Realize the full Performance/Economy Potential of a Honda Civic VX

[suspendedhatch]

Good info. Like I said, I've never had a P2 ECU. I went straight for the AEM, so I can only guess.

I got the injector phasing table tuned with log files to show how it's done. I went from 23kPa at idle to 19! I want to do some more testing with the fuel tooth setting before I post it up. I might be able to lower my idle from 750 to 670 (stock spec for US models). But so far the car is running great and I'm sure that if I were to take it for a long trip, I'd exceed my previous goal of 47mpg.

AEM released a new beta of their Tuner software. I can't wait to start using it.

[suspendedhatch]

Recently I changed jobs which gave me some free time and allowed me to bring home my tool box and get busy on the car. Unfortunately as always a lack of money is a serious hindrance for me to make any real progress, but I was able to get a few things done.

I jacked up the car and noticed some camber wear on the rear tires. Camber wear is not prevalent on cars with double wishbone suspension, but if you have camber and there is the slightest bit of toe, then you will get excessive wear at the part of the tire indicated by the camber. In other words, negative camber pushes down on the insides of your tires, positive camber on the outsides. I have a little bit of negative camber due to lowering the car. My rear toe is off slightly, so the insides of the tires wore excessively. My front tires have even more negative camber than the rear which is a natural consequence of the car's suspension geometry, however there is no camber wear on them.

Negative camber improves cornering mine is within reason (~1.5) degrees so I didn't make an effort to correct it. Correcting it would require that I buy some high priced, low quality aftermarket parts none of which I have been satisfied with in the past. Camber is not ideal for long highway trips and this recent trip to San Diego is going to cost me two tires. Of course I got an alignment after swapping the suspension but I may have forgotten to tell the tech to zero out the toe. Factory spec actually calls for some rear toe but my car is far from factory spec. Either that or they just got lazy and didn't adjust it. If it's within spec when they measure it then they wont even touch it, but they'll still charge you. Now I will have to find a place willing to align a lowered Civic (mine is hardly lowered at all). In the mean time I went ahead and rotated the tires.

[suspendedhatch]

Running lean causes higher coolant temps. With the way I've tuned the fuel map and the way I drive I'm running lean approx 90% of the time. Hondas are designed to hover right around 200 degrees F for both coolant and oil. 220ish arguably may improve fuel combustion and power, but it's not safe (can lead to knock; cooks the oil) and it's bad for engine life. When I enter the factory radiator fan coolant specs into the AEM (fan should come on at 196-205 degrees and turn off 5-15 degrees cooler), the fan is on almost all the time. This extra load on the engine is bad for fuel economy and makes for a rough idle. As a result I had to enter a higher Fan On temperature.

I replaced the thermostat with a factory spec (196 degrees) when I swapped the motor. Now I've decided to try a low temp (170) to see if it will maintain a lower average temp so the fan doesn't come on all the time with the factory Fan On numbers. I'm hoping to maintain 200 degrees. I was reluctant to do it because winter is coming and it snows in Salt Lake (I just moved here from San Diego). However, it's really not that hard to swap it back if I have to.

On my recent trip to San Diego I was getting the occasional knock leaving from a stop. The lower elevation increases the load. I think I would rather try a lower temp thermostat than run higher octane fuel or back off the timing. Incidentally, the car made a ton more power at sea level then it does up here around 5000 ft. Even in 12 valve mode, it could be mistaken for a B16A.

I think I would also like to try a PCV filter/catch can but like I said, I don't have any money. The only one I've seen that is worth trying is the Endyn piece. It's pricey but I know Endyn doesn't add a lot of margin to his products, so I wouldn't mind paying the price if I had money and I didn't have a whole list of higher priorities.

[suspendedhatch]

Things I Would Really Like To Do To the Car
but I'm a poor broke-***

Soften the suspension (Eibach custom rates or revert to stock).

Quiet the exhaust by replacing the muffler.

Replace the rear engine mount with new factory 50810-SR3-030.

Get urethane shifter bushings.

