The Shadow Type R Build

[TheShadow]

I will get this disclaimer out of the way first - I actually don’t have a single goddamn new thing on the car right now, and I don't really even have much to talk about related to it. You could consider this a filler episode and honestly skip it if you want. It's been a while though, and *chokes up* I just miss this community. The other theory is I have too many pictures on my phone, my memory just ain't what is used to be, and I need to unload some history from the last year. So with that out of the way, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this post! Or I guess just the potatoes, since I already said there isn't really any meat to this.

Holy necro-post though Batman… has it really been 10 years since my last update? Wait, just 10 months? Man my concept of time is all out of whack these days. I'm still working from home ---------------------------------------------------- sorry I was on mute there. Teleworking is a joy. I think I'm slowly slipping into madness at this point - these 4 walls are my world. They are all I know. And the world seemingly continues to crumble. I've honestly lost track of the notable events this train-wreck of a past year has brought. We're just going to gloss over all the dirty laundry news stories and the inefficiency of our government system and officials. There has been some good with all of this though. I never imagined being able to spend this much time with my kids on a day to day basis, so it's fun watching them grow up (most days, other days I wonder if they need cruel and or unusual punishments to fix all that sass.) Oh that reminds me! I had my second daughter since the last update. Welcome River! And yes - for anyone who cares, River is very much a name for a girl. I will fight people who feel otherwise. Would you name a boy Brooke? Seriously. She's gonna be a racer though - I mean check out her happy mug with this photo, "Joy from a Spoon knob."

Also in the spirit of documenting a vehicle that isn't the FK8, here's a public service reminder to check the status of your ball joints in the form of pictures titled "WHAT THE SHIT HELL."

That son of a bitch ball joint straight up decided to shirk its vehicle support responsibilities while turning a corner (thankfully not fast) and in quick succession that knuckle dropped to the ground, the driveshaft got pulled out of the tranny, and I nearly pissed myself. Never had this happen before. For the superstitious among us this happened on a Friday the 13th. And in the spirit of "that just figures", being the one-wheeled wonder this car is with that open differential, I now had no means to even bungee cord everything together and limp it home. It also decided to do this impersonation of a beached whale in the middle of the road… So what do you do? Stick your wife in the car, hook up some chains, drag her home using her own pickup and give her a turn of nearly having your piss scared out. Fun times. It actually wasn't awful to repair, and hey - I only smashed one finger in the process! Not a bad day.

I mean otherwise I haven't really done much with the car… I can't even say I've driven it a ton since many places were still shut down / not a feasible option with Covid or a newborn, and then winter. I'm sure at least one person is asking what I did with the last 10 months of my life. Well you curious little fox, here it is a sample of that near year in this handy photo montage. In the past 10 months we:

Watched sisters bond.

Practiced driving a car.

Ate some Halloween candy.

Took a nap.

Drank to forget it all.

Built a snow wall and enjoyed the taste of fresh powder.

Tried some new foods.

Bonded some more.

Cleared snow off of the cars. Often.

Built a goddamn snow fortress (which was larger than the photo does justice.)

Freaked out because it felt like the walls were closing in.

Practiced driving some more.

Checked the muffler belt.

Grew some new teeth.

Hugged a cat.

Washed the car.

Prepared for future upgrades.

Wait - you say that last picture is actually relevant to an FK8 build post? Hot dog! We finally found the meat! I guess this wasn't exclusively a filler episode - maybe more like the ghost of future upgrades. I got that lovely package recently, along with one bitchin' sweatshirt and Hondata stickers in every color of the rainbow. Those guys rock for throwing that stuff in. And before anyone asks, yes, they only make adult sizes which is why that one ended up functioning more like a straitjacket. And with more power (hopefully in the form of a larger turbo in the future) there will be more heat! I took the plunge and ordered me a Varis cooling hood. I actually took the plunge back in January so it kind of feels like old news at this point. However, they are still quoting me another 4 months till it arrives, so I suppose if you average out that time I'm right on track (get it?) to talk about it. Stay tuned for some sexy carbon fiber (not their ultra-secret recipe though, that is just stupid expensive.) I'm super pumped to cut that swanky shit up to install hood pins.

So what do you do when you have parts waiting to be installed and others on order? You visit a track and really put all those things not on your car to good use! I'm headed to Gingerman Raceway next month - so right now I'm scrambling to get everything on the car double checked, bleed new brake fluid in, and figure out a car trailer… 2 adults, 2 kids, baggage and tools just doesn't sound like a fun drive in the car, spacious as it actually is.

I feel like that should do it here. No "But wait, there's more!" this time. I apologize again for a very family filled post to those of you who only read this for the car stuff. This is my life right now. The R is important, but this past year has been a little different. I will say though, as the production of this generation ends and owning a fairly low number I kind of feel like a senior member of this group. Who knows if I actually helped anyone, but hey - I was here in the beginning man. Does that make me an OG? I don't know if I really feel like a gangster though… I think I need to commit more crime to obtain that title. Does anyone here know how to make a crime? Do I need to burgle specifically, or will any caper do? Maybe I'm not ready for that. Here's to the future!

 

[fatherpain]

Thank you for the great post Shadow, nothing wrong with some filler and fluff. It’s awesome to catch a glimpse of the driver/modder behind the wheel. Great to see you still kicking around, safe and sound. Appreciate your previous contributions. One of these days I’m gonna embark on the RV6 suspension installs.

Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for the future.

 

[TheShadow]

Captains log. It's hot. So much sunshine. Enough moisture in the air where it feels like I'm breathing through a wet beach towel. Here we are. The dog days of summer, 2021. And I'll be honest - just like this car, I hate heat. This particular entry is going to span a few different stages of me sitting and typing so there may be some mood swings in the ramblings. And dude - it's long. I'm sorry. Hang on though, cause I'm starting out pissy. Not belligerent, not furious, not even steaming mad. Maybe bitchy… Definitely sore. But yeah, just in general kind of irritable. I'm currently waiting for a Fedex specialist to deliver the final replacement part needed to wrap up my Hondata fuel install and I'll tell you what - that job is likely more uncomfortable to do than everyone says. We will get there though my friends, let's try and start off looking on the bright side with this photo: "JDM spec carbon hood? Whatever man, I've got bubble wrap to attend to."

