My car started out as a one owner bone stock 93 brilliant black base model with the tan leather option. I purchased the car in 1997 and it remained bone stock until 1999 when the starter ring separated from the flywheel and I found that a lightweight aluminum flywheel was cheaper then replacing the stock one.
Around the same time I got into autocrossing with the
SCCA. As luck would have it, the lightweight flywheel kicked me out of stock class and they put me in ASP. I ran my first 6 events on street tires and thoroughly got my ass kicked in my basically stock car. Like all new people to autocross, I was sure the car was the problem and not my driving so I began the upgrade path to get the car fully prepared to ASP rules. It took me about 6 months and a fair amount of cash to make the transition to a fully prepped car. Of course that was when I learned that my performance problem might just be the driver
. Here is a break down of the mods the car went through back then:
Koni Sports converted to Coil over’s and double adjustable by TriPoint engineering.
580# front, 340# rear springs
Tripoint Engineering Front Adjustable Speedway sway bar
Tripoint Engineering sway bar reinforcements w/ bronze bushings
Racingbeat adjustable rear bar
CCW classic 17x10 7.5” backspace 3 piece wheels
Unobtainium 6/6 nylon bushing kit
M2 Carbon fiber air box
Jacobs Rotary Pack ignition amplifier
RP dual post coil
Custom stock mount intercooler w/duct
M2 Stainless downpipe
M2 Stainless midpipe
Pettit Stainless Catback
Greddy Elbow
Odyssey PC680 battery
Corbeau Clubman race seat
Pettit column mount boost gauge
SR Motorsports underdrive pulley kit
R1 Wing
R1 front spoiler
R1 dual oil coolers
Picture from that time frame:
In 2005 they change the rules for the class and I added a few more things, some of which I already owned for years but couldn’t use because of the rules:
Apexi PowerFC
Datalogit
Greddy Profec B
Picture from 2006
My current build up is moving the car from ASP to SM2, which is pretty much wide open as far as rules go. I’ve always wanted the 99 front bumper on the car, which I couldn’t do under the Street Prepared rules so it pushed me to move classes.
Engine build
My goal with the engine build up is to achieve maximum low end torque. In as such I have stayed away from changing the timing of the ports. I’ve spent hours talking to other builders about porting and all that I talked to agree that street and race ports move the power band higher up the RPM range. So my goal was to increase flow without changing timing. Rob at Pineapple racing was the most helpful in me determining the best way to accomplish my goal. Most of my port work involved cleaning up the trash left behind by the casting process and machining of the ports. Hours were spent working on the bowl shape and maximizing the air flow through the runners. Overall I’m confident this is the right path, but only the dyno will tell if I have accomplished my goal.
Secondary Port:
Primary port: The white dust spots are left over from the grinding grease I use during porting. It will wipe right off.
Gasket matched intake runners:
If you look closely at the porting, you will see some areas are polished and some areas left ruff. I believe that you should polish before fuel delivery and leave it some what textured after. The reason behind this is to keep the fuel atomized as much as possible when it is delivered to the combustion chamber.
A good example is the last picture with the gasket in place. Notice how much brighter the primary intake runners (middle) look in the picture compared to the secondary runners (outside). The reason is fuel is delivered to the secondary runners from the lower intake manifold so they have not been polished. The primary runners are polished right up to where the fuel is delivered inside the intermediate housing.
I’m not talking a huge difference between them, just enough to keep the gas from sheeting down the side and entering the housing in drips.
I’m also using 9.7:1 compression rotors and an RX8 eccentric shaft. I picked the 9.7 rotors because of the extra grunt they will give me down low and the fact that they weigh the same as the stock 9.0:1 rotors. The RX8 eccentric shaft is a direct replacement for the 13B-REW but weighs .4 lbs less. I should note that the RX8 shaft’s journal diameter is .0003 less than a stock 13b-rew eccentric shaft. For me this is not a problem as I wanted the extra bearing clearance for running the engine past 8k rpm.
I sent the whole rotating assembly off to
Racing Beat to have balanced, I want to use CLR but Carlos was swapped with work and I couldn’t live with the turnaround time. Just for your information all 13B-REW counter weights do not weigh the same. Every one of them are balanced at the factory to the actual assembly they are in, so if you have to change out any of your original rotating parts for any reason, you should have them rebalanced. In my case this time I had to buy new front and rear counter weights as both were to light to balance out correctly with the “D” weight rotors I sent.
Balanced rotating assembly:
Close up of balancing holes
Exhaust, Upper intake and Lower intake manifold after ceramic coating.
One of the weak points with the stock intake is the unequal runners of the lower intake manifold and the turbulence caused by the emissions components on both the lower and upper intake manifolds. Because of this I choose to use the
Xcessive Manufacturing lower intake manifold and a JDM upper intake manifold. I consider using a 13B-RE upper intake manifold as they are reported to increase torque but I decided not to at this time because of the extra fabrication required. The Xcessive LIM is a work of art; the intake runners are of equal length and it doesn’t have any of the stock LIM oddities. The wall thickness is also an improvement and will allow for some very generous porting. Note that the stock LIM is the cause of the front rotor being lean at idle and the rear being lean under boost. It is the most likely reason most FD’s blow the rear Apex seals even when the air fuels look safe.
Shot of the irons, housings and assembled rotors sitting on the bench:
Front rotor and housing installed, putting a thin layer of Hylomar on the rotor housing:
Rear rotor and housing installed, again laying a thin layer of Hylomar on the housing (almost caught Brians face in this shot
:
Almost complete short block:
Brian (aka Wilson) setting the torque on the engine studs:
Test fitting the Turbo with the XS LIM, had to modify the oil and water supply lines to clear the side of the LIM:
Porting the head:
Build completed:
Sneak peek at the airpump deletion pulley I'm fabricating:
Engine in car:
Fitting intercooler piping:
Install almost complete:
93 BB base FD build-up
Linear Mode
