court76wi's Photobucket 97 Integra GSR album media

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court76wi — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:16:15 MDT

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court76wi — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:16:11 MDT

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court76wi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:49:37 MDT

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Final photo for SCCA logbook. 3/4 rear view.

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court76wi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:49:35 MDT

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Final photo for SCCA logbook. 3/4 front view.

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court76wi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:47:49 MDT

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Some final engine bay stuff. We bypassed the cooling line (heating line) from the throttle body. We ran a small aluminum support from the right upper stayrod mount to the battery tray. The battery was secured fine, but the battery tray still had a bit of flex - it doesn't flex at all now. And we insulated the intake tube. The intake tube got pretty hot to the touch before, the insulation has definately cooled it down a bit and helped with the intake air temp. Just some foil backed duct insulation and some aluminum tape fixed that right up.

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court76wi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:47:46 MDT

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We used some leftover rain-gutter screen (to keep out leaves and stuff) to cover the brake duct intakes. Keeps things like boulders, tire rubber, and small birds from getting ingested. Held in place with 4x sheet metal screws. We got everything done on the car except for the aftermarket crank pulley. Also attached my CRX camera mount to the rollcage and got a panoramic rearview mirror.

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court76wi — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:50:07 MDT

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Newton AutoX. Evaluating the suspension, mechanical, and general car setup. Car seems pretty level at WOT so forward pitch is probably good. Photo courtesy of C Thurston.

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court76wi — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:50:05 MDT

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Newton AutoX. Evaluating the suspension, mechanical, and general car setup. Some rear-wheel tricycling. Not bad considering spring rate and rear swaybar diameter. Car still leans toward understeer so I can stiffen up the rear bar setting. After event the rear swaybar was adjusted from 18 mm to 20 mm virtual. Still need to verify handling. Photo courtesy of C Thurston.

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court76wi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:26:14 MDT

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For break pads I decided to try EBC YellowStuff. Claims are that its grip levels are steady over the entire heat range and predictable, and the compound is gentle on OEM-type rotors. They're covered with a red break-in coating for higher heat generation to allow them to set faster. I also put YellowStuff pads on the rear to keep the brake bias the same. I've had good luck with the Hawk pads on my CRX, so that's another option if I don't like the EBCs.

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court76wi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:26:07 MDT

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We had some oil seepage down in the spark plugs, and we also wanted to inspect the timing belt so we took off the valve cover. You can easily see the secondary rocker arms for the VTEC cam lobes. Timing belt looked good, replaced the alt and pwr str belt. We'll wait to put on the Fluidampr crank pulley after the August MAM event just in case we screw something up. We got a Fel-Pro valve cover gasket kit that will hopefully resolve the oil leakage around the spark plug seals.

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court76wi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:25:57 MDT

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Since we had the valve cover off we decided to touch it up some. For spots where the wrinkled paint wore off we discovered that Dupli-Color rubberized undercoating simulated the wrinkled paint finish very well. After that dried we followed up with satin black.

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court76wi — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:25:47 MDT

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By accident, we discovered a way to give the valve cover a "black plastic" appearance using Krylon satin black and Krylon satin clear coat incorrectly. Even though it wasn't our intent, it is interesting so we'll leave it as is.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:17 MDT

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Pretty. We painted the brackets with Valspar Anti-Rust aluminum paint. Without getting into ceramic paints, Valspar anti-rust has been the best stuff we've come across.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:15 MDT

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Here's the completed back brace. I need to revise my shoulder harness belts a little bit too remove some slack out of them. For the 3/4" collar, we changed to a 2-piece design because it was too difficult to slide the tubing through the 1-piece. (even clamping the tube in a vice "ovaled" the tube enough to make it difficult to push though the collar) Against the back of the seat, I used some thin, self-adhesive foam that you can pick up at a local hobby store. Same stuff that higher-density mouse pads are made out of. I pasted it on the front of the metal brace so that it wouldn't scratch up the seat. And the bolt Corbeau provides conveniently keeps it in place.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:13 MDT

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Now that's what you call an air-ride suspension! :-) We just leveled the car so we change and fill the transmission fluid to the correct level. Nothing special here, we used Honda OEM manual trans fluid. It honestly seems to work better than most performance or synthetic replacements.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:11 MDT

