'99 Accord EX F23A1 - 2.3L 5 speed

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2001 Journal - Update 5/15/02

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11/13/01 - DC Sports DAC intake is not a good piece of equipment, in my humble opinion.  They've screwed up by making the band clamp that holds the K&N filter onto the intake pipe do double duty, making it also attach the intake pipe to the passenger strut tower via an 'L' bracket.  This causes the band clamp to not make good contact with the filter's sleeve on the same side as the 'L' bracket.  This, in turn, causes the clamp to work loose under engine vibration and for the filter to eventually come right off the intake pipe.  Unless you check this on a weekly basis, and keep adjusting the position and tightness of the clamp, you'll end up putting several miles on your ride with no air filter in place.   This is very troubling, and I plan on writing to DC Sports about this situation.

My passenger side head lamp bulb burned out last night.   Normally I wouldn't think too much about this on a 3 year old car, except for the fact that I had replaced that bulb just a year or so ago with a Sylvania Cool Blue bulb.   Apparently those bulbs aren't much in the area of quality.  I'll be looking for a better brand of bulb to use in the future.  Suggestions would be appreciated - I'm looking for that HID look, without it being to fakey blue in color.

SOLO season ended, and I got to the last few events.   The Civics and Integras kept me at arms length - too much weight in an Accord EX, I guess - so I'm just doing it for the love.  At least until I get a new car that's more competitive (don't let the wife hear that).  The Accord suffers from some heavy understeer (understeer = turn wheel and car keeps going in original direction --- oversteer = turn wheel and you see rear of car pass you out side window.), and despite all my lowering springs, fatter tires, and heavier anti-sway bars, I still can push the car too much thru the twisties.  If anyone has any ideas on how to address this problem better in a 6th gen Accord, I'd love to hear from you.  Nothing would be more fun than to be able to make those Civic Si and Integra guys sweat a bit....

10/4/01 - I took my car to Valvoline Instant Oil Change recently for an oil change, and the guy came out and informed me my air filter was sitting in the engine bay, off of the intake - again.  They offered to put it back on, and they appear to have done a pretty good job.  Looks like the cranked the screw clamp on much tighter than I normally would.  I'll have to do that next time I work on it.  I'm going to consider replacing the DC Sport intake with an AEM short ram if this happens much more...

The last SCCA SOLO II event of the year happens on 10/14/01 out at Griffis Industrial Park.  It's a great place to run.  The site used to be home to the Griffis Air Force base, and we actually get to run on an old concrete runway.  The course designer gets crazy with the site and works the entire length of the available runway, so runs average around 1:10 minutes.  My Accord has proven to be a bit of a handicap for me, as it has horrible understeer.  My times tend to  run at least 4 seconds behind the leaders - those  guys running the Civics and Integras.  Add the heavier car and rookie driver, and even without the understeer there is a lot to overcome.  Now that Nissan is making SERIOUS performance noise with their 2002 models (check out the new Altima (240HP), Maxima (260HP), and Sentra SE-R V Spec (180HP) ), I'm half tempted to ditch this vehicle and jump into something else.  However, that's hard to justify when The Wife is due a new vehicle (her '93 Legacy Wagon is looking dated) and it would cost me all the parts I've already sunk money into.  Maybe I'll just polish my driving skills for the next 5-7 years in this Honda, and then when it's time to trade, I'll make the move to a competitive car.  If I had a 3rd garage bay, I'd love to keep my Accord as my fun daily driver and then purchase a project Civic or Integra......I think The Wife has already scowled at me long and hard when I thought that out loud one night.   For now I guess I'm just racing for the love of it....

Jackson Racing reports that it'll be another 18 months before an F23A1  supercharger is available.  Problem is, that's what they've said each time I've asked them.  Ever get the feeling you're  being given bull?   I've checked out an FMAX turbo kit that's available right now, but my buddy Tommy Tran has reported hearing of at least one bad experience with that kit - poor gas mileage and rough drivability on a 6th gen Accord.  Another reason to look at getting a Subaru WRX or such....

I'm looking at getting a ClutchMasters lightened flywheel from a group buy on GroupBuyCenter.com.  The group buy is about 50% off of list price on the ClutchMasters website.  I've noticed that my clutch is engaging awfully late - high up in the travel of the clutch pedal - and that I'll probably need to replace the clutch sometime within the next 20K miles or so.  Usually Honda can adjust the engagement point of the clutch only once or twice before its worn out.  I'm usually very good with clutches, having driven manual trannies almost my whole driving life, but I'm guessing that my hot launches on the SCCA SOLO II tracks is beginning to wear the clutch out - I know my Dunlop tires have taken a beating, especially up front where I do all my plowing around the course.  I'm hoping they'll have a group buy on Clutch Master clutches soon, and then I'd have those items replaced at the same time, probably Spring '02.

8/9/01 - Decided to get the car washed the other day.  Popped the hood on my car in order to rinse off the engine bay, as I do from time to time.  As I began to rinse things off, I suddently noticed that the DC intake was without the K&N air filter, and that the air filter was sitting in the spot that normally would hold the stock airbox.  The clamp that nornally would be keeping the filter secured to the intake pipe was just dangling off the bracket that attaches the pipe to the passenger side strut tower.  Lucky I still had all the parts sitting there!  Needless to say, I didn't spray the engine bay, but I stared at the situation for a moment.  Everything looked like it would sit tight until I got home, so I just closed the hood and finished the washing.  On the way home, about a 10 minute drive, I just kept hoping I wouldn't get behind anything that would kick up a lot of dust, or worse.  Cleaned the parts up a bit and bolted everything back together, none the worse for wear - as far as I can tell.  Guess I'll have to peek in once a week or so to make sure things are ok.

Looking forward to a SOLO event this coming weekend (8/12/01) at the State Office Campus.  I had a good set of runs there last time, and I'd like to better my performance this time.

