PEEFREE's Civic Type R FK8 Build thread - Track / Street

[GeezR]

Hooligan: I just noticed your post. Yes, we were together at the 10/10ths event. I went back 2 weeks ago and was the only Type R there. I am still leaning towards keeping the Type R and selling the Caterham, we shall see. As posted elsewhere here, adding Hawk pads to my existing worn front rotors was disastrous. I had violent front end shake and kind of learned to drive with as little brake use as possible. It was so violent it triggered a code saying brake failure etc., tho braking continued to be effective, even tho it was like driving on railroad tracks.

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[DPL8]

TJH: As a relatively new owner who also bought the Type R mostly for track days, only to then learn of its significant track limitations, including the massive overheating issue, even in stock form, the cooling solutions I expect to try first are: distilled water + water wetter and a J's grill (for better airflow into the engine bay), combined with running the heater full on.

As IPEEFREELY has recorded here, you can throw a lot of $ at this cooling issue with little result. I will be interested in whether disabling the AC helps. If its not turned on, I am not sure what advantage disabling it has?

Brakes dont last long, esp rears (thx to stability mgt), so I added new rear rotors and track pads. Now adding Girodisc front rotors and front track pads.

Also added 18" wheels and track tires( Bridgestone 265/35 RE1R's). Good for 3 track days then needed to be flipped as out sides were nearly gone and insides were nearly untouched (hard to add needed negative camber without $$$ after market suspension mods). That should give me another 2-3 track days. One 18" wheel got bent somewhere along the line so its being replaced.

With all of that said, the car is a blast at the track and it constantly surprises "faster" cars.

It has its track limitations but just as you have mentioned the car can be relatively cured for the most part if you are willing to try some things and take cooldown laps

18s is a MUST and some neg camber is very helpful

 

[ipeefreely]

TJH: As a relatively new owner who also bought the Type R mostly for track days, only to then learn of its significant track limitations, including the massive overheating issue, even in stock form, the cooling solutions I expect to try first are: distilled water + water wetter and a J's grill (for better airflow into the engine bay), combined with running the heater full on.

As IPEEFREELY has recorded here, you can throw a lot of $ at this cooling issue with little result. I will be interested in whether disabling the AC helps. If its not turned on, I am not sure what advantage disabling it has?

Brakes dont last long, esp rears (thx to stability mgt), so I added new rear rotors and track pads. Now adding Girodisc front rotors and front track pads.

Also added 18" wheels and track tires( Bridgestone 265/35 RE1R's). Good for 3 track days then needed to be flipped as out sides were nearly gone and insides were nearly untouched (hard to add needed negative camber without $$$ after market suspension mods). That should give me another 2-3 track days. One 18" wheel got bent somewhere along the line so its being replaced.

With all of that said, the car is a blast at the track and it constantly surprises "faster" cars.

- distilled water mixture - Necessary mod. Best bang for your buck really.

- J's grill - Helps a little but not significantly. If you're trying to operate under a budget, I'd avoid the grill as it's expensive and I believe the money could be better allocated elsewhere. Can opt for the replica but looks ugly without the emblem and i heard the fitment was crap.

- Brakes - We've had mixed results with the rear pads. I think a lot of the rear pad usage is track dependent (also dependent on tune). We had a local guy who never changed his rear pads and tracked a lot and another guy who went through 2 sets. Meanwhile my rear pads were about even with my fronts. So yeah... mixed results. haha.

- AC - Leaving it off is better than having it ON. Turning on the heat is a nice little trick to buy yourself a little bit more track time.

- Tires - Try the Nankang AR1's or the Yokohama A052's. These two tires are way grippier but don't last as long. If you want something that lasts a little longer, I'd opt for the nt01's. Super consistent and don't "fall off" as much like the RE71's do.

- Camber - The car needs camber BADLY. It needs A LOT of camber in the front and a little more in the rear.