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Here's one of the air ducts right before installation. The total system consists of a 3" exit intake duct, followed by a 3" to 2.25" silicone reducer, to 2.5" shop-vac hose, then into a 2.5" shop-vac crevice tool. The silicone reducer is held in place by a hose clamp on the duct, and two sheet metal screws into the hose. The hose/crevice tool is secured to the bracket by two sheet metal screws. Then the bracket is bolted on the front suspension using the "compensator arm" nut. I'll call it the "compensator arm", otherwise I don't know what it's technical name is. It's the rear part of the lower arm assembly that is connected to the chassis by the compliance bushings. If someone could correct my lingo that would be great. You'll see the location in the following photos. Tip: we used water-soluble lubricant (generic KY jelly) to help fit the ends of the hose into the crevice tool and silicone reducer. It will just wash away and leave no sticky residue.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:09 MDT

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Right-front duct routing. Note that only one zip tie is used to hold the rest of the assembly in place.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:07 MDT

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Left-front duct routing. Again, note that only one zip tie is used to hold the rest of the assembly in place. (it just clears the oil pan) You can see one of the sheet metal screws in the bottom of the silicone reducer.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:05 MDT

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Close-up of the right-front crevice tool. You can see how the bracket is attached to the lower arm. The top of the crevice tool was trimmed slightly at the end for clearance reasons. The end of the crevice tool is approx 2-2.25" inches away from the rotor with the steering wheel centered. The knuckle (not a rotating assembly) just contacts the crevice tool at full lock. Clearance was checked using a stock wheel, and a Kosei K1 (+38) with 225/50R15 R6 Hoosiers. No rubbing issues.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:02 MDT

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Here's a front view of the car. The nice thing about this setup is that the hose just barely pokes below the front bumper. Basically the same as the stock front toe hooks.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:01 MDT

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Same description as the left-front close-up.

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court76wi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:32:58 MDT

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Here she is just after the Newton AutoX. We also painted the door guards (scratch guards) black just for a nice touch. Just a couple days later I had it logbook'd. The baffled/trapdoor oil pan worked. Through all the turns oil pressure stayed up around 80 psi. Oil temp stayed below 210°F. On my CRX the oil pressure can drop down to 30-40 psi through sharp turns. Supposedly it's a 5.5 qt oil pan, but at 5 qt it's above the full line. Car is pitched forward a little though. I think I got it set-up pretty good, at WOT the chassis appears level and not squatting in the rear. Rear swaybar was adjusted.

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court76wi — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:39:41 MDT

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Back to the brake ducting. We're starting with a 3" x 7.75" brake duct inlet, and then using a 3" to 2.25" silicone reducer in order to transition to 2.5" shop vac hose. (2.5" is the outer diameter of the attachment size, which is how the hose is labeled, so the OD of 2.5" shop vac hose is approx 2.25") Then we're using a crevice tool to direct the air toward the brake rotor.

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court76wi — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:39:39 MDT

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This is a custom bracket we're making to prevent the crevice tool from moving and direct the airflow to the brake rotor. This will attach via the 17 mm nut that secures the stabilizer arm to the lower arm. After trimming the crevice tool, we just barely make contact with the knuckle at full lock. The tip of the crevice tool is approx 2-3" away from the rotor when the steering wheel is centered.

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court76wi — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:13:12 MDT

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This is the primary support tube for the seat back brace. We're brazing a 7/16" shaft collar to 3/4" OD mild steel tubing. A 7/16" bolt passing through the collar will act as the pivot up against the seat.

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court76wi — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:13:09 MDT

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Finished product.

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court76wi — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:11:13 MDT

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We're following the "Autopower" style of adjustable back brace, using shaft collars to allow seat movement. Cost of the "Autopower" style of back brace, approx $90. The cost of materials we purchased, approx $30. (the two pictured shaft collars accounting for most of it) Money saved for not purchasing an equivalently padded FIA seat that doesn't require a back brace, at least $200.

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court76wi — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:10:50 MDT

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Welding the backing plate that will rest up against the seat. The seat has a M8 hex bolt to help keep it centered. We'll put some self-adhesive, solid foam on the front of the plate (acquired from a local hobby/crafts shop) to prevent it from scratching the back of the seat. Notice the state of the art, high tech welding gloves used for personal safety.

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court76wi — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:10:43 MDT

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The result of not using gas (CO2 or other) and having a partially coated welding surface of zinc oxide. Essentially an expensive self-feeding stick welder and a blast of acrid smoke.

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court76wi — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 22:07:18 MDT

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There's absolutely no benefit of having a black, OEM spoiler. But it does look cool. It also directs attention away from the faded red paint.

