Last of the VTEC Screamers - 2010 Civic Si daily funmobile

did a 700 mile round trip this past weekend to see family.  3 people and a dog, did 31mpg up and 33 back with the cruise set around 78 or so.  best part was i got to play in the mountains a bit while "running errands" and put the michelins to work.  still a bit cool up in the VA highlands so i also got to enjoy spring again!

tell me if any of you suffer this fate when leaving your mother's house on a long trip where she assumes you'll go hungry unless she throws all the food at you...its like the scene in Lampoon's Christmas where Chevy Chase is like "she wrapped her damn cat!"  here's 10 pounds of random potatoes and 3 bags of brownie mix because you know, i have so much room.   love ya mom.

turned 110k miles on the way home.

so brake warpage was really getting me salty lately so threw new rotors on everywhere. i've just been getting worse and worse pad deposits recently, and i can't "scrub" them off with a harsh re-bedding. i've noticed its worst after i wash the car, maybe my pad compound is prone to creating deposits when subjected to water and left to sit?  obviously the previous owner put the rotors on with all the set screws in place, so i had to drill those out and then proceed to beat the life out of them to free them from years of corrosion on the hubs. bleh.

you can really see the deposits here.  just couldn't get them off, turning them wasn't cheap, and i didn't have time to attack them with sandpaper or what not.

took the opportunity to put on the new SPC (now Duralast) rear adjustable uppers from a couple posts ago. need to dial in just a hair more camber to completely eliminate any rubbing under full compression and i'm looking forward to more tuning flexibility when i start to take this on track.

on the left side of the stock passenger arm Honda took the effort to put a little heat shield to protect the bushing because it sits directly above the exhaust.  so, i figured if Honda Co took the time to do that, maybe i should have a go at it. so some scrap aluminum and a dremel later and its ugly.....but it does the deed.

comparison:

been a while!  figured i'd ramble aimlessly a bit more about ownership for anyone intersted.

life changed in February, got a new job and the Si is now pressed into a 40 mile a day commute.  while i hate to do it to a car that used to be a garage queen, it does make the slog through the rolling roadblock of Augusta's most useless drivers relatively fun.  she'll turn 120k miles before the end of the year.  nothing but gas and oil honestly.

So yeah, commuting home everyone doing 80mph about 10 feet of each other's bumpers because they're all one Teams meeting away from jumping out a 3rd story window. I'm tucked in the left lane behind a super doody and it hits what looked like a box for a refrigerator, smooshed flat and then lofted straight up about 5 feet tall. Just had to swerve right as far as I could with a car next to me and punch it with my entire driver's side.....thankfully the old internet meme came through for me and it did, actually, buff right out

played in the GA mountains in March on the way home from a camping trip with the kiddo.  its so much fun up there.

got absolutely sick of the StopTech Sport Pads.  the rotor friendliness and heat range was perfect, but they had this unbelievably annoying problem of corroding/fusing with the rotors whenever they got wet and sat, and it made for the worst rotor warpage i've ever had.   i got so mad about it, i got GLoc R8's which are a very stupid street pad to run but i think my ape brain just said SCREW IT i want my pads to scrub my rotors flat every day.  they are very awesome when they're hot though, and if you don't mind them turning your wheels black in a day and sounding like a freight train.  now that i'm thinking straight again i'll likely drop them soon for some GS1 street pads.

then i installed a Hasport 60A lower mount to compliment the 60A upper mount.  i love the combo.  shifting and on/off throttle is crisp for a very minor payoff in harshness immediately off-idle, but nowhere else.  they take about a month to "wear in" and soften up a little.

a few weeks ago she got fresh fluids and a proper wax.  

also got her over to my favorite local tire shop and had them tidy up the alignment...i just guessed on the rear control arms when I installed them.  taking a little more rear camber out has returned some tail happiness.  in the front, these numbers are with a single SPC crash bolt on each side.  its about perfect for street fun.

with the PS4S's its now down to around 30mpg highway at a 78-80 cruise and i usually see 25mpg mixed, which i still think is just fine.  its due for some TLC this winter - goodies include a Hybrid Racing clutch master cylinder/slave cylinder kit, fresh OEM top-hats, and I need to get a hold of some new windshield trim, its finally starting to split from sun exposure.  

every empty on-ramp is still an invitation to give it hell and i giggle more than i probably should.

