[KRZY]

So, a few parts have been trickling in to keep the project moving. I actually got the Spoon sway bar installed already and it crazy how large it is in comparison to stock. I will post picks of it installed soon. I also had time to work on some of the cosmetic issues on the motor and transmission. There appeared to be a small leak around the perimeter of the transmission case. In order to fix this I needed to separate the case and use Honda Bond to seal the case again. This turned out to be a huge pain. While this was being taken apart, I took the time to change out the shifter mechanism return spring to the MTEC race springs. This was pretty simple compared to separating the case. I finally got everything sealed back up after a few late nights.

Meanwhile, I received parts from Acura, which is mostly small hardware or hoses because the old ones were pretty grubby. I will follow up with photos of these once installed. I also received the throttle body I will be using, which is the 2011 ZDX TB. My engine did not come with a drive by wire throttle body so it gave me the opportunity to upgrade to the largest OEM option.

I should get some more work done in the next few days so I should have more progress. A lot of parts are still on backorder but I still have plenty of work with minor change to the chassis and always more cleanup n the engine and trans.

Spoon Front Sway Bar courtesy of Kamispeed


Bunch of Parts from Acura


MTEC shifter mechanism race springs versus stock


JDM K20a Transmission Gearset

 

[KRZY]

Backordered parts from Hybrid Racing came in, which includes the RSX shifter, RSX shifter cables and fuel rail.


I also received a Ktuned ZDX to RBC throttle body adapter, clutch slave cylinder without the clutch delay port, and Vibrant HD clamp.



A closer look at the throttle body adapter. It is pretty nice in that it gives you two potential vacuum ports, a tucked MAP sensor location, and a sleeve that matches the stock RBC intake manifold to make a smooth transition without port matching.


Trimming the RBC for a cleaner look, which is pretty satufying when you are all done but not exactly a good time with the grinder.



Of course, I could not wait on assembly of the parts. I decided to do a wrinkle black finish on the RBC and upper coolant passage. I went back and forth a lot on if I wanted raw finish or painted but finally settled on the wrinkle and I do not think that it turned out too bad. I also went back and forth on whether or not to paint the motor and trans but I am the type of person that would spend way too much time and money on hardware due to corroded or slightly discolored parts to head down that path right now. The motor will likely be pulled later in the year so maybe I will change my mind at that time.






The hybrid racing fuel rail allows for center feed tucked fuel line connection, which is what I will be using for feed. Upon first inspection the shifter will need custom mounting due to the holes being nowhere near close to working, which is not a huge surprise but had my hopes. I am trying to get a lot done in the next couple weeks in order to take the car to a shop for a header and exhaust system to be fabricated. I am eager for this season and want a running car when it comes.

 

[KRZY]

So it has been a while since I have had time to post any updates on here but I have been working to keep things moving. The item that took me a while to get close to finished is getting rid of the grey in the interior as much as possible without spending tons of money as I will be changing this in the fall anyway.

So I started pulling out basically the whole interior to begin work. Sorry for the cruddy cell phone picture.


I also wanted to cover as much up the fake chrome and as much grey/silver as possible cause it drives me nuts to have a two tone interior. I began with the steering wheel.






Door panels before the work started.


Getting prepped for vinyl paint.


Rear sway bar


HKS Coilovers


Suspension is installed


Hybrid Racing Shifter Cables


Hybrid Racing Shifter and part of the interior back in the car

And let the wiring begin....Rustbucket is helping me out on this for the swap wiring. I will also be figuring out the interaction of my transmission sensors with the harness along the way.

I should have my Rywire/CSF tucked radiator today and will begin planning out my plumbing. I also have to plumb my Vibrant catch can and Chase Bays coolant overflow. I will get some pictures of the interior posted once it is all back together.

 

[Defiant]

You guys and your picture shows sure do save me a lot of money and dirty fingernails. Great progress, looking good.

 

[Rustbucket]

Hell yeah, Jon! Gettin' after it.

 

[litz]

+1 on attacking that interior with the upgrade wrap & paint. Looks great!

 

[Fediej]

The time and effort put in is not unnoticed.

 

[KRZY]

Thanks for the positive feedback! I started to mock up the mounting brackets for my tucked radiator and honestly the most logical mounting is where Rustbucket places his so I will roughly be following suit except for the nice dimple die work. I will post pictures soon on this mounting.

 

[KRZY]

Sorry for not posting much more frequently to keep you guys updated but I put in a bout 60-70 hours of work into the car last week to get it down to an appointment to get the header and exhaust work done. It was a very tiring week due to lack of sleep and running into issues throughout the process, which is to be expected.

First off, I received some wheels for the car, which will be more of a driving around town wheel that I do not have to worry about too much. I will likely color change these and match to my valve cover when the time comes to wrap things up. Let's see if anyone knows what wheels these are from the teaser (Hint: they are Mugen wheels :wink2



I went back and forth on getting the Defi ZD like Rustbucket had, an AIM Strada, or the Defi DSDF. I decided on the Defi DSDF and ordered from Japan through Nengun Performance. It took roughly 1.5 months to get the dash but I am pretty stoked on this dash.

