Vtecmec's 4th Gen

[Vtecmec]

Cheers. Idle is about 1,000rpm at the moment, so pretty much in line with your numbers.

[Vtecmec]

Dropped it off at the dyno tuning place this morning, should be ready by late tomorrow or Wednesday. Bit nervous.

I've asked for it to be mapped for reliability and driveability and lower torque rather than bigger numbers higher up.

Please don't blow up.

[Vtecmec]

Good news, it didn't blow up.

Though of course there were issues.

Seems like the exhaust I have on it is too restrictive for a turbo application, the back box in particular. This meant that the ignition had to be retarded by about 10 degrees to prevent detonation, which has cost quite a bit of power.

The numbers that came back were peak (flywheel) power of 254bhp at 6,905rpm and peak torque of 305Nm at 4500 rpm.




The car feels absolutely rapid on the road though, and there is still a fair bit to claw back.

VTEC engagement is so smooth you can't feel it switch over at all, the tuner even disconnected it on one run to make sure it was working.

I had a guy measure up the car yesterday and have it booked in a week on Monday for the fabrication of a one off 3 inch exhaust from turbo to tailpipe.

The tuner said I'd get back 60bhp with the exhaust restriction removed, with 30 horses arriving just on a straight exhaust swap without any remapping.

He then cheekily suggested we up the boost to 15psi and I'd probably see 360-380ish, not sure I want to take it that far though.

[wurlycorner]

The massive result is that nothing blown up/gone wrong and it's all working without any problems - massive testament to the build!

Have been wondering...
What did you set the cam timing to? Did the tuner adjust that at all?

[Vtecmec]

I'd set them at zero and they've been left alone for now. I have no idea if they of any real benefit on a boosted car?

[wurlycorner]

I have no idea whether it makes a difference or not, either
It *might* have an effect on how much ignition advance it can take??? Really dunno about that stuff.

The thing I find really curious is that you can't see where vtec comes in, at all - may be entirely normal on turbo H22 builds, I have no idea.
Have been trying to look through the forum to find other dyno graphs of Turbo ludes, but not having much luck

[Drax]

that's a mega result matey, really chuffed very pleased it's working out well for you

[Vtecmec]

The thing I find really curious is that you can't see where vtec comes in, at all

Yeah, stealth Vtec, it switches cams at 5k.

[vanzep]

another 60 horses .. whew thats a load extra
happy days

[Vtecmec]

I’ve been quite busy on this over the last few weeks.

I did some routine maintenance and went and replaced the front upper control arms (they had previously been contacting the upper shock tower and you could see marks) they didn’t look particularly damaged, but I have a spare set of almost new OEM arms that I could not resist swapping out.

To compliment this, I also replaced the rear upper control arm ball joint rubber boots as they had started to crack.

I’ve adjusted the front suspension down 10mm, left it for a week and then went another 5mm, which aesthetically looks to be about right for me.

I’ve reworked the intake piping, pulling the air from just behind the front of the car now, rather that running a long intake tract round and to the front o/s wheel well, it probably won’t help really low rev torque, and I might draw hotter air from stationary, but it means that I don’t have to worry about the intake being restrictive or removing the from bumper just to change or clean the air filter.

On the air filter, the K&N cone filter that I had was a little too large for the new space, so I purchased a slightly smaller filter that due to the design has the same surface area, it also looks better made than the K&N and is made in the UK.



Then the brakes, oh the drokking brakes.

I’d noticed a little loss of fluid from the master cylinder reservoir, had a look at each caliper to see if there were any leaks there, there were not. Then on further inspection realised that the proportioning valve inside the ABS module had decided to crap itself, fluid was ever so slightly leaking out of the main braking system, into the abs system through the solenoids and dripping out of their air relief holes. WTF!

Ever tried to remove ABS on a 4th gen with the engine in place. I don’t recommend it.

I had to remove it in sections as it’s too big to get out otherwise, I split the unit into several bits as shown here working clockwise from the reservoir.



I’ve put the unit to one side and replaced with a new non-ABS 40/40 proportioning valve.

I will attempt to refurbish the ABS unit at some point, but now is not the time.

I was rushing a little to do this as I had an appointment with a chap called Dan who runs his own small business making bespoke performance exhausts.

So, I dropped the car off with Dan for him to wave his wand over the cars zorst. I’d already run through what I wanted a week earlier with the car in the air on his ramp, a 3 inch system to help flow but as quiet as possible. We figured we could squeeze in 2 silencers in the middle and one at the back, exiting to a single 3 inch pipe, leaving me scope to put the tail trim of my choice on later.



A day after dropping off it was ready, and this is how it came back. A lovely new system from turbo to tailpipe.














I had been recommended Dan by the tuner who showed me some of his work on the various Civics (spit) he had in the garage, the work looked excellent. I was not let down. I’d highly recommend Dan, he’s a nice chap, well skilled and reasonably priced. If you need his details, just let me know, he’s based near Leicester on the A46, operating within a space of a larger garage called SH Autos.

The car sounds well now, it clearly moves freer now too.

I’ve rebooked the car into the rolling road tuner place for the back end of next week, so we’ll see what it does with the new exhaust. In preparation I have also now fully piped in the MAC boost controller, so if the boost needs (steady) upping in the higher gears, this can be done easily via Hondata.