My newest build for SCCA STL/HPDE's

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Courtesy of Dave Gran www.goaheadtakethewheel.com

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I will be using this diagram but obviously execution is another thing which I will get to at some point.
 
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Not a huge update but every bit gets me closer. I really want to make the June NASA Sebring event but I dont know if the cage will be done. The faster I get this in the car running, the faster I can get to the cage.

bead blasted the stock intake manifold

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Starting the valve adjustment .008 intake and .010 exhaust for these cams. Timing belt is on and the motor is pretty much perfect for timing. Im going with NGK platinum cheapo plugs with a heat range of 1 cooler at 6 for this motor due to the higher compression. I hope that works out. I basically will be going with a gsr/itr plug and stock gapping which is just a little ****** than the b18b normally.

So my nice valve adjustment tool is for a 10mm nut and the B18B has a 12mm nut so fail boat there. I went with the typical slave labor adjusting.

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All buttoned up. I left the valve cover the same way I got it used so it doesnt look great but at this point I dont care, I can paint it later.

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So I just need to get it off the stand now, if I cant get some help I might just lift it myself.

I need to get a smaller alternator belt, I want it as short as possible for less work albeit little for the motor. I currently have a 30.5 inch so Im going to go with a 29.5 and see if that has it almost as short as possible.

I was looking on Brian Crower today and it looks like the dyno for these cams with stock compression made a little over 150whp and 125 trq so if all goes well maybe I will be a little above that.

Their dyno chart they showed with mods aem cai intake, msd ignition, zero'd out cam gears, 4-2-1 header.
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I will have more updates soon.
 
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I was wondering, since you have to keep OEM throttle body and intake does that mean you could possibly take the OEM part and modify it? IE. bore the throttle body or use a plenum intake spacer?

The site below is cheap to have this done on a oem part if it is allowed.

www.maxbore.com
 
The oem throttle body and intake manifold must be oem spec. You can port match the head and intake manifold but I fgured I would pass on the 1 hp maybe that would give me.

I know people will cheat, Im not one of them. If I cheated to win I personally wouldnt feel good about it. I like what Dave Gran said about this(If you dont know who he is, he wrote a book about getting into road racing):

"At one point, I was speaking with another seasoned racer about cheating in club racing. During the conversation I mentioned that it could not be very gratifying for me to win if I knew my car was blatantly illegal. His response was, “Then obviously you have never won.” At that point he was correct, I had never won. After winning my first race, I thought back to that statement, and I confidently knew how wrong he was. Yes, it would have mattered. If I had not won through my own skill as a driver, the victory surely won’t have been so sweet."

B16 is very correct about restricting air inlets, thats what gives our little hondas life especially vtec motors. The compass 360r team won the cont. challenge I think the last 4 years.....well they dropped the TB size down several mm's and now they arent able to dominate.

maxbore btw is not that far from where I live.


B16 how do you think I will like NASAs HPDEs? Im going to try to go to the June Sebring event and have never been with NASA before.
 
B16 how do you think I will like NASAs HPDEs? Im going to try to go to the June Sebring event and have never been with NASA before.
Expect it to be crowded at popular tracks. Will you be in HPDE4 open passing? Typically that group isn't too bad. HPDE1-3; 3 being the scariest because you have noobs and advanced drivers alike in that group. If they're like NorCal you typically get 4x20 min sessions. They do a good job of sticking to the schedule. After you do a HPDE4 day you should jump into TT. TT with NASA is a lot of fun. I'm headed to Thunderhill next weekend for another NASA TT event.
 
That sounds good, Im sure they will stick me in HPDE 1 which is fine because Im sure I will get signed off and atleast go up to HPDE 2....I would hope. I will submit and ask if I can go directly to HPDE 2 but it has to be approved by the lady that does the registration first.

The organizations I run with have been very strict after the instructor died at cmp last year.

I have run with darkside at Roebling 4 days and was promoted the first 2 days. I ran with Chin motorsports in their beginners group. I ran in a pass anywhere on the course open session with Chin at Sebring. I ran solo at the Time Attack at Sebring.

I probably have a total of 50-60 laps at Sebring and 80-90 at Roebling rd so Im really still low on HPDE seat time when Im asked and I end up in beginner groups.

I probably have a couple thousand laps on iracing though :)
 
Damn, that is scary about the instructor. I instructed with NASA for 4 years and just stopped this last year. It is scetchy indeed.

