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JoaoPRSousa

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  1. Funny
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to vetali in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    THE Toyota pickup.
     
    Like how alumni say THE Ohio State University.
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    JoaoPRSousa got a reaction from PandaCopyRight in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    And what's wrong with that?
     
    And also, @warmmilk nice seeing you again!
  7. Agree
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to bcredeur97 in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    waiting for pics of it absolutely filthy and not on the road or a parking lot 😛 
  8. Like
    JoaoPRSousa got a reaction from warmmilk in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    And what's wrong with that?
     
    And also, @warmmilk nice seeing you again!
  9. Agree
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    JoaoPRSousa reacted to warmmilk in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    I've been gone for quite a while but I've returned to my ricer ways... so I thought I'd share 
     
    I've gone over to the dark side and I sell cars now, new Subarus and whatever we have used... here's a pic of my daily (sky looked awesome on this day)
     

     
     
    and here's the rice. picked it up at work after someone traded it in.  I was at the desk, colleague comes up and starts telling the manager about the trade... and I'm like manual? Si?  DIBS!!!  and a week later it was mine.  This is how I got it, to me "stock"
     
    knock off advans... slammed on crusty function & form coilovers.  interior had Bride door panel inserts and shift boot.  fender liners were missing cause they got chewed up by the ride height.  it was so low that if I made a hard left or right turn the tow hook would scrape
     
    yes yes, the sedan is better... and the color is 🤔   but I got it for less than half market value... so I'm good 
     

     
    the tires on this thing were hot garbage, Laufenn... I mean they're ok in the dry, but completely useless in the wet.  I could solid burnouts through 4th gear.  I'm not talking just some slip when you shift and then get grip, I mean spinning as long as I keep my foot in.  So I got some Falken 615k+ tires since they were on sale at the time, paid under 400 for all 4.  stayed with the same size at 215/40-17.  ended up just sitting in my garage over the winter as I collected fix mods and maintenance and while you're in there parts.  List of first round of parts
     
    Annex Club coilovers with 8k/14k springs - Speed Academy kinda sold me on these.  Well I wanted to go with Fortune Auto 510 but they were like $700 more...
    Skunk2 rear camber kit with Seals-It heim joint boots.  The car already had this on it but it was corrode welded together and couldn't be adjusted anymore 
    Hybrid Racing cold air intake
    Full-Race 3" catback (multiple resonators, big muffler.  no rasp, no drone... car sounds amazing paired with the intake, definitely not your typical straight pipe honda)
    Hondata Flashpro
    Hybrid Racing shifter cable bushings
    Timken front and rear wheel bearings
    Dorman front hubs
    ARP extended wheel studs
    Hybrid racing master and slave cylinder kit.  removes dampers and delay valves.  master cylinder was dead so I ended up going with a stock EM1 (99-00 civic si) cylinder and it works perfect.  Still haven't heard back from Hybrid Racing about this.
    Whiteline roll center correction kit
    SuperPro front lower control arm bushings (add caster)
    New brake rotors all around (whatever was the cheapest)
    Powerstop track day pads - these are only like 90 bucks, ok entry level pad.  I just needed something to hold me over till I got Wilwoods.  definitely need something better after you've done a few track days
    NGK spark plugs
    Redline trans fluid
    Pennzoil Ultra Platinum (5W-30 for street and 0W-40 for track)
    Amsoil DOT4 - had some sealed bottles left over from when I was regularly tracking the Miata
     
    These are my "entry level" mods... basically I didn't wanna spend too much money (I know I know) before trying it out at the track and making sure I liked it before going full ham.  I hated the RSX cause of its sh*t front suspension.  This is supposed to be better in theory with the steering arm moved off the damper and on to the knuckle where it belongs.  And it has an LSD stock...   Pretty much all of this stuff was purchased on black friday, so I didn't wanna miss out on the deals.  The intake, exhaust, flashpro, and shifter bushings wouldn't have been included otherwise for the first round of mods.
     
