raising the front up .5" and adding maybe another degree of negative camber. Camber plates are not maxed out but Im hoping to run at least -3.5 degrees which should get the 660s to fit better.
May 4, 2022 No major updates, just been preparing for Hyperfest at VIR next weekend. Got new number plates made and installed a tow strap that I got on sale this past weekend at CMP
May 17, 2022 So Hyperfest was awesome as always, except it felt weird not to be running around doing media coverage so I kinda found myself meandering around the campground. Drove up from Charlotte, which is about a 2.25 hour drive, Friday mid morning. Had to make sure I got a good spot but unfortunately there werent a whole lot of spots available in the paddock so I found a nice grassy spot behind the Konig Wheels booth. I took the rest of the day Friday to snap some pictures of the events going on (I have more I just need to edit them)
Saturday was the started off super wet with a downpour that lasted about two hours. So my first ever VIR track session was in the rain...it was a little sketchy with some areas of the track turned into wading pools. Managed a time of 2:59. Second session was the first dry session and I managed to learn the track a little bit more and got a time of 2:41. The 3rd session got a little weird. For some reason as I am doing my warm up lap the ABS and VSC lights popped on along with power steering. I stopped in the pits and turned the car off to see if the lights would just go away but they didnt, which made me a little worried about not having ABS for the remainder of the session. I still managed a time of 2:44 and Im thinking that I may have broken and ABS sensor hitting some of the curbing on track but I havent checked yet. 4th session was my first solo session and not having an additional 200 lbs +/- of instructor weight surely made a difference as I was able to get a new PB of 2.38.125
This was the last session of the day on May 14th, 2022. I was dealing with a pop up issue involving abs and vsc and thought maybe I had messed up one of the wheel sensors during the previous session. It didn't seem to affect braking but I couldn't turn traction control off. The car has soo much more time in it. I eventually improved my time by a second the next day (session 5) but my dumb self accidentally deleted the file.
May 23, 2022 Found out what was causing my ABS issue. The front right sensor wire was cut in half. Im soo glad that these parts are cheap to replace...$35 later and we're back in business
June 19, 2022 A lot has been happening over the last couple of weeks. Sold my Enkei's and Hankook 2 weeks ago and picked up a used pair of bronze Hypergrams. They came off a wrecked 2012 Si and unfortunately only 2 were good but they have a little rash on them. Gonna order the last pair within the month and then get them refinished and painted in a color similar to Volk Mag Blue. The color is called Hermosa Blue and its an Infiniti color. The sizing is 17x8 +35 and although I havent picked a tire yet, I know I am gonna run a 235/40 performance all season.
On Friday another member posted up on Instagram that he was selling a hood. Since my OEm one was in such terrible shape I jumped on the opportunity and drove down to Columbia to pick it up. He had a Seibon vented carbon hood thats looks pretty killer tbh. I just wish my wing matched it a little more.
July 20, 2022 Sorry for the lack of updates. I wanted to drive the Jzilla track night at the Roval of Charlotte Motor Speedway but I used the money for some other things that I have either been wanting to get or need to get. I did however go anyway just to do some photo coverage and after talking with one of the guys who run Jzilla Track Days, I have exchanged some photos I took that day for a free track day event. They unfortunately wont be coming back to my area for the rest of the year but they will be down at Road Atlanta in August and October, so I have some time to choose with month I want to participate in.
The price isnt too bad...its around $400 for at least 2 hours of driving so shooting photos for track time is a done deal! As far as NASA goes, theres and event at CMP that I was wanting to go to but will be up at the Dragon instead and might do Road Atlanta in December. In between all of that Im going to the Dragon for the Classic Hondas event and again during the Labor Day weekend.
As far as updates on the build the last two wheels from Konig arrived today and i dropped them off at the powder coating place. After getting multiple quotes for paint work, it was roughly the same price to get them powder coated and is usually more durable than paint. For the color I am still doing blue but I am in between gloss or matte blue gunmetal. Its difficult trying to find examples in the colors I want. I purchased new tires for those wheels as well and went with the Falken Pro G5 A/S in 245/40/17. Its gonna be nice to drive on a much more daily-able setup than these 660s.
The look I'm going for
And lastly I talked with my sponsor Yellow Speed Racing. They are gonna build me a comp coilover that is valved for high spring rates. I am doing 12k fronts and 18k rears. I should have a buyer lined up for the current suspension out in California somewhere.