To start, Hondata fuel system is in! Can I get a woot woot! I mean all the hard stuff is in… I still have to put the intake back in and re-flash. Most of the way there though? Halfway-happy woot? Yeah I have that hollow feeling at this moment too. Before I just go into an all-out bitch-fit though I do want to say I wholeheartedly respect and admire the aftermarket companies putting out wicked cool stuff for our cars. I think we all know which shops put out quality shit and I've tried to not overly cut corners with K-mart brand parts. Don’t ask me about my zip ties. That said, I hate it when you shell out your hard earned drinking money and can't help but feel like something could have been just one tiny little bit better in some way.

So my intake… It's PRL right? It’s good stuff, and I mean that (trust me, I had the Mishimoto one…) - but I don't fully get that side cover design… It's cool that it is removeable for service, or maybe it was that way for manufacturing reasons, but those teeny little flanged screws are just sickeningly close to the edge of the plastic cover… Now I know they say don't over tighten those screws right in the guide, and I’ll be honest: "My name is Ben, and I personally fucked up my first cover by doing it the way the instructions specifically told me not to." PRL was super dope though and sent me a new one for free. All was well, until I checked out my car after racing at Gingerman (oh yeah, I did that too by the way! Patience yo, patience!) and found 5 different areas where the cover was either missing chunks or cracked at the screws. And I'm pretty sure I toned down the ugga-duggas enough during that second assembly. Feels like there could have been a little bit better placement with those screws, a little further inboard maybe, a little… something… Anyway, here we are, waiting on a replacement cover to start up and do leak checks. To be fair here - the intake still performed fine despite being broken. Just kinda looked crappy… and who knows how fast those cracks may have propagated through the rest of the cover if left alone. Let's just focus on that sexy weave.

Now on to the Hondata fuel kit. Also tons and tons of good things to say about these guys. And their stuff is quality (as far as I can tell considering I have yet to start the car.) Now I'm not about to start a pissing war about how they may or may not have cornered the fuel pump / average tuning platform for fuel upgrades in this car… If they did, good on them. I'm not going to be in the top percentage of us chasing clouds and picking my shot rods out of the road… I'm cool with a basic bolt on set that should help me get up there in the minor leagues. But I'm curious - for those of us who are just average mechanics wrenching in the garage and drenching engine bays in sweat, what did you think of the instructions sent with this kit? Man - They. Were. Concise. I mean technically they didn’t do anything wrong or bad, but their target audience was definitely a certified, purebred and knighted technician. I for one like a little detail in my instructions. They (generally) keep me from doing dumb shit. So I found myself referencing the Hondata instructions, some Facebook info I could find, an obscure YouTube video and still ended up struggling through things that I honestly shouldn't have.

For instance I spent too long figuring out exactly how to get the back seats out… despite knowing where the bolts were…. Just figuring out the order and angles of how best to do it was dumb. And getting the fuel cage out of the tank… knowing what to watch out for - like making sure the fuel level sensor arm isn't getting stuck when you're pulling the cage out. Or when you pull the hoses off the top cover in the first place, how about a friendly little note to *push* the stupid clip on the fill line, instead of pulling it out like a goddamn cretin… The fun part? Honda doesn't sell that clip. And no - I'm not one of those hacks that blindly asks people for part numbers on social media. I can sift through parts catalogue, and Honda's brilliant solution is to only offer that clip as part of an entire fuel tank and fill tube assembly for $1,100. It's not even funny how retarded that is. And I do try to use that term with some reserve for those who care. So one obscure Facebook post lead me to a Dorman 5/8" fuel line clip, part number 800-041, that doesn’t *quite* look the same but I assure you works perfectly. Stupid shit.

I also was a little surprised to find just how long the car could idle without that low pressure fuel pump running. Instructions just said unplug the wires and send it. Well after about 90 seconds and still idling strong I'm starting to think my car is possessed, or apparently runs on hopes and dreams. Regardless it takes about 3 full minutes to die… I Pete and Re-Peated the "de-pressurizing the fuel system" step because it seemed silly how long it could run.

I think the last thing that struck me as dumb with this install is the line routings at the end of the day… the high pressure line is cool and fine, but the low pressure line into the pump gets re-routed slightly and starts getting extra friendly with the harnesses and nearby hoses and Christ it bothers the OCD out of me how bad of a rats nest it is. I know I'm just asking Santa to bring me hose rubs and leak points. So it's my mission now to try and clean up some of those routings… might try and snag a few hose retention clips and maybe tap a nearby bracket or something. I'm going to science the shit out of this one.

And so… after all of those grievances and gripes… I'm just sore. I swear my old man knees couldn't take any more of this job. You are uncomfortable and cramped in the back getting the low pressure pump out. And up front it's no joke that you will be laying on the engine. All the finnicky little shit by the fuel rail kind of blows to get to. My left side and my forearms are riddled with cuts and bruises. Make sure to get yourself some long reach pliers and a tiny flathead for all the hose clamps and wire clips. And a magnet. And some furious brow mopping - as mentioned I was sweating like a pig. Not the cute kind either. This install honestly wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done by any means… just none of it was simple. You are spending so much more of your time gaining access to the parts than you do actually swapping the fun stuff in. I would say I spent about 12-15 hours across a few days doing this install. Now that also includes some time spent stretching, getting a beer and yelling at the kids to keep the goddamn house door shut. So yes, this install was lengthy, uncomfortable, and only mildly gratifying so far. Asked my wife what she thought of me as I lay on the engine (expecting her to purr playfully at me) and she says it doesn't really look like I've been doing anything up there for the past 2 hours. Hurt my feelings. Although - I wasn't covered in grease or oil at the end of the job for a change! Instead I ended up smelling like gasoline and looking like Cujo raped my torso.