Great to hear the update! Nice to see you are alive my man! Missed ya. 

If this ever comes up for sale - ITS MINE :D

mr2s2000elise said:

Great to hear the update! Nice to see you are alive my man! Missed ya. 

 

If this ever comes up for sale - ITS MINE :D

Same!  I gotta catch up with you bud.
Of course you get dibs, wouldn't feel right if you didn't haha.

Text me sometime, we will catch up. Lots of changes all around. Best to the wife and kiddo

Great to get an update.

I forgot that I had posted in this discussion back in 2018, asking whether the 8th gen SI was still competitive in H Street. I had been looking for one more recently, but stock, unmodified ones are extremely rare, and I couldn't find one with a clean title in my budget.

With used car prices surging this spring, and my need for a reliable commuter car, in April I compromised with an R18/5 speed coupe. It wasn't my intention to use it for autocross, but I got a good deal on a 24mm Progress rear bar, single adjustable Koni sports, and Enkie rpf1 wheels from a friend who had traded his 8th gen SI for a 2019 civic hatchback sport ( which I've codriven, it's really good).

It's slow, but it's such a good chassis that it's still competitive locally in H Street.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Great to get an update.

I forgot that I had posted in this discussion back in 2018, asking whether the 8th gen SI was still competitive in H Street. I had been looking for one more recently, but stock, unmodified ones are extremely rare, and I couldn't find one with a clean title in my budget.

Good to hear you're in an 8th gen and I really like your coupe, Si or not!  its absolutely a fun chassis and you're proof you can have fun dicing cones and sipping the gas on the commute too.  nice setup - those are all the suspensions parts you need for a fun time out of the box.

i 100% understand your frustration trying to find a good one.  coupes are easier to get a hold of but regardless, almost all of them have been through 3 or 4 owners at this point and nobody buys them to drive them gently!  you really have to know somebody OR comb through classified listings like its your job to get a deal before someone else snatches them up.

 

Nice to see you updating this thread. Regarding mileage, my 2008 Si is still running strong at just under 250K and my son's 2007 is at about 190K.  Mine is still unmodified, so they are still out there, but it's not for sale...

My son put Konis and a rear bar on his this summer and autocrossed it in HS in local and regional events, and he won HS at every event and was usually top 5 or higher on the index. So they are still competitive. We thought about running it at the Solo Nats, but didn't think it would be competitive enough against the newer cars, so we ran my bone stock except tires 2020 Si in GS. Looking at the results from the Solo Nats, there was one 8th gen running in HS with two drivers and neither made the trophies. It's not clear whether it was an Sis or not, it just says Civic. There was also a two driver 2007 Si in STX that didn't do well.

Carl Heideman said:

Nice to see you updating this thread. Regarding mileage, my 2008 Si is still running strong at just under 250K and my son's 2007 is at about 190K.  Mine is still unmodified, so they are still out there, but it's not for sale...

My son put Konis and a rear bar on his this summer and autocrossed it in HS in local and regional events, and he won HS at every event and was usually top 5 or higher on the index. So they are still competitive. We thought about running it at the Solo Nats, but didn't think it would be competitive enough against the newer cars, so we ran my bone stock except tires 2020 Si in GS. Looking at the results from the Solo Nats, there was one 8th gen running in HS with two drivers and neither made the trophies. It's not clear whether it was an Sis or not, it just says Civic. There was also a two driver 2007 Si in STX that didn't do well.

thanks!  just been swamped with other stuff the last couple months.  missed the GRM boards and its nice to be back and see some familiar online voices.

love to hear yours are treating you well - i recall you were basically restoring the paint on one?  any big maintenance items you ran into at those mileages?  i just recently had my windshield side trim start to split so i need to order those now.  probably due for a coolant change over the winter as well.

love to hear your son is kicking butt in his local region especially with 190k on the clock!  tell him i said awesome job.  i think regionally they're strong contenders but would agree with your assessment that in a big pond of strong talent they are just off the pace enough that its probably not worth the trip.  a couple guys i have seen try to run at that level ("8/9th Civic Official Road Race/AutoX Group" on facespace) really have to work to be in the top standings and many seem to have moved more towards time trial stuff now.  but whatever - if you're having fun its worth whatever standing you end up with!

i'd love to autox mine for giggles but i'm in a bit of a wasteland when it comes to nearby venues...everything is too far away for a few minutes of driving.

