my cvt race car

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disc1pline

disc1pline

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i posted an update in gtman's tuning thread but i figured i would also post in here just incase anyone wants to see it


hi all :) after putting about 3000 miles on this tune i think it is time for an update. shoutout to gtman for keeping this thread going <3

Vehicle: 2018 sport touring hatch CVT

Total tuned time: 3 months

Tuned miles driven: 3000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: ktuner v2

Tunes used: phearable 1.5R

Fuel used: blend of e85 and 91

Additional related mods: mishimoto intake

Problems/issues: none so far, will update every few months

Driving style: prior to the tune i drove like a lil grandma. now with my boost map #3 i turn into max verstappen whenever i get onto the hwys :rofl:

Tune experience notes: ok so obviously the teslas are still gonna gap you. but the car is seriously just so much more fun to drive. in the highest boost setting there is noticeably more power and i can keep up with some of the nicer cars on the highway. if you have any sort of intake the tune will also help make more cool noises and who doesn't like that.
prior to getting a flash tune i was very skeptical but after some time with the phearable 1.5R i can say with confidence that i won't ever be going back to the OEM tune unless i absolutely have to. the car still runs mint and i get my fluids changed regularly. i get a ton of looks when someone pulls up next to me and sees my honda slammed on its nuts with a little ktuner screen on the dash.

oh and did i mention i average 23mpg? i had about 25-26mpg prior to the tune. these little 1.5Ts are honestly so good.

a word of advice to my cvt guys: its very tempting to push for more power once you've spent some time with a flash tune like the phearable. but if this is your daily driver i would highly advise you to just learn to enjoy the car as it is and pick a better platform if you are truly searching for power. i feel like the 10th gen platform is a great street car with aggressive aesthetics but unless you have an Si or FK8 i don't see the point of trying to squeeze 400hp+ out of a 1.5T cvt. but that's just me.
 
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not much has been done to the car since my last post. city driving banged my front lip up pretty bad so iā€™m probably gonna get a new one soon. my bumper likes to pop off on the sides sometime so iā€™m also looking to get those bumper securing things with the elastic bands. what the hell are those called ??

this has probably been said before but the 1.5t after a flash tune is just crazy. i didnā€™t know i could have this much fun in an econobox. iā€™ve pulled away from cars that i honestly thought i wouldnā€™t be able to. most notably and recently a 21ā€™ wrx sti šŸ¤­

i donā€™t want to do too much more to the car since iā€™m really digging the street look. i may invest in better cooling so i can drive harder for longer but besides that i love this car. itā€™s so zippy, i can throw 3 friends + cargo no problem, and i get 23mpg with a tune. a type R would be nice i canā€™t lie but for the time being iā€™m just learning to enjoy what i have.
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_2298
 


CMarks

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Quick bumper release buttons? I got pretty good at removing bumper quickly and not that big of a fan of the look of them.
I have a cvt cooler and have been wondering if running 2 at once would be more beneficial. Extending my CVTs life is main priority in these cars I believe
 
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disc1pline

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Quick bumper release buttons? I got pretty good at removing bumper quickly and not that big of a fan of the look of them.
I have a cvt cooler and have been wondering if running 2 at once would be more beneficial. Extending my CVTs life is main priority in these cars I believe

so thatā€™s what theyā€™re called! lol

iā€™ve been thinking of getting a cvt oil cooler myself. how are you liking yours? what was installation like?
 

CMarks

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I like it. It works good and installation was pretty simple
 
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i sent her a little bit too hard around the twistys today and understeered into some rocksā€¦ it couldā€™ve been worse but iā€™m still pretty gutted.

rim bent, tire cooked, and control arm broken. bumper a little scuffed but fine for the most part, i had to take it off to load the car onto the tow truck. iā€™m hoping the coilover made it but i havenā€™t checked thoroughly yet.

ahhhh i love this car and i just hate seeing it like this šŸ¤¦ā€ā™€ļø
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_4653
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_4660
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_4665
 
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sheā€™s back, iā€™m super happy šŸ˜

something is wrong with the SRS system even tho iā€™ve replaced the seatbelt tensioner and my boy with a scanner tool wasnā€™t able to clear the airbag light (even tho they didnā€™t deploy) so i might use this as an excuse to go airbag-less and get a bucket seat lol
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_5370
 


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at the end of the day its just an econobox with a tune but it's taught me a lot of things. this is the first car that I've ever owned and it's also the first car that taught me how to turn a wrench. i remember when i first bought my Mishimoto intake i was so afraid of installing it myself because of the fear that i would break something. a local shop quoted me $300 to install it and i thought it was so ridiculous that i installed it myself out of spite... lol

the car has come a long way since when i first bought it. my first mod was the intake, and then i decided that the stock height wasn't sporty enough so i saved some money for coilovers. i watched a few youtube videos and figured it would take me no more than a few hours... it took me the whole weekend :rofl:

after that i did some research on wheels and fitment and found a nice set of wheels that i liked on FB marketplace. i sold my OEM rims after and spent the money on a KTUNER. i was considering hondata at the time but one of the main reasons why i wanted a ktuner was because of the touch screen unit.

at this point, the car had a phearable 1.5R tune and it was feeling pretty zippy. the coilovers gave me more confidence in cornering so i started taking the car out to the backroads. one day i gave it a little too much beans into a corner and understeered into some rocks :doh: i bent the rim beyond repair, ripped the tire apart, and broke a bunch of other suspension components such as the control arm and tie rod. it was around this time that i fell into a bit of a depression. having no car sucked, and having the car repaired sucked a thousand times more.

and then the car was fixed. i threw on some bridgestone potenzas then i went back to the backroads. because how could i not? long story short it probably wasn't even 3 weeks before the car ended up back in the shop again. this time for a new transmission :thumbsdown: (don't worry gtman the tune didn't blow my cvt lol)

so as i said in the beginning, this car has taught me a lot of things. it has taught me that you probably shouldn't slam the ride height on your coils even though you totally can (it looks totally sick tho). it has taught me the value of maintenance and how to be a responsible car owner. i remember one time someone asked how often do i check the engine oil level in my car and I didn't even know i could/was supposed to do that? it was that day i learned what the hell a dipstick was lol. i guess in a sense, both the car and i have come a long way :drive:

and i feel like most importantly, it's taught me to appreciate what I have. it will never be a type-R and that's ok. i just have to get rich quicker so i can get the real thing lol. can you guys try to not put too many miles on them so i can save up? :lol:




Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_5955

Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_5914
Honda Civic 10th gen my cvt race car IMG_5830
 
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oh i forgot to mention, i bought an ETL CVT cooler when they had their lil Christmas sale. I still haven't gotten around to installing it, partly because of time constraints, partly because ETL forgot to send me some hardware, and partly because there's no step by step documentation on civicx or youtube on the installation process...

I'll figure it out eventually though
 

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Why does it need a new transmission? Just out of curiosity. How do you know it wasn't from being tuned?
 
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Why does it need a new transmission? Just out of curiosity. How do you know it wasn't from being tuned?
road impact + car being low caused the transmission to crack and leak oil everywhere :/
 

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road impact + car being low caused the transmission to crack and leak oil everywhere :/
How low did you go to eventually get that to happen? I'm just 1.5 inches lower than stock height so I think I should be fine. I'm probably never going to go lower than that cause speed bumps and dips would suck if I went even lower lol.
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