Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Happy new year guys. Well, it's been almost a year I own this Integra DC5 Type-R. What can I say after 365 days of ownership of this coupe? To be honest I have been enjoying every minute driving Black Mamba without any major issues and heartbreaking problems. The car is still as tough as a nail since the first day it came out from the showroom.

Thoroughout the year I've made lots of new friends and learn new things in regards to the car. The Type-R fraternity in Malaysia is getting bigger, with more DC5s and FD2Rs being the weapon of choice. I see more DC5s in the East Coast now as compared to last couple of months. Few people that I know has sold off their EG, EK, Proton and moved on to the next level with the Type-R. It's good to see these guys talking in forums, attending meet ups for pro-active discussions and joining the track days. Competition among others are inevitable but everything are in the most healthy way, which I feel very comfortable with. No more kiddie stuffs like being emotional / depressed when losing in a race or trying to be the "king" in every aspects of modifications, etc etc etc (I don't have to elaborate further on this). Maturity has taken it's place in the community.

Whilst I was having fun with Black Mamba, I have also identified the normality of wear and tear of this car such as the faulty O2, Map, TP sensors and mechanical things such as the weak hydro mount and confusing handling setup. I'm considerably ready should any of these happen to me. So what have I achieved in 2009? 208whp with 20kg/m of torque with 2:51 timed run in Sepang (Night run, with a passanger) made me a happy man. The black RPF1 made Black Mamba looks gangster together with few other aesthetic mods. That's about it I guess. Not much has been done but surely more will come in 2010. Few things that was supposed to be done in 2009 been pending for couple of months due to time and funding limitations. With perserverance and God's willing, I hope to complete the major projects as below:

As you know, few months back I have purchased a set of DC5 Chargespeed Kouki bodykit as above photo (full photos here - http://www.chargespeed.com/english/dc5-kouki-b-1-e1.htm) it has been lying around in the paintshop for sometime. I need to raise the entrance to my house porch before I could put it on or otherwise the height will definitely destroy the entire front bumper. Better be safe than sorry right? The demo car above looks wicked with an 18 inch RPF1 but I'll just stick to 17s for now..

I've sold off my Greddy E-manage Ultimate and V-manage recently to fund for Black Mamba's new brain - the famous Hondata K-pro. With this baby installed soon, I have the strongest foundation to fine tune the engine with whatever mods being done. Can't wait for this! Although currently my car is only pumping 200whp and 19.5kg/m torque after removal of the Greddy's piggybacks, I felt the pulling power is much more stronger when the VTEC kicks in (5800rpm). Kinda strange but I kinda like it..It's just that I can't go beyond 180km/h for now. :(

Last but not least, I have purchased the Holy Grail of the iVTEC - The K24 block from Honda Odyssey RB. Hehe. The plan for this hybrid K20/K24 'frankenmotor' so far would be; 87mm forged pistons, forged conrod, and forged crankshaft. If money is not an issue (its definitely going to be an issue as I'm getting married end of 2010!) I will also get other necessary parts to complement the build such as the RBC/RRC intake, bigger throttle body, clutch set, aftermarket camshafts and so on. Nothing fancy about this build as I'm not horsepower crazy. I'm actually looking forward to navigate Turn 9 in SIC on 3rd gear with the mighty 2,400cc N/A torque. Heheh. I'll write about this build once it has started.

Till then, all the best for 2010!

Year End Retreat

There's no better way to spend your under-utilized annual leave than going to an island far away from civilization with your close friends. So that's what I did last two weeks for my year end holiday. We went to Mabul Island, off coast Sabah for the Scuba diving retreat around Sipadan and Mabul.

I just couldn't resist the temptation to dive and witness myself the wonders of the underworld so I signup for the "Open Water Diver" course. No words can desribe how beautiful the ocean floor can be..the reefs, the corals, the turtles, the sharks and everything else were simply mesmerizing. Since now I'm a certified PADI diver (after going thru the stringent underwater tests that is..Haha) I might consider diving as the secondary hobby after Black Mamba. You guys should consider this exciting (and not too expensive) hobby too..