In reply to ScottyB :

Regarding maintenance, I did the clutch in the 2008 at 210K and shocks around then. Both cars needed about $1000 worth of AC work, too. Other than that, brakes, batteries, tires, and the occasional sunvisor (which seems to be a thing on 8th gens).

I gave the blue one to my other son when he graduated from college and was commuting (we figured it would go past 350K). Someone hit it while it was parked and totaled it.

He switched to a Ridgeline, I bought it back from the insurance company (only worth $525 with 250K on it), repaired it, and did a glass-out repaint.

I don't have any pictures of the car finished on my phone but coincidentally it just showed up on the GRM Instagram yesterday as I did a story about sorting out all the minor details.

I did replace the windshield side trim and the roof rail trim after the repaint. I don't recall the pieces being that expensive and they pretty much just snap in.

a little more work i forgot to post about earlier.  

hate spending money on fiddly crap like this but in the interest of keeping water out of places, and to get rid of the super annoying "trim flapping in the wind" noises on the highway, I had to cave and buy new windshield/roof trim. All one piece so I got the biggest cardboard boxes ever.

sedan ftw!  barely had room.  now i understand why the shipping on these trim pieces is so outrageous.

the windshield trim splits and flaps like crazy.  lots of splitting and cracking elsewhere.  not bad for 13 years i guess.


as for the replacement job?  let me sum it up.

getting the trim off completely involves getting some kind of tar all over yourself and the paint because the trim...vulcanizes (?) over time.  it goes from a solid to some kind of goo as soon as you put any real pressure on it.  what a mess.  the clips themselves weren't that bad coming off....

gettin it back​​ on was awful.  the windshield clips are cake but the roof clips were a nightmare.  i literally made both my thumbs numb for 24 hours from the pressure i had to put on them to clip in.  hate to be That Guy but i might punt this to a dealer to handle if there's ever a next time.

anyway, old car ownership is great, huh?  still makes a great bike buggy and just did a coolant + gearbox oil change yesterday along with tire rotation with mileage now at ~125k.

​​​​​

I'm running a 2007 Dx in the local autocross,  and it's easily the slowest car in H Street . But with a larger rear swaybar, Si sized tires and wheels,  and Si seats it's a hoot to drive, and when I change tire pressures to 28/40 F/R, it even rotates. If there was an LSD available for the 5 speed manual,  I would add a turbo and move to another class (where I would still be uncompetitive). Did I mention it's a hoot to drive? I'm moving to 200 tread wear tires this spring from 300, so I should pick up a little time, but not enough to be competitive.

I would bet that the Si is no longer competitive especially at the national level.  The turbo cars are just eating up H Street lately. We've got a young guy bringing a 2020 (?) Civic Sport sedan with the 1.5 Turbo and it is stupid fast.

I have the same roof trim issue on my Dx, and bought the replacement trim. However it's going on the 2007 Si sedan that I'm working on and I may try just painting the trim over the roof and find a generic rubber trim profile to glue around the windshield...because racecar.

I'm looking into time trials for the Si for when I get bored with Autocross.

In reply to 78CobraII :

they are definitely a hoot with a couple tricks to help the rear rotate more.  glad you're enjoying yours!

not competitive nationally, at least not unless you've put in a ton of seat/development time.  as you said everything is owned by the Turbo DI engines.  the 1.5T in the new civic with just a tune is nearly as fast as an N/A K20 with thousands of bucks worth of bolt on's thrown at it.  but that's why we can't get any sweet high-revving stuff for the commuter class anymore...its just can't make the spec sheets look as good as the turbo boys.

wow more super exciting updates from this guy!  just kidding just boring crap to keep the car nice because i just can't bring myself to let this thing get janky.  it does the daily driver thing pretty well and we're fast approaching 130k.  zero mechanical issues, and i try to enjoy the big cam every day when possible.

