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News....

June 17 - What a ride the past several months have been.  Lots of updates and changes to the cars, and some news about racing as well.  First, the car is together and making power.  The sticker on the rear bumper needs to be changed as 500 isn't the mark any longer.  :)    Ray's S&C has installed a one-off mandrel 5" exhaust system.  From the GT40R turbo, exhaust travels through a Full Race 4" downpipe, to a 4" flex, then to Ray's work, and finally exiting the rear out a 5" Pro Stock muffler.  Also out back, a Simpson chute has been installed in anticipation of higher trap speeds.  Once again, Ray's expertise was called upon for the welding and fabrication duties.  Brent Leivestad provided the tuning on the FAST system.

The nitrous system is up and running, at last.  Nitrous Express, NOS, and ZEX parts are utilized in different areas of the system.  The main nitrous for the engine is a wet system from Nitrous Express, complemented with an automatic bottle heater and a ZEX purge kit.  For the new Precision air-air intercooler, a NOS spray bar is located out front, which is fed by a separate nitrous bottle and solenoid in an attempt to be more consistent.  It's activated either manually or automatically, depending on conditions.  Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks I ran into with this spray bar is its tendancy to "puddle" up the nitrous spray into a drip; the starting line officials at Bandimere insisted that I was leaking water from the front of the car whenever I had the spray bar set for automatic mode in the burnout box.

Several pictures are posted in the Pictures section under 92 hatch / newest stuff.  Modified and Urban Racer were both at the event last weekend, and the pictures I ran across on their sites have been copied over.  I think there was one from NHRA's site as well.  If you were there and/or have some additional pictures/video, let me know if you would.  ;)

A big thanks to everyone who helped out getting my car down to the event (Jackie & Ray, for sure!) and everyone down there (JR, Rick, Brent, Scot, Sam).  Overall I am happy with the progress with the car through two days of testing, even though I didn't place in the event.  The car qualified fourth in the SFWD class, and I was able to run the fastest trap speed thus far (142) and the quickest (10.60) despite a 10psi drop in boost pressure due a faulty pressure line at the wastegate hat.  If I can get the 60' times down where they should be and keep a handle on the proper boost level, the nines should arrive shortly!

As for the 1997 - well, let's see... The old turbo setup from the 92 is on it, combined with a Apex-i Power FC and Precision 680cc injectors.  A set of Arias pistons is sitting on the shelf waiting on time to install them.  Look to about 350hp out of the car once that's done.  On a much more obvious note, the car is no longer purple.  Championship White is the new color, combined with a 99-00 front end conversion, a VIS carbon hood and spoiler.  The dash controls are on the list for swapping as well to the 99-00 spec.

March 23 - The aluminum parts arrived finally, and we have begun the intercooler end tank fabrication and boost pipe work.  The machine shop completed work on the Civic parts to work with the Integra hubs, and the fuel tank sump should arrive at the shop in the next day or two.  The replacement tank has shown up; we will tear into modifying it and running all of the fuel supply components throughout the weekend.  The goal has shifted; if I can get everything in order by this coming Wednesday, the car should be running at the NHRA opener in Florida in a little over a week - transportation courtesy of JJ Olson!

March 18 - Well, unfortunately I wasn't able to get everything together in time for the race this weekend.  I still need to finish up the aluminum pipework and the fuel system upgrades.  Recently, I discovered a short feature of my car in National Dragster from Feb 18, 2005.  A scan of it will be posted shortly.

March 12 - So much work, and the time just flies by.  Heading out to the NDRA opener next weekend in Phoenix.  I updated the details page for the 92.  The 95 EX will be for sale soon; still need to do an alignment and swap the suspension.  I sold the 91 a while back, and put the Integra motor from the coupe made its way into the EK (sans turbo for now).  Focusing on the car for now, more pictures and updates after the race - stay tuned.

January 10 - The race is on; work has started in order to get everything together in time for the NOPI opener in March.  Let's review the changes - GT40R turbo, Full Race stainless manifold, Tial 44mm gate, Full Race 4" downpipe, Precision intercooler upgrade, head work (valves, springs, retainers), intake manifold, charge pipes, a switch to F.A.S.T. fuel management, a new set of M&H Racemaster slicks on 13" Weld wheels... The quest for 60' times in the 1.4 range, 150+ mph trap speeds, and consistent 9 second quarter miles is on!

December 22 - In process of returning the 95 to stock form for a future sale.  Look for the powertrain to make its way into the 97 hatch.  Thus far, I have installed a set of Tanabe Sustec Pro coilovers along with a DGI chassis kit.  A rear disc conversion sporting Brembo drilled rotors with Hawk pads is also there.  SPC fronted an entire alignment package for me, much appreciated!!

November 24 - There's a new addition to my Civic collection; recently I picked up a 1997 hatchback.  Watch as this one is turned from a 19 second 'warrior' into a fast street car that I'll be driving most every day.

On the race end of things, there's a lot going on for next season.  A new turbo from Garrett, manifold & downpipe from Full Race, and wastegate from Tial are all in order.