7/13/01 - Participated in SOLO II competitions on 6/24 & 7/8.  The June 24th event was a charity autocross sponsored by the local BMWCCA chapter and was held at SUNY Albany's Dutch Quad parking lot.  This lot is not very wide open, and has a lot of parking islands, lamp posts, and curbing within it.  In other words, there isn't much room for error.  Just ask the Porsche 914 who locked up going into a 180 degree turn and jumped the curb, blowing out his left front tire and nicking the rim.  Lucky for him he had a rear engine model, so the weight of the engine didn't impact the suspension too badly.  I ran well here, and this time was able to get in my heats before the rain came.  And rain, it did.  Severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect and cut into the second set of heats for some guys.  There were approximately 30 vehicles that ran, and we simply split into 2 groups based on number, not classification.  Never did get my results, as the rain put a crimp in the closing ceremonies.

The second event was an MoHud SCCA event held at Griffis Tech Park in Rome, NY.  This site is great because of the runways that are used for the course.  The Air Force used to have a base here, but budget cuts closed it down.   Now we get to use it.  Because of the room available, the course was much longer than I'd run to date, and that caused some problems for me in navigation.  I was unable to memorize the entire course, despite several walk-thrus.  That was another problem - the course was so long that it took a good 10 minutes to walk thru it, so it cut down on my dozen mark and left me with about 4 times thru it.  Out of my 4 runs, 2 were off course, and only 1 of those did I realize that I was lost.  Without a good spotter to watch you and give feedback, I find it frustrating to try to figure out how I could do better.  Did I run the course correctly, did I hit any cones?   Dang, I need a spotter like those NASCAR guys have.  With only 2 good runs, I was still able to beat some other cars in both my ST class and some SP classes, but no where near the top competitors.  All in all it was a great experience, and I can't wait to get out there and try my luck again.  This time around I got to work a cone station, and since I was a rookie, I got teamed up with another guy, Jon.  He has a early 90's BMW 325i, and we shared mod stories.  Turned out we were both in the market for light weight wheels, so we traded our knowledge on that while we watched the cones.  The wife stayed home, due both to the chance of showers (and thus would have to ride w/ me to stay dry and then get car sick thru the course) and the fact that I left shortly after 6am in order to arrive for an 8am registration and tech inspection.

6/25/01 - Solo II Competition (continued from 6/7/01 entry) - Ok, so I left off w/ me acting as the "Signature Nazi" at the entrance to the competition.  I forgot to mention that there were no wrist bands in the materials I was handed, and everyone I asked about them didn't   know where to find them.  I soon found myself pawing through SCCA boxes like mad while I tried to find the wrist bands.  I eventually found a woman who was the keeper of the bands, and she pawed through the same boxes I had and produced a wad of them.  As the wife says, it takes a woman to see something, because guys typically can't see squat unless it's something they really want to.  I wander out to my station and wait for visitors to show up.  As I stood there listening to the cars screech around the course, I started to get pumped up for the drive.  I figured if some of these guys who couldn't figure out that it was best to brake AFTER you cross the finish line could line up, then I shouldn't have much of a problem. 

I tried to watch as many cars from the first group as possible go through the 2nd half of the course, the visible part from my vantage point.   The tale of 2 Camaros was born out during the runs.  The one Camaro did a very good job of running through the course, and as it passed me back to the staging area, I'd marvel that there were actually 3 helmeted people in the car - a driver and 2 passengers.   I'm taking a 20 pound spare out of my car and this guy is dragging 2 200 pound buddies around with him?  And doing a good time?  On the other end of the scale comes another Camaro.  A young guy driving, with no passengers, and not much skill.   I watch and shake my head as the guy comes to the end of the course and hits the brakes BEFORE he goes through the end timing gates.  That right there is probably worth .5 seconds, and in this game that is a huge amount of time.  He also has some problems navigating the course, and tends to slow way down on some of the corners.   The Subaru WRXs are out in force, and they make a decent showing, but they aren't burning the course up, either.  One of the most intriguing cars is actually a truck.   An '88 Ford Ranger, complete w/ nasty paint and a rollbar in the bed.  Yet this guy burns the course up!  Aren't pickups supposed to be too light in the rear to really be a good handling vehicle?  This guy knows some secret, because he's running in the stock class and kicking vehicles w/ a greater racing heritage (and probably 10 - 20 grand higher price tags) right in the butt.  At least I won't be the only one being humbled by him.

