The Shadow Type R Build

[TheShadow]

Time again for a small update just in time for the holiday season. Managed to score a couple of parts and get them installed along with swapping back into the winter tires. This is a good point to reflect on the progress I’ve made lately as it has been a long past week with my vehicles. The crappy car started misfiring, leaking coolant and popped a tire… so new plug wires, spark plugs, lower radiator hose, fresh anti-freeze and 4 news tires – yay! And to top things off I dropped a breaker bar on the fender of the R… Hello to a nice new scratch upgrade. Had to get fancy with the touch up paint and various rubbing / polishing compounds to more or less get it back to the way it should be (there is still a small area where the clear coat didn’t fully fill in the recess where the scratched happened. More coats would have fully fixed it – a project for when it gets warm again.)

First mod is the Radium Engineering coolant expansion tank. It's a two piece tank machined from solid aluminum billets and bolted together. The kit does come with new lines as well as a mounting bracket to swap right into the engine bay. Can’t say this kit doubled my horsepower by any means, but I did opt for it from the longevity aspect. I see some merit to the plastic OEM tanks getting brittle over time. Heating up and cooling down over and over again right next to the engine block can’t be a healthy activity.

The tank does have two unique chambers on the inside (forgot to snap a photo of mine, but I made a YouTube install video you can check out.) The first section is cylindrical and aims the incoming coolant so it circulates tangentially around chamber wall. This helps condense any vapors back down into a liquid before entering the main reservoir in the second chamber, which is where the return port is located. Also being aluminum should help shed some heat from the coolant better than a plastic tank. Plus I think it looks damn cool, especially with the spoon radiator cap. And I dig the sight gauge.

Next update is a bit of a guilty pleasure – a J’s racing strut tower bar. I know, I know. You are saying things like: “These bars don’t do anything because our strut mounts are welded into the firewall” or “Three piece strut bars don’t transfer forces from one mount to the other.” I don’t care. I like the way an engine bay looks with a strut bar. Plus I think any tiny amount of frame stiffening will help.

The bar is of nice quality and bolted in quickly and easily. I will say I reversed the bolts direction between the bar and the mounting feet since I couldn’t actually get a hex key on the passenger bolt head due to the coolant tank being in the way (not sure if the stock tank would have the same issue or not.) A very nice looking part though.

That about wraps up things for now and likely will for a while as winter approaches. The crappy car is primed to eat all of that winter salt and sand while I accumulate parts for the R. Next step will be to get my ECU sent off to Hondata for jailbreaking – I actually already have the FlashPro (very excited for this.) I also have the J’s racing monocoque bar on order, along with the RV6 Performance front pipe. Otherwise I still need to make the final decision on what intercooler route to go. The Mishi kit is nice and includes pipes, but it is large… Starting to like the looks of the HKS kit honestly – I’m just scared of that BOV that would be needed to complete the intercooler piping. Hoping people will flesh out how well these parts work over the winter months. I’m also wondering about upgrading the cars footwork – starting to research sway bars, rotors, brakes, and possibly even a set of forged rims. A man can dream anyway.

And for those who made it to the end of this thread, please enjoy a picture of my 8 month daughter dressed as a giraffe roaring like a lion.

 

[R-00758]

wow, great thread man. Of all the mods so far, which one would you pick if you could only choose one?

 

[anhanymous]

link to your youtube channel?

 

[TheShadow]

link to your youtube channel?

https://m.youtube.com/user/bshatto3111

More videos should get uploaded as time goes on.

wow, great thread man. Of all the mods so far, which one would you pick if you could only choose one?

Thanks! As far as a favorite mod it’s hard to say, most were purchased for different reasons. Performance wise right now my favorite is the downpipe, but I’m sure Hondata will take that place once I have it going. For sounds I like the Mishimoto intake so I can hear the turbo. For looks I would have to say the Aero Spec Racing badges, but the spoon radiator and oil caps are special to me too. Hard to pick a favorite!

 

[Bluenose CTR]

Hey Ben, I'm just waiting on the same winter setup you have (Motegi MR116 - 18*8 +35 offset and Michelin Xice 245/40R18). I wanted something closer to the factory +60 offset but the wait was too long (back ordered). The difference in offset pushes the center of the wheel out 25mm. Do you notice any difference, specifically with respect to the offset, but also just in general (less wide rims - 8 vs 8.5 factory, approx. 1" more sidewall height, etc.)? Thanks!

