- Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:34 am
#60214
My build is a little bit different than the norm. I really hate body-kits, wings, street racing, and rice. I've seen first hand what can happen when you street race (a kid died a few hundred feet from my house). I have had nothing but problems with immature "tuners" revving on me on the street and then flipping me off when I refuse to race them. And my goddamned mother-in-law was in the car, not to mention the cops that were a block down the street! I have had problems with cops pulling me over because they associate me with ricers. And I have had problems with Mustang and Corvette drivers that make assumptions about me because I drive a Civic hatch. So my reaction has been to rebel and distance myself from the conventional Honda tuner scene. I don't have any Honda friends because they're all jerks. I try to make my car appear to be stock. I have had my car lowered with aftermarket rims but it just isn't worth it.
Besides that, I'm on my fourth modified car. This time I started over with the intention of having a reliable, fuel efficient, and comfortable car; yet I'm not satisfied with factory performance.
Having owned several Hondas and never been fully satisfied, I decided to rethink exactly what my ideal car would be. What I came up with is that I want a car that has great handling, great braking, great power, and great economy. Essentially I want better performance than a Civic Si and better FE than a Civic VX (these being the only vehicles I could afford that have double wishbone suspension front and rear and an exceptionally low coefficient of drag matched to an economical motor). It seems like a pipe dream. But it just so happens that Honda had the same idea.
From 1996-1999 Honda produced a motor that combined VTEC-E and VTEC into one. They didn't bring this motor to the United States. In Japan the block was stamped D15B. Across the rest of the eastern hemisphere, the block was stamped D15Z7.
So last August I sold my Civic DX automatic that had a SOHC VTEC swap and bought a lowly Civic VX. I decided that I needed a chassis change because I wanted a manual transmission and I wanted many things that are only found on the VX, ie the rear diffuser, front lip spoiler (also found on Si), aluminum lower alternator mount, aluminum front lower driver's side engine mount, less sound deadening weight, "VTEC-E" valve cover, and lightweight alloy rims.
http://causeforalarm.thecarthing.com/version6/version6.EG/stealth_alarm/index.html
First thing I did was lock the car in the garage until I could install some serious car alarm security. It is a Honda afterall. "Honda" is synonymous with "stolen".
Then I did some maintenance on the motor and drove it that way for several months to give me a good baseline. My FE goal would be based on my own personal driving habits and my goal is to exceed this baseline w/out any sneaky tricks like driving like a near-sighted grandmother. My baseline avg was 38 mpg mixed, 44 highway.
The Rules
Which brings me to "the rules". To the general public, the car must outwardly appear to be stock; in other words, it's going to be a sleeper. I don't want to draw any attention from thieves, street racers, cops, or ricers.
Secondly, the car must outperform both the VX and the Si.
Third is not so much a rule as a constraint. My salary requires a very limited budget with long periods of time between expenditures.
AEM EMS
So luckily, I already had the AEM EMS. "WHAT?! You have an EMS? Don't those go for thousands of dollars and require hundreds of dollars to have professionally installed and tuned?" Yes and yes. But I got one for $1100 in 2001 (at-cost to help with development), and I have a friend that is a professional tuner. It's a good thing too, because there is no other viable option available for me to realize my goal. Hondata simply isn't capable.
AEM Gauge-Type Wideband O2
The next piece of equipment that I would need so that I could run lean mixtures is the AEM Gauge Type UEGO Controller. $260 ouch. But it's cheaper than competing products and far superior.
Besides that, I'm on my fourth modified car. This time I started over with the intention of having a reliable, fuel efficient, and comfortable car; yet I'm not satisfied with factory performance.
Having owned several Hondas and never been fully satisfied, I decided to rethink exactly what my ideal car would be. What I came up with is that I want a car that has great handling, great braking, great power, and great economy. Essentially I want better performance than a Civic Si and better FE than a Civic VX (these being the only vehicles I could afford that have double wishbone suspension front and rear and an exceptionally low coefficient of drag matched to an economical motor). It seems like a pipe dream. But it just so happens that Honda had the same idea.
From 1996-1999 Honda produced a motor that combined VTEC-E and VTEC into one. They didn't bring this motor to the United States. In Japan the block was stamped D15B. Across the rest of the eastern hemisphere, the block was stamped D15Z7.
So last August I sold my Civic DX automatic that had a SOHC VTEC swap and bought a lowly Civic VX. I decided that I needed a chassis change because I wanted a manual transmission and I wanted many things that are only found on the VX, ie the rear diffuser, front lip spoiler (also found on Si), aluminum lower alternator mount, aluminum front lower driver's side engine mount, less sound deadening weight, "VTEC-E" valve cover, and lightweight alloy rims.
http://causeforalarm.thecarthing.com/version6/version6.EG/stealth_alarm/index.html
First thing I did was lock the car in the garage until I could install some serious car alarm security. It is a Honda afterall. "Honda" is synonymous with "stolen".
Then I did some maintenance on the motor and drove it that way for several months to give me a good baseline. My FE goal would be based on my own personal driving habits and my goal is to exceed this baseline w/out any sneaky tricks like driving like a near-sighted grandmother. My baseline avg was 38 mpg mixed, 44 highway.
The Rules
Which brings me to "the rules". To the general public, the car must outwardly appear to be stock; in other words, it's going to be a sleeper. I don't want to draw any attention from thieves, street racers, cops, or ricers.
Secondly, the car must outperform both the VX and the Si.
Third is not so much a rule as a constraint. My salary requires a very limited budget with long periods of time between expenditures.
AEM EMS
So luckily, I already had the AEM EMS. "WHAT?! You have an EMS? Don't those go for thousands of dollars and require hundreds of dollars to have professionally installed and tuned?" Yes and yes. But I got one for $1100 in 2001 (at-cost to help with development), and I have a friend that is a professional tuner. It's a good thing too, because there is no other viable option available for me to realize my goal. Hondata simply isn't capable.
AEM Gauge-Type Wideband O2
The next piece of equipment that I would need so that I could run lean mixtures is the AEM Gauge Type UEGO Controller. $260 ouch. But it's cheaper than competing products and far superior.
Last edited by suspendedHatch on Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:49 am, edited 4 times in total.
I smoke my own meat! 
I just learned more about the 3 stage VTEC while reading this than I have in the 4 years I've owned a Honda.
