Merry Xmas Black Mamba! (Part 2)

Part 2 of this Christmas shopping is the most interesting event to date for Black Mamba. After almost 2 years I finally decide to upgrade the brain of this car to the most preferred aftermarket ECU for Honda - The HONDATA!

Before I go further I would like to let you know that Mamba has been running on stock ECU for almost a year, after selling off the E-Manage Ultimate and V-Manage. The last power dynoed was 194whp and 18.6kg/m torque as opposed to 207whp and 20kg/m torque on the E & V-Manage. It was quite stressful to drive the car for almost a year in stock condition with the VTEC point at 6000rpm and 180km/h speed limiter.

Anyways, back again to the Hondata. I went to Tung Chun Motorsports JB to get a set of the Hondata K100 ECU. Considering the fact that I am not going to tune the car on my own, I decided to get K100 instead of the K-Pro. It's cheaper by almost 40% than a K-Pro and works the same way. The only downside of the K100 is that it requires a K-Pro circuit board to be put inside the ECU to allow it to be tuned. And yes, it also has no datalogging; which I dont think is important to me as a casual driver. :)

Installation was very quick and completed in matter of minutes. Tuning was then done by Ah Han and after almost 2.5 hours on the dyno and on the road, Mamba has unleashed few evil ponies and torque! Hehe. VTEC point is now lowered to 5500rpm, rev cut is raised from 8400rpm to 9200rpm, 180km/h speed limiter is removed together with optimized air, fuel and igniton. The figure on the Dynomite dyno machine was 218whp but since I do not have any baseline graph on the machine, I went to JC Racing last week to compare the old and new power. And the result after tuning? Additional 15.4whp and 1.8kg/m of torque made me drive the car like mad for almost a week! Haha.

3rd gear 140km/h ok laa kan?

The revs feel lighter, and 20.5kg/m of torque made higher gear change more fun, especially from 4th gear onwards. Fuel consumption are still maintained and I could still drive 250-270km with RM60 worth of RON97 petrol. Oh yes, the CEL error has also been deleted. The only issue I am having is the blinking immobilizer light. This is due to the immobilizer being disabled in the ECU, but the immobilizer unit is still active. Common issue for 2005 DC5 Type-R (older pre-facelift model doesn't have immobilizer). As long as it's not CEL, I'm good with it.

So that's all for 2010. Mamba is going for a hibernation until the next mod (aftermarket header and bigger exhaust pipings). Looking forward for a better and prosperous 2011.

Cost: RM2,XXX (Brand new)

Where: Tung Chun Racing, or any other Hondata distributor in KL. Price doesn't differ much.

Web reference: http://www.hondata.com/

Merry Xmas Black Mamba! (Part 1)

So it's exactly almost a year since I bought some awesome stuffs for Mamba but never was installed due to 1. MONEY 2. Time 3. Other important commitments. However I wish to highlight that the parts are still under my posession. The badass ChargeSpeed bodykits are already painted, and the K24 block will be dismantled and built in few more months (hopefully!).

I also noticed that the mood of modding the car will only come during end of the year.. and I'm halfheartedly glad it happened again this year. Mamba is growing older gracefully with the slow ass mods but I trust that the mods done are something that will make the car more fun to drive. Good justification right? Haha.

As I have mentioned in my previous post about the weak hydraulic mounting on the p/s side, it gets worse over time since I am driving the car daily. I kid you not as at today I have broken FOUR units of the hydro mount and thinking that I would be a complete idiot by braking and buying another one, I take the necessary action by purchasing the Energy Suspension mount inserts for the front and rear mounts. With these two mounts are strenghten, I can be assured that the p/s mount lifespan will be prolonged until I get a Hasport replacement unit soon. Oh yes, this mount inserts are also perfect to absorb the force of the additional 20whp came from Mamba's heart *wink*wink*.

The R at the end of the serial no means "Race" version. It is stiffer than the street version

The inserts were, well, inserted into the OEM mount from the outside.

Took them less than 15 minutes to fix these on.

Post Installation Comments:

1. The stiffened mountings deliver vibration to the dashboard during idle. Not too shaky but you can feel it on the steering wheel. It was slightly uncomfortable at first but you'll get used to it after a day or two.

2. Gear shifting are awesomely smooth and crisp at higher revs as the engine now doesn't rock back and forth like it used be on stock mountings.

3. The front end of the car feels very 'tight' especially when heel & toe is performed before entering corners.

4. Most DC5 Type-R owner will face this broken p/s mounting at least once in their life. Should you decided not to invest in other expensive aftermarket/custom mountings or engine torque damper, this is the bang-for-the-buck modification and works well. This issue has been resolved entirely on the Civic FD2 Type-R where another bracket is installed on top of the hydro mount to reduce direct stress on the unit.

