Wek'Fest..

Wek'Fest came and went last Sunday. I was able to debut the car with the new family, ATS*DPK, and the car got a good response. A lot of people didn't even recognize the car as being mine. At the end, I took home 1st place overall Civic. Not bad, considering there were about 30 Civics at the show.

1st place Civic plaque..


Civic on display..

Updates..

Sorry, haven't updated the blog lately, because the car has been at the body shop for a while.

I picked up the car on Saturday, and it was wetsanded and buffed, so there is no more orange peel. They aligned all my panels, and made everything fit better, except for the hood. They said the mold of the J's Type T hood was too small, and that no matter what they did, there would be large gaps between the hood and fenders. I decided that I might not run the Type T hood, and instead go back to running the Type S hood, which has no fitment issues.

While the car was at the body shop, I had the glass installers come back and fix/reinstall my front windshield. When they installed it, they put it too high, so the windshield cowl didn't overlap the windshield, which left a gap between the two. So they had to cut it out and reinstall it. After that was done, I installed a brand new windshield cowl. I didn't think a new one would make that much of a difference, but it did. Thanks Fred for convincing me to get it.

Once I got the car back from the shop, I changed the transmission fluid to ATS LSD oil. Originally I put in Motul LSD oil, but I heard that ATS LSD's require ATS oil, so I decided to change the oil, because better safe than sorry. The LSD, brand new, has been very very grabby, and needed to be broken in. I found an empty parking lot (Lake Merced) and drove in figure 8's for about 10 minutes, which really loosened up the LSD. Afterwards, I drove up and down the Great Highway, and did several 60 - 5mph brake slams, to try to break in the pads and rotors. The tires (Azenis) kept locking up, so it made it a little difficult, having to modulate the brakes once it started sliding.

Today I decided to install the fuel gauge module for my AiM Sports MXL. It was a plug and play kinda deal for installation, but requires calibration and the creation of a custom sensor in Racestudio. It was a time consuming ordeal, but I got it to work for the most part. Basically I had to drain the gas tank, measure/record the reading, then fill 1 gallon, measure/record, fill another gallon, measure/record, and repeat until the tank was full. Then I had to create a custom sensor for these values, so it could interpolate these values and display how much fuel I have in terms of percentage. The program creates a "best fit equation" which relates closely to the inputted values. When my tank is full (100%), the equation shows 95% due to the best fit curve. I did the calibrations with the engine off, and a battery voltage of around 12.3V. I noticed that when I have the engine on, the calibration is off, due to the voltage being around 14V. So when the engine is off, the gauge will show 95%, but when the engine is on, the gauge will show 90%. Oh well, at least it gives me an idea of how much fuel I have, so I don't have to guess. I also have an alarm warning me once the fuel level reaches below 15%.

A retail value of $650 worth of ATS LSD oil..


Driverside rotor. Halfway broken in, need to do another session of hard braking. I want the whole rotor to have that bluish hue to it, which is actually pad compound transferred onto the rotor..


Passengerside rotor..


Configuring the fuel gauge..


Screenshot of my custom sensor for the fuel gauge..


Fuel gauge working..


Magnets I created out of stickers..

At the Body Shop..

I drove the car to Golden Auto Muffler yesterday morning to get the exhaust connected. Afterwards I dropped off the car at Franklin Autobody to get the panels realigned, to get my side skirts installed, and to get the car buffed and polished.

A couple things noted while driving the car. The alignment is way off, and the right side wheel is toed in quite a bit. The wheels seemed to clear the fenders while driving on the streets, which is good. I didn't realize that the new LSD needs to be broken in, so once I get the car back, I am going to do some Figure 8's to break it in. Right now the LSD is very clunky and very stiff. I also heard that ATS LSD's require ATS fluids, so I am going to drain the Motul fluid and replace it with ATS fluid.

Hopefully the car isn't at the shop for too long. A lot of people have already stopped by and saw the car. I need to get it out of there quick so less people see it, lol.

Dropped off at Franklin Autobody..

Glass..

The other day I pulled the car out of the garage and warmed it up completely. I wanted to make sure that the car would not overheat, and that the fan would automatically kick in, so I can install my AiM Sports MXL dash, which currently does not have a water temperature sensor. While the car was warmed up, I also adjusted the timing. When I was moving the car back into the garage, I was surprised at how difficult the new clutch is to drive. It feels like the clutch is either on or off, with no in between. I guess that's how race clutches are.

Today I finally got my windows put in, after getting flaked on a couple times. I also installed my Recaro SPG from my Del Sol, as my other seats are still in the shop getting the backs painted. The stock seat belts are no longer usable, so I also installed the Willans/Recaro harness for the driverside. Finally I installed the Magical Racing side view mirrors.

Outside and warming up..


ATS clutch and LSD stickers on the transmission mount..


Windshield installed..


Side and rear windows installed..


Side mirrors installed..


Recaro SPG and Willans harness installed..


Interior cleaned and waxed. Also installed my camera mount..

Front End..

I was suppossed to get my glass put in today, but the glass guys didn't realize that I needed the front windshield molding. I assumed the windshield came with a new molding, but I guess not, as it is a $60 option. So they are gonna come back and do the glass tomorrow.

I then decided to install the front end. I trimmed the fender lips to give the wheels as much clearance as possible. Unfortunately, I screwed up and some how chipped off a chunk of fiberglass on the bottom corner. I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do about that yet, but I'll see what Franklin Autobody can do about it. I was pretty pissed at myself for that one, but at least it's on the lower corner. I then installed my fenders, headlights, front bumper and side skirts. I did the best I could to align them, and am pretty happy with it. Now that the fenders are bolted on and installed, it appears that the wheels/tires might clear the fenders, so I'll give it a shot before going back to OEM fenders.

I also installed a few lights on my cluster. I mounted a pair of turn signal lights (green) and a low fuel light (orange). I used a test light to determine the outputs for the low fuel light, and decided that it would be a great warning light to install, since I don't have a fuel level gauge. **EDIT: I tried wiring up the low fuel light, but it wasn't working, due to the signal always having a voltage reading. So I decided to use that light as a check engine light instead.

Chipped fender..


Wheel to fender clearance..


Testing HID's..


Great teaser shot..


Side skirts and taillights installed..


Don't mind the license plate, just trying to keep it as legal as possible..


Warning lights installed under the MXL..