    took all this stuff over to Rich Tuned.  Local Honda shop, mostly focus on drag racing, but they do good work.  I'm lazy these days, not the biggest fan of working on cars, driving is much more fun.  They installed all the stuff, including installing coilovers the "correct" way (see Annex's instructions, all coilovers should be installed like this), car's not slammed anymore, tuned it... it made 226whp and 161 wtq... not bad for a 110k 16 year old engine.  here's the dyno sheet:

     
    still had the crap tires mounted... this was kinda end of winter, so still lots of rain here in the PNW... did lots and lots and lots and lots of wet burnouts... went from full tread depth tires to cords in like 2 weeks.  woulda done try burnouts too but engine mounts are on their way out and I didn't wanna finish them off. 
    Car got much more fun to drive, suspension was ages better... I mean they're no Ohlins like I had on my Miata, but Ohlins doesn't make coilovers for the Civic.  This is prolly about as good as you can get for about 2k on coilovers.  
    One big difference was the stock tune free revving throttle map was kinda stupid... it would rev super slow, especially right after a stop.  like pulling up to a stop sign and going again right away... I'd basically have to floor it and wait like a full 1-2 seconds before revs would get high enough to start letting out the clutch.  I mean it would be ok if you wanna drive like a granny, but I got this car to drive it like a bmw driver... I got my daily for driving like a granny.  anyway, after the tune and the mods, it free revs like it should, rev matching and heel-n-toe'ing is much much better.  
    speaking of heel-n-toe'ing, this car has the gas pedal hinged at the bottom.  at first I didn't like it cause I thought it was causing my free rev issue, like I'm not pressing the pedal enough or something.  now that its behaving like it should, I love the bottom hinged pedal, heelntoes are so easy, pedal is nice and wide, easy to move my foot over, heights match up great.  gear ratio's are actually evenly spaced... my miata had a stupid 4th gear, so downshifting from different gears needed a different amount of revs to match... was kinda annoying.
     
    anyway,  loving the car, time to get an alignment and hit the track.  got -2.7 front and -1.3 rear camber.  asked for 1/32 toe out front and 1/32 toe in, got toe in on both.  firestone caught on and doesn't do lifetime alignments like this anymore.  That only applies if you're going for oem spec alignment.  So done with firestone. 
     
    Track day time!  Went with SCCA track nights, nice and cheap, good for shake downs...
    had my gopro and erethang... but I haven't used it in like 3 years so I forgot the wifi password for it so I couldn't connect it to Race Chrono... so no vid...  here's a pic:
     

    pic credit: https://www.instagram.com/kirkmyhre/
     
    best lap was 2:04.22
    best lap on my Miata was 2:01.08... so 3 seconds slower... and try repaved the track since and made it a bit wider in some places, so the track is generally about 1.5-2 seconds faster... so like 4.5-5 seconds slower.  But that Miata session my GPS dongle didn't connect so it was using the phones GPS not 10hz dongle.  Going off experience that could mean the Miata time is 0-2 seconds skewed to a more impressive laps time... so I'm in the range of 2.5-5 seconds slower... with 50 more hp... but to be fair also about 4-500lb more weight, and 245 R888R's vs the 215 RT615k+ on the Civic.  also my first time back at the track in 3 years... super rusty... like suuuper rusty...  kinda started getting back into the swing of things by the last session but that only lasted 2 laps and then a kit car in front of me had its trunk fly off (luckily I was far enough back that I was in no danger of hitting it) and that ended the session.
     
    more importantly the car kinda felt like sh*t... it understeers pretty bad under power, turn in is kinda lazy... steady state cornering balance is ok... basically more frustrating than anything to drive. but most of that could be blamed on the tires... partially on the degrading engine mounts...  partially on the CMC... partially on me being rusty... partially on the alignment...  I was really going back and forth on ditching it or trying to improve things.  and brakes were inconsistent, but I was pretty much expecting that part.  initially springs felt a bit too soft too, but I'm thinking maybe its just me moving around so much in the stock seat?
     
    decided to address the alignment and clutch master cylinder.  When the Hybrid racing CMC didn't work I had them put the stock one back in.  The stock CMC has a damper in it, its kinda ok for street driving, but on the track when everything gets all hot, the damper has more play in it and pushing the clutch pedal to the floor just doesn't fully depress the plunger.  Which means I'm grinding every gear at the track.  So I got that replaced with the EM1 CMC, instantly felt the difference. 
    The tune had a partial throttle and full throttle vtec engagement.  I changed that to be the same, was causing a weird behavior when going from 100% throttle to like 90% throttle.
    Got one of the techs at work to do an alignment for me after hours (super cheap compared to paying shop prices, shoulda done this the first time) and bleed brakes with some Motul RBF600.  Took some convincing but finally talked her into giving me -3.7 camber and 1/32" toe out. 
    She does a lot of rally-cross in a lifted Impreza (I thought it was a Crosstrek for the longest time) and she was like "you don't need this" and I was "track driving is different than rally" and she was like "try left foot braking" and I was like "ok but I still need the alignment" and she was like "fine but still try left foot braking" and I was like "ok I will"
     
    I haven't tried left foot braking.
     