sun is brutal down here.  stock headlights needed halp

not bad, just a quick once-over.  i'll need to go back this fall, rework them again, and do a proper clearcoat afterwards.  before:

after:

then, yet more factory trim that was just absolutely not having any more to do with this heat and decided to start disintigrating.  before:


after:

but all work and no performance goodies make Scott a dull boy so time to actually make the car drive better.  brake fluid (AND CLUTCH FLUID don't forget that part!) change, yuck.  holy crap guys, so friggin hot.  i was dying.  east GA air is straight up hot soup at 3PM on an August day.

last picture kinda gives it away, but threw some Koni Yellows on the back.  the STR.T's did a very good job for all these years considering i got them used, unknown mileage, for 300 bucks assembled with springs!  they held up through every kind of hard street driving including a rallycross.  can't ask much more and i hope these new Yellows last a long time.  i have them set 1 full turn from soft but they feel like they could use another half turn next time i think about it.


​​​​finally, some fun.  took the boy-o camping and got to run up and down GA 129 about 8 times, also known as Blood Mountain for anyone local.  super fun road but man does it get crowded on weekends any more.  huge, sweeping banked turns, tons of elevation, and passing lanes that whole way up the mountain.  its really worth a drive if you're in the area.

went home over GA 348.  another epic drive, wish i had a better shot.  if you can keep from getting stuck behind a mall rated SUV its just sublime.  the K20 is such a great engine...the more you push the more it gives.


and then i loaded the parts cannon.  i'm getting what sounds like an angry wheel bearing, so i'm just going to do all 4.  and i figure if i have the wheel hubs off, i might as well change out the front struts with Koni inserts, and then i still need to install that Hybrid Racing clutch master cylinder while i'm in there.....
this is all Rock Auto's fault.

truthfully, after this is all done, i think i'm ready to put the car up for sale next year.  it's been great for....6 years now (has it been that long?) but i'm at the point in life now where i've always just had FWD or AWD sport compacts with ~200hp or less, and i'm ready for RWD and probably some V8 umph.  there's also been a bit of a bell sounding in the back of my mind that if i don't make this move soon, the last and greatest chapter of the V8 era is going to pass me by and i'll get priced out just like what's happened with the cool 90's cars i can't afford anymore.  so, i'm after something that's going to crush interstate miles to and from work with power to spare, but still be playful when i go up in the hills.  it'll be very different than what i'm used to with light, tinny buzzboxes but i'm thinking about a 17-19 S550 PP1 stang or 08-12 C6 Z51.  manual of course.  we'll see things go i guess.

In reply to ScottyB :

I thought I'd make an account and chime in as I believe I'm picking up this very car from a dealership in Alabama this Tuesday.   I've been browsing this thread and looking for an FA5 and then I came across one that looked suspiciously similar at a Alabama dealership near the Georgia border.  After closer inspection it ended up being the same car.  

I'm originally from Alabama but currently living in Houston so I'll be driving the car back and hopefully taking it to its first autocross next weekend.  I'm buying it with basically the same intent as Scotty B:  A daily driveable weekend warrior.  

Anything notable with the car since the last post here?  

I'll definitely give my impressions and maybe sort of continue the thread if that's acceptable.   Up to Scotty B of course.  

In reply to activeaero :

That's rad! Welcome to the blue FA5 crew!

I wonder what ScottyB decided to replace it with?

In reply to clutchsmoke :

It's actually my second time in the blue FA5 club lol.  I had a bone stock one on RE-71r's and fell in love with how good the chassis is.  That one was unfortunately stolen. 

I'm also a former DC2 ITR owner  from back in the day and had a few other modded Honda's.  Currently drive a 2013 6MT Accord Sport which is a car that got a lot of love in review circles and is objectively a good car but here's the funny thing:  The FA5 is the same price on the used market and is better even as a commuter.  It's not only more fun but IMO it's more comfortable too due to the Si's fantastic seats.  The Civic isn't lacking for space either and still gets close to the same MPG.  After a little while with my 2013 Sport I was sort of kicking myself.  It's not remotely sporty compared to the FA5. 

