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| In 1997 the USDM ITR made its debut. Unfortunately, I didn't have the money to buy one. In 1998 I was in the new car market, but all 1998 ITRs had already been sold out, the ITR was discontinued for 1999 (I thought for good), and the Civic Si was just a rumor. I decided on a 1998 Civic EX. After a few bolt-ons I was pretty happy with it and enjoyed it. This was not going to last. In 1999, I saw a spy photo of the new 2000 ITR, the next day I went to the Acura dealership and put down a $500 deposit on a Flamenco Black Pearl ITR (my dream car at the time). I bought the car back in 1999 as a 29th B-day present to myself. After working up to 80 hours per week for a few years, I thought I deserved it. Initially, I had no intention of boosting the car. Of course I couldn't leave good enough alone.. After getting used to 195 flywheel horsepower of the stock car, I knew I needed something more. At first, I was going to install a Jackson Racing supercharger, but considering the high compression ratio (10.6:1), and the tendency of roots-type superchargers to heat the intake charge air, I decided to go with a more efficient intercooled turbo setup instead. I ordered a RevHard turbo kit...to make a long story short, three years later, on February 21st, 2004, the car dynoed at 295whp@8500/188wtq@8000 thanks to my mechanical setup and Tom Payn's tuning skills at Payn Technologies . | ||
Engine / Induction System
Ignition
Transmission / Clutch
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Fuel system
Exhaust System
Instruments / Interior
Suspension / Wheel Assembly
Dyno / 1/4 mile times
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Project History First of all, I want to say that I'm not one of those types that has someone else work on their car. From day one I've turned all the wrenches on this car, in fact, I won't let anyone touch it. The turbo kit was definitely not just a bolt-on affair.. I planned ahead by purchasing the Moroso oil pan, which has the turbo oil return bung already welded onto it, as well as another bung for an oil temp sender. Another unplanned roadblock was that unfortunately somehow the downpipe was missing from the kit, and after waiting for a month I finally gave up on getting the downpipe from RevHard, Myles Bautista (owner of RevHard) was very busy racing during that time, so he never answered the phone and was basically never there to address customer service issues. I was a machine builder at the time, so I had access to welding equipment and was buds with the welder at the shop. So I designed my own downpipe, bought the materials from Kinsler Fuel Injection (in Troy, MI) and began to cut and dry fit the design. I made the flange out of 3/8" thick 1018CR mild steel, and had it tig welded to the pipe with stainless alloy welding rod (believe me strength will never be an issue). I also had two 18mm threaded bungs welded onto the downpipe, one for the stock oxygen sensor, and one for the wide-band used for tuning. I designed for the pipe to clear the a/c compressor, which was a challenge because I wanted to keep the 3" mandrel bends. I also wanted the external wastegate to recirculate back into the main exhaust system for emissions compliance...cough...More about me Evolution of this project 1999 I ordered the car in the fall of 1999 (without telling my now wife...uhh mistake..). After about 3 months of waiting, the car finally came in...it was very exciting, and I loved the car for a while...my intent was to use the car as my daily driver , after even a sprinkle of snow, the car was all over the road, and I didn't exactly trust the anti-lock brake system, so I immediately bought a winter beater and parked the ITR in the garage. 2000 I drove the car n/a for all of this year, in the fall I ordered the turbo kit after getting spanked by a late 80's Z28. My wife and I were married in September, and spent our honeymoon on the sunny beaches of Jamaica. Sadly, as I sat there on the beach, my thoughts were on turbocharging the teg..and on my new bride. The kit came in late December, I spent the winter paying for it, and installing it. 2001 The biggest challenge with getting the car on the road was designing and fabricating a downpipe and a flex joint for the exhaust. The downpipe that was supposed to come with the kit was missing, so after a month of waiting, I gave up and decided to make my own. At first I ran the wastegate discharge vented to atmosphere, but after getting tired of the raspy sound and of inhaling raw hydrocarbons, I decided to route the discharge back into the main downpipe. The car ran relatively well, I spent all of 2001 just boosting around, and enjoying the car. 2002 I decided to take the car to the dragstrip and was able to pull 13.8s at 109mph on the factory stock Bridgestone tires. It was a bit disappointing, I thought the car had more than that in her. The car had ridiculous wheel hop, wheel spin and the stock clutch was slipping under boost. This is when I mapped out my next course of action. 2003 Over the winter, I installed 440cc injectors, a VAFC fuel controller, Z10 radius arm bars, a CM stage 3 clutch and got some drag radials. I was ready... In April I went to the strip and pulled a 12.7 at 114mph, and a bunch of 12.8s and 12.9s to back it up, the car was a beast....the weather was about 50 degrees F. As soon as the weather warmed up, the car ran really rich, and my subsequent trips to the drag strip only netted mid 13s, again very disappointing. I was unable to tune the 440s with the VAFC and get any consistency. I knew my fuel setup was inadequate and terribly untuned. I was about to graduate from College (finally at the age of 33), and decided that a Standalone engine management system would make a great graduation gift to myself (my wife disagreed..). In December of this year, upon graduation, I bought the Hondata system and installed it, by now it was winter and the car was in storage, so I would wait until 04 to get it tuned. 