So, I finished wiring and mounting the digital dash setup. I really wanted to mount this where the stock cluster is but I do not want to remove/block the stock cluster until it is running and driving for a bit. The bracket that comes with the Defi DSDF can only be used as a sort of flush mount into a metal or poly panel, which was not useful for my mounting needs at the moment. I originally was going to use an L bracket to mount it on top of the upper pocket on the dash but that would look weird and also put holes into the pocket lid. Instead I removed the lid and made brackets to hold it in the pocket and painted the brackets wrinkle black. I used the two existing holes for the pocket lid swivel arms to route the wiring through. It does not look too bad for now.







I began mocking up for AN lines for the catch can (-10AN), tucked radiator (-16AN), and brake booster (-8AN). The fuel line was already complete (-6AN). I also needed to mount my coolant overflow and run hose. This engine bay get very small quickly when you begin adding ancillary cans and lines, which makes for tough layout in order to make things look tidy.



Upper K-Tuned Coolant Passage



Vibrant Catch Can



Chase Bays Coolant Overflow in first location prior to moving to under wiper cowl.



AN Lines (my catch can placement will likely move later as I am not happy with the way the lines sit in the bay)



Out in sunlight and dirty



And off to the shop for header exhaust and possibly first start. I ran into an issue when taking it to Honda to program keys, which was that they could not communicate at all with the car through the OBD2 port :crying:. This can be for many reason that I did not have time to check prior to carting it to the other shop. I will have to look into reasons for this when I get the car back. I know the ECU is getting power because the check engine light was on. It could be a bad sensor or a short. Also, the immobilizer light was not blinking as if the keys were recognized, which was odd but we will see.



I may get more pictures up in the near future but I spent a lot of time working and not much on documentation.

 

[Rustbucket]

That display is gonna be so good once you've got it mounted how you want - glad you went through with that!

As for the communication issues - did you jump a yellow wire (either number 9 or 12 from memory on Plug A) to the solid orange wire on your OBD2 port? It's the low speed CAN WEN, write enable. It'll be labeled as such on the PDF you've got. I had upload errors from my FlashPro until I ran a new wire between those two pins. Apparently a similar issue exists when people swap Fit's.

 

[KRZY]

I did not run that wire because from the documentation I saw it looked like that wire was only needed for the Second Gen CRZs. I ran a wire that is not terminated in case I need to connect it but it currently is not terminated.

 

[KRZY]

Been awhile since I have logged onto the forum but not much has been happening with the car. I took it to the shop for a header and exhaust to be built from scratch. There have been some delays due to some track cars they had to finish fabrication on before my car and they had a dyno tune backlog. They should have all the parts at the shop now and should have begun fab work late last week. Once they are done (hopefully in a week or two), then I will get it back to fix the communication issue. Then I need to trailer it back to that shop to have it tuned. So hopefully not much longer before it is stretching its legs.

 

[KRZY]

Alright, been a long while since I have posted but I have just been waiting for the car to return. I finally went and picked up my car from King Motorsports and am pretty pleased with the outcome of the header and exhaust. We ran into a few things that didn’t work out as I wanted to just due to space constraints. As a result I’ll be selling my HPD rear diffuser and probably my unused JDP spoiler so hit me up if you are interested. I will post a sale thread as well.

I am taking the car to Honda today to get keys programmed and then hopefully a first start up this weekend. I found out the communication error was due to incorrect wiring on my VSS sensor, which the ecu saw as a short. This has been fixed and hopefully reads somewhat correct.

I will post up more progress pics soon!

 

[KRZY]

Looking forward to driving more this year...

So, I have not updated this build thread in a long time. Since the last post I did get the keys programmed properly and everything was linked to the bad VSS wiring. I got to drive the car a few time before winter hit and got a few pictures in before the season ended as well. Over the winter months, I have cleaned the engine and transmission a little more (still decided not to paint them), replaced almost all seals on the engine and transmission due to a couple small leaks from the seals drying out in storage, installed a brake booster elimination kit from Chase Bays, deleted ABS, and installed Verus hood vents (designed for a 2015+ WRX). I have a few things to do yet like install a higher capacity baffled Moroso oil pan, oil temp and pressure sensors to interface with my digital dash, bleed the brake system and cooling system, and have some spacers coming in to help with rear wheel fitment. I am set to have the car at Wekfest Chicago on May 19th so enerything should be done by then. I will update a little more as the season progresses. Enjoy some pictures!

 

[Fediej]

LOVE the hood vents!

 

[litz]

Paint on the wheels and valve cover looks great--and even ties in with the fog lights. :grin2:
Skimming through the older pic, I saw you had the dash board completely removed. Looks like a major task, but makes wiring a lot simpler....

 

[KRZY]

Yea, the wheels and valve cover turned out well. I based the color on the old Mugen/Castrol NSC that used the forged version of these wheels. The dash came out mainly to color change it, which eventually turned into flocking it. Wiring was a bit easier that way for sure.

 

[litz]

Ahhhhh...I missed the flocking--thought you might have painted it, but pics don't bring it out as much as seeing it, I bet. (but the pics make you want to touch it, haha!)

 

[KRZY]

I think I missed documenting the flocking stage here and I did not take many pictures of the very messy process but here is one photo that shows a little more of the texture.

 

[KRZY]

I forgot to also share the tuning results...225 whp 166 ft lbs on 93 Octane