The association: http://www.padi.com

The place: http://www.sipadanwatervillage.com/?gclid=CIGTpbjHgJ8CFQMupAodB32ZKA

The dive instructor: I seriously recommend you guys to contact Allister Lee here http://allisterlee.blogspot.com/ if you wish to pursue in the recreational diving. He's a very nice fella and and very passionate about the underwater world..Haha. He's a certified instructor with 10 years of experience under his belt and he'll guide you in the entire course..(until you pass the exams haha!)

Aeromirrors Installed

I have finally installed this new pair of mirrors last couple of weeks so here's how it looked like as compared to the OEM mirror. Obviously my rear view vision has been cut down by almost 40% with this smaller new mirrors. Had to drive around for a while to get myself adjusted to the limited view. Nevertheless, Black Mamba looks way better with this lightweight 'smaller ears'. I'll still hunt for Ganador that's for sure.

Sunset..

Photo was taken using my iPhone while driving back to KL from the East Coast. It was glorified by the 'Photonasis' software with just one touch. :)

Custom Colored RPF1s

More custom color options available in the USA for the legendary Enkei RPF1. Currently there are four colors in the market with the matte black being the latest addition in 2008. Don't you just love them?

Photos taken from http://stickydiljoe.com

La Vibracion!

After owning the 20 years old Civic EF with lots of rattles, squeks and other unknown noises from the whole car, I've become very sensitive to any sort of sounds and vibration coming from the car that I drive. So recently I noticed that my car is vibrating pretty bad whenever I gunned down the pedal to 8500rpm. Not just that, on 4th gear and on 60kmh and climbing, the car will also shake! It felt quite scary especially when I'm overtaking on the highway as if the frontside of the car is falling apart.

So I took my time on the weekend to check my car in Sunway at Hiper Racing. I suspected that either one of the four engine mount has broken but my assumption was wrong. The mountings are in good condition without any sign of damage. John of Hiper Racing checked thoroughly and confirmed that my right side driveshaft is the cause of the vibration (visual inspection showed no sign of torn CV boot cover etc!). Since buying a brand new set of driveshaft is gonna cost me a bomb (about RM1,200 for a piece), he suggested me to get a used one - which is quite impossible when the time is almost at 6.30pm on a Saturday! I made few trunk calls for solution but to no avail. Luckily another good DC5 friend of mine, Aloysius dropped by to John's place and he recommended me to meet the 'Driveshaft King' in Kota Kemuning the next day. Appointment was set with the guy named Ah Seng and on Sunday morning I took a slow drive to Kota Kemuning...hoping to solve the irritating vibration.

Once I have settled down at Ah Seng's workshop, he took no time to test the car. After a brief 10 mins of driving my car he came out and started to dismantle the right driveshaft. From the outside the driveshaft looked perfect with no sign of bent whatsoever (Thank god!). So he went straight to get the entire driveshaft dismantled and found out that there's few scratches on the inner CV wall. I'm not sure how that happened but most likely it was caused by the regular 'rempiting' of the car (hard launching/gear shifting etc. Well it's a Type-R so it must be driven hard right?). As what Ah Seng said, newer cars are prone to this injury (material issue perhaps?) and the internal surface of the CV joint should be as smooth as baby's butt. Once any scratches or cracks occur on the inside, it will contribute to the instability of the rod thus the vibration will appear.

So what Ah Seng did is he took about another 10 mins to look for the replacement of the inner CV joint from THOUSANDS of used driveshafts lying on the floor of his workshop. He found one that is similar on the sizes and weight with the Type-R, cleaned up and reinstall new bearings, seal, and grease and put everything back to my car. After 45 mins of anticipating for positive outcome, he asked me to drive the car. I took on the straight road in front of his shop and tested the car on every gear........and the vibration is entirely gone! I even kept the needle on the 8000rpm mark for few seconds and the car is as steady as before. No more signs of vibration coming from the dashboard, gear stick etc. Woohoo!

I'm so glad that Black Mamba is being perfect again but the costs incurred for this repair made me even happier - RM170 all in! Perhaps it's time for me to ease a bit and lessen the abuse on Black Mamba..Haha. Thanks to the 'King' for making full use of his expertise and saving me from spending another RM500-600 on a used driveshaft. And to Aloysius, dinner's on me man!