Once the first group of cars stopped running the course - each car took 2 passes through the course - I headed over and asked how do I pass along my job duty.  I had a last minute need to visit the port-a-john, having absorbed too much rain through my skin.... The guy acting as the job assigner took my clipboard, and I headed for the 2 port-a-johns, hoping no one had them tied up.  Got in, and got out.   As I came out, cars were already lining up to start the 2nd group's run, of which I was a part of.  I got in my car, fired it up, and cranked down the windows to let out the heat (it was sunny again).  As I took a look at the cars, I looked for the reassurance of seeing at least one other ST class car in the line.  Having spotted one, I now waited for someone to let me in line (where I parked was pretty close to the staging area, so it was impossible to work my way back to the end of the line).   After about the fifth car went by me, someone finally noticed I was trying to inch in and they let me in.   We came up and rec'd instructions from a gentleman who had been assigned to try to arrange the cars by number within classification.   Unfortunately, the staging area was pretty small, and with several different classifications all trying to line up, and about 30 cars total in this group, he ran out of options quick.  This in turn seemed to make him also run out of patience.  I felt sorry for the guy, so I didn't pester him with any questions (I figured I'd know when to go grab a loaner helmet).  We just got lined up in a motley fashion, and waited for further instructions.  The stager soon had the ST cars going to the line, so since I had a low ST number, I figured (and some others did, too) that I'd been up to the start very soon.  Several of us poured out of our cars and ran up and grabbed a loaner helmet.  We got back to our cars, but then noticed that the stager was now lining other classes up and sending them out.  Of course, there were no loaner helmets left, so a shout went out for loaner helmets to come back.  I jumped out and gave my loaner helmet to a waiting individual, and went back and sat in my car.   Within 5 minutes, our time finally came, and we got in line.  As I got to third in line, I made sure the drivers in front of me had helmets on, and then got out and ran up to grab a loaner helmet.  I had been told at a motorcycle shop that I should take a 'small' helmet, but having done some research on the 'net, I believed that I should be wearing a 'medium' or 'large'.  Luckily, there was a large helmet, and I grabbed it and yanked it down over my head.  It was tight, and skewed my glasses as I pulled it down snug and buckled it up.  I also now realized that what little headroom I enjoy in my car (it has a room-robbing sunroof), the helmet sucked up what was left.   It wasn't too bad, so I figured I'd survive.  I watched the car in front of me get a hand signal to begin his run, and then watched him launch.  I moved up to the line and watched for the hand signal to get me on the starting line.  It should be noted that the beginning timing gates are probably 20-30 feet out in front of the start line, so you get a running start before the timer begins.  A good, quick launch is important, so you don't want to spin the tires, but you don't want to coast, either.   Suddenly, the starter, watching the cars on the track ahead of me, and seeing they were now safely past the halfway point, gave me the go-ahead.  I made a good launch and revved up quickly into 2nd gear.  A gentle sweeping right turn, through a break in 2 parking islands, and then into a hard 75 degree right turn.  Slam the gas while the straight away is there, and then sweep out to the right in preparation to take a hard 90 degree left turn.  The left turn drops you promptly into a series of cone slaloms, about 5 cones, and then ends with a nasty 135 degree left turn. Once again acelerate hard while going through a long, gentle right turn sweep.  Hit the brakes as you come into a 180 degree left turn (with concrete barriers only about 40 feet in front of you), hit the gas as you exit it, and then let off in order to navigate a 90 degree right turn.   Now you accelerate hard in a straight away as you pass through the ending timing gates.  However, you need to decelerate very quickly in order to avoid hitting cones only about 60 feet past the ending timing gates (they count if you hit them).  You then head back along the parking area and get back in line in the staging area.  You have maybe about 5 minutes before you hit the course again.  Once I'm parked in the staging area, I jump out and take off the helmet and return it to the loaner area.   As I come back, I realize I didn't even look up and see what my time was.   Damn! I need to have some fans here watching me.  While we sit in the cars, I smell some nasty exhaust fumes - mostly smelling like unburned fuel.  Before you realize it, it's time to get back in line.  The stager is still having problems, and he gets testy w/ some poor guy who is trying to find out whether he gets to lineup again because he got red-flagged on the course (typically because a car ahead of him on the course had a problem - stalled, spun, got lost, etc.).  The racer goes back to his car muttering it isn't his fault.  The stager finally starts to get a handle on things and gets the red flagged car back in line w/ an apology.   We're back up on the line again, and this time I'm determined to be a bit more aggressive now that I know I can do it.  I run through again, and I feel confident as I try to find the best line through the corners.  The tires are plowing pretty good, since the course is still wet and has been worked into a fine layer of muck, but I figure everyone else has to run in this stuff.  Then again, I know my tires are not good wet traction tires.   When it rains, I typically spin them just taking off at red lights on the street.

Our first set of runs is over, and I've survived.   There seems to be a period of down time while something happens - what, I don't know.  In the meantime, my wife and stepson show up, and I excitedly talk to them about what has happened so far.  I'm keeping an eye out for activity, which would signal that I should go work again, while I discuss lunch and where they should stand to watch.  Upon my request, the wife has brought me a sub, but I'm still keyed up pretty good, so I'm not hungry and not keen on adding food to a reasonably calm but nervous stomach.  The wife and stepson walk on over to the bus stop - the official spectator area, and I head back over to get a job assignment.  We're told to take the same job we had the first time, so I go back to being signature Nazi.  This time I get a fair amount of people through the gate, all rather pleasant.  I get in a rhythm and get them park outside of the competitors' parking area, and give them a quick spiel about where to watch, be careful of cars, etc.  The sun has come out, and things are starting to dry out.  My tires' kind of weather!  However, toward the end of my job stint, it once again starts to rain, and the course becomes wet.  Dang!  I head to my car, and jump in line quick before it gets past my parking spot.  The stager has things under control this time, and I joke with him that he seems much less stressed this time.  He says he has a system, and it seems to work.  We line up in 2 separate areas, and then he points to us to jump in line for the start as needed.   Helmets are once again at a premium, but there's never more than a 10 second delay before one becomes available.  My first run of the second round goes pretty good, and the wife is actually able to watch me.  She says I did a 38 something second run.   Not bad, considering some of the fastest runs have been in the 35 second range from the 'Prepared' vehicles.  Since my second run is my last chance, I decide to go all out, and try to be as aggessive as I can.  Unfortunately, because of the wet course conditions, by car seems to plow even more so than earlier, and I do a good drift session rather than a good Solo run, I'm afraid.  The wife reports that the timer display showed a 40 second time or so.  Dang!  As we stand around waiting for the results, we go over to the photographer's trailer and try to find my car in the pictures.   It takes awhile (the stepson keeps insisting that a black Audi A4 is my car - I wish!), but I eventually find it.  The wife has had enough for one day, the kid is claiming extreme boredom, so I send them off and wait to see what is supposed to happen to close the session.  Fun runs are begun (for $2, I think), and I decide to order the picture shown at the top of the page.  The fun runs look, well, fun.  Some guy with an Audi A4 (an earthtone, not the black one my stepson suspected was my car) does a total drift session, honking the horn and waving his arms out the windows while driving like a maniac.  Others are putting passengers in their cars and taking people for a ride around the course.  I eventually get my photo and head home, proudly keeping my shoe-polished designation on the windows for awhile to show that I survived my Solo II adventure.