So now we wait. We clean the tool cart.

We learn about our tools.

We get some fireworks.

And fall asleep before we get home.

We beg to drive the nice car like your sister.

We learn to ride a skateboard.

And get too adventurous on a popsicle. (It's not as bad as it looks, and I added sweet flames so it looks like she's going fast. All good.)

And we wait… for the Fedex specialist… Clearly some of the above photos didn't happen while the car was down, but this seemed like the appropriate point for a passage of time montage.

I kind of feel childish using something from that dumb cartoon, but hell that meme is fitting. Here we are, roughly 3 - 4, maybe 5 days since the last time I worked on this entry. And I love it when I can say progress has been made. It feels good. Savory, yet sweet and long lasting.

Buttoned up the rest of the car and took her on the first voyages with the fuel kit. I was surprised that it was actually noticeable on its own (with the revised tune of course.) I'm still more or less running an off the shelf tune that I've monkeyed with but it seems to do well. The 2 main things their fuel system tune does without anything else is increases boost limits slightly and adds some optional redline RPM. I opted to set my redline to a conservative 7200 to not overly tempt the stock valve springs, and otherwise liked how the torque tables looked with the fuel tune. I had previously reduced the torque in gears 1 and 2 but figured I would give this a shot, which was much closer to the full throttle limits by glancing between the options.

I really like the extra RPM. Can't say it spanked a second off my quarter mile times (if I cared about that) but it felt nicer. It seemed to match the tach better - I know a lot of us end up pinging off that wall faster than you expect and this helped. I will also say I could easily see an extra 3-ish PSI of boost when I stomped on it. What was interesting though was 3rd gear almost felt more sluggish, despite the extra boost I was getting… I mean she pulled strong and hard, full boost up to 28/29 PSI. Seemed to feel a little tame though. Maybe the feeling has been offset by the extra oomph in 2nd, which is kinda nice I won't lie. This could very well by my own styles that need adjusting - I've only driven the car twice with the new fuel system because VARIS HOOD BABY.

First - at this point in the lecture, we need to pause and acknowledge a person that without, this project wouldn’t have happened. At least that weekend. Or with him I suppose. Regardless, I'm thrilled with how my weekend went (other than the heat) and I need to thank the one and only, the man, the myth, the legend, the farmer, my good friend Steven Farmer. With his help we got that hood installed. We wrangled children together. We drank beer together, like men. We smoked ribs and burgers for dinner, like real men. And we also got lazy and didn't even fully finish the job, just like the manliest of men. Here was my Saturday pit crew in a timeless photo titled "That's right bitch. I took the last blue freezie pop."

I exaggerate. It was totally me that didn't want to stay out in the sweltering garage and finish. All that is left is re-doing the washer lines and the hood pins. And let's be honest - those hood pins are going to be a job in itself, saved for a later day. By the way, did I mention my buddy drives a sweet ass Lotus? Don’t mind my crappy hatch photo-bombing in the background.

Not a whole lot to say about the hood yet though, which feels sad for how long of a wait that sucker took (right at 7 and a half months.) I mean I've only driven with the hood once so far, so I don't have a lot of data. I didn’t see steam rising out of the vent like I thought I might, which was a bummer, but c'mon - this hood looks fantastic. Full on, multi-ball, bonus points for simply being bitchin. It really wasn't hard to install either. We did have to break the hinges loose to adjust the hood slightly, but it wasn't challenging or time consuming. It bolted right up and latched and I didn't crack the clearcoat the first time I shut it or anything. I'd say you save maaaaybe 5 lbs with the drool worthy carbon, but that stock hood was an impressively light sheet of metal to begin with. I see no imperfections that I care about in the hood - I've only noted one super tiny imperfection and I'm not telling you where it is because you probably wouldn't even find it with how insignificant it is. Good on you Varis - top notch. But no stickers in that huge box… minus 5 points.

Ok - we've traveled a lot of ground so far… I'm winded. That about wraps up all I really had this time around I think. I know I'm not done with the car. I have to do some tidying up in the engine bay and officially finish the hood / get the pins installed. I'm hoping to decide in the next few days if I like the bare carbon panda nose look or if I want her paint matched like the flagship Varis car (which I do like.)

I know I'm going waaaay too long here… but I hit my 3rd track, Gingerman Raceway out in Michigan this last month! I get it if this thread has lost the attention of some at this point. Do me a favor though, and just piss off if you're bored. There are plenty other threads about rocks in heat shields and "what is this silly ambient air temp sensor behind the grill" to keep short spans like those.

The trip was cool though, there were a lot of firsts. For instance, first time trailering the car - an experience I say! I loooooved seeing my wife, up on the flatbed, trying to guide me up the ramps. The look of terror on her face of not wanting to be responsible if I wasn't straight. Priceless. Seriously though she helped more than any other wife would, I just like teasing her. Teamwork makes the dream work - first time I stacked a couple 2x10s and used those orange spring spacers from the initial dealer transportation (who knew it would be handy to keep those stupid things? For the record, my dealership did not forget to take them out.) Turns out I didn't actually need the spacers. I walked right up that ramp with just the 2x10s on our way home. Boy that was a "whoops" moment when I realized what could have been. I did slightly scuff one Titan rim backing down the ramp though… a bummer, but the price to pay for having fun I guess. And in a hilarious twist it happened to be the same rim I boogered up when I first installed the center caps.

Gingerman was a really neat track for how out in the sticks and primitive it was. It was surprisingly technical… I walked in there thinking I knew what I was doing at this point, and in another first - I went off track. Yeah, I got humbled. Car is good though - I basically decided I wanted to fully experience understeer, at my own leisurely pace into a soft grassy runoff area. Everything would have been fully fine if not for the traffic cones they had marking the corner… one of them sucked up under me and kind of banged that metal undertray around. It dented into my oil filter, bent the tray, and opened up an old tear in the plastic molding I had repaired some time ago. No leaks though, and I was able to straighten out the tray just fine. I did end up going this route though with that plastic stuff. Did I really open up this post saying I don't cut corners? Shameful.

