i've had my ride back for over a month now, but have been lacking the inspiration to do a write-up on the driving impression; not in terms of on how she performs at the limit just yet, coz i simply haven't been driving her hard enough to fully exploit & appreciate her newfound potentials from the 'intrinsic-makeover' she had recently... all thanks to this fella~
Project Civic Stage I ~ despite being performance oriented, is not too extreme in nature; thankfully so, coz now is not the right time to build a high performance fuel guzzler; especially if she's going to be a daily driver.
This is a season when people will likely be bragging about how many miles to the gallon their rides can achieve rather than how much horses they have under the hood. So how many kms to the liter?
After the major overhaul, on the 1st full tank fill-up right before the 40% price hike ~ roughly 37.4 liters of premium unleaded petrol gave me a good 409+ kilometers before the tank empty light starts to activate; under good-boy city driving condition which, translates to about 10.93km/liter. That's a new milestone for for my 130,000km-year old B16A; quite a decent figure, but nothing much to shout about by today's super fuel efficient car standard. Looking at the bright side, having a free-revving motor with 170-plus flywheel horses at my disposal ~ to out-run & out-corner most run-of-the-mill cars at will, does makes the trade off easier for me to live with =P
To recap Project Civic Stage I ~
Engine: B16A engine rebuild (70% new), CTR high-comp pistons, engine block guide, valve spring upgrade (intake side ~ inlet valve springs from H22A), oil pump upgrade, head port & polish, JASMA B16A aftermarket extractor, open pod intake, Power Enterprise Kevlar timing belt & lightened flywheel (6.5kg)
Suspension: CST Zero-1 adjustable coilovers
Damage: AN ARM & A LEG equivalent of 2&1/2 Phuket vacations!!
Downtime (SDT): More than a month spent in the workshop
Driving Impression: 1) A more responsive rev-happy engine ~ ever ready & eager for the GO; watch as the rpm needles sweeps across the dial to the redline faster than you can say w-a-a-h-l-a-a-o-o-o-e-h! when floored *a little bit of exaggeration, but it does climb to the redline in a more liberated manner compared to before*, 2) Power delivery ~ has noticeably more pull at the low-to-mid range of the rpm band; almost feels like having larger displacement than its 1595cc *can be attributed to the hi-comp CTR pistons* 3) VTEC region ~ pedal to the metal, it activates with vengeance past the 5,800rpm mark & hits on at full song well into 8,000rpm before i come into my senses, ease off on the accelerator & decide to go for an upshift. It feels as though the power band has been shifted upwards, peak power comes much later & there's useable power left to be exploited the upper redline region between 7,800 ~ 9,000rpm. * to do this reliably w/o blowing up your motor, sufficient hardware upgrade required ~ valve train upgrade i.e. stiffer springs, higher-rated timing belt & of course, a healthy motor.*
Loose-ends *to clean up*:
1) Rattling sound at the rear when under constant hard acceleration & at speeds over 140km/h ~ be it exhaust piping/muffler scraping against the undercarriage or loose part on the undercarriage; the next trip to the workshop will be yet another 'rat-hunting expedition'. *ada bunyi tikus di bawah kereta*
2) Sorting out the constipation problem ~ a matching cat-back exhaust system. Bigger piping & big bore fart cannon to liberate more horses? Well, i'll think about that when i enough $ to spare *am broke*
3) With balding AD07 tires & an intermittently slipping clutch, what's next is inevitable: semi-slick tires for the front & a racing clutch.... well that too, i'll forget about that until i save enough $ to spare *am brokeX2*
4) A new paint job! *my now kurap car is in dire need of one!* & a new clean stock JDM look *i'm done with ricer kits*... yup, again i'll be daydreaming about this until i have enough $$ to spare *am brokeX3 (will be) coz i've got my mind set on a new toy a dSLR!! & my out-of-the-blue Singapore trip is just less than 48 hours away, now*
That wraps up Stage I... =p
This is a season when people will likely be bragging about how many miles to the gallon their rides can achieve rather than how much horses they have under the hood. So how many kms to the liter?