 

[ipeefreely]

10/26/19:

My track day got veto'ed by the wifey. Long story short but when my wife found out that I was doing a track day the day before she was leaving on a month long trip... well.. let's just say things got heated. But hey, what can you do? Happy wife, happy life right?

Regardless, since I had Gary rush my build in preparation for the track and he really wanted to drive it, I sent the car with him. Car did a 1.38.4 running BFGOODRICH R1's on the opening lap with Gary piloting it. We weren't able to get a sub 1.38 due to traffic and the fact that the car was still understeering pretty badly.

Our suspicion for the understeering issue is two things:

1. Car needs more camber in the front or maybe a reverse staggered set up (where the front is wider than the rear)
2. Need to adjust the suspension settings. Maybe soften up the front / stiffen up the rear so that it grips more?

I haven't gotten my car back yet as I've been busy working all week. But in the meantime, enjoy a video of my car battling it out with an my friends in their s2k (camera car) and m3. Also don't mind the finger flipping, we're all good friends. haha

 

[DPL8]

10/26/19:

My track day got veto'ed by the wifey. Long story short but when my wife found out that I was doing a track day the day before she was leaving on a month long trip... well.. let's just say things got heated. But hey, what can you do? Happy wife, happy life right?

Regardless, since I had Gary rush my build in preparation for the track and he really wanted to drive it, I sent the car with him. Car did a 1.38.4 running BFGOODRICH R1's on the opening lap with Gary piloting it. We weren't able to get a sub 1.38 due to traffic and the fact that the car was still understeering pretty badly.

Our suspicion for the understeering issue is two things:

1. Car needs more camber in the front or maybe a reverse staggered set up (where the front is wider than the rear)
2. Need to adjust the suspension settings. Maybe soften up the front / stiffen up the rear so that it grips more?

I haven't gotten my car back yet as I've been busy working all week. But in the meantime, enjoy a video of my car battling it out with an my friends in their s2k (camera car) and m3. Also don't mind the finger flipping, we're all good friends. haha

did it feel like it was getting hot?

Are you running camber plates yet?


I think i am going to try a reverse staggered setup this upcoming season and see how it holds up

 

[GeezR]

I haven't had a problem with under steer but have had a huge issue with rear brake wear. I suspect they are related? I run with a 2 second VSA button push, so background nannies keep the car pointed in the right direction by applying rear brakes to cause desired pivot (and burning up the pads)

IPF-Maybe you run the 5 second "off" on the VSA or "pedal dance"?

What is the simplest mod to obtain more front camber? The existing suspension seems to allow almost no meaningful adjustment.

 

[Lust]

I haven't had a problem with under steer but have had a huge issue with rear brake wear. I suspect they are related? I run with a 2 second VSA button push, so background nannies keep the car pointed in the right direction by applying rear brakes to cause desired pivot (and burning up the pads)

IPF-Maybe you run the 5 second "off" on the VSA or "pedal dance"?

What is the simplest mod to obtain more front camber? The existing suspension seems to allow almost no meaningful adjustment.

I think it's just the OEM compound that wears out super quickly. I ran PMU Club Racer pads in the rear and they lasted forever.

These are my old CR pads that have roughly 8 track days on them. I've run VSA on and VSA partial off.

Compared to new CR

 

[DPL8]

I shut traction fully off.. problem solved

 

[Z3papa]

10/26/19:

My track day got veto'ed by the wifey. Long story short but when my wife found out that I was doing a track day the day before she was leaving on a month long trip... well.. let's just say things got heated. But hey, what can you do? Happy wife, happy life right?

Regardless, since I had Gary rush my build in preparation for the track and he really wanted to drive it, I sent the car with him. Car did a 1.38.4 running BFGOODRICH R1's on the opening lap with Gary piloting it. We weren't able to get a sub 1.38 due to traffic and the fact that the car was still understeering pretty badly.

Our suspicion for the understeering issue is two things:

1. Car needs more camber in the front or maybe a reverse staggered set up (where the front is wider than the rear)
2. Need to adjust the suspension settings. Maybe soften up the front / stiffen up the rear so that it grips more?