 

[TheShadow]

Hey Ben, I'm just waiting on the same winter setup you have (Motegi MR116 - 18*8 +35 offset and Michelin Xice 245/40R18). I wanted something closer to the factory +60 offset but the wait was too long (back ordered). The difference in offset pushes the center of the wheel out 25mm. Do you notice any difference, specifically with respect to the offset, but also just in general (less wide rims - 8 vs 8.5 factory, approx. 1" more sidewall height, etc.)? Thanks!

Honestly the biggest difference was a smoother ride (bumps and holes in the road were more tolerable.) Traction was improved on those cold mornings that would cause annoying wheel slip with the stock Continental tires. The thinner tire is better for cutting through snow so traction is maintained then, but I didn’t really push the limits of the car in the winter. I can’t really comment on if hard cornering or high speeds feel much different but average winter-safe-style driving made the car feel just as snappy but in a comfort mode at all times. All in all I am happy with that setup, especially with the reasonable cost.

 

[AhDenyo]

Which Lug Nuts were used on mr116 rims? I purchased a set of these rims for my 2018 CTR and didnt receive proper lug nuts.. Any Information would help a bunch.

 

[TheShadow]

A new year, a new post. The R is still up on jack stands, which at this point seems silly considering today is the first real snow we have had in my neck of the woods all season... Although, it did give a very good opportunity to install a few parts while I had some down time (which is surprisingly hard to come by as a parent.)

The first update is my long awaited RV6 Performance front pipe. After receiving their downpipe and being impressed at the quality and improvements it made i have been sold to RV6 and will be getting as many of their parts as I can. So of course I opted for the next part of their exhaust. And to continue the theme of the downpipe I opted for the silver ceramic coating to help mitigate temperatures.

So far I love the pipe. The quality and fit is everything I have come to expect from RV6 - literally no problems during the install, other than a sore neck from being under the car. Unfortunately, my ECU is currently out at Hondata, so my opinions on the sound and changes to how the car drives will have to wait... For a quick size reference though, here is my 10 month old daughter (dressed in a giraffe sleeper) next to the pipe, which is a few inches taller than her. 4 foot tall stuffed giraffe for reference.

Second update was actually a bit of a fortunate surprise, my J's racing monocoque bar. I have been waiting for this part for nearly two and a half months, and honestly had forgotten about it. I was halfway through installing the front pipe today (which involved a partial removal of the plastic under tray) when the bar arrived in the mail. The monocoque bar requires a full removal of the plastic under tray so I am pretty happy that I could couple the two installs while working in the same area. Again, I can't comment on improvements because of the whole no brain in the car thing.

I will say I splurged heavily during the holidays and have a pile of parts waiting to be installed. Front brake rotors and pads along with new brake lines are next, with an intercooler and piping install not too far behind. And of course the long awaited Hondata tune! Very excited for that. More to come, and until then I will keep on keeping on.

 

[TheShadow]

Which Lug Nuts were used on mr116 rims? I purchased a set of these rims for my 2018 CTR and didnt receive proper lug nuts.. Any Information would help a bunch.

I'm sorry I don't actually know what lug nuts I am running... I had my tire shop select them for me. I even found my old invoice from them but it just lists some generic code for the lug nuts. They weren't anything special, that much I know. I will say I tried a different set of lug nuts at one point but had issues getting the lugs to fully seat. Basically I am forced to use lugs that are an internal hex, which means the threads that would accept the wheel studs are limited. I don't know if a couple wheel studs were slightly longer, or a couple lugs had a one or two less threads, but I essentially bottomed out the lug before the rim was tight to the wheel hub, giving a false torque on the second set. I found this out when my car handled like crap after installing (could feel a strange wobble) and it started to give a strange grind like a rotor was warped or something. Things to look out for, but sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[jasonjm]

A new year, a new post. The R is still up on jack stands, which at this point seems silly considering today is the first real snow we have had in my neck of the woods all season... Although, it did give a very good opportunity to install a few parts while I had some down time (which is surprisingly hard to come by as a parent.)

The first update is my long awaited RV6 Performance front pipe. After receiving their downpipe and being impressed at the quality and improvements it made i have been sold to RV6 and will be getting as many of their parts as I can. So of course I opted for the next part of their exhaust. And to continue the theme of the downpipe I opted for the silver ceramic coating to help mitigate temperatures.