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court76wi — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 22:07:16 MDT

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Hood pins are installed. These are some cheapy aluminum ones that I purchased off of eBay. The hood latch is still functional and works fine, otherwise I wouldn't rely on these pins supporting the full weight of the hood 24/7. They just serve two primary functions. 1. The hood doesn't shut exactly flat due to a past fender bender, so they'll help even out the hood. (you can see the gap near the passenger side headlights) 2. I don't have to worry about the hood flying up in front of the windshield if I'd inadvertently bump someone too hard.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:51:09 MDT

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Preliminary setup of the right brake duct through the bumper. Located directly below the park light / turn signal. Two bolts were used to secure the 3" duct to the bumper – one can be seen in the picture the other has yet to be drilled. We took advantage of some existing bumper molding, which you can see, that was sticking out below the turn signals.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:51:06 MDT

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Front view. This was a lot of cut-fit-cut-fit back and forth until the hole through the bumper was good fit for the duct.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:51:04 MDT

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A picture of the front toe hook again. We had to remove the front bumper for the brake ducts, so here's a picture showing how it's secured to the front beam. We used existing holes for the bolts.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:51:02 MDT

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Front view of the brake duct as positioned on the bumper. We'll probably put a mesh screen in front of the duct to prevent boulders from getting in. The downward slant is duplicated from the left side of the bumper, which is shown on the next photo. We'll run a silicone hose reducer, 3" to 2.25", to connect the intake duct to 2.5" shop vac hose. (for some reason 2.5" vac hose has a 2.25" OD) Will finish it off with crevice tool attachments to direct the air flow to the front rotors.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:51:00 MDT

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The downward angle on the brake duct is required to clear the washer fluid bottle. This was duplicated on the left side to even things out, otherwise there is no obstruction on the left side because the stock air intake (resonator box) was removed.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:50:58 MDT

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Top view of the completed moon roof plug.

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court76wi — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 20:50:56 MDT

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Bottom view of the completed moon roof plug. The black color is the heat/sound absorbing undercoating we applied. We'll finish up with some silicone sealant along the inside edge. The side hoop padding is wrapped extra tight to help prevent the driver's helmet from rubbing.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:31 MDT

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The "GM style" buckle insert was welded on to the side hoop for the window net. Now time for some touch-up paint.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:27 MDT

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Meet the new car trailer (use some imagination). The nice thing is that everything is bolted on, including the axles. The tongue can also pivot, allowing the front of the trailer to lift up for a better "loading" angle. The wheelbase needs to be widened, tongue shortened, and the trailer can be dropped some, but after some customization it should come out pretty good. Together, both axles are rated for 3900 lb, so we're covered. We'll incorporate a toolbox and tire rack (or storage). The winch also works fine, so that will be incorporated as well.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:23 MDT

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The window net is secured to the roll cage, but we put a small hook on the door to keep the net pulled away from the driver. Otherwise it rubs against the driver's left arm.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:19 MDT

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The cage stiffened the chassis up some. I was just jacking up the front right tire to adjust the coilover, and I was thinking, "man, this seems awful heavy for the front right tire." Then I noticed the rear right tire was off the ground as well - I guess that explains why it felt like I was jacking up so much weight.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:16 MDT

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Here's the moonroof plug. We're painting the top with some leftover red caliper paint, which is a ceramic type of base (hopefully it won't crack when it flexes), and we'll paint the bottom with black heat/sound absorbing undercoating.

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:13 MDT

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Finally bought and mounted the transponder, which I need for lap times and scoring. Luckily I contacted a previous racer that I bought some parts from and he had a transponder that was sitting on his shelf for over a year, so he gave me a deal - otherwise they're pretty pricey. Thanks Tom!

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court76wi — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 20:25:11 MDT

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We made a small little bracket out of some scrap aluminum for the transponder. Luckily an empty 10 mm bolt hole was in a prime location. The transponder is located just under the radiator overflow tank.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:27:06 MDT

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DIY front towhook. This will attach to the front bumper beam.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:13:23 MDT

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This particular switch is Longacre single-throw, double-pole switch, meaning that two circuits are opened when you turn the power off. The two main copper lugs are for battery power. The connection on the right is the incoming battery power. The connection on the left is the battery power that continues to the fuse box under the hood of the car. Also on this lug is a large 12 AWG red wire (unswitched power) and a 14 AWG orange wire (cap ignition power). These were the most convenient locations for them. Unswitched power is for the 12 Vdc accessory ports, like the one in the picture, and also a dedicated "cool suit" switch. I call these "unswitched" because they pull power for the battery/alternator directly without going through the ignition. So they can also supply power when the ignition is off. Such as charging a camcorder battery, or running the "cool suit" when just sitting in the car. The orange wire is the main power supply for the Summit cap ignition. Both the "unswitched" wire and the cap ignition power wire are on the left lug so they are disconnected from the battery when the Master Switch is turned OFF. However, the alternator might still supply enough power to keep the car running, so now we go to the other two smaller steel lugs. The two steel lugs have a small red wire attached to them. The closer lug is 12 Vdc switched ignition power coming from the inside fuse box. The lug in the back continues this wire to the Summit cap ignition. The Summit cap ignition pulls it's power from the 14 AWG orange wire, but it needs a switched 12Vdc ignition source to tell it when the car is running and the ignition is turned off. In case the alternator provides enough power to keep the car running when the switch is turned OFF, the 12 Vdc source wire is also opened. The cap ignition thinks the motor has been shut off and no longer provides power. Once the motor stops, the battery is isolated and all circuits are dead.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:13:11 MDT

