Back on Track

[Victorofhavoc]

Recently I've taken a few longer drives in the car before coming to sudden stops, and I noticed the car seems extremely lethargic during this time. For the first 1/4mile or so after a stop the car really doesn't feel like it wants to move and seems like timing is being pulled. It's also the time where I'm most likely to notice some small misfires. I thought I was going crazy, until one of my passengers noticed it.

After weather cooled recently I also noticed and felt the car pulling a bit better to redline. Where it used to start running out of breath around 5750rpm or so, on cooler mornings it kept pulling linearly to 6400rpm. It made me think about the intake design. I think it's the root of the misfires I've felt and horrible timing pull feeling right off the line after interstate drives. Over the weekend I got the car pretty hot, then pulled off the check out that weird intake rectangle. It was way beyond hand touch hot. That giant aluminum heatsink might be helping keep some heat out, but it's also not doing anything for sustained heat build. The racecar version of the car avoids the entire weird intake plumbing and runs a filter into the bumper/headlight.

Obviously we need headlights for the street, but I'm thinking a titanium pipe wrapped in some gold foil, an intake elbow wrapped in gold, a turbo blanket, ceramic spraying the heatshields, and possibly a downpipe wrap at least at the head would help mitigate a lot of these issues. Now to find time to try...

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[Underdog]

I thought I saw video of someone opening that plate on the inlet pipe to reveal it's strictly a Helmholtz resonator. It is unfortunate that it's so damn close to the heat shield, and I think you're right on that an aftermarket pipe will open up a much needed thermal break.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Chris is teasing me with progress photos finally! Can't wait to get the finished product!! I also have the acuity stage 1 shift kit (the gates and throws I think are perfect, but it needs some firmness), I have the door puddle lights to install, and I have a giant roll of Alcantara to wrap some things... Again, finding time for things has been very tough recently.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I just did the entire hatch and wheel well area with kilmat and aggfoam. Most areas got two layers of foam, and some got three. I dropped an ear bud behind the rear seat cushion, so then decided to do the rear seat area as well. They added a bit of sound absorption material in the wheel well and under the seats, but certain areas like the floor just echoed due to the thin sheet metal there.

I plan on doing the doors soon, and then will do the b pillars.

 

[StingertimeNC]

Nice, let us know how it works out.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I've been driving the car over some snow, ice, and general winter yuckiness this week. Unfortunately one of my kids brought us norovirus, so when I could finally go play in the snow it was gross out. I did take the audi out on blizzaks when we got the initial 18" or so. That was a hoot with the traction control off.

The sound deadening has helped the rear end feel tighter, quieter, and just better in every way. It was WELL worth the effort and cheapness. Obviously exhaust noise and pops are dampened a bit with the windows closed now, but the general interior volume and sound system response are way better. Interestingly, my seat belt rattle has also greatly dampened. I am properly excited to do the doors! I'll plan to do them when I do the silly puddle lights.

Can I feel the added weight? A little. But it's the same weight as a bag of dog food in the trunk, so it's not terrible. The good news is adding weight to the door should bring the balance back to where it should be since it's weight between the axles.

 

[ABPDE5]

I've been driving the car over some snow, ice, and general winter yuckiness this week. Unfortunately one of my kids brought us norovirus, so when I could finally go play in the snow it was gross out. I did take the audi out on blizzaks when we got the initial 18" or so. That was a hoot with the traction control off.

The sound deadening has helped the rear end feel tighter, quieter, and just better in every way. It was WELL worth the effort and cheapness. Obviously exhaust noise and pops are dampened a bit with the windows closed now, but the general interior volume and sound system response are way better. Interestingly, my seat belt rattle has also greatly dampened. I am properly excited to do the doors! I'll plan to do them when I do the silly puddle lights.

Can I feel the added weight? A little. But it's the same weight as a bag of dog food in the trunk, so it's not terrible. The good news is adding weight to the door should bring the balance back to where it should be since it's weight between the axles.

I rode in the back of one of these cars recently, and there was a lot of road noise and echo / resonance. It was substantially worse than when sitting up front; it drowned out a lot of the audio system, and it made following conversation upfront taxing. I have to imagine that the interior acoustic characteristics back there are amplifying any rattles, etc. that exist elsewhere.

I'm not sure I'll do the floor / doors, as they should require a lot more effort in terms of dis / re -assembly, but I'd like to do the hatch and under the rear seats.

Any estimate as to how much material you used? (I think you mentioned you did multiple layers of the foam... I'm really just looking for an estimate re: sq. coverage / layer -- i.e. how much kilmat did you need?)

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I rode in the back of one of these cars recently, and there was a lot of road noise and echo / resonance. It was substantially worse than when sitting up front; it drowned out a lot of the audio system, and it made following conversation upfront taxing. I have to imagine that the interior acoustic characteristics back there are amplifying any rattles, etc. that exist elsewhere.

I'm not sure I'll do the floor / doors, as they should require a lot more effort in terms of dis / re -assembly, but I'd like to do the hatch and under the rear seats.

Any estimate as to how much material you used? (I think you mentioned you did multiple layers of the foam... I'm really just looking for an estimate re: sq. coverage / layer -- i.e. how much kilmat did you need?)

Yeah I stuck my phone in the back one day and saw peaks of 95dB and a pretty constant 85+, so for the safety of my kid's hearing and my own mental sanity, I had to turn the echoing down.

You know, I though the back seats would be a pain, but they're literally one bolt behind the rear left seat and two clips under the front of the cushion. In fact you can get under there without even removing that bolt since the bolt only holds in a u-rail that's attached to the cushion foam. The hatch area, the hardest part was pulling the inner fender carpeting/garnish. It's stiff and can't be totally pulled without pulling the rear seat outer garnish. However, you can just turn it out of the way with a bit of force and it will still be fine. That keeps from having to pull a trim piece which has a permanent plastic clip (must be replaced and has to be knocked out with a hammer and pin - why the ever loving F did they not use a bolt for this?? It's what my vw, audi, BMW, Nissan, and subarus have all done. Pretty sure the Ford and Chevy did too.)

Make sure you remove the hatch lights and the latch cover before pulling the plastic!

I think the doors might be easiest actually, but we'll see. They're just one bolt and a bunch of green clips (go buy some extra greens first with any of these projects). Also, I once again found broken clips with no evidence of the broken piece, which means it didn't happen when I pulled it. This piece would never have been removed for the badge install, which leads me to believe it was likely broken at factory, and someone took the time to pull it apart to remove the broken pieces, but didn't put a fresh clip in. Go acura qc go.

I used about half a box of the kilmat and one box of the aggfoam, with another two or three sheets of aggfoam coming from a second box. The boxes were 36 and 55sqft respectively.

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