Well, the results are finally out, and I've accomplished some of the goals a first-time Solo racer should be aiming for.  I had fun, I didn't get lost on the course, I pretty much improved my time each successive run (except for some weather-induced slowness), and I beat someone!  I  beat some people in raw times, and I beat 2 people in adjusted times - an Acura Integra and an Audi A4.  My goal for the next competition, a BMWCCA event being held at the SUNY Albany campus (7/1/01), is to try to get my wheels aligned for optimum traction, and to look for some lightened wheels and a set of Bridgestone S03 Pole Positions tires (excellent dry & WET traction).

Wheels update - The Kosei K1 Racing wheels have disappeared off of the Tire Rack's website, so now I'm not sure what I'm going to get.   I'm sure I'd like to get whatever I decide upon shod with Bridgestone S03 Pole Positions.  They seem to get a real good write up for both dry and wet traction performance.

The Fast And The Furious - I dragged the wife to go see this movie on Saturday 6/23.  The movie put a grin on my face, but not always for the reasons you would assume.  From a reality standpoint, the movie was about a 4 out of 10.  However, from a car standpoint, it sat at about a 7 out of 10.  The story was good, but it was full of holes and left a lot of things unanswered.  But what's there is good pure fun.  Hopefully this movie will be successful enough to help launch a real quality attempt at capturing the import street racer scene.

Kaminari body kit update - I recently had my gas fireplace serviced (summer special prices because it's out of season), and the tech who showed up was a real performance fanatic.  He noticed my Magnaflow muffler, and launched into a discussion w/ me.  He ended up going down in the basement to check out the Kaminari body kit sitting down there and suggested a quality body kit installer - H&V in Troy, NY.  Even gave me the phone number for them.  He also recommended stopping by Autobahn Performance Group to get a flyer on local events, and suggested a place to call for wheels.  I just might check out the wheel place.   I'll definitely talk to H&V about the bodykit. Thanks Jay!

6/7/01 - I planned on entering the Solo II competition on 6/3/01 after watching the process out at Griffiss Industrial Park (old Air Force base) back on 5/20/01.  I figured if some guys in stock Civic DX's and rusting RX-7's could run this, then I could put my car out on the line, too.  While we (the wife and I) were out at Griffiss, I tried to pick up as much as I could so that I wouldn't be too overwhelmed the first time I ran.  It seemed rather straight forward, except for how the cars lined up for their runs - didn't seem to be too much logic to that process (little did I know that pretty much sums up the line up process!).  The day before the race, I started to panic about having my own helmet - it seemed to cause a lot of confusion for the drivers to have to hunt down one of the SCCA loaner helmets just before you roll up to the line and try to remember what line you want to take thru the pylons.  I emailed 2 local SCCA members to ask about helmet requirements - there seemed to be some disagreement in online discussions whether the helmets needed Snell certification or not and whether open-face helmets even carry Snell certification (the SCCA helmets were all open-face).  I rec'd responses back in 2 hours that indeed, the helmets do need Snell certification.  That pretty much left out the helmet I had researched at my local motorcycle shop.  So now I'd have to rely on getting one of the helmets  in the helmet pool.  Some of those characters that run, you just don't want to put something on your head that they had on theirs - know what I mean?  To relieve the tension of anticipation, I suggested to the wife that we go to the movies and see Pearl Harbor.  We enjoyed the movie, and it certainly kept my mind off things, but I didn't realize how long the movie ran.  We got home after 11pm, and I had to get over to the course by 7:45am in order to get all my questions answered, get into the rhythm, and just settle my nerves.  But in the meantime, I hadn't even started to prep my car (clean the windshield so I can see the pylons, remove the floor mats, and maybe empty out the trunk so that I don't have to carry any more weight in that vehicle than is necessary.  It took about an hour, but I got enough done so that I could sleep comfortably.