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Some prelim roll bar padding. I'm using high-density foam padding that is 1" thick. I went with this over SFI 45.1 padding for three reasons. 1. At $4 per 3 ft section compared to $20-$40 per 3 ft section it's a lot cheaper. 2. I can buy is at RJ Motorsports which is one mile away. 3. SFI padding is REALLY hard. Hard enough that some people in moderate fender benders get hurt hitting the roll cage because the SFI padding doesn't flex much. High density foam is more compressible. Which is safer? Who knows. For non-pro SCCA/NASA racing the foam padding might be safer because crashes aren't as severe. For professional racing maybe SFI is the choice because of the impact energy involved. Remember that just because and item has a certain rating doesn't always mean that it's better. It just conforms to a certain standard.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:13:01 MDT

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Welding the window net "swivel". For convenience, the rear attachment point for the window net is being allowed to rotate around the mounting bolt. When unsnapping the front buckle, the window net can just swing down and out of the way. If the whole net needs to be dropped, all you need to do is pull the hitch pin behind the swivel.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:12:54 MDT

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The front snap for the buckle has been welded to the cage, so you can see roughly how the window net is situated. We still need to anchor the bottom of the net. Boy does that make it sooo much easier to get in/out of the car. You can see that the upper door bar has been removed. Pull the three square pins and it slides off. (ignore the 1/4" ratchet hanging on cage on the upper left)

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:12:47 MDT

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Top view. We're getting ready to cover up the moonroof hole. Just a little aluminum bracing so the sheet metal doesn't bow or flex inward. We're going to put down a bead of silicone sealant and pop rivet it too the roof. Anything else is just too time consuming.

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court76wi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:12:38 MDT

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DIY front towhook installed. I like the fact that the ring pivots downward so it doesn't look like a spear protruding from the front bumper

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court76wi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:35:25 MDT

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Cage is complete. Passenger seat is installed until everything is complete. Passenger seat can also be used for fun, lapping, training, etc...

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court76wi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:35:21 MDT

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Fire extinguisher is bolted in. This is a 10BC dry chemical extinguisher, which meets safety requirements. A Halon (or chemical equivalent) based extinguisher was a little pricey for now, but maybe next year. (I have a 5 lb but it's pretty beefy)

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court76wi — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:35:18 MDT

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Driver's side. I'll install the driver's harnesses/belts today. Then we have the window net and cage padding to install. (seat back brace is also needed) You can see the three square pins on the upper door bar. Facilitating easy removal. It's not as "roomy" as a cage that would penetrate into the driver's door, but it works.

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:00:35 MDT

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Tack welds for the secondary door bars. For newer cars issued a logbook SCCA and NASA requires two side door bars. Most bolt-in cages send the second bar as a solid piece you permanently weld in, but we asked for a removable one just like the lower bars. The problem is finding where/how to weld the posts on the main and side hoops. Especially with the slop in the slide-over sleeves. It required temporarily welding the sleeves to the door bar in order to position the posts better. For the passenger side it was just eyeballing and close-enough positioning. We're maximizing space/safety for the driver, so the passenger is secondary because a mounted passenger seat would be for a non-competition event. Padding is still going to be installed in the critical areas though.

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:58:26 MDT

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Nothing says cheap more than eBay. And a set of "racing" pedals is no exception at $14 dollars including shipping. This is a universal pedal set that uses clamps to attach themselves, which means they center themselves over the existing pedals. Because I'm primarily interested in the accelerator pedal for heel-toe downshifting the "clamp" method won't work too well since I want the pedal located as far down and to the left as possible. So drilling will be involved. But the first thing to do is to remove the back edges on the grinder.

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:58:23 MDT

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Final product. I used an accelerator pedal off an older Civic as a template for pre-drilled holes, although I found out that the stock accelerator pedal on my GSR was even more convent for drilling. So I abandoned one of the holes I pre-drilled, and drilled and tapered two additional holes on the alum pedal. Three tapered screws are holding the new pedal in place, with a fourth screw holding a small reinforcement piece behind the lower-left corner to prevent the aluminum from bending over time. (2 mm alum bends easily with the rear support edges ground down)

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:58:20 MDT

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Customized seat bracket No 2. Really an extension of the first seat bracket. Because we had to move the seat over more, we had to use tapered bolts under the seat on right-hand side. Welding the bracket to the rails as it previously was configured would prevent future seat adjustments (left/right/rotation) without grinding off the welds, so we welded on side pieces that would bolt on to the stock rails. The seat is finally all done.

