Back on Track

[Victorofhavoc]

Wow, they really are not trying very hard, are they?

I don't even know what to say. Fixing this one squeal from the driver's door has immensely improved my enjoyment of the car. Just the more thuNk like close of the door sounds so much better. I'm frustrated I had to be the one to fix it. I'm at least excited to do the rear doors now.

The new shift knob is also way better of a shape. It is slightly taller, so I might do a short throw kit, but we'll see once the new boot collar goes on, because it might bring the height down a tad.

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[Victorofhavoc]

Forgot to add the photos of the knob with the acuity collar! Sits a little lower and looks a lot nicer with the acuity collar! Downside is the collar is a bit too small for the boot, so it wrinkles a touch, but it's not the worst.

I also have an upcoming appointment with a muffler shop, so we'll see how that goes!

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Well, cutting out the center muffler is a no go. 3 different shops all said they're uncomfortable with the work. Two of them tried to insinuate price was the concern and quoted 200$ to do it, but when I told them I'd happily pay double that, they back pedaled and stated it wouldn't "look good" which has me thinking it's more a confidence issue for them with the challenges of lining things up after and recreating the brackets.

Big bummer. I guess I'll have to look at aftermarket exhausts. Borla is the only one keeping a smaller diameter pipe. Too bad they're charging so much. At that cost it should be titanium, but I guess that's the price to play.

On another note, I'll probably take the Integra to hedge hollow to learn the track in March, and skip trailering the racecar. The Ozarks event in April will be a points weekend, so the racecar will go and I'll probably bring out the Integra for a friend to drive it as a student in DE1.

 

[optronix]

I'll probably bring out the Integra for a friend to drive it as a student in DE1.

As for the exhaust, I'm trying to figure that out too. I'm still leaning MBRP but also considering the Borla. Gonna be an expensive spring... I just ordered the carbon inlet tube for the Infinity Design intake I still have yet to install, and about to order the lower ball joints to get my camber back in order... and that still doesn't account for the 200tw tires but I've decided I want to squeeze a little more life out of the PS4S's first so that might be a mid-summer upgrade.

Still waiting to see what the deal is with the HRC coilovers too. I think I'll be done after that.

 

[StingertimeNC]

^^^ LOL!! I was thinking the same thing about letting a student borrow the ITS. Hell no. Of course it's my only car so I just couldn't do it.

I kind of want a different exhaust too, but with just the TSP downpipe it sounds pretty decent. I had a Borla on my stinger and it sounded great, but had some drone at certain rpm's. The car was quieter overall so it was tolerable. I'd love to hear some different options in person in person.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

As for the exhaust, I'm trying to figure that out too. I'm still leaning MBRP but also considering the Borla. Gonna be an expensive spring... I just ordered the carbon inlet tube for the Infinity Design intake I still have yet to install, and about to order the lower ball joints to get my camber back in order... and that still doesn't account for the 200tw tires but I've decided I want to squeeze a little more life out of the PS4S's first so that might be a mid-summer upgrade.

Still waiting to see what the deal is with the HRC coilovers too. I think I'll be done after that.

I'm fairly convinced the adaptive suspension is better than a typical coil and it's actually dialed in well for a 200tw tire. I bet the civic type r ads with a 100tw would be fairly spot on. Maybe a tad bit more camber needed and front bar, but otherwise I'd estimate it's pretty close to spot on.

I like the idea of mbrp, but I'm not sure I can totally jump on board. Not my favorite style. I like the milltek more in that design. The helmholtz on the borla has me interested, but I'm more curious how their baffling works. No clue how loud or quiet it is with baffles closed and driving along. If it was "sport" loud for that, I'd be fine with it, but who knows at this point.

^^^ LOL!! I was thinking the same thing about letting a student borrow the ITS. Hell no. Of course it's my only car so I just couldn't do it.

I kind of want a different exhaust too, but with just the TSP downpipe it sounds pretty decent. I had a Borla on my stinger and it sounded great, but had some drone at certain rpm's. The car was quieter overall so it was tolerable. I'd love to hear some different options in person in person.

LOL, it's just a honda at the end of the day. I've given it to my wife to learn to drive manual on, and I have no problem handing it out to people. I've been pretty liberal with letting people take my cars, and thankfully many of my friends have for me as well. I mean, I've had the privilege of driving some serious metal around, and that's just from friends willing to share.

Downpipe certainly raise volume. Usually I find a larger resonator is needed after a downpipe to cancel out some of the drone, but they do add good volume and good rasp.

 

[optronix]

It's the "student" part that gets me lol. I hear you though, it's just a car end of the day, and while a very fun car to drive it's not like you couldn't find another one.

I think I'd have some reservation if it was a special order Porsche though. I waited almost 15 months between deposit and delivery for my last 718...

 

[Victorofhavoc]

It's the "student" part that gets me lol. I hear you though, it's just a car end of the day, and while a very fun car to drive it's not like you couldn't find another one.