Get the AEM Pencil coils so I can run regular *** NGK's instead of these screw cap Autolites.

Junk the distributor and get the AEM EPM ~ $300 and requires down time for AEM to tweak my EMS.

CNG conversion (dual fuel to allow both CNG or gasoline)
*Utah decided to use the safety inspection program to regulate CNG conversions. Only EPA and ARB approved kits from approved installers will pass. Unfortunately, no one will EVER make a kit for any car older than 5 years or so.

Get an Endyn modified oil pump.

Turbocharge it.

Get a Meziere electric water pump.

Get a black FAL radiator fan.

Get an alignment.

Get a 4th HX rim and some decent winter tires so I can put the Rotas back on my Integra.
11/18/08


Get some Bosch Ionic wipers.
12/21/08


Get an antenna delete cap 39152-SR3-A00.

Get a stainless steal braided clutch line.

Get some good, locking lug nuts.
10/2/08


Replace the bushings with new factory rubber.

Replace the carpet.

Replace the door window trims and weather seals.

Get some lower profile side mirrors. I kinda liked the knock-off spoon mirrors I had on my last hatchback, but I would find something higher quality this time around.

Reupholster the seats and door panel fabric with black and dark gray stitching. Would be nice for the Integra seats to be a perfect match of my interior.

Get a custom spare tire sub enclosure/amp rack, a square Kicker sub, a 4CH amp (Kicker or Alpine), some front components mounted in custom kick panels.

Get a quiet, straight through custom exhaust. Two Magnaflow resonators and a new Magnaflow muffler, with mandrel bends and no chrome exhaust tip. That way stupid ricers and stupid ricer-haters would leave me alone. Also, I could use the bluetooth built into my stereo (I can't hear it over the exhaust).
11/12/08

Right after driving through the snow.

It's not quiet, and I'm pretty disappointed.

Convert to R134a and charge the AC.

Get some Endyn roller wave pistons to boost compression as high as I can with 91 Octane. Also have the oil pump serviced for improved flow and get some ARP head studs and a new headgasket.

Get an EGT sensor.

Spend countless hours on a load-bearing dyno perfecting my ignition timing, fuel, and injector phasing for the light to medium load region of my calibration. Then pay someone to re-tune the heavy load portion for more power with all the new modifications I would have by then.

Have a custom manifold made with 4 bungs for individual sensors so I can tune individual cylinder trims.

Get some body work to fix all the minor scratches and dings throughout the body.

OEM cruise control swap.


Anyone have any suggestions/recommendations?

[suspendedhatch]

Oh yeah, I forgot to post up the results of my Injector Phase Tuning! This post will serve as a placeholder to remind me to do that.

Injector Phasing

"Injector Phasing" can be thought of as injector timing. Not timing as in the amount of time that it is open (pulse-width), but timing as when it opens in relation to top-dead-center. The engine may react better if the fuel is sprayed right into the intake air stream as the valve opens. It may react better if you spray the fuel early and it gets more time to evaporate. It doesn't matter, you let the engine decide. Perfecting the injector phasing reduces emissions, improves throttle response, and improves idle quality.

On a log this shows up as decreased load, increased RPM, and a richer fuel mixture. It's such a small difference that it doesn't show up in real-time. So you do a series of logs at different RPM. Each time you make your best guess (after two points have been tuned you can draw a line) as to where the best injection phasing is, back it off a bit, then begin logging. Change the injector phasing in sequence, give it time to stabilize, and then change it again. You'll notice the RPM steadily increases. Stop when it seems to peak and then begin to fall.


Red Engine Speed (starts at 1250 RPM in this example)
Green Engine Load
Pink Air/Fuel Ratio (up is leaner, down is richer)
Blue Injection Phasing

On this log you can see where the injection phasing rolls over. Load shoots up, RPMs drop, and air/fuel goes lean. Then as you continue advancing it, it begins to fall again.