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:58:17 MDT

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Some beautification work.

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court76wi — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:58:14 MDT

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We ended up removing the cage from the car - the welds would just be too difficult to get at in the car. Our MIG welder is also having a conniption fit, so we're just going to tack weld everything on and take the cage to a friend to do the four circular welds. Then we can paint all the scratch marks and bare steel before re-installing the cage. The MIG welder is still working good enough for the tack welds, so we're putting a secondary weld on all the hoop posts to make sure we don't accidentally knock one off in transport - that would be our luck.

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court76wi — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:37:22 MDT

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Customizing the bolt-in roll cage. Most bolt-in cages are built for cars with an interior. Because my car doesn't have one, there is a lot of space to be reclaimed. Although we can only do so much, the use of spacers and trimming/bending certain parts makes it a lot more roomier.

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court76wi — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:37:19 MDT

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The cage bolted in place. We still need to add the secondary door bars and window net. You can see the white "mystery material" used as spacers under the support feet of the cage. I'll stick with the term "mystery material" because it's not metal, but it definitely won't compress or crack in an impact. Builder's secret, but I will say it's inexpensive to purchase and readily available, but you probably couldn't guess what it is. You can cut it with woodworking blades and bits, but you need a metal grinder to smooth it effectively. Because I don't feel like dropping the seat to the floor, the cage made my seat installation more interesting. To avoid hitting the roll cage with my helmet we had to slide the seat inward about 1.5 inches, and we rotated it slightly to the left so my legs are lined up with the pedals better. I guess I'll have to get used to driving slightly sideways. Because the seat got scooted over so far, we can no longer simply use the stock rails as intended before and need to make some modifications.

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court76wi — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:25:16 MDT

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Autopower Industries bolt in cage. Nothing fits better and provides more room, than a custom cage. However, for the money and time invested it's a really good deal. You just take all the pieces and put them together. Sounds easy doesn't it?

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court76wi — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:25:09 MDT

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Loosely assembled cage. Only bolts holding the cage together are between the main hoop and the rear braces. The slide-over sleeves are holding the rest together. Once you get it set up how you want it, you start drilling holes. Did I mention that only the rear brace holes and the 3 support holes per foot are drilled? You still have 18 holes to drill through the car body. And 16 holes through the cage and sleeves. The cage is 1.5"x0.12" DOM steel, the sleeves are 1.75"x0.095" DOM steel. So that's 0.43" of mild steel per hole. Just have a sharp bit, shouldn't have any problems. But we still need to attach the secondary door bars. New rules require 1 additional door bar per side. We requested that the secondary bar be removable as well. So we have 4 pieces to weld on, and 8 more holes to drill. Fun stuff.

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court76wi — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:25:05 MDT

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court76wi — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:24:59 MDT

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Got the air ducts in. 3x7.7" openings, 3" tube. Although we'll probably reduce it to 2.5" shop vac hose. Essentially, imagine an approx 3x7" hole in the bumper right below the turn/park lights. That's what we're currently looking at. I'm required to use stock rotors and calipers (size, and no slots/drilling) so the front brakes are definitely going need some cooling assist out on the track due to their "smaller" size. So think of these as ram-air scoops. Stainless steel brake lines were installed to prevent the rubber brake line hose from expanding, and the brake fluid we supplied is good to about 540 degrees F. Normal DOT4 fluid is good to 440 degrees F.

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court76wi — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 19:57:08 MDT

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This is the temporary seating arrangement - held in place by a pair of Vice Grips. We'll have to bolt in the cage to see if there are any problems. Seat clearance shouldn't be a problem, head clearance and whether or not my helmet bumps up against the side hoop will be the issue. If that's the case we'll have to push the seat further inward.

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court76wi — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 19:52:16 MDT

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Some front upper-adjustable arms have the hex cap screws facing down with the ball joint - facilitating easy camber adjustment from underneath. But with these types of upper arms, they generally have an aluminum top plate that prevents the ball joint from sliding back and forth. Even though there probably aren't any issues, a flat painted metal surface against a flat piece of aluminum doesn't seem too "grippy" to me. So I inserted star locks between the arm and the top plate. So now it has lock washers on the top and bottom. Now it definitely won't slide around...

