I thought I'd post up some details on the Honda conversion CMC recently carried out for me.
I only popped in for a quick chat to meet Craig but after he showed me Robin's just about completed conversion in the workshop and quite a few further visits, emails, phone calls, coffees and biscuits I eventually settled on the spec for a Honda conversion for CMC to carry out on my car:
* Standard Honda K20 NA Engine
* Stark conversion kit
* Fidanza Aluminium Flywheel
* Stark exhaust manifold
* Stark catalytic converter
* 2bular 7" H1 repackable silencer
* ITG Induction Kit
* Hondata KPro ECU
I did my bit by supplying Craig with the necessary Honda donor bits procured from a Civic breaker in Birmingham:
Looks lovely eh? This ended up being a K20A2 engine and gearbox from a Civic EP3, simply because it was much easier to get hold of than a JDM spec package from an Integra.
Compression test was fine so we decided on a light refresh of the engine/gearbox before it would be fitted which included:
* New thermostat
* New inlet & exhaust manifold gaskets
* New cam cover & oil sump gaskets
* New spark plugs
* New diff seals
* New timing chain, tensioner and guides
* New OEM clutch
* New aux tensioner (mine was shot)
* Flush/replace Engine/Gearbox oil & filter
* Refinish the cam cover in black
* Steam clean
I planned on taking the car to TDI North for mapping on their rollers with the Hondata ECU. They are very busy, so I booked a slot with them before any conversion work had actually started.
Stark finally delivered the complete kit a bit later than originally expected and Callum got to work:
Some of the parts (including the KPro ECU!) still hadn't come so it started to look a bit tight to get the car ready for my date at TDI North, especially as I still had to get 3-500 miles of flywheel running in done beforehand.
As has been mentioned so many times by other customers; Craig and Callum worked like Trojans to get the car done on time and they delivered.
The initial conversion (still on a borrowed standard ECU and immobiliser bypass box) was done in a little over a week and then handed over to me to do the "extended test" and run in the flywheel. Lots of you will have already driven or paxed a converted car but I hadn't. I've never even been in a Civic Type R. I was totally unprepared for what it would be like.
Totally worth it.
Below VTEC it's actually quite docile. It's very civilised with very little noise off the back box. The extra torque makes relaxed driving effortless - you can trundle through town at 30mph in 5th gear. VTEC is ridiculous, there's such a change in noise from the intake that I honestly thought I'd broken it the first time and jumped straight off the throttle. Once I'd got over the shock of that the extra power up to the limiter is just epic.
There were a few teething issues with the initial conversion. The worst of which was 2nd gear not engaging almost all of the time, I ended up just skipping it altogether until I'd got my running in done over the weekend before giving it back to Craig. I was initially worried my donor gearbox was knackered but it wasn't, it was resolved with some adjustment of the selector cables and hasn't had a problem there since.
The new ECU arrived (just) in time for my slot at TDI North and I drove down there on the base map supplied. You can tell driving it (and later confirmed by TDI North) that this isn't the same map as the standard ECU. I had intended to settle the debate on whether or not the standard ECU runs lean but wasn't able to do this. I was able to confirm that it DOES run lean on the standard KPro map. For anyone intending to drive their car down, behave yourself. No VTEC, yo.
So, how did it do on the rollers?
233.9bhp at 7759rpm and 173.3lbft at 5725rpm
Dotted lines are the standard KPro "before" map, solid line is after.
Massive gains in VTEC, you can really feel the difference. The main change, as can be seen on the graph, is that VTEC changeover is no longer so aggressive. Instead, it pulls continuously. You still get the change in intake noise but not the dramatic change in power delivery at the crossover point. In a nutshell, what TDI North do is run the car up on the low cam profile then again on the high cam profile and overlay the two plots. The point where the two plots diverge is roughly the sweet spot where the VTEC crossover is moved point to. On my car this is about 4600rpm. This gets rid of the wobble present on graph of the standard map. The VTEC crossover point is also windowed so that it doesn't happen if you just wander over 4600rpm on part throttle on the motorway.
Aside from that, manners are much improved. On both the standard ECU and the standard map on the KPro the car would spit and kangaroo on light throttle/town driving when stone cold. All this misbehaviour went away following the mapping session. It does idle much higher when cold but settles down to about 800rpm once warm.
I'm VERY pleased with the result. I've got effectively double the power of the standard engine and it has absolutely transformed the car. The quality of the conversion fit and finish is very high.
There is more vibration than was present with the standard engine. It was quite a surprise the very first drive but does diminish a lot after 500 to 1000 miles. Now it's only noticeable at idle, when on the move it feels the same as standard.
The service from CMC has been fantastic, despite the pressure of the timeline. The few niggles that cropped up post conversion have been dealt with very quickly and without fuss (or bill
). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the same path to anyone.Cheers,
Simon.
