As you can see in the videos, my back windows were down for the whole day. The fronts were open a crack in grid (shut during the runs), and the driver's door was wide open between runs with an umbrella over the side of the car to stop the water pouring in. This and I would pretty much finish my runs with the windshield totally fogged up. That's even after applying RainX anti fog for the inside of the glass in my dry garage that morning before going out. The car had been parked inside for a couple days, so it was totally dry as well.
Needless to say, my blower fan motor is seized. Anyone got a good working motor for sale?
I got a quick question for you... why did you choose to go the superchargered route vs. the turbo route? I can see that it's less parts, which in tern is less weight. Also, supercharged your bottom end is more power as apposed to top end power. Is there anything else that went into choosing this path?
And with your rear diff do you have a problem with it overheating? I know the Element RT4WD if it is engaged too long it will overheat causing some problems. Is that maybe a contributing factor to your diff problems? Could you possible fab up an oil cooler to your rear diff to cool it possibly?
The Element diff is like the CRV and the RTi Intrac diff with hydraulic pumps and more dealing with torque distribution, etc... The Civic Wagon rear diff is exactly like the rear diff in pretty much any RWD car, in that it's a ring and pinion, and a diff (be it LSD or not). There's really nothing to overheat per se, like the others mentioned above. Sure if it were road racing it could overheat and kill the diff/gear lube, and then lead to other problems, but that's not an issue here. It's a setup problem plain and simple. Suspension Techniques are making me a custom front sway bar in 27mm to try, to see if that will flatten the chassis enough to reduce the unloading that I'm experiencing.
I went with the supercharger for power delivery plain and simple. I expect that I'll be able to put 300 to the rear wheels once the thing is tuned and tweaked. The beauty of the supercharger is that it's exactly like having a big motor with a lot more displacement under the hood, rather than a small motor (which it is) with a turbo. I never get any hesitation in power delivery. There's no waiting, plain and simple. This makes it so much easier to drive in an autocross environment.
Thanks for the info Jaker, I'm starting to tear down the wagon for a build and had a couple of questions. Thanks for responding so quickly, your infinite knowledge continues to amaze me lol
I am certainly interested in the billet or even steel pieces for the transfer case.
My experience tells me that if you stiffen up the housing, you not only stop it breaking but you keep the gears in better mesh and in effect also strengthen the gears.
I really wish I could find a way to put an LSD in the front axles on mine.
With the OBX LSD in the rear, do you think the mods to fit it fixed the run out problems they are alleged to have.
I also have a guy near Sydney with a CNC machine centre who owes me a few favours. He also works dirt cheap. He has no digitiser attachment, but if you have computer models I can get him to quote if you like.
How much weight did you save with the CF bonnet. I am thinking of making A CF bonnet and hatch for my CRX with scratch resistant Lexan fixed rear windows.I hope that might offset most of the weight of the 4WD system.
I went from a 26lb bonnet (OEM) to 9.9lbs with the CF piece. Mine was a custom one off piece though, as I had the maker delete some of the underside webbing and use foam core in the skin rather than extra layers of glass/CF and resin. That, along with many other areas of weight reduction lead to approximately 75-100 lbs coming off the nose.
I have not yet forged ahead with the transfer case housing work. I expect it will be billet aluminum (see weight reduction above!!!), and will be done by the gentleman from Ontario that I have made contact with already. I do not yet have any digitizing or CAD/CAM files.
Hi Jaker , I was just wondering if I could get some advise on trying to get my wagon to have the same stance as yours with the same size wheels...??? I know your wagon has been highly modified but can a stock wagon be made to accept and mount the same size rims and tires you have on yours...??? If so , may I ask what the wheel Specs are for Falken Hanabis summer setup is ??? Thanks and I hope to be hearing from you soon... Roland Navalta / Ikaika808
I never ended up running the full summer setup. What you see in the pics is the all-season setup:
17x7.5 Hanabis in the front with 225/35-17 Falken FK452
17x9 Hanabis in the back with 245/35-17 Falken FK452
I don't remember the offset, but it's the only offset available for those wheels. They're actually discontinued now, so you'll likely only find them either used, or if someone has some new old stock sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
With the height of the car in the pics, the fenders need to be rolled in the front, and the rear needs to be rolled, and massaged a little. I think you could fit them under the fenders without having to cut them if you kept them in pretty close to the car, but I was running some pretty big spacers to fill out the fenders, because I needed the fenders out that wide for the racing rubber.
So I cant figure out what manifold your running, looks good though!
Intake or exhaust?
Intake manifold is a hand made unit from Endyn to hold the M62 supercharger. The flange and part of the runners is the remnants of an Edelbrock turbo intake manifold.