Otherwise there were all these tiny little elevation changes that were hard to predict at Gingerman - one corner essentially had a really quick "hump" in the braking zone, so if you didn't hit that sucker right the whole turn was unsettled. And another twisty section had a subtle, but very real and impactful downhill slope throughout it. It was like you were grinding a rail, a little too much one way or another and you were wanting to spin out or end (back) up in the grass. And I just for the life of me couldn't figure out where best to change from 3-4. Oh, it also rained at lunch - so first time on a wet track. Actually saw a dude spin out in front of me. Crazy.

I pulled a few laps from a couple different sessions on the track. One is the rain session, where I played cat and mouse with a Subie for most of the session. I beat him too, even though they say we are all winners and this isn't real racing. Whatever. I spanked that white Subie. I captured where the dude spun out in my video, but opted to leave out my triumphant overtaking since that segment overall seemed tame due to the wet conditions (you even see me lose a little traction at the same spot in a few laps.) I will also applaud Hondata traction control in the wet conditions - it was very apparent, and worked quite well actually. Thumbs up! The other segment is from an earlier session where I was able to run a little hotter. Don't mind that I made a few downshifts like a tard… You get in a zone sometimes and forget the basics when chasing someone. I'm not a professional here but I sure do have fun doing this jazz. The tracks. The wrenching. My busted ass knuckles and old man knees. The people you meet. And this car.




I also got to do this cool stuff - oh yeah, war badges.

Finally, to wrap the trip up I got to swing by and meet my buddy Rich Wong out at RV6 Performance on my way home! It was only like 15 minutes out of the way and I've been meaning to get out there for a while. Was a great chance to shake a good man's hand, stretch the legs, and see his cool shop. Can't wait to see what else he pumps out over there.

That's all I got. We've talked about maybe trying to hit another track this fall after my wife is finished with her master's degree - Congratulations by the way! It would likely be Blackhawk Farms again for a realistic chance, but we've also talked about Autobahn Country Club in Chicago as a stretch goal. Until then though, I suppose I will sail off into the distance with the wind in my hair. Which will have to be from the AC though - the kids hate driving with the windows down for whatever silly reason… I will also have to decide where to take this car next. Turbos and flex fuel kits are cool. I feel like I may be gambling with needing at least a beefier clutch there though… Spoon aero pieces are super swanky, and each one is expensive enough to fund 3 separate kidneys for kids out at St. Judes. Good ones too, not last week's leftovers. Maybe it's time to drop a b16 in the EK hatch. Anyone got a B-series for sale? Do they even still exist? Hello? Is there anybody out there? Marco? Radio? **CHCHCHCH*

Posts may be delayed after this one though… maybe even more so. I head back into the office next week in fact. Covid be damned. Both kids go to daycare, one as a returning champion while the other spends the first day of her life without me. Here's to tomorrow - cheers / prost. I know we're all actually sad inside though - so let's leave off on a somber note, titled "I just want the fucking cheese crackers back"

 

[davemarco]

Thanks for doing all of those writeups. Question for you - I recently installed my RV6 rear control arms and sway bar (with end links), and I now seem to be getting a really bad clunking sound from the rear of the car. I checked the end links and they appear to be fairly tight - do you have any recommendations?

 

[Lust]

Not car related but nice board setup! I've been meaning to try the April decks.

Otherwise, car looks great with the new Varis hood

 

[SpicyPIXEL]

Damn, I read every page of this post - fantastic stuff and great write ups/opinions/reviews.

I'm nearing the next round of mods after installing my Eventuri intake box. Just wondering if I should do Hondata finally or some other mods (rear sway bar/RMM/AntiLift, Morimotos, or downpipe/front pipe).

I feel like I’m “getting more” when I’m able to get a couple mods for $1100 instead of JUST Hondata (I drive a 2021)…

Edit: I have a set of SickSpeed horns (from my WRX), I tried installing but they kept making contact with each other and I couldn’t figure out how to get them both in the small space together. I’ll have another look when I install my front mount oil cooler)

 

[TheShadow]

Thanks for doing all of those writeups. Question for you - I recently installed my RV6 rear control arms and sway bar (with end links), and I now seem to be getting a really bad clunking sound from the rear of the car. I checked the end links and they appear to be fairly tight - do you have any recommendations?

Thanks! And no problem - like I said I personally like a little detail so I try and pass along useful tidbits if I write something up. As for your clunking I would honestly say go back through and check ALL the bolts you've touched. I had a strange clunk for a bit, turns out it was the end link to the LCA - I searched for the sound for a while then got lucky and caught it "slipping" and creaking while jacking the back end up one day. Best guess is the wrinkle red paint settled a little in the bolted joint, which loosened it a tiny bit. Hasn't bothered me since.

Not car related but nice board setup! I've been meaning to try the April decks.

Otherwise, car looks great with the new Varis hood

Hell yeah! I dig the board so far - not a pro with that either, but it's fun to tool around on with the girls.

Any tips on the hood pins? I see you as well have good taste in car parts

Damn, I read every page of this post - fantastic stuff and great write ups/opinions/reviews.

I'm nearing the next round of mods after installing my Eventuri intake box. Just wondering if I should do Hondata finally or some other mods (rear sway bar/RMM/AntiLift, Morimotos, or downpipe/front pipe).

I feel like I’m “getting more” when I’m able to get a couple mods for $1100 instead of JUST Hondata (I drive a 2021)…

Edit: I have a set of SickSpeed horns (from my WRX), I tried installing but they kept making contact with each other and I couldn’t figure out how to get them both in the small space together. I’ll have another look when I install my front mount oil cooler)

Glad you enjoy the story! But dude - Hondata. 'Nuff said. You only get "the little box" but you will feel that more than any other suspension / intake / exhaust mod. Even on your fancy 2021 .

