Civic Race Car (formerly Off Road Go-Kart)

[Taurine]

I typed out a big post but managed to hit one of my toolbar links instead of another tab in my Firefox so I lost it..

Anyway I've got this:

On it's way because the one that's on there now is crap.

So now I'm off to buy some bits and pieces to wire in switches for my fuel pump and ignition 👍

 

[ferrari_chris]

Dude, the paint and panel on that car looks very good. No problems there. 👍

Will you be allowed to race it without headlights, and how much work do you have to do before it's up to MANZ standard?

Alsp, what tyres are you running? Full slicks or those road legal race tyres (by Dunlop or Falken I think)?

 

[Taurine]

Dude, the paint and panel on that car looks very good. No problems there. 👍

Will you be allowed to race it without headlights, and how much work do you have to do before it's up to MANZ standard?

Alsp, what tyres are you running? Full slicks or those road legal race tyres (by Dunlop or Falken I think)?

Hmmm, I'm not sure on the headlights and legality... All I know is that it could cost me anywhere from $150 - 350 for a full light set!

The tyres are Dunlop DO1J, Targa Rally Semi Slicks

Theres lots of little bits to do, such as mount the seat, mount the battery, install a fuel tank cap (and level sender) etc etc.. There's a testing day at Pukekohe pretty much ever Friday for the next 6 months so I'll make it down there as soon as I can.

I noticed today an odd sort of banging through the exhaust, like a miss. Then noticed with my thermometer that the #2 cylinder was reading 30°C less then the other 3 ...

 

[ferrari_chris]

Must be time for an update man!

What's new on the car? Did you get it to the strip yet?

 

[Taurine]

Yes, let me copy and paste what I've said in the honda club thread:

Got some new bling for the EF:

Skunk2 Stage 1 intake manifold (Type R replica basically). Was on special for a few days only and thought why not, it's cheap. People have gained 6wkw from it in the past, some haven't gained much but it might help me later on..

While installing it I broke a fitting on the PCV system so decided to bin the whole PCV system and run a catch tank. The bracket and PCV tank weighed in at 1.5kg and any weight reduction is good!

Gonna be some moola spent on this puppy soon, think Hondata, GT35R, custom exhaust manifold, avgas, slicks and fully drag strip legal

Aiming for 375-400whp on the stock block (but for how long... ) and possibly a low 11 pass. If I can get a 10 second pass on the stock engine I'd be happy as a pig in ****. I'll probably build up a strong low compression 1.8 and wait for the 1.6 to blow, take it to it's absolute limit.

 

[ferrari_chris]

... Aiming for 375-400whp on the stock block (but for how long... ) and possibly a low 11 pass. If I can get a 10 second pass on the stock engine I'd be happy as a pig in ****. ...

****, I'll say!

That'll be seriously quick! 👍

Lookin' good, keep us posted.

 

[ferrari_chris]

Dude, are you putting the Yellow Beast in the NZPC Super Lap Challenge they're planning?

Or have you gone too far down the straight-track route to be worrying about making the thing turn corners?

 

[Taurine]

Or have you gone too far down the straight-track route to be worrying about making the thing turn corners?

I think soo



Drag racing is just something I'm more interested in. Besides, dedicated FWD drag cars are few and far between here in NZ..

 

[Taurine]

Okay okay I've been neglecting this thread so here's a massive update taken from the Honda Club thread...

This is my Civic:

I bought an EG half size radiator:

I put it in the car:

It didn't fit:

So I'm going to cut that dented yellow/white bar along the bottom, fabricate my own traction bar

So that a turbo can go here:

----

Then the next night I:

Ripped the crossmember:

Before:

After:

I couldn't cut all the way though with my angle grinder so I bent it to weaken it and then smacked it off with a mallet 👍

----

Then I had a sudden idea ... I don't really need headlights so why not get rid of them completely? Like this:

So I did a very poor photoshop of what it would look like with the addition of a carbon fibre bonnet:

Although it looks like it was done by a 9 year old, I quite like the look and I think I might go through with it, I can get a bonnet for $500 odd and the work done on the lights I can do for free 👍

Besides, it will free up so much room in the front and all I need to do is take the bumper and one peice of trim off to have complete access to the engine and drivetrain

Update: The bonnet is set to cost me $725

----

But then, the big things start happening:

500x300x80, tube and fin

----

And this is the latest work I've done:

I've removed all that sheet metal that was surrounded the headlights and was part of the lower radiator support. When I get my traction bar fabricated I'm going to mount the intercooler and the radiator on it.