5. Costs - RM3XX from Tung Chun Racing, JB.

6. Web reference - http://www.energysuspension.com/

Teaser

A little teaser of what's coming up next. :) . Too tired to update now.

Update on Crap-ness

Managed to squeeze my time to go to the workshop today. Drained the MTFIII oil and replaced with 2 liters of Redline Lightweight Shockproof. A short drive back to the office and the 3rd gear crunch has gone completely. I can sleep soundly tonite and rev happily tomorrow.

Note to self not to use the nipis gear oil in the future.

The other thing I reckon today is that the Skunk2 control arm made the car's rear end firmer during cornering. Not much of body roll felt as compared to before and I do feel I can execute faster corner slicing without having to worry the tail to wobble. Thank you Skunk2 for an awesome product.

Conti's Calling..

Man, I just found out that this post has been a draft for months. I guess I'll just post it anyway.

Another DC5 friend of mine by the name of Fitri jumped to the German ship recently. After enjoying the free Volkswagen cars test drive, Fitri unreluctantly sold off his 2003 DC5 Type-R to make way for this Euro hot hatch - Mk6 Golf GTi. So last weekend (one of the September weekends that is haha) we met and I had the chance to drive (or more like abuse) this car..and well, I can say that I quite enjoyed this Mk6 GTi.. It has more to offer than the previous Mk5 model performance and handling-wise.

The car is purchased brand new and he didn't have to wait long as the stock is ready to delivered to the customer. The car is pretty much stock except for a set of Oettingger 18 inch wheels where he purchased at bargain price.

Not much can be said as I was only allowed to drive around Sunway area. Fella never trusted me to drive on the highway haha. But what I can tell is that this car is very torquey and fast! Even with 4-passengers inside it can still pull to 100km/h within 8 seconds! I can feel that the boost came without any lag from as low as 2,000rpm and that 6 speed DSG is one helluva gearbox. I was entirely sold with it's smooth paddle-shifting action together with that 'explosive' sound it produced when the gear is dropped. Can see the passengers almost snapped their neck when I did that hahaha.

Another thing I enjoyed is the serenity of driving a very well insulated car like this GTi. It's been two years I'm driving a 'track-ready' car with no basic amenities such as under chassis tar, sound insulation and something for the passenger to hold in the car in event of hard cornering. With this car it's the other way around. Everything is so damn quite you can even hear the back passengers whispering to each other! The only thing that I didn't enjoy is the way this car handles during cornering. Somehow It doesn't go to the direction I wanted it to go so I had to throttle off to correct the steering in order to make the car go my way. I was experiencing a little bit of 'fake' feeling with the handling probably due to the electronics such as the TCS, DCC and that 'sport' suspension mode didn't really feel sporty to me. I still believe that a car needs to be driven without all that as it will show how great the driver is in handling the car hehe. Figuring that I might have some fun without the electronic handling aid, my left hand went to turn off the TCS.. but that move was abrupted when I heard a synchronized screaming of "NOOOOOO!!!!" from the owner and 2 other passengers hahahaha. That's when the test drive session ends.

Overall, I don't mind having this as my daily driven car. It's fast, comfortable and it looks a bit softer than the previous model. The wife would look good in this and will definitely come home to tell you her traffic light drag victory she enjoyed earlier :)

Crap-ness

Disheartening Tuesday. The Honda MTFIII Ultra doesn't blend well with my gearbox. Currently experiencing the irrating 'crunch' on my 3rd gear after the gearbox gets hot. I need to use thicker oil, not as thin as the MTFIII. Hope I can source the Lightweight Shockproof gear oil in Kuantan. Here are some other things on Black Mamba that need my attention and action:

1. Cracked windscreen - Happened during the Pasir Gudang track day. It was a small crack and but a delayed treatment caused it to be longer and more serious over time. Lucky the windscreen is insured but damn, have to wait for 1-2 months to get the glass!

2. CEL error code P1167 (A) - A/F ratio sensor 1 Heater System Malfunction; The beginning of a faulty O2 sensor. Typical issue for a K20. Not complaining at all since my engine has already clocked 100,000km, fuel consumption is still good, and it can be eliminated by 1. purchasing new 02 sensor or 2. Use Hondata to permanently disable the error code (more favourable haha). But most importantly, the VTEC still rocks hard at 5,800rpm! :)

Usual stuff, Unusual stuff.

Patience pays. That’s what I told my friends who’s been bugging me with remarks like “Woi bila nak update blog woi” and “I think I saw spider webs on your blog brooo”. So today with this post I hope it’ll clear all the doubts you have. Black Mamba is still..ALIVE..and she has received some well deserve (and rare) pampering from me. Be prepared with your food and drinks as this will be a very long post.....haha.