I haven't gotten my car back yet as I've been busy working all week. But in the meantime, enjoy a video of my car battling it out with an my friends in their s2k (camera car) and m3. Also don't mind the finger flipping, we're all good friends. haha

Watched this video as I've recently owned an E92 M3 and now have an CTR. While it labeled S2ki v. CTR v. M3, it's really about three different drivers of varied skill driving three different cars. I can state without reservation the guy in the video'd S2k is a hell of a lot better driver than the guy in the M3, but that the M3 is a much faster car, probably beyond the real skill level of its driver.

 

[ipeefreely]

Watched this video as I've recently owned an E92 M3 and now have an CTR. While it labeled S2ki v. CTR v. M3, it's really about three different drivers of varied skill driving three different cars. I can state without reservation the guy in the video'd S2k is a hell of a lot better driver than the guy in the M3, but that the M3 is a much faster car, probably beyond the real skill level of its driver.

ummm yeah. Look we weren't trying to actually compare the cars man. Just three friends in their respective rides having fun together. lol.

 

[ipeefreely]

I haven't had a problem with under steer but have had a huge issue with rear brake wear. I suspect they are related? I run with a 2 second VSA button push, so background nannies keep the car pointed in the right direction by applying rear brakes to cause desired pivot (and burning up the pads)

IPF-Maybe you run the 5 second "off" on the VSA or "pedal dance"?

What is the simplest mod to obtain more front camber? The existing suspension seems to allow almost no meaningful adjustment.

We've tried a variaton of the VSA system. VSA off, FULL VSA off, and everything on with hondata TC. The car is actually faster with the VSA engaged and the hondata TC on.

As for camber, you guys should wait for SBGarage to release their camber plates.

 

[Z3papa]

ummm yeah. Look we weren't trying to actually compare the cars man. Just three friends in their respective rides having fun together. lol.

You're right, My criticism may have come off a bit harsh but my observation was in part based on the description of the three cars in the title and relative to the driving. I've my share of track days and one of my only concerns is folks driving beyond their skill sets. You just don't know where it may bite you. It looks like the three of you were in fact having good clean fun and that's cool.

 

[GeezR]

Unlike most track day videos, the above really shows the elevation change and how the bottom drops out at Corkscrew.

I am not sure that at that track the E92 M3 is a faster car.: all those twisties and no big straight stretches to use the big power. And, as a former E92 owner, I can say the stability management system, even set at full-on track mode, was a total momentum killer coming out of turns. The Tye R's is much more user friendly.

 

[TJHeller]

GeezR, what I was referring to when I mentioned the A/C is primarily the condenser. I haven't had the front end of my car off yet to look, but I'm guessing that with the condenser out of the mix, significantly more air would flow through the actual radiator. Maybe not, but I didn't buy the car to drive on the street so I'm probably one of the few people here that would gut the car. How many folks here have ripped out all the stuff that makes the car nice and found out if that fixes it? Probably not many if any at all, so I may be the first. I'll be sad if I can't endurance race the thing if I want to. And speaking of camber, what degree seems successful and is there a camber plate that works better than another? Looks like the rear can be changed by replacing the lower arms with adjustable.

 

[Hondanickx]

Just read this entire thread , wow what a build !.Although i do not own a CTR i find a lot of things interesting and would also help on my 1.5T sedan .About the heat problems one thing i didn't read was if you replaced the oem thermostat for a aftermarket one ?If the thermostat would open up earlier it would cool things before it got too hott.Don't know if you still run the oem one or not?
As for the exhaust heat , the biggest heat source is the turbo .Zircotec UK is the best real plasma sprayed molten ceramic coating you can get.All the F1 cars use it on their exhausts and on their carbon fiber parts.
They apply it on turbo's ,exhaust,carbon fiber and even plastic that can handle the heat.(for example intake manifold) I used it on my old turbo car and it was a night and day difference,nothing like most of the ceramic paints.

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