Only difference between HPDE1 and 2 is 1 you get an instructor, 2 you're on your own. 1 and 2 run in the same group with the same passing rules. Only sign up for 1 if you want an instructor, otherwise you should be fine for 2.
 
I think at Sebring I dont need an instructor, I have a good grasp of the line and where I need to change my line. I have watched my video there and watched other videos there to see where I was off.

Im always open to tips but really outside of my very first instructor, they have really sucked.

I will see if they will let me go to HPDE 2 off the bat, I really would rather run HPDE 3 or 4. Passing in just the straights is very frustrating and I end up getting stuck in trains. Not because :leet: but I know my way around the track.

I would imagine you need a check off ride to get moved to 3?
 
With limited experience you would probably need to be checked off for 3.

You can sign straight up for 2, at the beginning of the day let the group leader know your intnetions of going right into 3. They will watch you and could potentially even move you into 3 that same day.

You sound more like a group 3 driver. Group 4 is totally open passing with a mix of race cars testing.

Hell, you can probably sign straight up for 3 also. How many track days in what time span do you have at what level for those clubs?
 
I actually just had to state my case for HPDE 2! Which I'm now approved for, with a check ride she said I can go to HPDE 3.

I have 6 total HPDE days and used to autox which was boring and why I moved into HPDEs.

Im not exceptional behind the wheel but I can hold my own and based off some lap times I must have been doing something right out there.

I drove an open session with rsr motorsports and a few other teams mixed with all the highest level drivers at Sebring when I ran the Chin event and it was a little overwhelming at first because I spent the whole time letting people pass me. That actually was a great experience and the next time out it was a cake walk handling traffic.

I posted my video if you didnt watch it if you want to critique. My biggest track issues are upsetting the car by downshifting when I should have tried to instead carry more speed in the higher gear. I watch my videos and have my original instructor critique who is also a friend and ex south atlantic scca champion and he normally isnt very kind on my critiques.

The next times I go out, I try to improve those areas and have normally been sucessfull at fixing issues and getting better at car rotation etc.
 
The biggest thing with the open groups is comfort in traffic, awareness of your surroundings (and flag stations) and knowing what to do when SHTF. You can only get that with seat time. I agree with them, go into 2 get a check ride for 3. Spend some time in 3 before going to 4.

I'll check out your vid.

*EDIT*
ok, where the hell is this vid? lol
 
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Yeah I dont have a problem with being approved to move up. Because this car basically will be completely different its best to start lower and get used to it with beginners for a few sessions..only changes will be full cage instead of half and less power.

The video was on page 2 lol YouTube - Redline Time attack Sebring HPDE Honda CIVIC Session 2

Im a big boy so critiques are welcome from you as I know you have way more seat time.

I missed a couple lines in the video and I had some down shifting when I should not of in some areas, went a little too hot into the hairpin. I set my hands inconsistently on certain turns. So I know those mistakes but if you see anything else let me know.

I wont be upset if you say I suck lol.
 
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You passed some pretty awesome cars...with a Civic. I'd say you did great. It was exciting just to watch that.
 
Looks pretty good, hard to crituqe too much as I don't know the track. Looks like there are a couple places where you're not using the entire track and pinching off a couple turns.
 
Thanks, I know exactly where you are talking about. I have watched the video 100s of times while the car has been parked and hopped on my sim rig to try to run a better line there. I think the next time Im out there I will have a much better line.

I got the motor on the ground and will be trying to get it all in this weekend!
 
bout time, good luck!
 
I replaced the lower front ball joints because of them hitting the front rotors and getting shaved down....I dont know if that has happened to anyone before here but a lot of the Honda Challenge guys I talked to on H-T have it happen too.

B16, I need to get a HANS now that dfender is going out of business....

What layback did you get? 20?

Im a big guy and not height wise, 5'10 220 and have heard some people going with the 30 layback because of having a big chest? Typically thats for a formula style car and not a sedan.

Any suggestions on that outside of losing weight lol?
 
were/are you using prelude brake rotors?

Brian @ FastBrakes told me that the increased rotor hat offset can cause issues with that lower joint.
 
that must be it, im using the prelude rotors from his itr kit.

Not a great update but I got the motor together with the hyper transmission....funny thing happened in the garage...I randomly found my receipt for that hyper transmission and I almost choked at what I paid....$1745 shipped from Acura of Las Vegas, I guess for the years of service it has been worth it.

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