October 27 - In process of updating the picture libraries into easier to view albums.  If you run across some broken links, it's likely being addressed.  Updates from last weekend's event in Pomona, CA will be posted soon - keep your eyes open!

September 25 - Last weekend, I attended a local event at Bandimere Speedway entitled Coy's Street Tuner Meyhem.  There were two heads up classes; I was able to take home the runner-up trophy after surviving a 15 car qualifying field.  Details of the event are available on Bandimere's website at this link.  After doing some review of datalogs, I decided to remove the nitrous system for now due to excessive exhaust temperatures.  The Koyo radiator definitely was appreciated; the car had no issues at all with overheating.  I experimented with an alternate transmission for this event, which was supposed to make the car quite a bit faster.  Unfortunately, the wheels that I had borrowed (along with a larger slick) didn't clear my brakes and I wasn't able to run with the correct tire size.  In the end, the transmission was sweet while it lasted (it broke in big form at the 60 foot mark during the final round!!) but the gearing was incorrect for the slicks I had to use and it ended up making the car slower.  Congrats to Jeremey out of the Springs on his victory!

September 6 - Labor Day weekend has allowed me to do some catching up.  On the site, I have updated the For Sale section with new listings and pictures.  There are some new pictures of the coupe posted from last weekend's sound competition where I was able to take first in my power class with 146.7db and third out of everyone there!  Thanks go out to Jaison Edwards at Car Toys for his hard work on the sound system and Jesse Dietrich for his support on the purchasing end of things.

I've finally got around to installing the Koyo radiator after receiving the correct model.  It's big, shiny, and looks great.  The added thickness prevents me from using the FAL fan due to interference with the downpipe, as the FAL is very wide with foam on the edge.

New revisions to my tune and launch program should allow for the car to do even better out of the hole.  I plan to make the most of the new exhaust system (Ray's S&C mandrel 4") and the nitrous!  Next event, the Street Tuner Mayhem at Bandimere Speedway on September 19th.  Hope to see you there!

July 25 - Busy, busy, busy.  After a major personnel change at the shop, I have been super busy with work.  We had a great time in Vegas, even though there were a few issues due to the extreme heat.  With the temperature well over 110, I managed to crack a piston during the final qualifying round.  At first, we thought it to be just a head gasket, and swapped it out the following afternoon.  Unfortunately, we didn't look into it enough and discovered the problem after we had already changed the head gasket.  With the help of some great friends, Brent and I tore it down again and swapped the broken piston in a little over an hour (thanks Lance, for keeping time!!).  First round of eliminations saw a new best time for the car, with a 10.63 at 134.  The nitrous bottle was left in the trailer once again, as we still have not had enough time to get the system tested out.  As a side note, the last round of qualifying was definitely noteworthy:  a 10.70 run at only 122.  After reviewing the datalog, Paul found that I was up to 126mph in 3rd gear, yet throughout 4th I managed to lose some speed when the piston broke.  Had the piston held up, it's possible that we might have pulled a low 10 second pass on that one.  I have been looking around on the internet for some pictures of the car at this track, but haven't found much so far.  If you have some pictures or video, please send me a note as I would like to see them - thanks!

Web site stuff - I posted some albums up with pictures from the photo shoot at LSI, along with those that Ryan Glynn shot near the shop.  You can see them here if you like.

Yesterday, we had a dyno event at the shop.  It was a gloomy day in general, but there was a fun side for sure.  The CO State Patrol was in attendance to help with questions regarding legalities of modifications, and to promote the Alive at 25 program.  They brought along a soon-to-be-retired 2002 Camaro, and tossed the keys my way for some dyno action.  There are some pictures here.  With almost 100,000 miles on the clock, this car still laid it down to the tune of almost 300hp and 300ft lbs at the rear wheels - through an automatic.  Not bad!

I've started on another site for Bob, called thedocsrides.com.  Pictures and information on his cars can be found there.

July 4 - We returned from a photo shoot in Denver yesterday.  Both my hatch and Dr. Bob's Eclipse were photographed.  A directory of them has been added.

Getting things together for the upcoming NHRA race in Las Vegas.  The rest of the roll cage will be done, and the nitrous system should be completed & tested.

June 14 - There was a NHRA event this past weekend at Bandimere Speedway here in Colorado.  I entered the Sport FWD class and was able to snag the runner-up trophy (it's quite nice but isn't a Wally!) for second place.  I'm happy with the results, and look forward to some more fine tuning on the car to make more power and have everything run the best.  The recently-installed traction bar system from Ray's S&C helped me get the 60' times into the 1.7 range, and the car made some good power as evidenced in the 135mph trap speeds.  With a bit more tweaking, the low 10s will be found!

Keith took a bunch of pictures for me during the event, and I have posted 800x600 sized copies up on this site in the pictures section (92hatch/Newest stuff/NHRA Bandimere - directory/).

Last week, Ryan Glynn took several "photo shoot" style pictures of the car, myself, and Chrissy.  I will try to get those online very soon, as they turned out very nice.

June 11 - DSport issue 19 arrived at the shop, just in time for the race this weekend.  They have featured my 92 Civic on pages 74 through 79.  We promptly sold out of all the issues that we received!!  If you can't find this issue at a news stand near you, check out dragsport.com for a preview of the article.  In addition, I have posted some scans of it Here.