So far I love the pipe. The quality and fit is everything I have come to expect from RV6 - literally no problems during the install, other than a sore neck from being under the car. Unfortunately, my ECU is currently out at Hondata, so my opinions on the sound and changes to how the car drives will have to wait... For a quick size reference though, here is my 10 month old daughter (dressed in a giraffe sleeper) next to the pipe, which is a few inches taller than her. 4 foot tall stuffed giraffe for reference.

Second update was actually a bit of a fortunate surprise, my J's racing monocoque bar. I have been waiting for this part for nearly two and a half months, and honestly had forgotten about it. I was halfway through installing the front pipe today (which involved a partial removal of the plastic under tray) when the bar arrived in the mail. The monocoque bar requires a full removal of the plastic under tray so I am pretty happy that I could couple the two installs while working in the same area. Again, I can't comment on improvements because of the whole no brain in the car thing.

I will say I splurged heavily during the holidays and have a pile of parts waiting to be installed. Front brake rotors and pads along with new brake lines are next, with an intercooler and piping install not too far behind. And of course the long awaited Hondata tune! Very excited for that. More to come, and until then I will keep on keeping on.

Adorable, miss those days.

 

[golfer883]

Oil catch can lol

 

[ChampwhiteFK8]

A new year, a new post. The R is still up on jack stands, which at this point seems silly considering today is the first real snow we have had in my neck of the woods all season... Although, it did give a very good opportunity to install a few parts while I had some down time (which is surprisingly hard to come by as a parent.)

The first update is my long awaited RV6 Performance front pipe. After receiving their downpipe and being impressed at the quality and improvements it made i have been sold to RV6 and will be getting as many of their parts as I can. So of course I opted for the next part of their exhaust. And to continue the theme of the downpipe I opted for the silver ceramic coating to help mitigate temperatures.

So far I love the pipe. The quality and fit is everything I have come to expect from RV6 - literally no problems during the install, other than a sore neck from being under the car. Unfortunately, my ECU is currently out at Hondata, so my opinions on the sound and changes to how the car drives will have to wait... For a quick size reference though, here is my 10 month old daughter (dressed in a giraffe sleeper) next to the pipe, which is a few inches taller than her. 4 foot tall stuffed giraffe for reference.

Second update was actually a bit of a fortunate surprise, my J's racing monocoque bar. I have been waiting for this part for nearly two and a half months, and honestly had forgotten about it. I was halfway through installing the front pipe today (which involved a partial removal of the plastic under tray) when the bar arrived in the mail. The monocoque bar requires a full removal of the plastic under tray so I am pretty happy that I could couple the two installs while working in the same area. Again, I can't comment on improvements because of the whole no brain in the car thing.

I will say I splurged heavily during the holidays and have a pile of parts waiting to be installed. Front brake rotors and pads along with new brake lines are next, with an intercooler and piping install not too far behind. And of course the long awaited Hondata tune! Very excited for that. More to come, and until then I will keep on keeping on.

Nice! I see you got the Spoon Rigid Collar set. I will be purchasing it as well and see how it works out. What's in the other Spoon box?

 

[TheShadow]

Nice! I see you got the Spoon Rigid Collar set. I will be purchasing it as well and see how it works out. What's in the other Spoon box?

Brake lines! They will be going on soon along with the GiroDisc components. Not sure when I will get around to doing the rigid collars though, they will be a little trickier to do in my garage.

 

[TheShadow]

Well winter finally hit like a ton of bricks here - two 7 inch snow storms in a week, plus another 8-12 predicted this weekend. Good news: I like snow. Bad news: The R stays in storage. More good news: Plenty of time to work on the car when it's up on stands. Super bad news: Working in the cold garage / cold fingers suck. Anyway I actually left the plastic under tray off the car from the last round of updates (the front pipe) because I knew I wanted to get my intercooler and piping installed. And to try and fix a nasty crack I found in the under tray. JB weld to the rescue.

Pulling everything off the car was cake. I've removed the bumper before so there were no issues there. The HKS piping I had needed the intake to be removed, which again has been done before so smooth sailing. And the stock intercooler came out like nobodies business. Or butter. Whichever is smoother. Also, my daughter loves playing with car parts.