The next morning I woke up on time, but I took a bit longer to get ready than I anticipated, so I got started later than I wanted to.   Because a photographer was going to be on site that day, I decided to run my car thru the car wash so I might have a chance at getting a decent pic.  On top of this, I had to find the site, which happens to be buried in a large state government office campus that has dozens of ramps off of an outer and inner loop access road.  I wasn't sure if I'd know which ramp to take to get to the parking lot that I didn't know where it was until I  would see the cars gathered.  Turned out that I nailed the site perfectly, so my anxiety level dropped a good amount.  Picked a spot to park amongst the cars that looked as stock as my own, as opposed to parking near the prepped Porsches, Corvettes, and trailered vehicles.  Watched for where people were walking to, and then headed that way to get registered.  Registering was easy - just fill out a form w/ name, address, vehicle info, etc.  The guy doing registration helped classify my car, since I wasn't sure what it should be.  Turned out it was ST - "Street Touring". He said this apologetically, like he had told me I was suffering from incurable illness, but the importance of this was lost on me at that moment.  The ST classification was due to the suspension and exhaust modifications.  If I drop a supercharger on it, I'll change again.  Not sure what, but I'm sure someone will help figure it out for me.  Handed in my registration - tried for the SCCA member discount by telling them I had sent my check in to SCCA but hadn't rec'd my member number yet, but the lady just said "You'll be able to get your discount at the next event" - and paid my $20, and then took my car to Tech for inspection.  I was 2nd in line, and by the time I pulled up and got out of my car to let them do their thing, there were 6 cars lined up behind me.  The techs looked at my engine (made sure the battery was secure and there were no hidden turbos), shook my wheels to test the bearings, and then peeked into my trunk  and told me to empty it out before I ran.  I went back to my parking spot and started a pile like the veterans do - piling up my spare tire, jumper cables, and the other junk I keep in my trunk.  The skies looked pretty dark, so I covered everything w/ a tarp.  The guy next to me yells over "Can I have a drink of your water?"  One look at this guy (nose ring, greasy hair, eyes half open) and I was wondering why I attract the weirdos?  He then goes on to explain he had his wisdom teeth out and needs to take antibiotics.  I've got a squirt bottle, and I pointedly open the top so that he'll notice it, and he promptly puts his mouth on it, sucks about 1 ounce out, and hands it back to me.  I paid $1.49 for this water to have some leech take a nasty swig?  I made sure to try to lose him as soon as possible.  While I was arranging my stuff  from the trunk, the skies started to open up.   My "10ST" designation that they put on my side windows (w/ white shoe polish) ran a little, but the polish was almost dry so it didn't smear too bad.   I then headed back to registration to see what was scheduled next.  It stopped raining, and people were told they could go out on the course, so I followed the first person that headed out and just walked behind them.  I tried to memorize the course, but I found it was difficult to remember much beyond the first 3 curves.  I finished the course and decided to go thru again.  This time through I realized I hadn't noticed that some cones were laying down on their sides for a reason - they were indicating which side of the cone you were to pass  on.  Hmm, that would change my strategy a bit!  Walked it again and figured out the long line of cones didn't denote a straight line, but were to be slalomed like gates for a downhill skier.   Dang! I was starting to get nervous, wondering if I would have enough time to figure all this out.   When I got to the end of the course this time, I decided to hunt down someone who looked like they knew what they were doing and ask them about how we start and lineup.  I was given some light info about it, and then was asked to help outline the cones.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to walk the course again.   Another guy was helping, and we each took a side.  While we were doing our job, we happened to notice the chalk outline of a body (!!!), but we laughed it off figuring someone had faked it.  As we finished, a lady came out and put down a lime line connecting all the cones.  This was going to be a big help!  But before she was half done, it started to pour and lightning something fierce.  So much for the lime!   We all huddled under the bus stop that was the registration gathering space, waited out the weather, and watched the lime get washed off.  Some guys tried to walk the course, but were called off because of the lightning risk.  We stood around for 40 minutes, w/ the rain blowing into the shelter and making me damp.  Great, I'm sure I'll be in top of form w/ soaking wet shoes and pants (I did have a rain jacket).  I listened in on some of the conversations - some talking about cars, some jobs, some previous competitions.  I ran back to my car to check on my pile - it hadn't floated away and seemed to be staying dry - so I headed back to the shelter.  The rain finally let up, and they relined the course w/ lime (Yes!).  I walked the course 3 more times, now finding it pretty easy to make it around, and finally stopped because I noticed no one else seemed to have walked it more than twice, while I was on lap 8. 

The drivers' meeting was called shortly thereafter, and I found a guy who I recognized from Griffis (drove a nice black turbo Jetta 1.8T) and I started to ask him a few questions.  Once he figured out I wasn't in his class, and thus wouldn't be competing w/ him, he was glad to offer some tips.  As the meeting started, they asked if anyone was a novice.  I figured I'd fess up real quick, and they asked the novices (about 5 of us) to come up front so that we could hear everything.  The drivers' meeting was pretty uneventful (some instructions, safety items, flag use, sign up for work stations, upcoming events announced, and even a helmet for sale announcement), and off we went.  My class, ST, was going to run in the 2nd round, so I had to work the first round.  My duty - watching the entrance and having people sign the waiver and wear a wrist band.  I also was told to make sure that no one wandered in and tried to drive around the backside of the parking lot, because the end of the course was right there at the entrance, and people tend to accelerate to get thru the timing gates as quick as possible to end their run  - not a good place to meet up w/ some clueless driver.  I stand w/ my clipboard and wait for people to come up, and watch the cars that are currently running come thru the timing gates.  It wasn't long until my first customer comes up - a young girl in a Volvo wagon, who looks just like Matthew Broderick's sister in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and she has an attitude already.  I say hi and ask her to sign the waiver, and she says "But I'm just going to go in for 30 minutes".  I explain she needs to sign the waiver to get in, and she starts saying that's stupid.  I just smile and repeat that she needs to sign the waiver to enter.  She rips off a signature and takes the wrist band, and then zooms in.   Bitch.  No one else gave me a problem the rest of the day.

(to be continued)

5/9/01 - Had to leave my car overnight w/ Larry's Foreign Auto for the exhaust/suspension/brake work, but it seems to have been worth it.  Larry told me that his mechanic had a few problems fitting the Magnaflow system to the car - didn't seem to be as well designed as some other exhaust systems they've worked with before - and had to put it back up on the lift after the first road test showed the thing to be banging into the underside alot.  Finally loosened up all the parts, refitted them, and got them to bolt together without any clearance problems.   The anti-sway bars and brake lines went on fine.   Each of the 3 jobs took about 2 hours to complete, so with an inspection and some exhaust hardware the total came to $400.  Larry said it was not a job for the shade tree mechanic.  Driving the car home tonight made me grin - the exhaust note was sweet, the car cornered like it was on rails, and the brakes still worked!  Just read an article that stated stainless steel brake lines will virtually eliminate pedal chatter associated with ABS systems, so I'll have to try that sometime and see if it's true.  Tried to make a recording of my 'before' and 'after' exhaust notes, but the lousy mic I had didn't work so I'll have to get a new mic before I can attempt to put up a soundbyte of the car.

Found out I missed an SCCA SOLO event in my own backyard this past Saturday.  The next one will be June 6th, so I'll have to mark it on the calendar.   I'm dying to go over and observe what goes on at one of these events.  I'd like to try my hand at this and see how the Accord stacks up against the other cars now that it's modded to some degree.

4/30/01 - I had sent Jackson Racing a quick email following up on a conversation I had with them concerning a supercharger for the 6th gen I4 Accords.  They sent me a response asking me to call in to discuss the situation.  I called and spoke to Sean, who says that Jackson Racing is beginning the project now, and is looking at taking the current Prelude kit and adapting it to the Accord F23A engine.  If everything goes as planned, look for it come Spring 2002.

