Jap Show Finale

For some reason or another I ended up organising the club stand for itr-dc5 at Santa Pod Raceway.
Turnout was awesome, 16 DC5's in total. The weather however was not.
With persistent rain, the HKS Drag Series and 'Run what ya brung' events were non-starters.

All was not lost though. Wayne aka exceed, decided to lighten the mood with some muchos entertainment provided by his car on the dyno. A good laugh and a thinker, I'm glad such a character and enthusiast is in the DC5 community at the moment.

Hear that Vtec roar Ha Ha




After the BlackJax was taken care of




To give an overview, I thought I'd post up another video from my friend Jase as it captured the day better than any of the photos I took. BTW, all his vids are shot and edited on his iphone



But I thought I'd add at least one photo of our stand, crudely stitched together in photoshop.

And lastly, we made it into Japanese Performance and Banzai Magazines

Jap Performance - From the left: Croccy, Wayne and Me (you can just make out Jase's grey S2K in the background :))

Papped in Banzai (red coat and green hat)

Cheap Key Ring HD Cameras

These were the hottest items around in the Summer across all car forums. In a nut shell, you could pick up a 720p HD camera the size of a car fob for around £5 each delivered from ebay. It required a micro SD card ideally with 8gb of memory, but again you could pick these up for cheap money, approx. £12 each including delivery.

The footage they produced was outstanding for the size and price. Because of this, everyone was buying them for track days or even road journeys, mounting them here there and everywhere.

There's lots of variations of this camera so you have to watch out you don't pick up an inferior one e.g. Advertised 1080p ones are actually poorer quality than the 720p's but upscaled! THE best guide on these cameras is here: http://chucklohr.com/808/

I can confirm that I picked up one of the 'old' 720p version 3's. I can't say this will still be the case, but here's the ebay link to the seller I got mine from: linjiechong

Below is some road footage I took. The camera was mounted in the front grill under the license plate using sticky velcro pads. Remember, this video has been scaled down for youtube so the raw footage is even better ;)

Mugen Rear Tower Strut Bar

Quick update. One of my favourite cars on the itr-dc5 forum was being parted out, the 234 whp N/A beast that belonged to Monz. Monz always struck me as an owner who dished out love and attention to his Teg, so it was a no brainer to buy his Mugen rear tower strut bar off him. Perfect condition, a lot less that the list price and no shipping required from Japan.

It's currently in Tom's custody so I've nabbed a couple of generic pictures off the net.

SFS Induction Hose and ESMMs

I had heard of quite a few cases where the OEM induction hose had ripped when under pressure from quality induction kits. The solution was two fold:

• Change to a more durable performance induction hose such as Samco or SFS
• Reduce engine movement under load (this has a more important benefit described later in this post). This could be done in three ways:
• Fit an engine torque damper aka ETD 
• Upgrade to stiffer engine mounts
• Fit polyurethane engine mount inserts. The most common brand for these was Energy Suspension, their inserts commonly referred to as ESMMs (Energy Suspension Motor Mounts)

Addressing the choice of induction hose, there is little to no difference to distinguish between the quality of Samco and SFS products. Their brand reputation is just as reputable as each other so it should really come down to which one you can find cheapest. At the time, it so happened to be SFS so a purchase was made.

SFS Silicone Induction Hose

Regarding engine movement reduction; by chance I had found out who the previous owner of my car was. Apparently he was quite the Mugen whore hence why I still had Mugen parts on the car when I purchased it. Anyway I had discovered that the car already had ESMMs fitted. It all made sense now why my car appeared to be so much louder than my bro's old EP3 even though it was in stock form! I had actually been worried about uprating the mounts as it's been reported that some owners couldn't live with the vibrations and increased cabin noise after ESMMs were fitted. No wonder I was worried! An upgrade from my ESMMs would be ones with a race spec durometer value or indeed proper solid mounts that would probably cause your teeth to shake out!

Note - ESMMs have a durometer value of 70A

ESMMs

Under high performance conditions, ESMMs reduce wheel hop and torque induced movement that can damage vehicle components. This is better explained visually below.

Ooooh Shineeeey

Still awaiting parts to arrive from Japan, I decided to get the RBC blinged that I had bought at the start of the year. This involves grinding down the metal and slowly working your way through finer and finer grit levels until the surface was ready to polish.

I was 90% happy with the finish. To be 100% happy the intricate parts would need to be done by hand which would take some serious labour time!

Modified Live @ Brands Hatch

A scorching summer's day and Time Attack. Could there be anything better?

 

And last but not least, a video created by my mate F2K

Function7 LCA's

Another opportunity arose on the itr-dc5 forum to pick up some bargain parts.
A pair of brand new Function7 Lower Control Arms (LCAs) were on offer and I snapped them up in a jiffy. They are widely known as one of the best LCAs you can get (they look rather plush too).

Aside from reducing unsprung mass (everyone with these LCAs has commented significant weight difference between these and the OEM LCAs), I've plagerised some detailed product info below:

Precisioned machined out of 7075 aluminum for maximum strength and then treated for corrosion resistance.

Every arm is tracked in every step of the manufacturing process, and each arm is individually serialized and barcoded for quality assurance.

• High quality custom-made polyurethane bushings (manufactured to Function7 specifications by Energy Suspension) provide extended life while retaining excellent performance characteristics.
• Modular design allows individual component replacement and makes bushing rebuilds simple.
• Entrapment-type bushings do not require set screws which cause undue stress points.
• Full width bushing journals for maximum strength & reliability under the most extreme conditions.
• Each arm is individually serialized & bar coded for quality control and trackability.
• Three bar mounting holes are provided for the easy installation of most factory and aftermarket sway bars, and allows the stiffness of the sway bar to be easily adjusted.