This is how a pair of DC5 driveshafts look like.

This is the inner CV joint. Photo taken from the web. Couldn't find any pic on the internal side of it.

The King's Den: Just look at the driveshafts! There are more on few other spots in the shop. The most I've seen in my entire life. Haha.

Costs: RM170 for a used inner CV joint c/w installation

Where: Kota Kemuning, Selangor (Drop me an email for Ah Seng's phone no and direction to his place)

Other Alternatives: www.driveshaftshop.com -> Customized driveshafts tailor-made to your spec.

The Differences

I have always wanted to write about the differences of the pre-facelift (2001 - August 2004) and the facelift DC5 Type-R (Sept 2004 - 2006) since I own the car. Most of us know that the newer version of the DC5 has a 'sleeker' exterior look compared to the 'bug-eyed' previous model, but there are much more improvement made by Honda on other things as well.....

JDM DC5 Front End 07-2001 to 08-2004 (AKA Pre-Facelift)

JDM DC5 September 2003 to August 2004 (AKA Pre-Facelift) Minor Changes

• Adding answer back performance to the radio wave type key-less entry system
• Applying the body color to the washer nozzle
• AM/FM tuner attaching MD player +4 speaker
• AM/FM tuner attaching MD/in dash 6 concert CD player +4 speaker
• Privacy glass
• Rear wiper + electromotive housing type remote control door mirror (C package)
• Less setting discharge headlight
• Emergency flat tire repair equipment set

JDM DC5 Front End 09-2004 to 07-2006 (AKA Facelift)

JDM DC5 September 2004 to 2006 (Facelift) Major Changes

Exterior design

• New front headlight and the rear combination lamp design.
• Newly designed front and rear bumpers to match the redesigned head and tail lamps.
• The newly designed front grille which emphasizes V letter type.
• The low wing type rear spoiler & the colored side sill garnish of standard (kicking up type) it sets to TYPE S anew. High wing type either one it made selective system.
• It adds the new color blue pearl to the body color, setting all the 5 colors.

Interior design

• Large diameter 4 connected white meter of TYPE R private design.
• The new design adding ornament panel of hairline pitch, adopting the aluminum shift knob, the aluminum emergency brake knob, and the aluminum pedal of titanium color.

Travelling efficiency

• With the modification of suspension damper oil seal structure, the hardness down and rear suspension bump stroke enlargement etc of the section bushes, stroke it does pliantly, actualizing the underside which continues to catch the road surface securely.
• Adoption of the left and right symmetrical winding spring (the front) with improvement straight advancing stability and stability.
• Focusing on suspension installation section body high rigid conversion (wall thickness rise of front performance rod pipe, pipe wall thickness rise of front strut tower bar and rise of installation point rigidity and board thickness rise etc of rear damper gusset).
• With the rigid rise and the like of the steering column, actualizing steering wheel feeling which is superior in operativity and responsiveness.
• Improvement of brake pedal rigidity by (rise of master cylinder diameter and rigid rise etc of the pedal bracket), actualizing the brake quality where the control characteristic which is effective securely even with little foot pressure is good.
• With the optimum arrangement of the lightweight acoustic material and the decrease etc of wind cutting sound, silent characteristic as it improves substantially, feeling only of the sport car such as engine sound as been able to enjoy good sound, executing sound tuning.

Comfortable equipment extras

• Speech recognition HONDA HDD navigation system correspondence (Manufacturer option).
• Immobilizer & security alarm standard equipment.
• Key less entry of TYPE R private design (?).
• The discharge headlight (HID) adopting automatic leveling mechanism for the low beam.
  

I hope that this would be of help to those who are uncertain of which model to be purchased. Of course, the 2003 model is cheaper but considering the enhancement that comes with the 2005 model, it's worth your money. From my observation on the current market prices, most of the 2005 DC5 prices have gone up significantly after the new National Automotive Policy being announced by the government. The newer and last batch of the DC5 - year 2006 - is being advertised at RM175,000! That's is almost 20% increment compared to the prices earlier this year. I believe the prices will be stagnant (if no further increase that is!) in these upcoming years as come 2016, Malaysia will no longer have imported cars coming in.

Thank god I've made an early decision to buy Black Mamba. :-D