July 29, 2022 Well Discount Tire kinda screwed me on the Falkens I ordered. I put the order in two weeks ago and at first they told me that Fedex had them and they were being delayed somewhere but then yesterday they tell me that the warehouse in Florida hadnt even shipped them yet. Since I dont trust thatnthey'd make it to me in time for my vacation next Thursday I went with some Continentals that they had in stock at the store. I went with the Control Contact Sport SRS+ in 245/40 and they gave them to me for the original price of the Falkens.
I also got my Konigs back and they LOOK AMAZING. Exactly the color I was looking for!
I really enjoyed reading through your thread.
you have excellent taste, on paper I wouldn't have loved the car as much as I do in your pictures...
Your Forester was amazing, make another for winter duty!
Also, love your updates and actually taking the time to share your story, that's a lost art and one I still enjoy and make time for.
I'll be checking in for sure, keep up the good work!
Initially I was thinking how the hell would the RPF1 not clear the brakes and then a 5mm less aggressive wheel did but then I realized
it has to do with the lip design...I recently did NT03 on my TL and it was a bitch to find the right balance between the aggressive face, clearing
fender and clearing the brembo. It's a TIGHT fit!
I really enjoyed reading through your thread.
you have excellent taste, on paper I wouldn't have loved the car as much as I do in your pictures...
Your Forester was amazing, make another for winter duty!
Also, love your updates and actually taking the time to share your story, that's a lost art and one I still enjoy and make time for.
I'll be checking in for sure, keep up the good work!
Initially I was thinking how the hell would the RPF1 not clear the brakes and then a 5mm less aggressive wheel did but then I realized
it has to do with the lip design...I recently did NT03 on my TL and it was a bitch to find the right balance between the aggressive face, clearing
fender and clearing the brembo. It's a TIGHT fit!
Thank you soo much, that means a lot to hear. I grew up using forums and seeing awesome build stories like this back when people used photobucket and sadly a lot of those thread are useless now because the photos dont work.
Im a photographer for a living so having good photo content comes naturally lol.
The Hypergrams are built with a BBK in mind so with stock calipers I have tons of clearance.
August 4, 2022
I went down to Helen, GA for Helen Import Day and stayed in a pretty nice airbnb with a group of friends for 4 days. Everyone had entered the show except me because I just wanted to go out and explore the area and do some mountain driving. Im glad I did because round trip took about 2.5 hours which was around the same time that everyone left the event to grab lunch. After that we all went river tubing and then chilled back at the airbnb and got some photos. The last time I was in Helen was the last year of SOWO in 2015.
This wasnt everybody who showed up. We had a RC F, M4 competition, R35 GTR, and Protege 5 wagon
I did however take the time to make a funny recreation of MTV cribs with our rental.
August 18, 2022 So unfortunately there are no track days for me for the rest of the year. Gotta figure out where I moving to when my lease ends in November but Im still ordering parts for the car. I put in an order for a front splitter by Epsilon (formerly BM Spec) and hopefully will be working with them on a new wing made for the 9th gens. I like the APR wing but the Epsilon ones offer far more fine tuning. Im also looking at the Hybrid Racing short shifter to go with my HR shift knob. Some say the Acuity is better but I like the notchyness of the HR a little better.
August 21, 2022 Got my boot delete plate from @fb6snow yesterday. Love the look and also ordered the short shifter...I forgot I had a lot of store credit through Pro Civic and saved about $200
August 13, 2022 For the first time Hendrick Acura in Charlotte, NC hosted an Acura/Honda cars and coffee event. Luckily the Hendrick Porsche next door was having their cars and coffee event as well and it's personally my favorite event on the second Saturday of the month. After having our fill we walked over to Lamborghini Charlotte where they too have a cars and coffee event.
August 30, 2022 So I managed to get the splitter mounted to the bumper Friday night. Took about 6 hours after trying to drill out one of the alan bolts that had been rounded out (the one that hold the bumper/grill into the radiator support), I was not able to get it out and unfortunately had to break the plastic around the bolt to get the bumper off. It suck but I am still able to turn the bolt and remove it, replace it and then replace the grill plastic piece. Aside from all of that its on and so far it has seen speed upwards of 90 mph and hasnt been ripped off. It did however add a lot more weight to the bumper and keeps slipping out of the bumper clips so I am gonna order some splitter rods or maybe makeshift some sort of cable support system to keep this from happening.