 

[Lust]

Thanks! And no problem - like I said I personally like a little detail so I try and pass along useful tidbits if I write something up. As for your clunking I would honestly say go back through and check ALL the bolts you've touched. I had a strange clunk for a bit, turns out it was the end link to the LCA - I searched for the sound for a while then got lucky and caught it "slipping" and creaking while jacking the back end up one day. Best guess is the wrinkle red paint settled a little in the bolted joint, which loosened it a tiny bit. Hasn't bothered me since.



Hell yeah! I dig the board so far - not a pro with that either, but it's fun to tool around on with the girls.

Any tips on the hood pins? I see you as well have good taste in car parts




Glad you enjoy the story! But dude - Hondata. 'Nuff said. You only get "the little box" but you will feel that more than any other suspension / intake / exhaust mod. Even on your fancy 2021 .

Thanks! For the hood pins I had a shop install them. I didn’t trust myself to cut into the cfrp lol. My installer recommended a horizontal orientation so the pins would work smoothly. I’ve seen them done vertical and it might look better to you aesthetically. I used existing holes on the radiator support. Pics should be on page 2-3 on my build thread

 

[TheShadow]

Thanks for the info @Lust - we will see if I can grow a pair and officially ruin the hood on my own as the weather cools down. I’m not overly picky with orientation, I just figured horizontal was the way to go based on the hood curves. I can do this… I mean shit, how many trains do my kids have? I think I can, I think I can…

Alright though class, I’d like the rest of you to listen up instead of dicking off in the back like I know you are. I found time to tidy up those evap hose routings and I have to say, my work might not even be considered substandard this time.

I snagged the revised evap fitting from PRL (add it to my list of irritations in my last post that I had to re-purchase an updated part like this.) It’s nice though - much slimmer. I mainly got it for more options with these hoses, I actually was always pretty lucky and had good hood clearance here.

Combine that with some hacked up hoses saved from other jobs to take advantage of the molded angles and a hose clamp and that line is re-secured in a way I’m pretty happy with. I also know I double clamped one side of the check valve - it’s acting as a makeshift rub barrier to that bracket. That was the only spot that was touching in a way I didn’t like, but peanuts compared to what it was. I also shortened the line going to the intecooler piping a little to make it overall sit a little nicer.

Maybe next time I will try and clean up the pig tail on the Hondata fuel pump - still kinda kinked in a way I don’t love. It has a certain kinkyness to it. I legit heard another engineer try to say “kinkyness” when describing hoses to me once. He had a straight face. I did not. Another day’s project.

Who knew keeping all of the old parts from this car would pay off though. Now what is the moral of this story? Hoarding saves hose rubs. I’m gonna make t-shirts that say that. Who’s in?

 

[TheShadow]

Oh hi there! I'm just going to go ahead and break the 4th wall here (like my hero Deadpool) and real talk with you guys for a minute. Hey. *Flips the hair from my eyes* Actually, this may only be 3rd wall breaking since I'm shattering a 2-d format? Dimensions are hard. I had this post all written up about 3 weeks ago, but wanted to wait for some photos to be taken and cleaned up before posting them here. Well, life happened - goodbye working from home (oh yeah, I never ended up going back into my office…) and hello to a life of being a (more or less) scab for an indeterminate length of time. Moving up in the world! I wanted to get this post finally submitted though, before it fell to the wayside and only cluttered up my desktop instead of everyone's forum feed. Without further delay, I present the (mostly) original, month old vintage, shitty build thread post for The Shadow Type R Build. *Screaming crowd noises*

It's official - I nutted up, so I'm not going to shut up. I willingly, intentionally, and irrevocably cut up a perfectly good (and expensive) carbon fiber hood in the name of… safety I suppose? Personally taking on work to save labor costs? Hood. Pins. Officially. In. By my own God given meat sausage mitts. It wasn't all together fun. However, I hear tell that fortune favors the bold. And now that everything is lined up and completed a few really cool people I've met through the years offered to take some sugary sweet photos. Color me fortunate and feast:

Special thanks to Simply Modified for taking the pics, and for Pete (the man?) and his badass Mugen Si - I haven't even seen one of these in person before this photo session but we got some pics together - hopefully there will be some more of these in the future. The photographers silly Italian Julia car is also bombing in the background - thing looks real nice lowered like he has it.

Cool. So on to blathering, yeah? Shall we? Walk with me. Before we move forward though we have to look back. It's been just over 4 years since I took ownership of field unit #00561. And yeah… I had modest, humble beginnings about how I would only do small, simple, and mindful modifications. Oh such vanity in my youth… Things went down the rabbit hole quick and some of it went a little off the rails for the average "just changing out my intake yo" level of enthusiast. That said, I've enjoyed the hell out of the journey. Some of it has been rough, and some of it now rides rough as a result. I've had a wonderful wife and one hell of a family with me though - and in a way we've all grown together. *Sniff.

Sentiments aside, after all that time, after 15k-ish miles (not bad for 4 years eh?), after all of the installs and blood and sweat and pages of just not shutting up I have this to be proud of: I have literally done all of the install and assembly work myself, in my garage, without any equipment that I would consider unreasonable for a grown man to own. With the small exception of some team-lift style help that has always been rightfully credited in the posts prior to this. And I guess I didn’t mount or balance the tires myself. Or do the alignments. Shut up. I did the cool shit.

Despite being mechanically inclined enough for all of this work - I must warn you weary travelers. This job is not for the faint of heart… For once… I don't think I would encourage the average bear to tackle hood pins yourself. Unless you ooze confidence, or just don't give two hot damns about your hood. At least try and get a reputable shop to do it for a reasonable amount. So for those of you that are burdened with weak stomachs or diagnosed with a yellow belly I would honestly just turn away. Seriously felt like I was having PTSD episodes during the process with how nerve racking some of it was (would probably not really be this bad if you've ever done it before…) If you accept this challenge yourself then read on and I will share what I learned. Onward, to Valhalla.