I've welded one of the tabs for the front bumper back in, when I get the other welded in then the front bumper can still be bolted back into it's factory position with the use of 6 bolts

I'm going to have to fabricate a bar that runs along the inside of the bonnet so that it can be supported (just like the black car above has)

So on the list now:

Fabrication:

* Get traction bar made
* Buy carbon fibre bonnet
* Get the bonnet all sorted out
* Mount intercooler and radiator
* Buy GT3540 ($1900)
* Talk a guy at work into machining me some flanges for a manifold
* Make said manifold
* Pipe the intercooler
* Buy wastegate (Tial 38mm?)

Electronics:

* Buy OBD1 dizzy
* OBD1 loom
* OBD1 ecu
* Buy Hondata S300

Others:

* Decide on tyres, I'm thinking 15x8 wheels with 26' slicks on the front and skinnies on the back
* Tech inspection
* Dyno

* Sort out some kind of boost control

 

[ferrari_chris]

Awesome!

So, a bit of work left to do then. When's the target date to get it on the track for a shakedown run?

Also, do you have to qualify for licenses or anything like that?

 

[Sting]

Get VipFreak, or someone to photochop it lol.

Coming along nicely Taurine. Love how more and more of the front is disappearing. lol

 

[Taurine]

So, a bit of work left to do then. When's the target date to get it on the track for a shakedown run?

Also, do you have to qualify for licenses or anything like that?

I'd like to have it running for the end of the year, when the season is in full swing again.

It depends on how fast you go, because my car has no warrent I need to buy a Sportsman License and get my car Tech Inspected but any trap speeds over 130mph require another test of some sort.

Thanks Sting, I'm going to check out the black car (the engine bay pic) next Sunday at Aucklands AutoSalon so I might be able to steal a few ideas from him 👍

 

[Evolution.]

Thank god it's not going to be some weak-sauce fake CF hood. When the Civic is finished, I hope somebody calls it a ricer. And I hope you blow the doors off of their weaksauce Rustang.

 

[Taurine]

I removed some parts today, and here are their weights:

OEM Bonnet: 12.5kg
N/A Extractors: 12.5kg
Full Exhaust: 12.5kg
OEM Crossmember: 8kg
Full Size Radiator: 4kg
RX7 Wheels: 64kg

Total: 113.5kg

And things I've added:

Intercooler: 8kg
Half Size Radiator: 3kg

Total: 11kg

So all up, 102kg removed from the car as it is. Most of that will be added back in when turbo (the turbo itself, manifold, side exit exhaust, drag wheels and slicks, CF bonnet etc etc) but it's nice to say I removed over 100kg from the car

I've ordered an NZDRA Rule Book so I'll be able to know what I can and cannot cut away.

I'm thinking about hacking out whatever I can from the boot area, considering nothing much happens back there for a FWD drag car except help keep the thing straight.

 

[Cosmic]

Do you know how much your car weights now? 500-600kg?

 

[Taurine]

Do you know how much your car weights now? 500-600kg?

Hell no, I'd put it around the 900kg mark just to be safe.

Standard EF2's weighed in between 830 and something like 950kg with full interior/sound deadening and the ****box carby 4cylinder.

My car no longer has the interior but has a rollcage in there instead so I'm just playing it easy and estimating 900kg.

 

[Taurine]

Too tired for typing, just look:

^^ direct path up to throttle body

Still working on headlight blanks.

 

[Taurine]

My updating in the Honda Club thread is all over the place and only 10 people or so view it so I'll update both at the same time since this thread gets different viewers..

Yesterday at work I machined my factory tow hooks to accept the chromoly bar for my new crossmember. I machined a 1.5" (38.1mm) counterbore 3mm deep with a nice big chamfer for welding (I bet you guy have no idea what I just said )

Anyway, I managed to turn the counterbore on the wrong side on one of them (they should be mirrored, not identical) so I drilled it right through. Not really what I wanted to do but meh, would have prefer both of them to spigot.

Anyhow got them home last night and cut the 1.5" chromoly to length, bolted the brackets in, fed the bar through the bracket with the hole into the other brackets counterbore and tack welded both of them.