The HKS piping went in first. I went back and forth on this kit... I was unsure because "technically" I am increasing potential leak points (went from 4 hose clamps to 8 with this kit.) And I've heard people say the metal piping heats up faster than the stock rubber. I ended up going for it anyway to reduce the chance of a hose collapsing under vacuum, and because they look really nice. I also figure as long as I installed them carefully the leak points shouldn't matter, and I think the heat concern is mainly an idling problem. The pipes and silicone couplers are very nice. The drivers side was cake - easy access to everything. The passenger side was tougher. There is little access to the hose clamps at the turbo side (due to the downpipe) and I also realized that the J's racing monocoque bar is just ever so annoyingly in the way when it came to getting the pipe oriented right and secured. All in all they look nice though.

Next was the intercooler. Veeery nice quality coming from PRL. I like this thing. It mounted right up (after having to flip it around a time or two to make sure I wasn't installing it upside down...) It will not assemble incorrectly, but just holding it in my hands I realized I didn't pay attention to which side was which. It was a little tricky getting the end takes to bolt into the intercooler piping but I'm guessing that was due to me fiddling with the placement when I put in the HKS pipes. It all worked out in the end. Except my dumb ass mistook the nylon washers that came with intercooler as intended to be used with the end tank hardware. Just kidding, they are to install on the pegs the intercooler sits on to help level it out (if needed.) So I will be removing the bolts and washers to make sure I'm torqued properly. The intercooler looks amazing though - it fills out the space perfectly and all the surrounding shrouds and molding fit like a glove.

As a bonus, while I was dinking around behind the bumper, I decided to opt for the Hella horn upgrade. No, I'm not one of those drivers... not all the time anyway. To be honest I just thought they looked really cool after assembling, where you could see some of the red horn peeking through the cutouts in the bumper trim. I think they sound a little better too. Can't comment on how loud they really are compared to stock (I honked them both in the garage, so you know, they were both loud in an enclosed area.) But the Hella horns are about twice the size as stock. I'm guessing they are better. They fit in well though, I got the horn adapter from College Hills Honda and it worked perfectly. The bracket that mounts the forward most horn (secured with the bolt that holds the rearmost horn) needed to be oriented 90 degrees and pointed towards the driver side, but other than that it was no big deal to install these.

One final note... and a bit of a downer here; I'm not sure I'm in love with the monocoque bar yet. As mentioned above it was a pain to get the intercooler piping installed with it, but the larger headache came when I finally went to install the under tray. Nowhere did I read this would require trimming of the tray. Well, I guess when I didn't read anything about required trimming, I also didn't read that it doesn't require trimming. Damn crafty advertising... but yes, to fully seat the tray I needed to lop out some sections around where the bar bolts to the chassis. Also, my JB weld job didn't hold as you can see below (although it fixed a clip on the bumper that broke... I'll try again later.) More to come, including the fabulous Hondata! And new pads / rotors / brake lines when I get around to it.

 

[TheShadow]

Star Date: My Birthday. The big 30. Yes, it is April Fool’s day. No, I'm not lying. But I do come bearing updates! The time has finally come for brake upgrades. A big shout out to Zach Will for his help - I was finally able to schedule some time with him since bleeding brakes by yourself is hard. Does everyone have their buddy? Then let's get to it.


GiroDisc and Spoon to the rescue here with slotted front rotors, front brake pads and braided steel brake lines. This update has been a long time coming since I've actually had these parts just sitting in my shop since Christmas waiting for good weather and helping hands. The GiroDisc rotors are awesome though. I love the way they look, and managing to save about 3 lbs un-sprung weight per rotor gets anyone on my good graces. The rotors were a little pricey but I really like slotted rotors over drilled ones to avoid any concerns of micro cracks drilled rotors can be prone to. Install was literally one of the easiest things to do on this car as all you do is remove the wheel, remove the caliper with 2 bolts (you probably should either remove the hard brake tube on the caliper or unbolt the bracket that secures the other end of the hard line for more flexibility), and then just as the others say it is only one reasonably small Phillips head screw that secures the rotor onto the vehicle. I might suggest an impact screwdriver for this – it worked really well and didn’t make me feel like I might strip the Philips screw head.