Hood pins. Never done them before. In general I'm a fan of the look. I went with Aerocatch latches mainly because they seemed to be the most robust and commonly available offering on these cars after my minor investigation. I'm somewhat indifferent to the general look of them. Can't say I needed that teardrop look but I feel like pins in general have a certain cool factor. And yeah… they are a safety thing so I didn't want to skimp. Props to Varis though - the hood feels like a brick shit house. I mean it's only carbon fiber and clear coat so don't sit on it or something stupid… But I don't know if I would feel the immediate need for pins with this hood, at least as a non-professional circuit driver. The as supplied Varis latch is bolt on and feels pretty solid. I guess safety ain't coming in second today though.

So I mainly followed this dude (GeForce Ginger) on YouTube who installed these pins on a different hood. He did a pretty good job explaining the process and I would recommend you give it a watch - except holy hell, wear a fucking mask. That guys gonna catch the asbestos. Or gout. Something. Also, he skips a step when removing that front bumper support bracket - there are actually two plastic clips holding it to some shrouding deep in there. Just break the clips and get new ones, they are awful to get out.

Things start out easy though, the usual order of remove the intake and plastic paneling above the radiator. You do need to chop the pins down a little - as a reminder, you can't call yourself a grown man if you don't have a Dremel (kinda required for this job, the metal cutoff wheels worked great here.) The pins bolt right into some easily accessible holes after that. Another note compared to that video - that dude clamps the plastic shroud in the driver's side pin bolted joint. I personally did not do that and would not recommend it, adding a squishy plastic piece in a bolted joint is a no-no for me. For now just adjust 'em a bit and wow, seems like you are kicking ass with this install. Just gotta cut the hood now. And not dick it up. Deep breaths.

For what it's worth, a little out of order - here is how I rectified at least the driver side clip where the pin now sits. Trimmed a little and drilled a new hole. For now I left the passenger side missing the one clip and just notched the panel to fit around the nut on the pin.

Anyway, again - things went kind of ok through the next part… used tooth paste to leave the locating mark between the hood and pins and grabbed the Dremel (seriously these things are so nice I have to recommend it again.) I started off with a small drill, worked up sizes and then used one of the grinding stone bits (the pink ones) to enlarge it. Kept the speeds low - on my Dremel scale of 0 to stupid fast I kept her at about an 8. I think that’s 8k RPM. Keep it slow. It cuts like soft wood, actually easier than expected. Then we get to this point, and it still kind of seems like maybe I know what I'm doing. Don't forget to find a good prop to keep your hood off the engine during this.

Yeah it went downhill from here. Not like epically or drastically, but here is where shit kind of got hard. The process of making a template and the multiple steps of locating it on the car relative to the hood and pin and using that template and the latch itself to transfer the cut pattern was just tedious… And seemed to leave a lot of room for error. This is where the hands started shaking just trying to surgically position the dumb template… And then you have to consider if that is the exact position and angle you want to use as the basis to vengefully mangle your hood. I started with the driver latch, I don’t think it matters, but yeah crab the cut off wheel again and start going. The same pink grinding stone was used to slowly widen the hole as I attempted to test fit the latch itself, you know so I didn't cut away too much? And maybe this was some of my downfall - you are constantly viewing the latch relative to the pin as you try and see if your hole is big enough and I feel like that can skew where you do the final material removal since the hood isn't fully closed when you are cutting… Maybe I should have had it closed during all of this? Or taken the much more tedious route of cut, close, check fit, release / reset to cut again. Maybe. Anyway of course in the moment I made the executive decision to wander slightly relative to that pattern I spent so long placing. Kept going, slow grinding, be a leaf on the wind, aaaaaand fuck.

Gotta walk away. Just. Cock thistles I'm angry. Hopefully the final clearcoat can fix it… Man it buzzed through any protective tape fast.

After giving time to settle my nerves the first latch eventually goes in. Go figure with my slight wandering there was 1 mounting hole for the latch that overlapped partially in the main center cut, rather than securing only to virgin hood. Well… damn. I mean the clamping nature of the latch is really going to create a robust joint regardless, but still. Ok rinse and repeat with the other side, but now they have to match. Super. More shaky hands. More wandering relative to the template, and same problem with a couple mounting holes being less than perfect relative to the main hole... Kind of feeling humbled at this point. Also - when you cut the bottom layer of the hood, it's very much the wild west there. Like I guess we are just doing whatever feels right in the moment when cutting the access hole here. The short advice is the hole must be big enough to fish in the lower clamp of the mount, but the kind of hidden quirk is you also have to be able to get it in the hole AROUND the main latch when you do the final assembly. So make sure you have room for that maneuvering. And any clearance you want for your little smokies. Yeah, didn't finish that step feeling like I did a good job since I was only trusting myself for the final shape. The holes are straight enough on the final product I guess?

Yeah you're not done. Adjust them pins son. Again. And again. And walk around to unlatch the hood again and get those 10k steps. You have to do this part with everything still removed in the engine bay so you can tighten the pin hardware. Thankfully I found no differences between latch and pin fitment regardless of if I had the intake or the other paneling on. So you can hopefully rest assured there I guess.

And after some really sore arms and a fairly broken spirit the work is done. It isn't satisfying yet though… Everything is filthy. And guess what? Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to pull the hood off again we go. Off come the latches, off comes the hood, and off to clear coat we go. I used my local Honda body shop - dude quoted me a reasonable price, was nice to talk to, and in general I actually like dealing with my dealership. As mentioned before I do my own maintenance and modification work though if that justifies any difference in feelings between you and your local shop. I do all my own work minus clear coating. Shut up.

And par for the course, we wait. So let's keep tradition with a montage. We:

Say goodbye to a cast.