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court76wi — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 19:52:07 MDT

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If you can mount your racing seat on sliders, I'd highly recommend it. It just makes life easier for drivers other than yourself. Although it might negate any FIA certification on your seat, so a back brace is required if that doesn't bother you. I would definitely recommend using a set of stock sliders if you're willing to put in the work. Aftermarket sliders generally assume that you're using a 4- or 5-point harness, so the locking mechanism isn't as durable. Most newer cars have the seatbelt buckle on the opposite side of the seat, so the sliders are designed to hold the seatbelt in the event of a crash. Whoever wrote that Honda-Tech article that said that removing the accessory "junk" off stock sliders must have been smoking crack. Grind off the rivets and hit the assembly with a BFH my butt. Oh that's AFTER you drill out all the spot welds too, and use a chisel to separate the pieces.

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court76wi — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 19:51:59 MDT

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After taking all the accessories and seatbelt attachments off the stock slider brackets, you need to grind off any jagged edges, welds, or any other "thing" that might be in your way... This is a secondary set of sliders we got from a salvage yard, so we can reinstall the stock driver's seat if necessary.

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court76wi — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 19:08:20 MDT

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Corbeau FX1 Pro racing seat. It's not FIA approved, which means I need a back brace. But combine the price of the seat with a pre-made seat sliders and back brace and it's still cheaper than an equivalent FIA seat. We're going to be making our own sliders though, and probably the back brace as well. Everything red is removable for cleaning. The new seat takes a little while getting used to. I have a Corbeau Forza for my CRX which is looser fitting than this seat. (approx 38" waist vs. the Pro at 36") It's the correct size, but it's a lot snugger fitting so I don't slide around at all.

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court76wi — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 18:59:46 MDT

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Here's what the custom seat slider will look like for the FX1 seat. The 1/4" plate is from a custom Civic/CRX bracket we cut up, so we need to measure and re-drill holes because the steering wheel position is different in the Acura. In order to clear the slider adjustment arms the front plate was bent up slightly at the ends. I'll just need to place one or two washers on the rear mounts to level it back up.

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court76wi — Mon, 8 Jun 2009 18:54:18 MDT

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A makeshift plumb bob to find the center point for the seat. I'll still have to sit in the seat for a test fit and see how it feels, but this will get us pretty close. EDIT: Even though I tried the "plumb bob" method, we still had to reposition the seat a bit. This required us to drill a second set of mounting holes on the 1/4" plate. Otherwise the bars would haven't have been centered too well on the sliders. 2nd EDIT: That didn't work to well anyway, my helmet hits the roll cage, so we had to go inboard quite a bit...

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court76wi — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 20:41:58 MDT

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Just checking rear tire / fender clearance again. I just adjusted the coilovers so the suspension will settle a little bit more. I can see why IT guys have problems with the rear tires rubbing the inside fenders. Ah, they can stick me in ITE if they want. I'd rather have my tires not shred, get better wear, and more traction around the track. We'll just pull the top of the tire in some and it will clear without any problems.

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court76wi — Fri, 5 Jun 2009 20:41:55 MDT

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Same business with the fronts, there will be a little settling here as well after I drive it. Actually though at "stock" settings the fronts will clear fine. But, I'd still rather pull them in some for wear and traction. Plus, adding some more negative camber will relieve a some pressure off the axles. My splash/mud guards have been removed, so you can see the door's wiring harness behind the tire.

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court76wi — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:33:12 MDT

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The old OBD1 injectors, which have been replaced, and the stock fuel pressure regulator. Top has been cut off for a B&M adjustable fuel pressure regulator "conversion". I've heard that some people think they're cheaply made, but I know quite a few people that use them and they appear to hold fuel pressure fine - that's good enough for me.

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court76wi — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:33:10 MDT

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A lower view under the right turn signal. Getting some ideas for front brake ducting. We might put air "scoops" underneath the lip instead of cutting holes in the bumper itself. We'll see.

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court76wi — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:33:07 MDT

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Now all the final gauges and instrumentation is done. The shift light is mounted to the A piller, and will be tweaked a little bit (placement/angle) once the seat is in. The air/fuel ratio gauge is right behind the turn signal in the old cruise control hole (Underneath the oil temp gauge). It looks a little funny because it's an interference fit and I haven't pushed it in all the way yet. Everything tests out and works good. We're thinking about putting a small dry erase board in the middle of the steering wheel for notes.

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court76wi — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:33:05 MDT

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Checking fitment with the replacement hood and fenders. Just had to center the hood a touch, move the fenders a bit, and adjust the hood latch. Otherwise it wasn't too bad. We'll add two hood pins later for a preventative/safety measure.