Severe winter garage duty. If I hadn't let the insurance lapse, I would drive it on nicer days, but now it's a hanger queen till spring. However, it'll come apart slightly here in the next month or 2. Shocks are going in for rebuilding and revalving. Electric power steering will be installed. I'll finish the traction control install, and I "may" drop the oil pan to try and correct a badly leaking pan/seal situation.
Jaker,
I can't help but to ask you about your seats. Are the rails custom made by you or for the EF hatch/crx? Also do you think you would be able to get better pictures of CTR cluster? a picture from the driver's view? lots of gaps at all?
I made some steel adapters to bolt the race sidemounts to the OEM chassis mounting holes (class seat mounting rules). There are no sliders. The driver's seat is mounted to suit me and my driving position. The passenger seat is mounted as far back as I could get it.
The cluster fits rather well. There are 2 small gaps in the bottom corners that are almost un-noticable. I do intend at some point to make up a surround plate that fills the area between the cluster face and the inside of the hood. I have a couple large sheets of 1/8" ABS plastic that'll be perfect for it. You can just make out the gap on the lower right corner of the cluster in this pic:
I have no plans to cage the car. It's an autocross car and a Sunday driver, and no cage is required for the racing I do. This is one of the reasons I also have no immediate plans to do any lapping of any sort.
In other news, the car is once again in "parked" mode. I went to Speed Factory on Saturday, and the beast lost a sleeve on the dyno. I will be building a new shortblock, sleeved this time, and revising other parts of the build to try and address some issues that were revealed during dyno tuning (26psi at 9,000 rpm).
Comments
Needless to say, my blower fan motor is seized. Anyone got a good working motor for sale?
And with your rear diff do you have a problem with it overheating? I know the Element RT4WD if it is engaged too long it will overheat causing some problems. Is that maybe a contributing factor to your diff problems? Could you possible fab up an oil cooler to your rear diff to cool it possibly?
I went with the supercharger for power delivery plain and simple. I expect that I'll be able to put 300 to the rear wheels once the thing is tuned and tweaked. The beauty of the supercharger is that it's exactly like having a big motor with a lot more displacement under the hood, rather than a small motor (which it is) with a turbo. I never get any hesitation in power delivery. There's no waiting, plain and simple. This makes it so much easier to drive in an autocross environment.
My experience tells me that if you stiffen up the housing, you not only stop it breaking but you keep the gears in better mesh and in effect also strengthen the gears.
I really wish I could find a way to put an LSD in the front axles on mine.
With the OBX LSD in the rear, do you think the mods to fit it fixed the run out problems they are alleged to have.
I also have a guy near Sydney with a CNC machine centre who owes me a few favours. He also works dirt cheap. He has no digitiser attachment, but if you have computer models I can get him to quote if you like.
I have not yet forged ahead with the transfer case housing work. I expect it will be billet aluminum (see weight reduction above!!!), and will be done by the gentleman from Ontario that I have made contact with already. I do not yet have any digitizing or CAD/CAM files.
17x7.5 Hanabis in the front with 225/35-17 Falken FK452
17x9 Hanabis in the back with 245/35-17 Falken FK452
I don't remember the offset, but it's the only offset available for those wheels. They're actually discontinued now, so you'll likely only find them either used, or if someone has some new old stock sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
With the height of the car in the pics, the fenders need to be rolled in the front, and the rear needs to be rolled, and massaged a little. I think you could fit them under the fenders without having to cut them if you kept them in pretty close to the car, but I was running some pretty big spacers to fill out the fenders, because I needed the fenders out that wide for the racing rubber.
Intake or exhaust?
Intake manifold is a hand made unit from Endyn to hold the M62 supercharger. The flange and part of the runners is the remnants of an Edelbrock turbo intake manifold.
Exhaust is a Kamikaze that's been heat wrapped.
Keep it up Jaker!! Thumbs up to you for representing the wagons!
E-mail me at GeorgeLouis1618-at-hotmail.com and we'll finish what we were discussing.
Thanks!
I can't help but to ask you about your seats. Are the rails custom made by you or for the EF hatch/crx? Also do you think you would be able to get better pictures of CTR cluster? a picture from the driver's view? lots of gaps at all?
The cluster fits rather well. There are 2 small gaps in the bottom corners that are almost un-noticable. I do intend at some point to make up a surround plate that fills the area between the cluster face and the inside of the hood. I have a couple large sheets of 1/8" ABS plastic that'll be perfect for it. You can just make out the gap on the lower right corner of the cluster in this pic:
In other news, the car is once again in "parked" mode. I went to Speed Factory on Saturday, and the beast lost a sleeve on the dyno. I will be building a new shortblock, sleeved this time, and revising other parts of the build to try and address some issues that were revealed during dyno tuning (26psi at 9,000 rpm).
so what was the dyno numbers before it grenaded.