Buy mom a new skateboard so she can kick ass too.

Find your twin. Thanks Uncle Mike! We love you!

Organize the tools.

Inspect our toy Jeep and realize the issue is a glorious lack of screwdrivers.

Discover Tootsie Pops.

Threaten to host a stand-in protest if your demands aren't met, while standing on the seat like a monster.

Get Tubular.

Become frustrated that there is no clear winning pumpkin in the patch.

And just like that, the clear coat is finally dry and the hood is returned. Kind of fun that it fits in the hatch. Felt like a putz driving without a hood on my Civic though - super classy right. I'll spare any details for the final assembly since it's honestly the same song and dance all over again. And then it's finally done. It's back on, adjusted, the screen is in (which is a total pain to do) and the pins still work like I had hoped. I can honestly say I've felt some kind of long standing anxiety that's been around since first receiving the hood finally be lifted. All the little side quests have been taken care of to properly get this awesome piece installed.

And if I can take a step back, I actually think I did ok. I mean lets recap: You gotta cut the hood to do this… if you mess up, it shows… I tried this myself mainly for the satisfaction of saying I did it. I took a risk. I think overall that risk turned out well, despite my blunders. That wandering I mentioned earlier? I think I spy a 5 degree or so difference in latch angles on the hood. Not enough to look bad, but if you spend time looking for the hidden picture in the carbon weave you can spot it. Another item I glossed over entirely is I actually ended up notching the latch housings slightly to help with some alignment during hood closure. Maybe this could have been avoided but I felt the need to do some minor trimming. And yeah, all this work requires that there Dremel - which has a tendency to cut indiscriminately. I hit the top of the virgin hood during this job (and dinged one of my pins)… Not quite enough to botch the weave (thankfully) but if you look you can still see irregularity in the clear coat there. Honda body shop did a good job overall though - they cleaned up that area better than I had hoped and did well on the hood overall.



All in all? I'd give myself a solid A minus on this job. It is not perfect, but she functions and looks great. And I saved however much shop fees. Most of the mistakes I made either don't show or are covered up well enough to not notice, so that helps make me feel better about my work. Plus, let's get real here. This car isn't new anymore. I think I touched up a total of 9 paint chips across the bumper when finishing the hood install (because why not do that too.) And seriously - one of these times the kids are going to decide it's this car they want to ralph in instead of my wife's truck. Gross. I realize I didn't have a "super" good set of pictures showing the final latch placement - these are all I had from before the final screen install but are the best I have for a straight on look. Not too bad.

To wrap up, please have a friend help you any time you take the hood on or off - yeah you can do it yourself but just don’t be impatient… seriously phone a friend. As for advice on how to do hood pins better than me? I don't really have any words of wisdom… I guess measure twice, cut once, plus ultra? I thought I took my time and was about as careful here as I could be. I even found time to do it when the kids weren't around so they can't be my scapegoats this time. Maybe better advice would be prepare to accept some minor "whoopsie daisy" moments. And maybe a moderate "shit balls" or two. And know when it is time to take a break. This isn't one of those eat-through-the-pain moments - shaky hands hurt hoods.

That's all I've got. All this post for 2 silly little latches. Downright feels like a catfishing video. Lured you in with pretty pictures and just kept on talking without really getting anywhere. I do have a few things in the pipeline though I promise… be patient, we're not done here yet. I can leave you with this (which is totally one of those minor updates from the month in waiting) but I humbly present, currently clocking in at under 30 Hp going straight to the ground through one wheel of the craftsman lawnmower towing it, is (most) of my lovely family in my new project.

She's glorious right? I mean they all are but that is my dream project - an EF hatchback. And in fair shape all things considered. Just you know, no motor. But plenty of room for a K20a! You know what they say about wishing and horses right. And the best part, it came with all the fun little surprises these crappy cars always seem to have - a little cubby full of pennies, random Allen keys and like 90 amp fuses (guy must have been throwing a rave in here.) I dunno though, would anyone here be interested in updates on this? They would be slower than what I'm already doing, I will be honest. Hopefully this will be cool down the road though. Until then though, yes - I feel silly now owning 4 separate generations of Civic. And yes, I have received some pointed notifications about "not running some sort of junkyard." And not just from the wife - apparently the fuzz wanted in on the harassment too.

I promise I have some new things on order and in the works. For both cars. Speaking of, does anyone need a kidney? I might have other extra body parts for sale too - PM me for details. Local pickup only.

 

[Sam3]

@TheShadow Ben, thank you for sharing your experience and detailed instructions/videos about the RV6 bushings/bearing and mounts. I'm seriously considering them, but I'm worried about the streetability of the car. I am planning to start modding by tipping the balance more for the track than street. I read a few comments about spherical bushings and how some folks moved away from them because the NVH level exceeded their tolerance.

My questions for you, after all this time driving the car on the street and taking it to the track, are you having second thoughts? Do you wish you went with more compliant bushings (e.g. Whiteline) instead of the RV6 spherical and solid polyurethane bushings and mounts? Are you concerned about their longevity (heard that spherical wear out sooner than rubber)?

 

[Doc_Mello]

Just found this build! Sub’d! And you have great prose, mate! The genuine humor built into your writing style is engaging!

 

[davemarco]

@TheShadow Ben, thank you for sharing your experience and detailed instructions/videos about the RV6 bushings/bearing and mounts. I'm seriously considering them, but I'm worried about the streetability of the car. I am planning to start modding by tipping the balance more for the track than street. I read a few comments about spherical bushings and how some folks moved away from them because the NVH level exceeded their tolerance.

My questions for you, after all this time driving the car on the street and taking it to the track, are you having second thoughts? Do you wish you went with more compliant bushings (e.g. Whiteline) instead of the RV6 spherical and solid polyurethane bushings and mounts? Are you concerned about their longevity (heard that spherical wear out sooner than rubber)?

