Lust's FK8 Civic Type R Track & Street Build

[ApexEight]

I appreciate you guys answering my question! And I have another one for you lol.

Do you have two different seat positions for daily driving, long distance and track driving? I notice that if I sit closer to driver seat, I drive more aggressively (shifts faster, more responsive on steering), which I assume is awesome for track but my back get stiff real fast for dailying.

Any tips on how to adjust the seat positions for both track and/or daily driving?

Oh yeah, I would say most do. I have a pretty upward seating position for the street (not a lot of lean back). For autocross/track, I usually just scoot one click forward. Maybe tilt one click forward if I feel like I need it. Secure seating position is huge in performance driving, imo.

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[Lust]

Do you happen to know what settings your Acuity shifter is set on?

Middle for all settings IIRC. I think throw was set to 3 or 4.

 

[hesitation]

i find my seating position comfortable for track and daily driving... haven't had to switch anything. i've driven 2+ hours home from the track in the same seating position and it felt fine.

 

[Lust]

Just a PSA to consistently get alignments after every couple track days. Sooner the better IMO. I ignored a slight toe issue which resulted in my A052s being corded.

I only found out when I rotated the tires a day before my Laguna Seca track day. Because I didn't want to let a track day go to waste, I decided to put on my "throw away" set of A052s and Titan 7s. The tires are basically bald and have no grip.

My alignment was severely out of wack from all of the curbs. From now on I plan to get an alignment every track day. Visited my good friend Drew at Serramonte Honda to tweak my suspension and alignment. Decided to raise the car 1/2" and increase front camber to -3.5 in the front.

Didn't set a PB at Laguna Seca last week but it was still pretty fun. Weather was a cool 70F so I couldn't really put the cooling mods to the test. I did get to meet a lot of cool FK8 owners, @battledog being one of them. Dude is super fast doing 1:43s on PS4S tires. Nuts!!!

I had some new rubber mounted in preparation for Thunderhill East on the 16th. This will be my first time running a 255/40 A052 tire which should be interesting. The tire is super meaty. Looking to finally obtain sub 2 with all the new tweaks! Still not 100% happy with these HKS coils but hopefully the extra 1/2" in shock travel will help with the front end bounciness.

 

[.grimace]

Nice goodluck on that sub 2!

I’m dying to get my new one back on track

 

[Lust]

Nice goodluck on that sub 2!

I’m dying to get my new one back on track

HMU the next time you go! I’ve been itching for track days

 

[Lust]

Hey everyone! A bit of an exciting update today. Last weekend I went to Thunderhill East Bypass with my buddy Sean. I'm helping him create content using my CTR and we decided to go for a lap record with him driving. I gave him the first two morning sessions to take advantage of the "cooler" temps. It was an EXTREMELY hot day with ambient temps in the paddock around 80-90F even in the morning.

Check out the video here!



It's definitely a tough goal to hit with my car lacking a few mods compared to the other 2 CTRs that broke sub 2:00 at THill. Despite the temperatures, Sean was able to achieve a 1:59.9 lap time! My car is the 3rd CTR to achieve a sub 2 at this track. Unfortunately the heat was too high and the car pulled a bit of power which hurt our lap times. The heat was also detrimental for the tires as they got greasy rather quickly and weren't at their peak grip. After some analysis, there can be time found with some setup changes and cooler weather. When my friend Miguel did a 1:58, the temperatures were in the 60s. Ideal temperatures for peak power and grip IMO.

I'm really proud of what this car is capable of as I put so much effort into this build. There were definitely times where I've considered giving up but I continued to push forward.

Given all of this, the car still performed extremely well. In 90F+ heat in the paddock and god knows what on track, the car never overheated or went into limp mode. Peak ECT temps hit 235 towards the end of a 20 minute session with an average of ~220F ECT. IATs were more of an impact on power as they hit 130-140F post interooler. Still, I take this as a huge win and from here it will be reducing temps to maintain power versus reducing temps to not overheat. I think at this point the solution is proven. C&R track rad > open grill > vent above the turbo.

Changes I plan to make moving forward.

• Reduce intake temperatures. The Eventuri airbox was getting extremely heat soaked. My guess is that the tiny airgaps between the radiator cooling plate and airbox might contribute to higher IAT. @Centripetal has pointed this out before. I will also order some DEI tunnel shield to help further insulate the airbox.
• Stiffen the rear sway bar. The middle setting helps a little but full stiff should really help with turn in and reduce understeer.
• Reduce the rake. The rear is approx .75" higher than the front. This should help reduce unneeded drag down the straights to help with top end speed.
• Fine tune the APR wing. I think we had too much AOA + excessive rake which caused drag and understeer.
• Move to a wider tire. For this track day I was on 255/40 A052 and I plan to move back to a 265/35 tire or possibly reverse stagger with a 295/30 front.
• Add a front splitter to help with front end downforce and grip
• Possibly @ACUITY reverse flow hoses to reduce ECTs as much as possible.
• Custom duct work to force all air into the IC and radiator.
• Add a bit more camber. The fronts were set to an agressive -3.5 in the front which was almost perfect. I think -3.8 will be the perfect amount for the tire and pressure I plan to run (265/35 A052 and around 30PSI hot)

I'm open to all feedback and criticism. What are everyone's thoughts?