June 7 - I picked the car back up from SPC today; I am happy to report that they did a fantastic job (as usual!) setting up their alignment parts on the car for me.  The intercooler fan is hooked up and operational, and I am getting acquainted with the new AEM air fuel gauge.  The car needs some fine tuning, especially with the idle, but I will get to that as time permits.

I found out yesterday that the Bogart wheels are not designed to fit a Civic with Integra calipers, so I had to get a pair of wheel spacers ordered up and they should arrive in the morning for me..  If all goes well, I hope to test out the car Tuesday at Bandimere.

The NHRA race is closing in soon; it sure would be nice to have another week or two to get everything ready!

I spoke with Drag Sport this morning.  Issue 19 has gone to press, and we might see a shipment of that issue later this week.  This issue should have my car featured inside!  Can't wait to see & read!

June 5 -  I recently purchased and installed a VIS carbon fiber trunk section on the coupe.  It's pretty sweet, although the initial fitment could use a bit of help.  In any event, it looks the part 100%.

As for the hatchie - well, there are some changes in the works.  Some are completed, and some still need to get done all the way.  I am in the process of getting the nitrous system all installed, and am about half of the way there right now.  Last week, I put on the new Skunk2 coil over kit along with the KYB shocks.  The car will head down to Specialty Products Company on Monday for an alignment as the car is a bit taller now to accommodate the new slicks.

The new AEM air-fuel gauge UEGO controller arrived the other day and I just installed it today.

More later...

I have recently written an article on the car, specifically, the path to the tens.  If you would like, click on the link to read it.  Click this text to read it. - written May 20th

May 25 -

Body work:  We just finished replacing the front clip on the car the other day.  If you recall or have seen some of the pictures that I took of the old radiator support, it was in very bad condition.  The entire front end was buckled in about an inch on one side and half an inch or so on the other.  Whoever attempted to repair this previously did a terrible job.  Now, the hood lines up very nice and I can use the front of the car as a jacking point.  My thanks go out to Marc, as he spent a lot of time making sure everything is straight again and that the front of the car is squared up.

Suspension:  Now that the front end isn't falling off of the car, I can get one of our traction bar setups installed.  It helped out with my coupe, and I hope that it will make similar improvements to the hatch.  Who knows, maybe I will also get one on one of the EF cars I have as well.  The traction bar is being constructed right now; Ray's S&C is responsible for the welding on this addition.  Also, my stock shocks could really use a swap, and I am currently looking into some other options for my bouncing rear end.

Engine:  Jeez, this part has drained me a little more than I had wanted.  Just before the Fontana NHRA event, I received my engine block back from Golden Eagle.  I had the big sleeve job done to the motor, as my previous setup (press-in iron sleeves) failed at just 22 psi - all four cylinders were cracked.  Anyhow, the machinist that I used to bore/hone the new setup did not take the time to properly measure everything.  After the one race in CA, I had to purchase another set of pistons due to improper piston-to-wall clearance.  Some of the holes were close to zero!  My problem was identified at the engine shop just up the road from us (Bowers Racing Engines), where it was corrected.  While my parts were up there, I was able to balance the rotating assembly.  The first rotation of the crank/etc showed an imbalance of approximately 8.5g on one end and 3.2g on the other.  After about an hour or so, we got it down to 0.1g and 0.2g.  This should help in higher rpm power stability, especially when I get the nitrous installed.

After putting everything back in the car, I was very pleased when it fired up after about a half of a second on the starter.  No leaks, funny noises, or anything makes for a nice evening.  Due to the new front end and the traction bar, I had to remake almost all of the boost pipes.  The only piece that remains from before is the short section directly off of the throttle body.  I think that the pipes will be powder coated in a silver this time, for a bit of a new "look."

Clutch:  I am looking forward to testing out the new twin disc setup that Chris from Competition Clutch handed down my way.  A stock pedal feel combined with very short pedal movement should allow for an improvement in the quarter mile.  It also handles more power, which is exactly what I plan to make!!

When I started the car up and went to move it, I had almost forgotten that the twin disc was in there.  I was still expecting the old pedal feel, and when I put my foot down, it felt like I had a broken cable transmission!  This is likely due to a lack of pedal stop, which needs to be done soon.

Axles:  I spoke with TCI last week regarding my broken axle, and they believe that the failure I ran into was an isolated incident.  They have not had any other calls regarding this sort of failure, and are sending me two new axles to replace the one that shattered at Fontana.  They did indeed replace them, and sent a new set my way.

Wheels & tires:  Currently awaiting the Bogart D10 wheels to arrive, they are being made right now.  Once they show up, I can mount the new M&H 23x8.5 slicks up and start ripping some butt!  :)   For the street, I have purchased a pair of ATS Comp Lite 15x7 wheels for the car.  The fronts have BFG G-Force Drag radials in 225/50/15 flavor.  When funds allow, I'll get two more of the rims for the rear of the car as they look very nice.

The Bogarts arrived today!  I am taking them up to the tire shop in the morning to have the slicks mounted up.  Can't wait to see them on the car!