    but more because I still had the stock seat and I'm using my legs to brace myself in the corners and physically can't...  anyway, time for the second track day... got the gopro working this time, here's the vid and pic (pretty sure this pic is on a cool down lap, which is why my hand is on top of the steering wheel)
     

    (proportions do look kinda stupid, huh?)
     
    went 2:03.41
    almost a second quicker...
     
    also talked a couple coworkers into going, flyby of them, first one is on the red BRZ, second is on the silver STi.  track days are sausage fests, but somehow its easier to talk girls into their first track day than dudes...  anyway, both loved it and wanna do it again... not sure when again will be for them, haha
     
     
    more importantly, the alignment transformed the car!  turn in is like night and day.  there's still a bit of understeer under power, but stickier and wider tires will take care of that.  more importantly its doesn't just plow anymore.  Rotates well, maybe a little too well... might have to dial a bit of that out.  and changing the vtec thing made modulating throttle through a corner much better.  CMC change also worked, doesn't grind every shift anymore.  I still have to shift kinda slow cause the engine mounts.  but anyway, I like the car now, decided to keep it and waste more money on it 😁
    brake still sorely lacking, super inconsistent, have to do a cool down lap every 2 hot laps (hence the pic during a cool down lap).  I'm definitely still rusty, still lack confidence some parts of the track so my driving is also inconsistent.  but its coming back... max speed on the front straight was 121-122 and hitting that pretty consistently vs 117-118 last time.  I think the car has a sub 2 in it with more consistent brakes and a proper seat.
     
    speaking for brakes... about 5 1/4 sessions (track nights is 3 sessions, first day the last session got cut short with the kit car falling apart and this time I got like 2-3 laps in and brakes were done) did this
     

     
     

     
     
    so I got this...

     
     
    I'm not a fan of working on cars, but Wilwoods are finicky... they have this shim bs... so I decided to do this myself (famous last words)

     
    install went pretty smooth... adapter bracket is mounted backwards compared to my Miata so it took me a minute to figure out why the caliper wasn't lining up right, and it was close enough that I thought I needed to shim it into place... basically RTFM...  The Wilwood BP10 pads that come with the kit are literally the worst pads in existence.  The cheapest pads at your local autoparts store are better.  So I got some Porterfield R4 pads for these calipers.  Its prolly too aggressive of a pad for these tires, but we'll see... might have to get something a bit more mild.  Put on some high temp antiseize on the sides of the pad backing plate, the part that slides on the caliper just to keep things lubed up. 
     
    and my knock off wheels clear quite well.  I got 5 and 10mm spacers just in case, turns out I didn't need them.  Still put on the 5mm tho to space out the front wheels a bit so they're not so sunk into the fender.


     
    the stainless brake lines for the rear were taking longer to ship than the Wilwoods did, so I just left the car in my driveway with the stock calipers disassembled but still connected to the car (foreshadowing).  Thinking I'll put on the rear brake lines and connect the front calipers and bleed it all at the same time.  
     
    Fast forward a week and I'm getting ready to put on the rear brake lines.
     

    (excuse the garbage can)  <-- thats a joke
     
    Put on the right rear.  Idk why but I got a stupid (thinking smart at the time) idea... I can't actually bleed my brakes till my neighbor gets home from work since its a 2 person job.  So I'm like I put on the new brake line, I'll add some fluid and pump the brake pedal a couple times to push fluid into the caliper. Weird noise came from the master cylinder... I walk around, still fluid in there, I add some more, pump the pedal a couple more times, check fluid again, still good.  walk inside to get some water before doing the left rear... and walk out to this
     

     

     
    well, I took these after connecting the front calipers...
     
    and it hits me just how smart my idea was... front oem calipers were hanging there disassembled but still attached with the brake lines... pushed out the pistons and seals and all the fluid drained out, MC is empty... I add some fluid and it just pours right down to the ground.  I start freaking out, I'm not supposed to let the MC go dry... hurry up and put on the front brake lines.  So I got those on, poured some fluid into there... its not draining anymore (obviously).  finished up the rear left line right about when my neighbor got home.  He helped me bleed, actually went pretty straight forward.  Pedal nice and firm, went for a drive, pedal stays consistent... doesn't feel like there's air in the system, no sponginess.  Talked to a couple techs at work, they said in a case like this there's prolly air in the ABS module.  Also said that the only way to bleed that is to hook it up to a scan took that has the capability to cycle the ABS module and none of them have that for a Honda.  Also they're (previously mentioned tech and her bf, both do rallycross) getting ready for their race weekend and don't have time to work on my car even if they could do something about it.  So the next day driving to work I took the Civic and got lucky with an empty highway.  I did some high speed (like 90-50) ABS engaging stops, prolly like 3 or 4 of them.  ABS kept working fine, pedal still consistent, not sponginess... did I get lucky? Is it possible that I'm ok even with the brake MC going dry?  any pro mechanics here wanna chime in?  @vetali ?  Kinda praying I got lucky somehow...
     