Tire wear and alignment sheet for this track day

Front tire wear is right at the wear indicator. Looking at the tread the outside is wearing slightly more than the middle at approx 32PSI hot

Rear tires are in excellent shape and will be rotated to the front. No need for adjustment.

Bonus of my friend and his Type R LE he bought a few days prior

 

[adizon]

First off congrats Michael, pretty huge win hitting sub 2's. Imagine hitting your next track day with the set of mods/goals you propose, and running in even 15 degree cooler weather towards the fall or spring?!!!

I have no real critique, but more of a questio? With all the handling mods you mentioned above between different tire sizes 265 squared or staggered with the 295's up front, stiffer rear bar setting, possible aero up front, neutralized rake, and wing adjustments, how do you balanced all those mods at once, or do you do bits at a time? I imagine each would contribute a certain amount to it's handling capabilities, but also if not balanced hinder it, whether it creates too much oversteer, or the downforce and cornering is amazing, but still too much drag. Anyways just curious about your thought process in balancing the up and coming handling mods.

?? ?

 

[Lust]

First off congrats Michael, pretty huge win hitting sub 2's. Imagine hitting your next track day with the set of mods/goals you propose, and running in even 15 degree cooler weather towards the fall or spring?!!!

I have no real critique, but more of a questio? With all the handling mods you mentioned above between different tire sizes 265 squared or staggered with the 295's up front, stiffer rear bar setting, possible aero up front, neutralized rake, and wing adjustments, how do you balanced all those mods at once, or do you do bits at a time? I imagine each would contribute a certain amount to it's handling capabilities, but also if not balanced hinder it, whether it creates too much oversteer, or the downforce and cornering is amazing, but still too much drag. Anyways just curious about your thought process in balancing the up and coming handling mods.

?? ?

Hey Gus,

The car had some significant understeer midcorner where it would just plow off line so you really couldn't lay the power down. I think the 265 squared + rear sway on full stiff should get the car to be more neutral. I don't think that it would become a case where the car oversteers heavily. 295s up front would be nice but probably out of my budget ATM. The car stock actually has very neutral rake and the current amount of rake was not intentional. My guess is that the high heat and excessive drag caused by the rake + AOA of the wing really hurt top speed. The last time I was at Thunderhill the rake was neutral, wing AOA was at 0, and it was a 60F ish day. I was able to hit 130+ on the straight with a passenger. The front splitter I think should help more with the higher speed corners keeping the front end from lifting. This might allow the car to be no lift through T8.

I've already set the sway bar to rear stiff and that made a slight difference on the street but nothing extreme. I haven't decided on the splitter yet but I definitely need to fix the rake and wing AOA which I already adjusted back to 0.

Hope that answers your question.

 

[adizon]

Great stuff Michael, just wanted to learn by getting into your head, hearing your thought process.

 

[metal_driver]

Michael, great work. Glad to see all your time and patience with this track build paying off.
Outstanding result, especially given the heat (90+F).

 

[Lust]

So I traded my FK8 for a Zupra!

Just kidding.... this is actually @ipeefreely 's new Supra. We traded for a few days so I could do some polishing / detailing. Let's just say I'm very tempted to pick one of these up. This car is absolutely insane.

 

[ApexEight]

Holy shit that thing is fkn sick.

 

[metal_driver]

I wondered what he was up to. Man he doesn’t mess around with modding cars. I’m sure that thing is fast.

 

[CTRookie]

I read this 28 page thread in one sitting last night and have bookmarked where to follow up for re-reading. Just could not put it down. A few comments.

Really amazing the level of knowledge at display here, especially by the OP. The many different angles through which you(OP) approached your problems, recognized subtlety and navigated solutions is highly commendable. BRAVO! Especially in the face of what might have seemed like an insurmountable challenge(brownbo's etc.) You kept pushing forward. Amazing read and really happy to be a member of this community.

I am a new Type R owner. Given all that I have read here, I have ordered the PWR radiator and am working on getting some Paragon break pads and racing louvers(from racelouvers).

I am not increasing power and leaving it stock. I want to learn how to drive this car well, primary focus is consistency. If I can get this car to perform per its original intention and design, lap after lap, I will be very satisfied.

To this end what would you(Lust) recommend I change in terms of fluids/oils etc. prior to my first track day? The car has 700 miles on it(I have driven it a 100 since buying it) and is a 2017. Just bought it from Carvana and we are working out the kinks from the car sitting a while(2017 ONLY 600 MILES) e.g. tires flatspotting, found 1 bent wheel etc.

Your expert opinion is greatly appreciated. THANKS IN ADVANCE!

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