After the major overhaul, on the 1st full tank fill-up right before the 40% price hike ~ roughly 37.4 liters of premium unleaded petrol gave me a good 409+ kilometers before the tank empty light starts to activate; under good-boy city driving condition which, translates to about 10.93km/liter. That's a new milestone for for my 130,000km-year old B16A; quite a decent figure, but nothing much to shout about by today's super fuel efficient car standard. Looking at the bright side, having a free-revving motor with 170-plus flywheel horses at my disposal ~ to out-run & out-corner most run-of-the-mill cars at will, does makes the trade off easier for me to live with =P
To recap Project Civic Stage I ~
Engine: B16A engine rebuild (70% new), CTR high-comp pistons, engine block guide, valve spring upgrade (intake side ~ inlet valve springs from H22A), oil pump upgrade, head port & polish, JASMA B16A aftermarket extractor, open pod intake, Power Enterprise Kevlar timing belt & lightened flywheel (6.5kg)
Suspension: CST Zero-1 adjustable coilovers
Damage: AN ARM & A LEG equivalent of 2&1/2 Phuket vacations!!
Downtime (SDT): More than a month spent in the workshop
Driving Impression: 1) A more responsive rev-happy engine ~ ever ready & eager for the GO; watch as the rpm needles sweeps across the dial to the redline faster than you can say w-a-a-h-l-a-a-o-o-o-e-h! when floored *a little bit of exaggeration, but it does climb to the redline in a more liberated manner compared to before*, 2) Power delivery ~ has noticeably more pull at the low-to-mid range of the rpm band; almost feels like having larger displacement than its 1595cc *can be attributed to the hi-comp CTR pistons* 3) VTEC region ~ pedal to the metal, it activates with vengeance past the 5,800rpm mark & hits on at full song well into 8,000rpm before i come into my senses, ease off on the accelerator & decide to go for an upshift. It feels as though the power band has been shifted upwards, peak power comes much later & there's useable power left to be exploited the upper redline region between 7,800 ~ 9,000rpm. * to do this reliably w/o blowing up your motor, sufficient hardware upgrade required ~ valve train upgrade i.e. stiffer springs, higher-rated timing belt & of course, a healthy motor.*
Loose-ends *to clean up*:
1) Rattling sound at the rear when under constant hard acceleration & at speeds over 140km/h ~ be it exhaust piping/muffler scraping against the undercarriage or loose part on the undercarriage; the next trip to the workshop will be yet another 'rat-hunting expedition'. *ada bunyi tikus di bawah kereta*
2) Sorting out the constipation problem ~ a matching cat-back exhaust system. Bigger piping & big bore fart cannon to liberate more horses? Well, i'll think about that when i enough $ to spare *am broke*
3) With balding AD07 tires & an intermittently slipping clutch, what's next is inevitable: semi-slick tires for the front & a racing clutch.... well that too, i'll forget about that until i save enough $ to spare *am brokeX2*
4) A new paint job! *my now kurap car is in dire need of one!* & a new clean stock JDM look *i'm done with ricer kits*... yup, again i'll be daydreaming about this until i have enough $$ to spare *am brokeX3 (will be) coz i've got my mind set on a new toy a dSLR!! & my out-of-the-blue Singapore trip is just less than 48 hours away, now*
That wraps up Stage I... =p
3 comments:
wah lao still got time to say wah lao eh when u accelerating.....like that not scary enuf le......try harder mate...
heard before got an ef rev up 13k frequently with no time left to say anything----like wah lao eh.....
well, that was a bit of exaggeration on my part just to add a little bit of literal drama.... to rev over the roof like that (13k) ~ sounds like a highly tuned n/a machine built to drag... if want scarier acceleration, then just slap on a turbo & boost kaw -kaw...
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