    so I ordered a seat bracket like a month before my last track day, but it was on back order, finally shipped the week of the track day... and didn't get delivered till the day of.  So I didn't have time to put it in for last time.  But I have it now!  So I put in my seat last night
     

     
    Had this seat in my Miata... went for a drive and OMG I forgot what a massive difference a good race seat makes!  its amazing! I swear it feels like the car has less bodyroll... and with the seat being lower the shifter is suddenly in the perfect position.  before 5th gear felt a bit far, was a little annoying...
     
    and having Rich Tuned put these in tomorrow
     

     
    I was gonna get Hardrace, they do OEM style mounts just with 150% stiffer rubber.  So I was gonna do that and fill the voids with window weld on the torque mount and lower engine mount.  But they're on like 4 month back order and I don't wanna wait that long.  Did some research and look like Hasport is a good option.  Went with the 62A bushings which are the softest.  Based on reviews and vids they pretty much don't increase NVH but still reduce engine movement by a ton.  And this is coming from good OEM engine mounts, not my shot ones.  So I'm pretty excited about this... I'll finally be able to shift quick again.  And I'm hoping its the engine mounts causing the shifting issues and not both engine mounts and shot synchros.  on the other hand if I need a trans rebuild I can get ITR 4th and 5th gears which would make for much better gearing at my local track... and a better LSD as the stock one is lacking a bit coming out of slow corners... although engine mounts should help with that too...  then again I kinda wanna go full stupid and get a sequential... who knows, we'll see.  For now I'm hoping this fixes the shifting issues and there's no air in my brakes.  got another track day coming up Wednesday, fingers crossed for sub 2.
     
    I'll keep using these wheels and tires till they wear out.  plan is to get Konig Ultraform in 17x9 and 17x8 and do a 245/225 reverse stagger tire setup.  Also toying with going to 18's...  Clearance in the front is kinda lacking in this car tho.  so I'm thinking of going to a 1" shorter front spring to make more clearance.  Would go to a 10k instead of the current 8k too.  maybe a shorter helper spring too? to help shorten the spring stack.  on the other hand I'm not sure if 1" shorter will be enough, so it'd be dumb to give up spring length and not gain any clearance.  the wider tires will be a little taller than the current.. and even more taller if I went to 18's.  not sure what I'm gonna do here yet.
     



  11. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to Vonrottes in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Officially part of the big brake gang 😂
    Just need to get brake fluid and bleed the brakes.. and get new tires.
     

     
    test fit some 245/40 tires on +48 wheels...did not like.

     
    The proper +38 wheels with 245/50 tires...hit the inner fenders so I'm gonna try for 245/45

  12. Agree
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to Vonrottes in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Ack no!
    I specifically sought out the polished version over the "silver" painted ones 😂
     
    Some polishing should bring the clear back on these no problem.
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    JoaoPRSousa got a reaction from vetali in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Cute way of saying it will never happen 
  14. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to jasonvp in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Blackwinnnnnnnng!  Just picked it up last Friday.  Still working on the 500 mile break-in before I crack 'er open.
     
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  16. Funny
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to AlwaysFSX in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Sounds like that's what you should be doing then 😄
  17. Funny
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to AlwaysFSX in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Can't wait to hear how you also blew it up
     
  18. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to HM-2 in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    New car is here.
     

     
    F30 340i. Loving it so far. 
  19. Funny
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to vetali in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Getting those old Fords to run right requires a PHD in necromancy.
  20. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to Bitter in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    A decal arrived and was installed today. Thus concludes today's vehicle works.

    I have another decal but I'm not sure where I'll put it or if I'll even put it on the car, it's kind of gaudy.
  21. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to benjibooji in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    I had the pleasure of taking my lad to work the other day, He thoroughly enjoyed it










  22. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to HM-2 in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Going to second view a very tidy and low-mileage 650i Gran Coupe next week. 
     

     
    Med Blue 2016 FL M-Sport with ivory extended leather and Grey Poplar. Shadow line and 20" 373Ms. Not a massive spec car, but everything I'd want and the big ol' thing can bloody shift with a 445bhp twin turbo V8. Just need to figure out if I can fit it on the drive.
  23. Like
    JoaoPRSousa reacted to dcgreen2k in Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
    Found this today, first time I've seen one irl
     

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