So after this year's trip to the Nurburgring in the Golf; I decided that it was time to get something else to use on track and relegate the Golf to 'absolute last resort' status for local track days at Knockhill.
Having so many friends who are into Hondas and having had numerous VTEC cars before (EG6/EK4/EK9/DC2/S2K ) then I know how well they take hard driving and how effective they can be after a few well chosen modifications. I set myself a budget of 2000-2500 for the base car and went off to the classifieds to have a look at what was available; quickly discovering the days where decent EG and EK VTi are easily had for 1000-1500 are long gone and so was left with an EP3 Type R as my only real option.
Only problem was, there are a lot of properly thrashed/rusty/abused EP3s around and after looking at a few ropey examples I accepted that finding a decent base car wouldn't be that easy but I had narrowed down the criteria of what I wanted:
- Silver/Red
- Facelift Model
- sub-120k miles
- Decent History
- non-Premier Model
Anyway, I eventually found a car a couple of hours drive away which was:
- Black
- Premier Model
- Over Budget
...but at least it was low miles @ 62k, has decent history and has had chain/tensioner replaced at Honda 7k miles ago. I picked the car up on the Thursday night at about 8pm, had a track day booked on Saturday at 12pm and would need to go over the car to check/prepare it before that, including a suspension geometry set up (coilovers were just fitted and not set up) and replacement tyres as the Michelin tyres were more suitable for a Prius or Econobox rather than something with a bit of power that's being chucked around.
It's got a few modifications fitted; Scorpion Exhaust (CAT-back), BC Coilovers, Cold Air Induction, Mugen Rear Spoiler, Front Splitter, Rota Wheels... and here's a picture of it the night I picked it up:
So the next day I dropped the car off at Falkland Performance to get a fairly normal fast-road geometry set up done and get the rear ride height brought up a touch as it was very low and too much for me/using on track.
So with that done, the next day I'd organised changing the econoMichelins with a set of almost new Kumho KU39's that I had in my unit with Wheels Around who are based at Knockhill. They are tyres which I've used previously on my 19" BBS wheels on the Golf and they really impressed me with their grip and durability, even on track.
Couple more pictures from the day, including when ruined front brakes stopped play... and melted the centre cap, causing it to fall out when I stopped in the pits.
After I destroyed the front brakes on track, I needed replacements and didn't fancy spending serious cash on a replacement caliper/big brake set up just yet so did a bit of reading and spoke to Godspeed Brakes who recommended some J-hook discs and Carbon Lorraine CL5+ pads with braided lines and ATE fluid too.
I have also stripped the rear of the car out, not a massive amount of weight saving, but every little counts and will add up to a reasonable saving if I decide to stick the Recaros in the attic and fit some lightweight bucket seats.
Next was a track-essential, mounting the bluetooth microphone which had been stuffed away in the centre cubby:
Now just a few pictures from a quick clean I gave the car today:
Future plans are:
- Hondata ECU & Mapping
- 4-2-1 Exhaust Manifold
- De-Cat
- Different Exhaust (don't like the big tailpipe)
- Gruppe-M/Tegiwa-M Intake
- LSD
Cheers,
Grant