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court76wi — Mon, 1 Jun 2009 21:33:02 MDT

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Someone was surprised we didn't have the front bumper on yet. Well here you go. The main items left are the seat, cage/safety, and brake ducting. Then all the other little things that take too much time.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:29 MDT

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Terry did some great work with the car. He removed the header and cut the old flange off it (since it was of no use) and welded on 2.5" aluminized pipe going directly into a spring-loaded ball & socket flange. So no doughnut gaskets to leak or flex-pipe to cause extra exhaust turbulence. We also had a secondary O2 bung welded in that can sample all 4 runners.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:28 MDT

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All I had put on the car for sound attenuation was a 14" Magnaflow muffler. It's a strait-through perforated tube design so it doesn't disrupt much, but man does it make a hell of a difference. I didn't have a resonator put back on the car, so it still has a little "ting" to it, but that's only with moderate driving. The "loss" of the catalytic converter also opened it up quite a bit. When my dad test-drove it I could hear the car from 2 blocks over when he stepped on it. Nice sounding, has some good throat to it. Not nearly as annoying or loud as some aftermarket exhausts put on Harley Davidson's. At least the exhaust exits behind the car so we don't get any of that deafening resonation under the car that most people get with a few feet of strait pipe.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:26 MDT

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I like to describe this as the wiring equivalent of golfing in a lightning storm. I have two "hot" bars on driver's knee bolster, which also serves as the common ground. Technically anything metal on the car is a ground, but one of the black wires goes to the primary ground rail on the far right of the picture, which grounds directly to the battery. The red wires are power for the shift light, oil temp, and oil pressure gauges (air/fuel coming). While the purple wires are a "dimmer" circuit for the two oil gauges, so the background lighting is reduced when the park lights turn on. I powered the gauges from a direct ignition source wire, the unused SRS circuit in this case, so the gauges don't cycle on/off when the car is started. (most things like the radio, wipers, etc., will stop momentarily when a car is started, headlights for an example don't)

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:25 MDT

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Taking the header pipe off for exhaust wrap and installation of the header support bracket. I'd definitely recommend exhaust wrap on aftermarket headers. You will notice an overall performance and response improvement from the motor, although I can't quantify it. The header wrap has two benefits. One is that it keeps excess heat out of the engine compartment, reducing under-hood temp and intake air temps. The second is that the heat wrap keeps the O2 sensors at better operating temperatures, especially if you have an unheated O2 sensor. You'll get better low- and mid-range response if the O2 sensors are at higher temperatures. Hanging in the picture is a custom O2 harness wire extension that I made myself. Not in the picture is the fifth wire leaving the harness, which is a voltage tap from the primary O2 sensor in order to provide a signal for the air/fuel ratio gauge we decided to install.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:23 MDT

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The header pipe is reinstalled, and everything under the car is all done. Sensor wiring for accessory gauges, etc. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of this, but there are a few interesting things here. First let me say that we're keeping the car OBD2 compatible in case the OBD1 ECU I have would ever crap out - plus I won't have time for a custom engine map this year. So we still need two O2 sensors. There's an O2 bung on the header pipe that samples from cylinders 2 & 4, and an O2 bung we had added on the collector that samples all four cylinders. First, if you have the option, always sample all 4 cylinders with the primary O2 sensor in case the one or two cylinders normally sampled are running extra rich or lean. The primary O2 sensor is in the collector, which is why the custom harness extension was made. Otherwise the standard wiring for the primary O2 sensor is too short. For the secondary O2 sensor we used a CEL eliminator, which you can either purchase or make. The only function of the secondary O2 sensor is to verify that the CAT converter is working, and that's it. So the fact that the secondary O2 sensor is before the primary makes no difference in this case with the CEL eliminator, and it can use the O2 bung that's only pulling from two cylinders. Since this is a secondary O2 sensor that we'll probably never touch again or care about, I just extened the existing O2 wires about 2 feet (which are zip tied to the transmission extension rod). Bingo.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:22 MDT

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All the primary wiring is DONE! (well almost) There are two minor things left... We decided to add an air/fuel gauge at the last minute, but that should take less than 30 min to install when we get it, and the O2 voltage tap is already routed into the driver's compartment. And we have one aft 12V accessory plug that we need to mount. The kill switch is mounted in the passenger airbag tray, along with another 12V accessory outlet. It's a double-pole kill switch. When thrown, the main battery lead is disconnected from the battery, and the 12V source wire for the ignition is also cut on the second pole. If you would only cut the battery wire, the alternator can provide enough power to keep the motor running. So cutting the 12V ignition source shuts the motor down. After that, the car is completely dead since all relays are isolated from battery power. The main switch panel is also done. From left to right there is ABS on/off (by interrupting the pump motor relay), accessory gauges on/off, transponder on/off (we still need to purchase), unswitched cool suit power on/off (next year purchase), and unswitched 12V accessory power on/off. Unswitched simply referring to the fact that these circuits can be active without a key in the ignition. For like charging a camcorder battery, or running the cool suit while just sitting in the car.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:21 MDT