I think I'd have some reservation if it was a special order Porsche though. I waited almost 15 months between deposit and delivery for my last 718...

Yeah my buddy had his Gt4rs in ruby star delivered. I really want to drive that on track, lol. At some point this year I'm sure he'll want to do a private day again and we can car-swap.

I hear you guys, though. Some students I don't want to be in the car with, let alone let them drive my cars. Any "younger" guy in a vette or mustang always makes me nervous. Usually much more confidence than skill, and in de2 to de3 they often wreak havoc as they get faster and learn the throttle isn't the only pedal.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

@optronix ,have you considered wrapping the inlet tube and part of the intake in gold foil? It would help keep temps down. It works quite well on my NA car where the intake runners are on top of the engine. At some point I'll plan to do the same with the its to keep the heat soak down.

Also, the more I'm looking at exhausts, the more I like borla. Looks like they've taken quite a bit of effort to choose the correct resonator size for the 2.75" piping, as well as a helmholtz out back to cancel the resonance in the 3200-3400rpm range. They also have the polyphonic harmonizer, which in this size/location seems like it will help split some higher pitch tones and rasp.

 

[ABPDE5]

@optronix ,have you considered wrapping the inlet tube and part of the intake in gold foil? It would help keep temps down. It works quite well on my NA car where the intake runners are on top of the engine. At some point I'll plan to do the same with the its to keep the heat soak down.

Also, the more I'm looking at exhausts, the more I like borla. Looks like they've taken quite a bit of effort to choose the correct resonator size for the 2.75" piping, as well as a helmholtz out back to cancel the resonance in the 3200-3400rpm range. They also have the polyphonic harmonizer, which in this size/location seems like it will help split some higher pitch tones and rasp.

Could be completely wrong on this, but if memory serves, the HRC ITS prototype is running a Borla exhaust.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Could be completely wrong on this, but if memory serves, the HRC ITS prototype is running a Borla exhaust.

That's correct, yes.

To date i haven't seen any videos of what it sounds like valve closed and inside the cabin, which is a bit of a shame.

 

[optronix]

@optronix ,have you considered wrapping the inlet tube and part of the intake in gold foil? It would help keep temps down. It works quite well on my NA car where the intake runners are on top of the engine. At some point I'll plan to do the same with the its to keep the heat soak down.

Also, the more I'm looking at exhausts, the more I like borla. Looks like they've taken quite a bit of effort to choose the correct resonator size for the 2.75" piping, as well as a helmholtz out back to cancel the resonance in the 3200-3400rpm range. They also have the polyphonic harmonizer, which in this size/location seems like it will help split some higher pitch tones and rasp.

I'll take another look at Borla. It is a bit disappointing it isn't titanium but oh well. Neither is MBRP... but the MBRP is about $1k cheaper. Based off videos it appears to be one of the better sounding exhausts, plus it's valved, and I don't plan on big power so the diameter is better too... lots going for it.

As for the foil, nope. Especially seeing as how I'm now going to have the carbon inlet tube; I don't want to cover that up unless I absolutely have to. I haven't had any problems with temps, but I also haven't tried to do any track stuff in high heat. It holds up fine for autocross- pretty sure I was out there on one of those 100+ degree, high humidity days and the only thing overheating was me. I may someday get more serious about "real" track events but I'll cross that bridge when I get there... I still think if I did get to the point where I was going to Summit or god forbid driving 6+ hours to VIR or Lime Rock etc., I'd probably get a dedicated car for that. And probably a trailer...

 

[egxflash]

I like the idea of mbrp, but I'm not sure I can totally jump on board. Not my favorite style. I like the milltek more in that design. The helmholtz on the borla has me interested, but I'm more curious how their baffling works. No clue how loud or quiet it is with baffles closed and driving along. If it was "sport" loud for that, I'd be fine with it, but who knows at this point.

I'd say at comfort, the Borla is pretty damn quiet. I don't know if it's just because I'd gotten to used to it over the last 10 months or so but I almost never drive it in comfort anymore unless my family is in the car with me.

I'd say it's somewhere between stock comfort and stock sport. It's certainly quieter than stock sport though by a fair amount.

 

[egxflash]

That's correct, yes.

To date i haven't seen any videos of what it sounds like valve closed and inside the cabin, which is a bit of a shame.

HRC ITS I believe is 3" though or at least that's what the Borla engineer told me when they mocked up that exhaust for the HRC ITS on my car.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

I'd say at comfort, the Borla is pretty damn quiet. I don't know if it's just because I'd gotten to used to it over the last 10 months or so but I almost never drive it in comfort anymore unless my family is in the car with me.

I'd say it's somewhere between stock comfort and stock sport. It's certainly quieter than stock sport though by a fair amount.

That's pretty awesome to hear!

Any chance we could persuade you to do a video with some in car sound and valve on outside?

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