4/29/01 - Well, the itch got too great.  I had to make an appointment w/ Larry's Foreign Auto to schedule an inspection, since mine ran out in, uhhh, 4 days, and while I was at it I asked if they could put a few parts on for me - Neuspeed s/s brake lines, Neuspeed N2 header, Random Technology hi-flo cat, Magnaflow cat-back exhaust, Neuspeed front & rear anti-sway bars.  I took a serious look at doing the installs myself, and the fact is I simply don't have the setup to lift the car up SAFELY in order to work on the exhaust.   Besides, I put my car into good hands when I give it to Larry.  In discussing the Neuspeed N2 header, he asks me some technical questions about the quality of the header, and then follows up with "Sounds nice.  Have you hugged it?  If it's as sweet as you say I would have bolted it together and rolled around in bed with it for awhile before I put it on the car".  Now that's a car guy.  Larry estimates the job to be somewhere around 5-6 hours, with the brake lines being the longest part at 1.8 hrs.  Larry charges only what he actually works, so I'll post up the real times once the work is done.

4/25/01 - Made the switch over last night from winter tires/wheels to the summer tires/wheels.  I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of the Borbet wheels (pictured above) and getting much lighter wheels.   Those Borbet 16"s are quite heavy compared to the stock Honda 15" alloy wheels.  I've been looking at a set of 17" Kosei K1 Racing wheels in anthracite finish from The Tire Rack.   Finish them off w/ some Bridgestone Potenza S-02 Pole Position 205/50ZR17 radials and that would make for some mean rolling stock - plus rock my wallet to the tune of about $1600.  I keep thinking I'd be better off just putting that money aside for a CL or TL Type S, or whatever nice performance car is available in a few more years.

That odd clunking noise that eminated from the right front area of the vehicle?  Turns out it was the DC intake w/ the broken bracket.   After switching the wheels last night I put the new bracket in, went around our cul-de-sac in 1st gear at about 4200 RPM and then let off the gas suddenly - no noise!   I have a feeling that bracket may be a weak spot over the life of this car.

The exhaust system is begging to be replaced.   I've got the Neuspeed N2 header, Random Technology hi-flo cat, and Magnaflow cat-back exhaust sitting in boxes and waiting to be put into action.  Only problem is that I just don't have the tools to do the job properly.  The lowering springs make it very difficult to get the car up on ramps, and even if I do get it up on ramps then I won't have enough room to really wrench on some of the exhaust fasteners that will need to be undone.  I'm pretty sure I'm just going to wimp out and have my good friends at Larry's Foreign Auto do the job.  They did a bang-up job on the springs, so I'll give them some more business.  While I'm at it, I may as well throw in the Neuspeed anti-sway bars and Neuspeed s/s brake lines, too.  I can see this little adventure costing me about $450 in labor alone.  Ahh, the price of perfection.....

Speaking of which, I still need to find a body shop willing (and skilled) to handle my Kaminari  body cladding kit.   4 pieces - front bumper, side skirts, and rear bumper.  They'll need to be prepped and painted, and then attached.  There's very little hardware that came w/ the kit, so I'm hoping it'll be obvious to the installer how to do it - there weren't any directions included.  I may have to call Kaminari and see if they have instructions for the job.   I've got a feeling that they'll say "if an installer needs directions then you need to find a new installer" kind of thing.  Worth a shot, though.

Having scorched around Phoenix w/ Tommy Tran, I've seen how he got access to his ECU to hook in his Apex'i V-AFC.  I'll need to schedule some down time for my vehicle and extract the ECU for shipment to Jet for some aggressive reprogramming.  I've purchased a G-Tech Pro meter to measure my car's performance and really need to get a 'before' set of data to compare to the 'after'  when I get the ECU back.  I'm figuring I'll need to go out somewhere quiet  where there's not much traffic and a reasonable amount of flat area in order to get some 0-60 times.   My best idea so far seems to be the area around Rt 20 just outside of I-88 or even I-88 itself.  Since I only need to get the car up to 60 for the one test, this shouldn't be too risky.  However, a 1/4 mile time might produce speeds up in the 80's somewhere.  That could draw unwanted police attention.  I wish I had a track nearby like the guys in Phoenix do - hell, they've got several tracks nearby they can use.

4/16/01 - Ever since I returned from Phoenix, I've noticed an odd clunking noise coming from the front of the car.    Usually occurs if I wind up the engine and then let off the gas suddenly.   Will also occasionally occur if I hit a pothole just on the right front wheel.   Not so much a  "clunk" noise as it sounds like a "boing".   Since I had the springs replaced last fall, I figured maybe a spring isn't seated properly.  I popped the hood tonight to check the bolts at the top of the strut tower and found that the small bracket that attaches the DC Sports DAC intake to the strut   tower bracket sheared right in two!  (Must be all those mods on my ride made it a torque monster!)  Therefore, the intake tube and filter can just sort of move around if so inclined.  I'm wondering if when the engine torques from the back pressure caused by sudden gas pedal lifting then the intake moves w/ the engine and whacks something in the engine compartment.  I called DC Sports immediately once I saw this and spoke to the guy who answered the phone.  No hassles, he simply told me he was mailing me a bracket kit for my application.  If the kit shows up as promised, then DC Sports just went up a few notches in my book in the customer service department.

4/9/01 - I took a business trip to Phoenix 3/27 - 3/30, and got the chance to meet Tommy Tran of the AZ City Scene board up close in person.  What a great guy.  He showed me around town and gave me a tour of the local Honda scene.  Man, what a scene it is.  Having come from the Albany NY area, where modified Hondas are seen maybe once every few hundred cars, Phoenix is a modified vehicle paradise.  I'd swear about 1 in every 3 cars is either a) a sports car, b) modified to look like a sports car, or c) driven like it was a sports car.   The temperatures were in the high 80's each day, and the nights were almost as warm, with no rain.  Phoenix streets are smooth concrete, and the major cruising areas are sometimes 4 or 5 lanes wide.  It was awesome to see so many cars w/ great tweaks - not a lot of ricer wannabe crap, either.  My flight back that Friday evening didn't leave until midnight, so I was able to check out the Friday Night Drags at the Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ.  They had a lot of operational glitches that night, so we didn't get to see much dragging, but what I did see I liked immensely.  It was wild how you could just drive up w/ your stock vehicle and give it a rip down the track if you wanted to.  Heck, they even asked if I wanted to run when I pulled up in my rented 2000 Hyundai Accent POS.   Shouts out to all the guys who I met while out there - especially Tommy Tran, Baehan, LudeHrt, 94accordlx, and others.  I can't wait to go back - preferably w/ my own ride this time.

