Enviromental factors effect this car so much.

So I have owned roughly 30 cars. All typically above basic models with 5 including the R being high performance. I have never had a car like this where one day it drives great but its not like wow holy crap great. Then next day it will throw you around bark tires and just feel like someone gave it a redbull. I love those days.

Now I live at about 2200 feet above sea level and temps are typically mild in the 60s 70s most days. 50 to 60 % humidity and not sure about barometric pressure but would say most days it average.

IM curious how much different this car runs say at Daytona Beach Florida compared to say Aspen Colorado? I know this car has sensors for air and air density and all that, which im sure all cars have, but I just never have driven a car that seems to have Moods like this one does. or is mostly just where I live.

Is your car Moody? That's what I call it. Ill say oh shes in a mood today. My girlfriend rolls her eyes at me.

Also some days the cars sound is meh and others it growls and sounds like a did something to the exhaust , those are usually the redbull days. In my you tube video of my driving down a long twisting road with it, several people asked what I did to get the sound of the car. I said nothing , that was just what it sounded like that day.

Over my 1700 miles my car has been consistent. I live at basically sea level. I have a feeling the altitude is your issue. Especially with a forced induction car.

R-10552 said:

Over my 1700 miles my car has been consistent. I live at basically sea level. I have a feeling the altitude is your issue. Especially with a forced induction car.

Click to expand...

That was what I was thinking too. I think im right on the sweet spot for lack of a better word, and if the environment swings one way or the other it goes up and down on how the car performs. I have 4 other R owners local and they all notice the same things about theirs. That is why I was curious if people at one end or the other of elevations where its more constant noticed anything like it. Curious how it performs at higher elevations and if those owners go to sea level if they notice and big differences? Thanks for feedback.

Never driven mine yet in anything but cool or cold. Nothing above probably 60 degrees so far. I will have to keep this in mind. The only time I ever thought “what’s up with this car?” is when I have had four people in it. Adding 500-600 lbs makes a difference!! I will let you know this summer when the temps are in the 90s.

Pretty much anything will loose power at elevation, but a high strung boosted car will definitely be affected by altitude and ambient conditions - all about that air density.

I haven't noticed it with the Type R, but I have an SR20DET 240sx and on a cool crisp morning it definitely has some extra go. Also, at a hot track day after flogging on the car for a session I can definitely feel it lose power (and see it drop peak boost).

I imagine the Type R does better than my 25 year old 240sx, but the fundamentals are the same. If the air is less dense due to either altitude or temperature, it will make less power.

My cars the same way. It will run Great like its on "red bull" but, even later on in the day or even an other day, I feel the car being sluggish and not even driving as smooth. I found that turning off the engine waiting a couple minutes and turning it back on changes the "mood" of the car if its running sluggish. I have a feeling its a ECU/sensor thing.

Harlaquin said:

That was what I was thinking too. I think im right on the sweet spot for lack of a better word, and if the environment swings one way or the other it goes up and down on how the car performs. I have 4 other R owners local and they all notice the same things about theirs. That is why I was curious if people at one end or the other of elevations where its more constant noticed anything like it. Curious how it performs at higher elevations and if those owners go to sea level if they notice and big differences? Thanks for feedback.

Click to expand...

Intercooler should help if you drive a lot. You could be seeing heat soak. It will keep air temps in check.

Also I’d think the ecu would adjust boost higher. I believe our cars are not boost controlled but boost by torque. Boost levels are worked back from there. The caveat would be that the turbo can only compensate so much to add the necessary boost.

This is why i think you could be seeing heat soak.

I have not experienced anything other than cold air makes more power and I am at 5500ft driving up to 10,000ft.
My tuned S2000 does have those variances though.

I think my only gripe is the fact the small rattles when i play my music a bit over 30, and then every now and then this sound pops up

This was first thing in the morning just starting the car before heading for work. It was about 45-50 degrees today? Can’t quite figure it out. Anyone hear anything similar?

dnnymdna said:

I think my only gripe is the fact the small rattles when i play my music a bit over 30, and then every now and then this sound pops up

This was first thing in the morning just starting the car before heading for work. It was about 45-50 degrees today? Can’t quite figure it out. Anyone hear anything similar?

Click to expand...

Melbourne, FL

What I have noticed is that when the weather is colder here and I drive the same way I did in the heat the MPG takes a hit. Also I have modified my exhaust by taking off the two mufflers (leaving the center on) and the large resonator off. Colder weather = louder exhaust.

I so love the colder weather here.

Knight can be moody but when he's on, he's on.

Can you please edit the thread title? My OCD is killing me every time I see it.

It should say, "Environmental factors affect this car so much."

(Copied over from something I posted this past week. It shows the math behind how, when car's power is rated, how there are correction factors for atmospheric pressure and temperature when determining a car's power output. Both do have a substantial affect on a car. I've looked at it before... and I still am of the opinion while this may be very spot on for an NA car, it may be a bit off for a turbocharged car, especially when tuning makes the turbo run outside it's efficiency range and IATs are very high... but then all of a sudden, cold ambients makes in air going in cooler, then the intercooler has a much larger delta and is able to lower IATs further. A larger intercooler can help make up for a ill-sized turbo... but very cold ambients can make a small intercooler able to transfer much more heat from the larger delta-T alone.)

Here's a website that had some equations to back things and also had some pressure and temperature corrections to back things up.

https://wahiduddin.net/calc/cf.htm

I saw it on an old Corvette thread years ago. When I was frequenting Z stuff more and while I don't know if it was current for the change they did around... what... 2005 (I remember the RSXs went from the A2s to I think the Z3 from '04 to '05. They was supposed to be an actual 10 HP gain .. but the change in claimed power went from 200 to 201 because the standard changed the same year the refresh went into effect. It shows the revision was back in August '04 when all this was going on.).

Someone had derived that the correction factor worked out to 1.11% horsepower per 10F. Never checked his work but it sounds right.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c5-tech/661637-how-much-does-temperature-affect-h-p.html

That'd work out on an Si to be about a 10 HP bump with temperature going from 90F to 40F. I think it'd be an even greater effect on an intercooled car as the larger the delta between IATs and ambient, the better the intercooler could do. Math doesn't really care though.

Again... old stuff, but it was an interesting read at the time and easy to find because I recalled it was on a Vette forum that reference another site with some math... and math is fun.

Harlaquin said:

That was what I was thinking too. I think im right on the sweet spot for lack of a better word, and if the environment swings one way or the other it goes up and down on how the car performs. I have 4 other R owners local and they all notice the same things about theirs. That is why I was curious if people at one end or the other of elevations where its more constant noticed anything like it. Curious how it performs at higher elevations and if those owners go to sea level if they notice and big differences? Thanks for feedback.

Click to expand...

I know this is a thread from last year. I had some thoughts. Where do you live? How is your Civic?