2004 In February, it was time for tuning. I made an appointment with Tom Payn for dyno tuning. Tom tickled the keys to the tune of 295whp. I was hoping to hit the 3's, but this was on a Mustang Dyno, which has been known to read up to 10% less than your run of the mill Dynojet, so I was pretty content with the numbers, considering I was only running ~10 Psig of boost on 100% stock internals. I also decided to install some urethane engine mounts to keep the drivetrain from moving too much... In April, I went to the strip and pulled a best of 12.6 at 112mph. I was kind of thinking I would hit a little lower times, but my drag radials are now all but spent, so my 60 foot times suffered about 2 to 3 tenths. Out of 13 runs that day, 10 of them were in the 12s, which made me very happy. This is the consistency I've been waiting for. I will be doing one more session at the dragstrip this year, and then I will focus on preparing for my baby which will be due in July. 2005 My plans for 2005 include a trans rebuild; I'm getting some transmission issues (bad synchros), so I'll take care of that over the winter. I also plan on some slicks and axles for the 2005 season..we'll see 2005 update: 12-14-04Well my son is now 4 months old and doing well, he has really been the center of my thoughts (and my time) for a while, so the car is now in storage until spring. I'm a few weeks from making a decision on what to do with the transmission, I'm currently considering a 'stock' rebuild by GearSpeed with carbon-coated synchros, or I may just rebuild the trans myself. I'm also contemplating on purchasing two more Kosei-K1s and having the whole set powdercoated black. It's winter here in Michigan and I'll have plenty of time to decide what to do before the weather breaks.. - Jan Niemi 2005 update: 1-11-05 It's hard to believe I have owned the ITR for over 5 years now, I just made the last payment! On the trans issue, I've been looking at a new unit on ebay, an Acura dealer sells one about every 3 weeks, I've noticed. For $1669, it's not a bad price considering the GearSpeed rebuild would run me $1650...hmmm. I'm getting anxious about doing something with the car, I'll have to wait until I get my tax return check for that... 2005 update: 2-22-05 The new transmission came in last Wednesday, got a great deal from Curry Acura in New York ($1669 + $45 shipping). I'm looking forward to installing it in the next month, or so once the weather eases up a bit. My son Bronson is doing great, he's almost 7 months old now. 2005 update: spring/summer I installed the new transmission, and boy is it nice to shift the car, feels like it did when I first bought it. I've come to the realization that as fun as drag racing is, it's tough on transmissions, so I'm not going to drag race with my new trans. I replaced the axles this spring, the stock right axle became worn and started vibrating. I found a high quality replacement axle set that I'm happy with. I also installed some Samco radiator hoses, they look nice. 2005 update: 7-08-05 Well, I think the time has come to let the ITR go to a new owner. With a family now, the car is not very practical for me anymore, I'm looking at possibly getting into a more family oriented forced induction vehicle. I'm considering a Mitsubishi, Subaru, Buick, or Saab. I need to research it some more. Hopefully I'll find a buyer that will enjoy this car as much as I have. Bronson is now 11 months, and almost walking, lots of baby-babble. 2005 update: 9-07-05 After hearing some low-ball offers, and realizing how much I enjoy this car, I've decided to keep it. My plans for this winter include forged rods, forged pistons, bigger injectors, and more boost. 2005 update: 11-8-05 The car is now parked for the winter. I haven't pulled the motor yet, I'm waiting to get some free time. I'm in the process of researching pistons and rods. I'm partial to Crower rods, and perhaps JE pistons. The plan is to stay with the stock sleeves with a .5mm overbore to clean and straighten the bores out. I'll ofcourse be upgrading the injectors to probably something in the 700 to 1000cc range. I'm hoping to have some time to pull the engine very soon. My son is now 15 months and very close to talking coherently, right now it's still pretty much baby babble. 2006 update: 1-25-06 Ok, some major things have happened. I bought a 95 GSR short block with about 100K miles for a great price, the package included Eagle forged rods (with ARP hardware). I wasn't really in the market for Eagle rods, but it was a package and the price was definitely right. I also bought some CP 9:1 forged pistons and had the domes ceramic coated, and the skirts were dry film lubricant coated. I had the block honed .5mm over. I also bought some ARP head studs. Right now I'm trying to save some funds to pay for the rest of the project, it's not easy. My wife and I have another child on the way. Daddy needs to get the project rolling before this one comes into the world. - Jan Niemi |
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Media 12.7 run (2MB) right click save as dyno pull 2 (1MB) right click save as take off (480KB) right click save as 3" Thermal idling (1.34MB) right click save as Slow-ass 13.2 run(865KB) right click save as dyno pull 3(1.2MB) right click save as dyno pull 1(627KB) right click save as | ||
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My favorite places to visit on the web FFDET.COM - Detroit's first and only all-forced induction car club XCEEDSPEED.COM - Michigan's sport compact community Honda-tech.com - Honda fanatics from around the world gather here Mullets Galore - Spend hours making fun of mullet-heads | ||
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