I didn't take any photos during the work...

*runs outside to take a picture*

But here it is:

Now there's still lots of work to be done, such as fabricating the new trailing arms which involves brackets, rose joints and 3/4" chromoly as well as some more parts to be machined at work.

Mounted to this as well is the intercooler which will be mounted using, once again, 3/4" chromoly and some aluminium + steel parts.

Trust me it'll all make sense when you see the pictures.

After that I'll give it to my mate would will go over the whole lot and tig weld everything so it's nice and strong and look sex. Then a lick of paint and it's on with the next job!

I don't know what the next job will be actually. If I get the money then I will buy the turbo and I will begin fabbing the manifold. If not, then it will be a spool to replace the factory open differential.

So at the moment I'm working on removing the gearbox so I can take the diff out to measure everything up (such as bearing diameters, crown wheel sizing etc etc) and draw it up, order some 2767 steel machine it and then maybe get it heat treated.

 

[TheCracker]

My updating in the Honda Club thread is all over the place and only 10 people or so view it so I'll update both at the same time since this thread gets different viewers..

Wow, great thread, you should 'advertise' it more - I didn't know it even existed!

Why don't you have a link to it in your signature?


Is the Civic going to stay as a race car or are you going to legalize it for the road?

I think you might be underestimating just how light that car will be. If you were to keep it as a track car you could loose a heap of weight by replacing the doors (outer skins) and bonnet with CF or FG versions - but i'm sure you know that

Our Cortina is in a similar state of 'undress' and weighs just under 800kgs (unbalasted) with alloy doors and a few trick magnisium parts. The Civic is a much smaller shell so should, even with steel doors and bonnet, weigh not much more. One of the guys in our series runs a similar LC that weighs under 700kgs! so has to run 130+kgs of lead balast strapped under the car!

 

[Taurine]

Wow, great thread, you should 'advertise' it more - I didn't know it even existed!

Why don't you have a link to it in your signature?


Is the Civic going to stay as a race car or are you going to legalize it for the road?

I think you might be underestimating just how light that car will be. If you were to keep it as a track car you could loose a heap of weight by replacing the doors (outer skins) and bonnet with CF or FG versions - but i'm sure you know that

Our Cortina is in a similar state of 'undress' and weighs just under 800kgs (unbalasted) with alloy doors and a few trick magnisium parts. The Civic is a much smaller shell so should, even with steel doors and bonnet, weigh not much more. One of the guys in our series runs a similar LC that weighs under 700kgs! so has to run 130+kgs of lead balast strapped under the car!

I didn't even think of advertising it in my sig! Done!

The car will only be legal for the track, that way I can do whatever I want with it in order to make it go fast.

I think you might be right with the weight thing, I will have to get it weighed someday to make sure. With my trap speeds and the power I make I can make a fairly accurate guess of how much it weighs but I'll get it on a set of scales once it's running anyway.

The doors are completely gutted, I'm slowly going through and replacing parts with not only stronger but lighter parts. I should be picking up a carbon fibre bonnet in a few weeks provided the place hasnt sold it already.

Anyway, update time!

After much cussing and dirty looks I managed to get the gearbox out of the car. Turns out I needed to take the starter motor out

Okay now I jump ahead a bit because during the time I was 'very grumpy' () and didn't have a camera on me but here are assorted gearbox pieces:

This here is the bellhousing with half of the gear selector forks, they weren't supposed to fall out but during my rampage I managed to shake them loose, anyway lets not go there again:

And this is the actually gearbox.. here's hoping she stays together long enough for a 10 second pass!

After much blood loss and more swearing I finally had the diff out:

And here is what I'm planning on making at work, a full drag spool:

Shouldn't be too hard for me to machine at work, I was quoted a price today of NZD$250 for a 160mm length of 2767 steel, I could also try 4140 and have it nitrided for more strength or case hardend EN39A, we do heat treating at work so I can get that done for free, as well as free labour (me)

 

[Omnis]

Isn't that FMIC going to make lift? Dood, not good for the strip.

 

[Taurine]

I don't imagine so..

 

[Eric.]

Sweet Civic Taurine. Good luck on getting the rest of the stuff done. Maybe while you have the gearbox laying out you should replace the first few gears with straight cut ones?

 

[ÄŁPĨЙΣ]

wow! your good