Project Civic on the Dyno

Project Civic was put on its maiden dyno run at Pro Dyno in Kuching last Saturday, tested on the very 1st dyno machine brought into Kuching, if not the state which, was only set up & commissioned recently. The availability of these test machines would definitely give a big boost to the local tuning scene; as prior to this, to get a thorough quantitative & qualitative gauge on their engine performance, enthusiasts could either a) take out the engine, pack & ship it to KL, b) ship the whole car to KL, or c) put it on a trailer, or drive it to Brunei ~ just to put it on a dyno test *maybe PUSPAKOM would have one, but they're strictly for inspection only*. For a start, there are rumours that 2 more of the dyno machines are being shipped in ~ that's just a testament of the maturing tuning scene here =)

It took quite a while to prep the car up for the dyno run & getting machine calibration settings set. The machine is a 2-wheel dyno manufactured by Dynojet. Okay, i'm not going to bore you guys with anymore mundane details, but a couple of amusing dramas did unfold during the session; here are some photos & captions posted by the Pro Dyno guy himself, Clement Chong:

this is a scary car, why!!

kanasaii!! THIS CAR IS SO SCARY UNTIL MY TWO NUTS NEARLY DROP OFF MY PANT.

guess how much the tuner want me to rev the car???
6000rpm... NO!
7000rpm... NO!
8000rpm... NO!
9000r...pm.... this is the max rpm range on the rpm meter....NO!
10000rpm...... you must be insane............NO!
i finally rev the car pass the 9000rpm mark and over the mark which has no more readindg and continue until about the 0rpm mark. walau A!!! i only show this type of engine in japan magazine many year ago and thats a SPOON for honda . scary neh!!! i rev it i think pass 11000rpm, i myself cant believe it, can you???
FB link to ProDyno

He was behind the wheel, while my friend Ricky was busy dialling in the tuning for the Hondata S300 via his laptop in the passenger seat. Though, my dyno session did came to an abrupt end following a bang complemented with a spectacular exhaust flame sprouting antic ~ did my engine blow up after repeated rev runs to stratospheric 11,000rpm?? Fortunately no, *phew!(in relief)* the upgraded valvetrain assemblies & strengthened block held its worth against the abuse. It was actually the stock ignition coils that got toasted on the last dyno run... *now i know why modded hondas run pricey aftermarket ignition coils (MSD)* and that was the only extent of damage...

Here's a clip of one of the dyno runs

& the result which, i wasn't too enthusiastic about:

158.55whp @ 8,800rpm; 137.79 Nm (14.05kgm) @ 5,800rpm

~ which, translates to

193.35bhp & 168.04 Nm (17.14kgm) ~ estimated output at the crank / engine, assuming transmission loss of 18%.

Compared to the stock output of B16A 1.6 liter naturally aspirated engine on papers of 170bhp @ 8,200rpm & 157Nm (16kgm) ~ there are some considerable gains, but still leaves much to be desired as the current setup is supposedly capable of pushing over 200bhp at the crank.
The max torque figure isn't exactly impressive too, although it is quite close to the mark of a 1.8liter B18C GSR. There's an apparent torque dip around 4,400 to 5,200rpm that needs to be remedied with further tweaking. *may be running slightly higher profile tyres of 195/55/15 compared to the standard 195/50/15 does play a bit of reducing factor in the torque output to the ground*
The hp curve towards the higher rpm range is expected to spike higher, but it could be due to my current setup not giving sufficiently high (crazy high like 11.6 or higher) to fully capitalize on the potential gain of the hi-cams... currently in the progress of addressing this compression issue, hopefully it will net more gain to achieve 170whp on the next run.
Since the peak power has been shifted upwards to almost 9,000rpm, the B16A stock, & relatively long gear ratios (compared to aftermarket gear ratios la..) will make it a little tricky to keep up & stay in the powerband when shifting gears. In short, the real sweat-in-pants action only happens beyond the 7,000rpm & it literally it takes ages for the rpm needle to swoop past that magical mark with my current gear ratio!! After all, how much horses your engine makes should take a backseat to how much horses your car can effectively put to the ground... *the gear ratios surely determines how the power gets delivered to the ground, but i'm not sure to what extent it will affect the max hp output as well??
From the low to mid range, the power delivery feels a bit flat (& torque-less too, ~ inherent characteristics of small naturally aspirated engines; the mantra "there is no replacement for displacement" reigns here). Maybe i felt it increasingly so, coz i drove it right after i took Ricky's impressive 211whp & 233Nm FD2R for a spin... xp

Among the other 2 Hondas on dyno that afternoon was Ricky's K20A FD2R (superb output !) & another Steven's NA1 NSX which netted 218whp & a whooping 300Nm!

I just had to settle being the slow-poke for that day.... Until the next dyno run....
=)