Spring is trying to make its presence known here, and I believe we've seen the last of the snow - although we usually get at least one April snowstorm.  I've got a basement full of parts just waiting to get bolted on in some form or fashion.  I'll have to sort thru them and see what I can handle myself and what I should leave to the professionals.

My 'Check Engine' light hasn't re-appeared since I had it fixed.  Keeler must have gotten the right sensor.  However, since I returned from Phoenix, I've noticed an odd noise that emanates from the right front wheel well on occasion.   Seems to happen when I either hit a good sized bump on that front wheel, or if I rev the car up high into the RPM range and then drop the gas suddenly.   It sounds kind of like a short metal wire plunking.  I'm thinking it is probably the spring assembly, so I'll probably have it looked at when I arrange to have Larry's Foreign Auto do my new Magnaflow exhaust system for me.  I'm just hoping they'll put the Random Tech cat on at the same time - supposedly it is against federal law to replace a cat w/ less than 50K on it, which I'm only at 20K.  I'll report back on how I make out w/ that.

3/15/01 - Keeler Honda of Latham checked the codes that tripped the 'Check Engine' light and they think it points to 1 of 3 emission sensors.  They replaced the most likely culprit, the "evap canister vent shut valve", which was replaced under warranty.  According to the service rep, this is a pattern on these vehicles.  If the codes come up again, they will replace the other 2 emission sensors at that time.  I was happy to find that they didn't try blaming any of the mods that are on the car.

3/7/01 - While I was down in Orlando FL for InfoSec World 2001, the wife was driving my vehicle because her Subaru Legacy has developed a stalling problem (something to do w/ 2 sensors that need replacing).   While she's driving the Accord, she notices the 'Check Engine' light has now come on steady.   The car is running solid and I can't notice anything wrong with it, so I've made an appointment to have it looked at by Keeler Honda.  I'm hoping these guys won't give me a runaround because of the aftermarket parts involved.  Since I've had them on without incident beginning October 2000, I'm hoping they aren't the root cause.  Possible causes in my mind include: intake filter oil from DAC intake has fouled the MAP sensor or Vibrant axle-back exhaust is causing some sensor to trip the idiot light.  Hopefully it won't be anything too traumatic.

2/22/01 - I rec'd my Neuspeed anti-sway bars from RaceSearch.com after having placed the order back in the beginning of November 2000.  Not RaceSearch's fault - Neuspeed had problems getting them stocked.   No rush anyway since I won't attempt to install these until Spring.

I've got a real itch to buy a new set of wheels and tires, but not sure what to get.  I'm debating between ultralight wheels in a 16" size or large (17"- 18") wheels for more show.  Either way it's a lot of money, and not sure if I want to do it or just put the money towards my next super car and leave this one alone.

2/11/01 - Rec'd my cheaper order for Neuspeed stainless steel brake lines from RaceSearch.com.  What a hassle that part has been.  Why Neuspeed doesn't list the part applications properly for that item is beyond me.  They've been very accurate in every other area - surprising from a quality outfit like them.  Can't wait until Spring when I get a chance to start   putting all of this stuff on the car.

An email from Tommy Tran holds much intrigue.   Puts me on notice that he might be going into the parts retail business for Honda.   That would be great - a friendly guy who knows what he's talking about able to provide parts.  It'd be a welcome event.  Tommy also stated that he might be able to visit this area over the Easter weekend.  Nothing like having a true blue DIYer on hand to help install this boatload of stuff in my basement.  If Baehan comes along, so much the better.  Not sure how I'd entertain them, being an "older" family guy (almost 40) and not having much of an import scene up here.   Here's how new the import scene is in the Capital District:  1) the local CBS affiliate (WRGB)did a news piece on the 5:30 news about guys who modify their Hondas locally and a shop that is selling parts and performing wrenching - Autobahn Performance,  2) the local newspaper did a story about Autobahn Peformance's expansion into Albany and how Honda modifying is becoming popular,  3) one of the local malls (Crossgates) has a floor display featuring some of the finest tuner cars (so far a VW Bug and a BMW M3) with a local audio shop pitching their stuff (East Coast Audio out of E. Greenbush).  Add to that the increasing number of modded cars you see around, and you know this area is just starting to wake up.

The Wife had a chance for a kill story the other night, but she doesn't seem to be inclined to pursue it.  Her Subaru Legacy wagon was running like crap this past week, so she took the Accord to the Y for aerobics.   Seems that on the way back home, some Civic hback tried to rev her up and get her to take them on, but she didn't bite.  They tried for several lights before giving up.  Why can't that ever happen when I'm driving?  My kills are usually minivans and other non-competitors that step up when I'm out and about.  Turned out that the Subaru needed new plug wires.  I offered to get her a set of Magnecor racing wires, but she just laughed and opted for the OEM replacement wires.  She's right - no sense dumping good money into parts for that wagon when it's about ready for trading in for a real car.  I'm trying to talk her into any of the following: 1) Maxima SE, 2) Passat VR6, 3) Acura CL Type S, 4) Subaru WRX.  I told her that if she   didn't like any of those, I'd hand over my Accord and take either the Acura CL or the Subaru WRX.  She didn't seem to trust my motives.

1/25/01 - Rec'd my corrected order of Neuspeed stainless steel brake lines from JCW today.  Unfortunately, I found this item on RaceSearch.com's website for $16 cheaper, so I'm probably going to make use of JCW's satisfaction guarantee and return them and order them from RaceSearch.com.  JCW won't price match, so I don't have much choice.