Considering the fact that Mamba needs to do some major stuffs, I decided to drive down from East Coast to Sunway to get the items and get it fixed by my mechanic John of Hiper Racing. Reached Sunway tad early but lucky I have a CL7 Euro-R friend of mine around. Had breakfast and good chat with him before heading off to few shops to invest my savings on the needed parts. Haha.

Shareil’s well done CL7. Matte TC105N with Wilwood 4-pot callipers make this rare sedan outstanding from others.

So then I went to two places, N1 Racing and Samurai Racing (Formerly known as SS Racing) to buy these things:

1. Greddy F4 Pro engine oil

As you have read on my previous posts (under maintenance tab), I used Blitz engine oil for the car. But since N1 Racing has no longer brought in the oil, it was replaced by Greddy F4 Pro oil. The viscosity is similar to Blitz and I have used it for a few oil changes without any issues. Thanks to the robust iVTEC engine that doesn’t need to be lubricated by expensive oil.

2. OEM Honda MTF-III gear oil

The decision to change the gear oil came when some friends told me that the Redline Lightweight Shockproof gear oil I’ve been using ever since can create sludge residue in between the gears. The prolonged usage can cause the gears to be ‘sticky’ and it can damage the synchros over time. Not wanting to take any chances for disaster to happen to my gearbox, I opted to get the OEM recommended gear oil – the Honda MTF-III. One can is 4-liters. Good for two changes. Thank you Desmond for helping me to get this from Exceptional Auto. Let's see what will happen to my gears with this oil.

3. Endless SSS 500deg brake pads

Having driven the car for almost two years without changing the brake pads, I decided to get the same brake pads that came with the car – Endless SSS (Super Street Sport) with the maximum temperature of 500degrees. Pretty happy with this brand as the wear rate is very slow. 23 months with 60,000km on the mileage coupled with few track days doesn’t stop the pads to perform at its best. And there are some leftovers too. Rear pads are still good though, so I guess it will only be changed next time.

This pads can be fitted on Fairlady Z33's Brembo as well.

Macam pad cap ayam je???

Perfectly placed in between the worn out Brembo callipers. Hehe.

Old pads. Still usable..well, for few hundred kms perhaps?

4. Skunk2 rear lower control arm

This is one of the item I’ve been drooling since I got the car and after months of contemplating, I finally made up my mind to get this. Apart from being the ‘bling factor’, the purchase is justified as when the OEM rear control arms were taken out, I found out that the bushes are already torn. Gold was chosen from other colours (including the stealthy black limited edition version) as it appear more visible from other drivers view (drool factor)..hahaha. Took John less than 20 minutes to install this and as soon as it was done I took the car out for powersliding. Nah just kidding. Well upon installation I could feel that the rear doesn’t ‘bump’ as it used to be. Probably due to the harden bush on the Skunk2 arms.

What do you get inside.

The hardware. I farking love the embossed ‘S2’ logo on the bolts.

Say goodbye to the stock control arm. Your service is no longer required haha.

Sifu John at work..Rambut makin kurang dei..

Stock vs S2. Worlds apart. Period.

S2 is thicker but it’s lighter. Senyum sampai telinga.

One side in, one more to go.

All set! Looks damn ganas with the S2 tie bar and Cusco ARB. Rear end mods completo!

Hensem tahap cipan!

Costs:

1. Greddy F4 Pro = RM135/can (4 liters) – N1 Racing, Sunway
2. Honda MTF-III = RM 180/can (4 liters) – Exceptional Auto, Glenmarie
3. Endless SSS pads = RM500/set – Samurai Racing, Sunway
4. Skunk2 rear control arm = RM7XX after discount from RM850 – N1 Racing, Sunway (Must nego till you cry then only you’ll get the discount)

Once everything is done, I took the liberty to snap some spy pics around Sunway....this might be at Hazry’s interest. Hahahaha

John ‘korekking’ a Skunk2 intake manifold for a 300whp K24 project on a.......Civic ES! :D

Remember Aloysius who helped me with the CV joint issue? This is his daily driven 2003 C-West DC5 on dyno. Using full slick tires at the rear. Bastard. Hizam was eyeing at the GT-wing as if it's a naked chick with big boobs. hahahah!

I do not understand why Aloysius, who’s a Mugen freak used C-West bodykits on his car instead of Mugen. Nevertheless, this Mugen MF10 wheels are hard to come by these days and looks effin killer with the Wilwood 6-pot brake kit. Just to make things more interesting, his interior is fully equipped by Mugen! You the man Aloy!

Neo Synthetics gear oil from United States. Highly recommended by Aloy. Might give it a try next time.

This is perfect for Prasath’s 250whp DC5! haha

Last but not least.......Saw this black cat while having my lunch @ the food court. Maybe I should really think of what it said to me..

I'm going for a run now. Till the next mod. :)