Red Engine Speed (starts at 900 RPM in this example)
Green Engine Load
Pink Air/Fuel Ratio (up is leaner, down is richer)
Blue Fuel Tooth

In this log I'm tuning the fuel tooth. Fuel tooth is on what ignition tooth the injector fires (crankshaft tooth, there's 24). I admit that I really don't understand how the AEM works here and what relation Fuel Tooth has with the Injector Phasing table. So I just let the engine decide. As you can see from the log, exactly as the injection phasing does, the load steadily falls, then the air/fuel ratio goes lean by a few tenths where load is the lowest. I think this is a trap. The load drops because less fuel gets in, so the engine produces less power. So I pick the setting just before the fuel goes leaner.

The result of this tuning is that at idle load went from 23kPa to about 19. All throughout the RPM band (realistically from 500 to about 4000 RPM) load will have gone down. Above 4000 RPM the injector duty is higher so injection phasing is less important. Maybe a little bit higher on my setup since my max duty cycle is only about 70%.

I only tuned it for different RPM, but not for different loads. The 2D graph allows you to increase injection phasing with load (fuel demands increase with increased load). But w/out a load bearing dyno, it's nearly impossible to hold the engine at a steady state. You need to keep all but one parameter steady to analyze how changing that one parameter affects the engine.

If anyone wants to buy me a 60k-100k dyno, make the check out to:

suspendedHatch
1 Broke ***
Low Cash, CA 92****you

[thisisntjared]

man... i think you are underestimating what a good pcv catch can will do for you.

i thought you had one already, especially since you are coming across an occasional knock. The oil fumes have to be degrading your air fuel mixture's octane. When was the last time you looked to see how clean your intake manifold is? if there is an sludge then your a/f octane is really low. if there is even a film you are in better shape but it could be diluting it.

[suspendedhatch]

Originally Posted by thisisntjared

man... i think you are underestimating what a good pcv catch can will do for you.

i thought you had one already, especially since you are coming across an occasional knock. The oil fumes have to be degrading your air fuel mixture's octane. When was the last time you looked to see how clean your intake manifold is? if there is an sludge then your a/f octane is really low. if there is even a film you are in better shape but it could be diluting it.

I have no doubt that it will benefit me but my bank account balance tends to disagree. But there is a reason why it's on my wish list.

I have the occasional knock because I'm running relatively lean under heavy load and have the ignition timing advanced pretty aggressively. It was tuned for max power with 91 Octane (but I typically run 88) and every couple of dyno pulls I'd get a random faint knock. Then he'd let it cool down a bit, and go back to doing more pulls. When he was done he set up knock FB control. I don't mind having it tuned this way because I know better than to push it hard on low octane.

Before I installed the engine I swapped to a D16Y8 intake manifold. It's the same manifold with the exception that it doesn't have EGR. I stripped it down and cleaned it out, along with the throttle body and gasket mating surfaces. Then I installed a plastic "heat-shield" intake manifold gasket so that I could clean it again once a year.

[thisisntjared]

why dont you make your own?

[GasSavers_topher]

Suspended hatch. It's good to see you again bud!. You have many of the same wants for your car as I do down the road. Just wanted to say that it's good to see everything working out. I would chat some more but, I just got out of class and have work in 30mins.

So untill next time take care bud and check out my build thread,
http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=7019
Chris

[suspendedhatch]

Originally Posted by thisisntjared

why dont you make your own?

I've tried several homemade catch cans and they all failed. Initially they seem like they work, but if you use clear hose you'll notice it start to foul up after a week or so. And then within a few months if you pull off your intake manifold you'll find a very light coat of grease inside.

For it to work, it has to be a baffled design with some kind of filter element. Most filter elements I've seen recommended online for homemade catch cans do not actually separate liquid from air.

I refuse to vent it to the atmosphere.

I would want it to drain back into the crankcase.

On a VTEC motor, you need to increase the amount of blowby the system is capable of flowing usually by tapping a larger port into the valve cover.

Ideally it would produce vacuum not just at idle but under load as well. On an N/A this requires either an auxilliary pump or a slashcut valve in the exhaust system.


So you can see essentially that I've set the bar high and I stubbornly adhere to the "do it right or not at all" mentality.