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TOPEKA! It starts! This was the second time we started the car since the exhaust was put on, and the first time since we did all the additional wiring. This includes the capacitor ignition box, which required us to bypass wires from the internal coil. (see the flexible wire tubing exiting the distributor and running near the radiator) The CEL (check engine light) also didn't come on, which was a big relief. It was illuminated when we bought the car, so this is the first time it's been cleared. And all the idle surge has already been taken care of. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the car when we exited the garage from all the smoke pouring off the exhaust wrap. Some of the material, fiber, or chemicals used to manufacture heat wrap is "burnt" off the first time the car is run, so if your hood is closed you might think you have an engine fire. It probably took about 15–20 min before all the smoke cleared the garage. But it runs!

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:49:19 MDT

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The last person that owned this car must have put an aftermarket manifold on it at some time, because that would explain all the wires that they hastily cut and rejoined back together with crimped on butt connectors. Not all the intake manifold bolts/nuts match, and the fuel rail is missing the center stud. Is it honestly that hard to unplug something? They must have misplaced or sold the old injectors and clips. Because instead of reinstalling the original OBD2 injectors and clips, they installed OBD1 injectors and clips. Which probably explains why cylinder #2 is running/looking like the injector is fouled. They're probably some old clips and injectors they took off a junked car. Luckily I found and soldered on a set of OBD2 injector clips off a Honda Civic in a salvage yard. So now we can finally put in some reman injectors.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:13 MDT

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SCCA requires us to fill the hole with a similar material as the rest of the roof. So we need to get some sheet metal.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:11 MDT

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We're going to install an adjustable fuel pressure regulator so we can squeeze a couple extra HP on the chassis dyno. It's also a benefit in case we leaned out the motor too much with the intake and exhaust modifications. So we need a fuel pressure gauge as well. SCCA requires a fuel sampling port, so we ran a line to a remote T fitting.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:10 MDT

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Giving the inside of the car a bath. We'll probably do this at least two more times to get all the dust and grime off.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:08 MDT

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My car work got interrupted for a few days when a BAT (big-ass tree) fell over in our neighbor's yard. Luckily their two kids weren't outside at the time. Unfortunately when it fell over, it took our power and cable lines with it...

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:06 MDT

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Second unfortunate part was that it just didn't take the lines down. It practically yanked the electrical box off our house with it. You can see the "scorch" marks on the siding. Right before the power loss, and subsequent tree crash, the garage was filled with a very intense blue-white light. That was when our power lines arced against the side of our house when they got yanked out of the meter box. (that brown mark on the back of the box is from another arc inside the box)

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:05 MDT

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After the previous power outage business, I got the rest of the trim and carpet out of the car. Then the car got another interior bath with a hose and a wet-dry vac.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:46:03 MDT

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Getting ready for some exhaust work. This was the first time the car has been driven on the road in about 8 months. All I can say is that without an exhaust, even a Honda can sound like a bad-ass. But I don't feel like wearing earplugs or loosing my hearing, so we're getting a minimal exhaust put on it to quiet it down some. Backpressure also increases engine torque to a certain degree. So a wide-open exhaust isn't always the best.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:40:58 MDT

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Glass sunroofs/moonroofs need to be removed. The entire "black" structure will be removed from under the roof. Then we'll have to plug the hole.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:40:57 MDT

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SRS system removed, including the main control module. All that's left is the harness wiring. Steering column exposed so we can figure out how to disable the steering lock. One thing you have to like about older Acuras is that every electrical item has a snap connector, there is no hard wiring. Even the ashtray/cigarette lighter had a snap clip for easy removal...

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:40:55 MDT

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Shot of an Eastwood fender roller. Definitely makes the job easier I'll tell you that. The roller is a bit large for smaller vehicles, it would be nice if they made a "compact" version.

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court76wi — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:40:54 MDT

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Rear suspension is all done. That's a Cusco 18 mm swaybar that I made work with the ASR subframe brace, which required a little customization. I consider the subframe brace okay to use since it serves as the swaybar mount, which can be welded or bolted on. The Cusco bar is a CTR type of swaybar so it can't be bolted back up to an std Integra without modifications. Otherwise without it, I risk ripping out the rear subframe with a larger swaybar. Of course I could just weld a big steel plate on subframe and undercoat it so it looks stock (which some people do), but hopefully I can take this with me if I ever wreck the car.