August 30, 2022
Installed the Hybrid Racing short shifter today. The installation was super easy but man the cables were a pain in the ass. Shifter feel is notchy, just how I like it and the shifts are crazy short. Getting into reverse is gonna take some getting use to since its not a far away as before. A lot of people have said to do the detent spring on top of the transmission for even more better feeling so maybe all do that next year. Unfortunately I was able to run that nice boot plate because it wasnt wide enough for the shifter to move in but maybe I can modify is down the road.
Sept 6, 2022 As always the Dragon was a blast only this time it was raining. It was definitely a new experience for me and I was thoroughly impressed with these new Continental's. Unfortunately, I caught a speeding ticket towards the bottom half of the road...64 in a 30. Hoping to get this taken care of for a little money as possible. I also havent received a speeding ticket in 5 years nor have I ever been pulled over in a different state so this may be my saving grace.
Here's some of the photos from Killboy and 129photos
September 19, 2022 My videographer friend caught up with me last week to do a short video on the civic. The last time we made a short film was back when I had my TSX. We were going for a moody vibe and I think he nailed it! Go check it out
Thank you soo much, that means a lot to hear. I grew up using forums and seeing awesome build stories like this back when people used photobucket and sadly a lot of those thread are useless now because the photos dont work.
Im a photographer for a living so having good photo content comes naturally lol.
The Hypergrams are built with a BBK in mind so with stock calipers I have tons of clearance.
That makes sense, your photos are great!
I shoot too, but just hobby...and haven't been as active lately.
Awesome trips...I've done the Dragon about 4 times but always in a minivan or yukon...my girl's Dad lives in Maryville so it's too tempting not to.
If it was a speed trap in one of those small jurisdictions, good luck...I got nailed by one new years day, 5am with a van full of kids sleeping and the corksoaker
still gave me the ticket...but out of State so not "ticket clinic" like I'm used to in FL.
I was supposed to go to classic Hondas on the Dragon but I had to work Ft Myers right after Ian and I missed it...I have a few friends that were back at the Dragon
2 days before I drove my TL-S home from buying it back for a 3rd time from Missouri...the dates just didn't line up but I REALLY wanted to veer West to meet up with them.
Anyway, loving the updates...not sure about the diffuser, visually...but I get that it's functional. There's such a fine line between clean and going too far and I feel like that's starting
to push it.
Take care.
J.
That makes sense, your photos are great!
I shoot too, but just hobby...and haven't been as active lately.
Awesome trips...I've done the Dragon about 4 times but always in a minivan or yukon...my girl's Dad lives in Maryville so it's too tempting not to.
If it was a speed trap in one of those small jurisdictions, good luck...I got nailed by one new years day, 5am with a van full of kids sleeping and the corksoaker
still gave me the ticket...but out of State so not "ticket clinic" like I'm used to in FL.
I was supposed to go to classic Hondas on the Dragon but I had to work Ft Myers right after Ian and I missed it...I have a few friends that were back at the Dragon
2 days before I drove my TL-S home from buying it back for a 3rd time from Missouri...the dates just didn't line up but I REALLY wanted to veer West to meet up with them.
Anyway, loving the updates...not sure about the diffuser, visually...but I get that it's functional. There's such a fine line between clean and going too far and I feel like that's starting
to push it.
Take care.
J.
The splitter will make sense in a few more posts. In fact I just finished the update on it over the weekend.
November 12, 2022 Well its been nearly two months with zero updates so here we go.
1. I bought a house and finally moved out of my crappy apartment. The downside is now im 20 minutes from work instead of 3 minutes. The upside however is that it came with an awesome garage/shop thats friggin massive.
2. I ended up buying Flashpro from a co-worker which means that a catless downpipe and intake are in my near future. I played around with the easy stuff like getting rid of the rev hang, lowering the vtec engagement to 4800 rpms, giving the car launch control. 3. Recently got back from the Dragon for Tougefest...it was an experience. Ended up going with a few members on here @CLtotheTL32@CCColtsicehockey and a few others.
Tougefest/Last Dragon Trip of the Year, 2022
Enjoyed going to the dragon for the last time in 2022 with some long time friends. We planned this trip months in advance but didnt know that Tougefest was gonna be the same weekend. It rained the first day and a half and then the final day we were supposed to do the dragon, a motorcycle crashed and set nearly 100 acres on fire and the dragon was closed down for hours.
November 28, 2022 Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it in your country). As for black friday, I didnt get to ball out like I wanted to but I got some new Hawk HP+ pads for the front and ordered the Professional Awesome splitter rods to add some rigidity and support for the bumper. I also signed up for my last track day at Atlanta Motorsports Park on Dec 11th with Jzilla Track Days. Ive got about a week and a half to get the car checked out and ready for that event.