I think that I'm in the minority, but I hate that my RV6 Rear Sway bar is so noisy. I've checked it several times - all connections are super tight, but it constantly makes rattling noises when going over small bumps. My car sounds super broken now.

 

[TheShadow]

@TheShadow Ben, thank you for sharing your experience and detailed instructions/videos about the RV6 bushings/bearing and mounts. I'm seriously considering them, but I'm worried about the streetability of the car. I am planning to start modding by tipping the balance more for the track than street. I read a few comments about spherical bushings and how some folks moved away from them because the NVH level exceeded their tolerance.

My questions for you, after all this time driving the car on the street and taking it to the track, are you having second thoughts? Do you wish you went with more compliant bushings (e.g. Whiteline) instead of the RV6 spherical and solid polyurethane bushings and mounts? Are you concerned about their longevity (heard that spherical wear out sooner than rubber)?

Thanks! And my pleasure - I like doing the write ups and it’s fun rambling about my adventures. Even if only like 5 people listen. But man… I really feel bad telling you what to do here - it should be your decision… not to mention it’s actually a hard question to answer. From an NVH standpoint I’m still pretty happy with the mounts (considering all of the RV6 solid mounts as a whole here.) It is definitely harsher, but I personally like that. I also try to stay away from super crappy roads or parking lots, or expect to go stupid slow through them. However - I think you have to weigh that with some other things, like tire size, how much you really daily it, are there other mods that might compound any of these factors (like coil overs.) I also am lucky enough to be at a point in my life where I have a couple throwaway vehicles to drive in the rain / snow (insert the crappy hatch that blew out a ball joint a few posts back.) *Edit* I MEAN - my wife is so gracious she allows me to have stupid and excessive toys *shifty eyes*. And that comment is also playing into your longevity question… I dunno man - I only have like 8k miles on mine, they feel just as fresh as new, but again I don’t daily mine and I do keep it out of crappy weather…. I’m assuming rain and snow and shit would eat at any solid bushing kind of quick. I’m assuming mine will wear out eventually and I will be angry at having to replace them at that point, but at this moment - I have no regrets. So I’m sure you are going to be left in just as indecisive of a place after reading this, so yeah - sorry buddy. You gotta make a choice - if you aren’t happy with it afterwards, change it again. It’s life yo.

Just found this build! Sub’d! And you have great prose, mate! The genuine humor built into your writing style is engaging!

Hey!! One of the 5 fans!! Thank you, thank you! You’re going to make a grown man blush from all this attention. Stay tuned for more overly wordy and delayed posts.

I think that I'm in the minority, but I hate that my RV6 Rear Sway bar is so noisy. I've checked it several times - all connections are super tight, but it constantly makes rattling noises when going over small bumps. My car sounds super broken now.

Yeah I remember you asking me about the sway bar a while back… That sucks to hear you still have a clunk - I get it, that shits annoying. I had that impression with my Karcepts bar. Did you do all the checks with the wheels free hanging or supported? I’ve been trying to have the car resting on the wheels when I break those sway bar end links loose to make sure there isn’t any binding or preload in the system. Maybe also look for signs of a bolt head or nut that might be slipping and scuffing up paint somewhere? Likely it isn’t actually moving much - just enough to piss you off something fierce. Good luck!

 

[davemarco]

Thanks! And my pleasure - I like doing the write ups and it’s fun rambling about my adventures. Even if only like 5 people listen. But man… I really feel bad telling you what to do here - it should be your decision… not to mention it’s actually a hard question to answer. From an NVH standpoint I’m still pretty happy with the mounts (considering all of the RV6 solid mounts as a whole here.) It is definitely harsher, but I personally like that. I also try to stay away from super crappy roads or parking lots, or expect to go stupid slow through them. However - I think you have to weigh that with some other things, like tire size, how much you really daily it, are there other mods that might compound any of these factors (like coil overs.) I also am lucky enough to be at a point in my life where I have a couple throwaway vehicles to drive in the rain / snow (insert the crappy hatch that blew out a ball joint a few posts back.) *Edit* I MEAN - my wife is so gracious she allows me to have stupid and excessive toys *shifty eyes*. And that comment is also playing into your longevity question… I dunno man - I only have like 8k miles on mine, they feel just as fresh as new, but again I don’t daily mine and I do keep it out of crappy weather…. I’m assuming rain and snow and shit would eat at any solid bushing kind of quick. I’m assuming mine will wear out eventually and I will be angry at having to replace them at that point, but at this moment - I have no regrets. So I’m sure you are going to be left in just as indecisive of a place after reading this, so yeah - sorry buddy. You gotta make a choice - if you aren’t happy with it afterwards, change it again. It’s life yo.




Hey!! One of the 5 fans!! Thank you, thank you! You’re going to make a grown man blush from all this attention. Stay tuned for more overly wordy and delayed posts.




Yeah I remember you asking me about the sway bar a while back… That sucks to hear you still have a clunk - I get it, that shits annoying. I had that impression with my Karcepts bar. Did you do all the checks with the wheels free hanging or supported? I’ve been trying to have the car resting on the wheels when I break those sway bar end links loose to make sure there isn’t any binding or preload in the system. Maybe also look for signs of a bolt head or nut that might be slipping and scuffing up paint somewhere? Likely it isn’t actually moving much - just enough to piss you off something fierce. Good luck!

I appreciate the insight. I generally have the car in the air before loosening anything - would you recommend loosening the connections with the wheels on the ground instead? I'm not sure that I can fit under there without the car jacked up, and I'd imagine that putting the rear wheels on ramps would put abnormal loading on the bar.

Maybe my understanding of preloading is wrong? I was operating under the assumption that I should leave the sway bar loose until the car is completely on the ground, and then tighten as best I can. Since I wasn't able to get under the car very well when it was on the ground though, I tightened the bar most of the way with the car jacked up and just torqued it on the ground. Do you think that could do it? If so, any recommendations to get under there with the car down?

Sponsored