While doing the rotor job, and it was actually done while the rotors were off for more room, I opted to upgrade to Spoon’s brake lines. Man Spoon stuff is nice. Expensive, but oooooh so nice. Not to mention mad JDM yo. If that matters. Don’t ask me about my new reservoir cover either. The lines feel tough though and even have some kind of clear sheath that will take some abuse before the elements can even get into contact with the brake line / steel mesh itself. The lines come nicely packaged in a box and are clearly labeled for which corner of the vehicle they bolt into. The front wheels were an exact drop in and were as easy as putting down the pan to catch brake fluid. The rear lines were just about as easy, but you do get new clips to hold the end of the line where it secures to the chassis, and 4 new washers to use at the caliper end of the line (the fitting around the banjo bolt is ever so slightly different than the stock one, but it bolts up the same.) Out with the old, in with the new and you are done. I will say I lost more fluid in this process than I was expecting to. Get yourself 2 quarts of brake fluid. I damn near went through the whole first quart on the front lines alone.

But now with new brake lines and rotors I also wanted to upgrade to some track ready pads. I spoke directly with GiroDisc on this and they recommended their S.S. compound brake pads based on my desire for aggressive street driving and occasional track use. Fitment was perfect as it should be. I also had an easy time pushing in the caliper pistons since the lines were already broken when swapping the lines (a word of caution: fluid can spray pretty far out of the caliper when the lines are disconnected. Keep a rag handy and avoid your car’s paint.) Girodisc does supply some generic bedding instructions with the new rotors and new pads, and it basically comes down to some repeated light to moderate brake application for a few seconds, enough to gradually heat the pads without burning them up or glazing them. Make sure there is no shudder, and when you are done there should be signs of smooth and even pad application against the rotors. Honestly I basically just did some driving around town and a few jaunts on the highway and it seemed to work well. Initial impressions are very good though – the bite feels just as good as stock, but it feels like it can keep going. I felt like the stock pads had high initial bite but not much more after that without having to work hard against the brake pedal. The GiroDisc pads have that same initial bite but very little pedal actuation after that continues to give big additional braking forces. I was on the highway and kept being impressed with how easily and quickly it would knock 45+ MPH from my speed when getting ready for an off ramp. I will be driving with them a little more and then writing a review of the pads that is long overdue.

Final thoughts? Damn I’m happy. I can’t say I feel much direct change from the spoon lines, but the quality is amazing and I know they will last for years. I also won’t have that fear in the back of my mind when I get to a track of whether or not the stock ones will bulge. I also love the brake pads – they really feel a cut above the stock without reducing the daily driveability of this car. And guess what – I haven’t heard them squeal once yet (and no, I didn’t use any grease at all on this job between pads and rotors.) But the winner here is the rotors. I fell in love with these things when I first started seeing them and they do not disappoint. I feel like they additionally help with the good brake feel, but they just look sexy. I also think they blend really well with the car – before I felt the front drilled rotors clashed with the plane rear ones, but the slotted rotors match very nicely in my opinion. I will get a better picture once I swap to my summer tire setup, hopefully next week.

In other news Hondata kicks ass – officially on my 4th re-flash and continuing to dial in the car to where I like it based on their options. So far I have a base tune with some presets where they make sense based on my mods and I also have the improved throttle response with limited power in first and second gear. I like the limited 1st gear, but think I want to ramp up the torque in 2nd just a little – somewhere in between the full power and where Hondata reduced it to. I also am liking the new traction control feature they just rolled out – that is slick. Next parts in the queue are the Radium Engineering dual catch can kit and the Karcepts rear sway bar. The plan is to get all of this dialed in to where I am happy before my first day at my nearest track: Blackhawk Farms Raceway. I will be out there July 24 and can’t wait. Hope to get in some autocross runs before then too. You may be wondering why I picked Satan’s armpit levels of heat for my first track day in July. It’s because I did it guys. I finally broke down. I bought rims. I have a set of 18” Titan7 TS5s in satin titanium, +45 offset coming. I like their weight savings, the look of them, and I was able to save enough cash to make it happen. I get it, they aren’t as gangster as some Japanese rims (I probably would have done unspeakable and horrible things for the SW 388 rims) but these have good specs, reviews, fit my budget and I think look really got on Championship White. The wait is killer though – ordered in early February and likely won’t get them till June. I guess that just leaves more time for photo ops like this lovely example, which I call “Get that goddamn sun out of my eyes.”