Alright guys, we're finally up to date on everything since day 1.
Over the weekend I got the splitter rods delivered Saturday morning and as soon as I got back from Cars and Coffee, I spent the rest of the day getting these installed. I honestly didnt have a plan of attack since Ive never done this before and there were any install videos of these exact rods being installed on anything else. Luckily throughout the process I recorded some video that will hopefully be up before the end of the year...maybe. After the install since I had the front wheels off the car I knocked out the front brake pads which gave me a total time of about 6,5 hours for everything (plus a trip to the store for a step bit and some hardware).
I really wasnt looking forward to fighting with this bumper because when I did the first install it took me forever to get it back on the car.
But it went a lot smoother this time around
I think I pulled out maybe a half pound of leaves out from under the bumper and in and around the crash beam from the last dragon trip a few weeks ago.
The Professional Awesome hardware is fantastic. Its pretty straightforward and needs no instructions
I did not end up using the flat bolts because of the placement issues underneath the splitter so I went to Lowes and got some M8 x 1.25 16mm and 20mm stainless steel bolts. If I ever end up designing a legit chassis mounted splitter than I will use the flat sided bolts.
The rods themselves were 18" long. For the length I was going for, I ended up cutting them to 8". The lower and upper hardware had a countersunk depth of 1.5" which gave me plenty of adjustment to set the rod length.
Its not the prettiest job in the world but it gave me the space to fit a 13mm wrench in to tighten the M8x1.25 16mm bolts down into the upper hardware mounts.
I ended up running the M8x1.25 20mm bolts up through the bottom of the splitter. The length was perfect as to compensate for the splitter thickness and the thread depth of the lower hardware mounts.
Well, small world.
Jason and Tyler were the 2 butthole surfers I was referring to when I mentioned veering west on November 7th to join y'all...but the friggin flights out of MIA/FLL were ridiculously more expensive and complicated than the Monday morning one I had already bought. Dammit...
Also, I did it once and I plan to revisit again...I need some flashpro and DOM love on the TL-S for vtecssss and smoothing and rev hang....
Very very cool, only a matter of time before we meet then.
Well, small world.
Jason and Tyler were the 2 butthole surfers I was referring to when I mentioned veering west on November 7th to join y'all...but the friggin flights out of MIA/FLL were ridiculously more expensive and complicated than the Monday morning one I had already bought. Dammit...
Also, I did it once and I plan to revisit again...I need some flashpro and DOM love on the TL-S for vtecssss and smoothing and rev hang....
Very very cool, only a matter of time before we meet then.
Out of the two, Tyler is surfs more buttholes for sure
Well, small world.
Jason and Tyler were the 2 butthole surfers I was referring to when I mentioned veering west on November 7th to join y'all...but the friggin flights out of MIA/FLL were ridiculously more expensive and complicated than the Monday morning one I had already bought. Dammit...
Also, I did it once and I plan to revisit again...I need some flashpro and DOM love on the TL-S for vtecssss and smoothing and rev hang....
Very very cool, only a matter of time before we meet then.
Was just getting caught up in here and reading through thinking little do you this was the same trip.
Im back from Atlanta and what a weekend it was. As I stated earlier in the month, I signed up for the Treat Yourself track event at Atlanta Motorsports Park with Jzilla Track Days. I signed up for the Blue Group which is solos but with point-by's in certain straightaways. As the group progressed they opened up passing with point-bys on either side of the track. Since it was raining, we had the option to have our windows closed with point-bys being executed with turn signals. I have never driven this track before and in the rain it made things...interesting. The rain was heavy at times and misty at times with one session being almost completely dry. I drove down on the blue wheels which had the Continental all seasons and brought the Falkens with me but never threw them on the car. It was probably the smarter decision with how unpredictable the weather was. I did two sessions without adjusting tire pressure and then by the 3rd session had dropped the front down to 26 psi and the rear to 28 psi and had way better results. It was also on the 3rd session that I started tracking my time and saw great improvements. The 4th session was by far the wettest and was off pace by 4 seconds from my best time of the day and the last session turned into a oil field with absolutely zero grip and a Miata spinning out in front of me and hitting a tire wall. All in all, I had a blast out there and cant wait to come back and do it in the dry.
12-01-2022, 09:32 AM
Excitin' Shitbox