Got a notice that my G-Tech Pro meter is in at the Post Office.  My plan is to measure some performance parameters of my car now, send my ECU in to Jet for an upgrade, and then take some readings afterwards to see what difference the upgrade makes.  I also plan to do a before-and-after reading w/ my Neuspeed header/Random Tech cat/Magnaflow exhaust installation later this coming Spring.   The only question now is where can I safely do some 0-60 acceleration tests out of the eye of the local constabulary.  I've actually considered getting up some morning around 2:30am and just going some place w/ a quiet, long straightaway and see what it's got.  The G-Tech meter requires you know the weight of your vehicle so that you can enter it into the unit and then calculate horsepower, 0-60, and 1/4 mile times.   Where the heck am I going to get my car weighed?  Some joker on SuperHonda claimed that he pulled into a truck weighing station and just real quick got on the scale, noted his reading, and then took off before anyone asked questions.  I'm not sure I buy that one.

1/10/01 -  Received my Neuspeed stainless steel brake lines from JC Whitney, but both Neuspeed and JC Whitney have mislabelled the applications for these items.  Neuspeed currently offers 2 kits for 6th gen Accords - # 90.20.32 for "Accord 98-up 4-Cyl" and # 90.20.37 for "Accord 98-up 6-Cyl".  Seems pretty clear-cut, right?  But it ain't.   The Accord EX 4 cylinder, like mine, has rear disc brakes, not rear drums, just like the V6 Accords.  The 90.20.32 Neuspeed kit is meant for rear drum applications.   So, you can't decide the application solely on whether the engine is a 4 or 6 cylinder.  I'm going to send a note to Neuspeed to point out this flaw.  In the meantime I've returned the Neuspeed brake lines to JC Whitney (at their expense - their mistake on their website) and am awaiting an exchange for the "6-cyl" version.   Those are on back order as well, so once again I'm waiting.  And waiting.

1/8/01 - Received my DC Sports shift knob.  It was much darker than I anticipated - the 'Gun Metal Gray' being almost a charcoal gray, but it looks fine.  The feel is excellent, especially compared to the Razo shift knob.  It is smaller, smoother, and better shaped for shifting, and it has a much more solid feel to it.  This solid feel is due to the fact that the knob is made out of one piece billet aluminum and is threaded for Honda shift sticks.  I'm thrilled.  My one complaint - the aluminum holds cold (and probably will hold heat, as well) and takes a bit to warm up, but the small size of it helps it come to room temperature shortly after the heat kicks in.  Unfortunately it doesn't cover as much of the stick as the old Razo knob did, so I'm going to have to reposition the shift boot so that it sits higher on the stick and snuggs up under the DC knob.

Still waiting on Neuspeed anti-sway bars, brake lines, Random Technology hi-flo catalytic converter, and G-Tech performance meter.  I'm going to have to put another call into Neuspeed and see what the deal is.  Supposedly these parts are supposed to be out to resellers by the end of January.

1/3/01 - Santa was good to me - heck, he's been good to me all year.  Received my Kaminari order finally, but with some hitches.  My urethane kit ends up actually being made of fiberglass.  Vince of CustomEFX claims that this was known all along, but his Group Buy Center web page tells a different story.  The kit surprised me somewhat since it is acually just cladding pieces that screw onto the lower parts of the bumpers and the side skirts.  I was assuming that the pieces would completely replace the stock bumper covers (that's what assumptions will do for ya).  No biggy at this point.  Next step will be to start looking for a reputable body shop that has a good rep for artistic skills w/ body kits.  If you know of any in the Capital Region, clue me in, will ya?

Ordered a new shift knob - a DC Sports gray knob.   The Razo knob just doesn't give you a solid feel.  Because it is a modular unit that requires a plastic universal adapter for screwing on to the shift lever, and because of the adjustable height mechanism being made of plastic, the knob moves too much for my comfort.  In my opinion, the knob should be rock solid on the lever.  The Razo knob also refuses to stay clean.  The machined aluminum on the top of the knob is very finely sharp, and continuously scrapes the dead skin off of your palm.  This isn't painful in anyway, but it makes the knob look like crap!  You can clean it but it'll be dirty within 2 uses again.  Enough is enough.  It'll be removed and hopefully sold to someone who wants it.

Took a quick look at a carbon fiber hood from Fiber Images, but then decided against it.  Wasn't sure how the finish on it would deal with winter and its hazards.  Plus it had no provisions for washer fluid squirters, which are a definite necessity around here.

Still haven't gotten around to dealing with the Jet ECU upgrade.  I'm in no big hurry, and in fact I'm waiting to receive a G-Tech Performance Meter.  With this little gizmo I'll be able to do 'before and after' snap shots of my ECU upgrade.  Some V6 Accord reported having a drop in performance after the ECU upgrade, so I want to make sure it does what it says it will do.  If I don't experience an increase, Jet will have its hands full with me.

Still waiting to receive my Random Technology hi-flo cat, Neuspeed anti-sway bars, and Neuspeed brake lines.  No big hurry since it is in the 20's temp-wise, but I want that stuff soon so I can plan my work this spring.

The wife "discovered" my website recently when I sent her an email from home to her workplace and she saw my website link in my signature.  She's now starting to ask a lot of questions (trouble) about parts, prices, etc.  Who knows, Project Accord might be shut down if she gets too nosey here.  Let's hope she realizes it keeps me out of trouble.

Got an email from Tony at Beale Air Force Base asking about Vibrant exhausts.  After talking to me he ordered a Magnaflow cat-back like I did, and he says he's going to report back on the sound characterstics of it.  I'll be interested in that.  The wife wasn't thrilled with the rumble produced by the Vibrant axle-back during our 2.5 hr drive down to Pennsylvania, so I'm not sure what will happen if it gets any louder, which it probably will after the header, hi-flo cat, and cat-back exhaust install.

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