My CL9 BUILD: Carly (Pge 10 NEW RIMS WOO)

[jono_l]

- and front strut bar! I got a el-cheapo eBay one lol and it look shiny and I swear I can tell the difference when turning ( and it make engine bay look pretty)

Was it a big difference? I've always had my doubts on the effectiveness of strut bars on a double wishbone setup (especially since our strut towers are tied to the firewall by two crossmembers already), but the other part of me figures that any chassis stiffening has got to help.

[Fredoops]

The cl9's stock suspension is soft-ish, plus the 16 inch stockies the result is a feel of "lack of bite" on the front end when you take a corner (it's most noticeable, when you take a normal street corner at say 30-40kph), there's actually a feel of delayed response on the front end.

It's hard to describe but it was like:

Turn steering wheel -> car turns but you don't feel the front end 'biting' te road till a second or 2 later -> got full feel the front end again as car straightens out.

The strut bar I added definitely helped with cornering, the lower speed turnig response is quicker, and I can "feel" the front end biting the road sooner. An the car seems to be able to keep a bit more speed/momentum as it straightens out.

I think if you have both top and bottom strut bars the car will feel much sharper when turning, and you lose less speed at corners.

Other people makes car sharper by changing to harder, sportier suspension.. I'm too cheap for that, so chasis reinforcement will do :-)

[boleh]

Btw Fredoops, have you sold the CL9 yet?

[grifty]

Dont go with the lightweight crankshaft pulley, research it lighter ones are not reccomended on street cars, it messes with your engines harmonics and balance.

Honda made it heavy for a reason.

[Fredoops]

Btw Fredoops, have you sold the CL9 yet?

Nope, decide to keep it, and new ar will just be a second car.

[Fredoops]

Dont go with the lightweight crankshaft pulley, research it lighter ones are not reccomended on street cars, it messes with your engines harmonics and balance.

Honda made it heavy for a reason.

I researched and got this off acurazine.

Originally Posted by Excelerate
That is what you might want to call an elastomer. It is there to reduce NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness). Instead of re-writing this entire argument I will just post UR's response:

4) "Is my crank pulley a harmonic/torsional/vibration damper or a harmonic balancer?"
People are getting their crank pulleys confused with the harmonic dampers found on some V6 / V8 engines. "Harmonic Balancer" is a term used loosely in the automotive industry. Technically, this type of device does not exist. The "balancer" part comes from engines that are externally balanced and have a counterweight cast into the damper, hence the merging of the two terms. None of the applications we offer use a counterweight as part of the pulley, as these engines are all internally balanced.

The pulleys on most of the new import and smaller domestic engines have an elastomer (rubber ring) incorporated into the pulley that makes them look similar to a harmonic damper. The elastomer in the OEM pulley serves as an isolator, which is there to suppress natural vibration and noise from the engine itself, the A/C compressor, P/S pump, and alternator. This is what the manufacturers call NVH (Noise Vibration & Harshness) when referring to noticeable noise and vibration in the passenger compartment. It is important to note in these applications, the elastomer is inadequate in size and durability to act as an effective torsional damper. If you look at the pulleys on some imports there is no rubber to be found at all. We have samples of these, mostly from Acura/Honda, the Nissan Altima, 1.8L Eclipse, 2.3L Fords, Chrysler 2.2L's, and 1.8L VW's, to mention a few. This is not to say with our pulleys you will hear a ton of noise or feel more vibration from your engine compartment. Most owners who have installed our pulleys notice the engine actually feels smoother. This is result of replacing the heavy crank pulley with our crank pulley. NVH is variable and unique to every car. NVH will increase with the installation of an aftermarket intake and/or exhaust, for example. Think of OEM intake systems in newer cars, they use baffles and resonators in the intake to quiet all the intake noise. Aftermarket intakes eliminate these resonators and create dramatic increases in engine noise from the throttle opening and closing. So to most tuners, certain types of NVH can make the driving experience more enjoyable.

The purpose of a traditional harmonic damper is to protect against crank failure from torsional movement. This is not necessary in most modern engines because of the many advances in engine design and materials. Factors such as stroke length, displacement, inline, V configurations, piston dwell time, piston pin off-set, power output, etc., do determine when and how these harmonics and torsional movements occur.

Again, there is a lot of internet hearsay about crank pulleys. When engine problems occur, too often people are quick to blame the pulley first, rather than taking the time to look logically into why there was a problem. We hope that after reading this you will understand the crank pulleys better.

[jono_l]

The strut bar I added definitely helped with cornering, the lower speed turnig response is quicker, and I can "feel" the front end biting the road sooner. An the car seems to be able to keep a bit more speed/momentum as it straightens out.

I think if you have both top and bottom strut bars the car will feel much sharper when turning, and you lose less speed at corners.

Other people makes car sharper by changing to harder, sportier suspension.. I'm too cheap for that, so chasis reinforcement will do :-)

Thanks for the info mate. Increase in turn-in bite sounds good to me especially if the effects are evident at low speeds. My car is a daily driver and I'm a bit too old to be hooning around, so I'm not really chasing maximum cornering G's. Would rather do something that improves the driving experience in day to day use without affecting ride quality!

[Fredoops]

Thanks for the info mate. Increase in turn-in bite sounds good to me especially if the effects are evident at low speeds. My car is a daily driver and I'm a bit too old to be hooning around, so I'm not really chasing maximum cornering G's. Would rather do something that improves the driving experience in day to day use without affecting ride quality!

it doesn't negatively affect ride quality (cause you still have the same suspension), IMO it helps suspension function fully by limiting the body flex (if you know what I mean).

besides, my tower bar cost $70 odd bucks off eBay, it looks just like a Cusco one except the base is black instead of blue (which I think fits well if you happen to have a Injen CAI, since it's also got black base tubings). People spend that much on stickers on the car......

[white_ep3_civic]

well Chasis stiffening IMO is a must since the Euro is rather... "soft".
Then it's the matter of taking the weight out of the front end.

I'd personally get Progress because: A) it's adjustable B) its 22mm instead 18mm in the Whiteline C) review here says this a better design C) it's like $200 bucks shipped to your door those days THANK YOU HIGH AUSSIE DOLLAR

I found that my solid 18mm rsb made no difference at all really. Maybe this one will help.

[MingZai]

Update: Luckystar Rear and Skunk2 Exhaust should be coming in shortly

[Fredoops]

Update: Luckystar Rear and Skunk2 Exhaust should be coming in shortly

Header/Hi-flow cat soon? :-P

[MingZai]

Update: Lucystar Rear will be coming in next week but as for the Skunk2 Exhaust the seller has backed out and now I am once back in the search for this exhaust.
If I can't get an update in a weeks time in regards to the Skunk2 Exhaust, I shall be purchasing the Weapon R Header + Test pipe most likely.