TLDR:  If you're looking at older Accord Sports do yourself a favor and get an Si Sedan instead. 

Flew into Atlanta and the little Alabama dealership sent someone to come pick up.   The car seems in excellent condition and basically exactly what you would expect from this thread.  My only little hang up was that the clutch engagement seemed extra high.  I like a high engagement but it made me a little anxious so I made sure to beat on it pretty good and load up it up going uphill in 6th gear at low rpms and there wasn't a hint of slippage.  I adjusted the CMC rod in slightly just for peace of mind for the trip home though.  On the plus side the synchros are great and better than my previous FA5.  I did a loop up and down between medians on a small stretch of Alabama highway doing a 1-3 redline acceleration runs back to back to back about a half dozen times just to ensure some heat was in the transmission and the synchros never fussed about it.  

The suspension feels fantastic.  I did about 200mi through some pretty windy and harrowing Alabama backroads in order to visit a few family members and friends (I'm originally from Alabama) and it's about as perfect as you could ask for in terms of balancing sportiness and ride quality.  

I was expecting the car to have the Pilot Sport 4S's on it but when I walked up to the car I noticed it had some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s.  I was unfamiliar with the tire and let down for a split second until I saw the tread pattern and realized they are an ultra high performance summer tire class of tire.  I had RE-71R's on my previous FA5  and these Indy 500s aren't on their level in the dry but I have to say I'm still impressed.  From my memory these Indy 500s are much quieter and reading some real world reviews they appear to be pretty darn good in the wet.  

Stopping at a tiny little burger joint in small town Lineville, AL.  

activeaero said:

Flew into Atlanta and the little Alabama dealership sent someone to come pick up.   The car seems in excellent condition and basically exactly what you would expect from this thread.  My only little hang up was that the clutch engagement seemed extra high.  I like a high engagement but it made me a little anxious so I made sure to beat on it pretty good and load up it up going uphill in 6th gear at low rpms and there wasn't a hint of slippage.  I adjusted the CMC rod in slightly just for peace of mind for the trip home though.  On the plus side the synchros are great and better than my previous FA5.  I did a loop up and down between medians on a small stretch of Alabama highway doing a 1-3 redline acceleration runs back to back to back about a half dozen times just to ensure some heat was in the transmission and the synchros never fussed about it.  

The suspension feels fantastic.  I did about 200mi through some pretty windy and harrowing Alabama backroads in order to visit a few family members and friends (I'm originally from Alabama) and it's about as perfect as you could ask for in terms of balancing sportiness and ride quality.  

I was expecting the car to have the Pilot Sport 4S's on it but when I walked up to the car I noticed it had some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s.  I was unfamiliar with the tire and let down for a split second until I saw the tread pattern and realized they are an ultra high performance summer tire class of tire.  I had RE-71R's on my previous FA5  and these Indy 500s aren't on their level in the dry but I have to say I'm still impressed.  From my memory these Indy 500s are much quieter and reading some real world reviews they appear to be pretty darn good in the wet.  

 

Stopping at a tiny little burger joint in small town Lineville, AL.  

NO WAY!  A GRM'ER GOT MY CAR!

I am so insanely happy right now.  I traded the old girl in a couple weeks ago for this 2020 Camaro LT1 and finally got around to trying to update my build thread.  I loved this car so much, and it hurt to trade it in, but I was getting a nice finance deal by doing so that made the trade-in "worth" more than it was on paper.  I had literally spent an hour typing up a for-sale post just for this forum, and slept on it for a week, I was so torn about how best to send the car off.  My wife and son even went out to the car the night before I left early to go to the dealer and said "bye" to it, they loved it too.

Activeaero, you bought it from Buster Miles right over the GA/AL border, yes?  here's a pic from the day I dropped it off.  I'm glad you got it, my sales rep was saying he was thinking of buying it.

It's entirely up to you, but I still have a massive Excel spreadsheet with all the serivce info I can send you, along with a huge pile of aftermarket parts I never got around to installing - strictly due to lack of time.  I would be happy to ship them to you for a fraction of the retail cost I paid.

The clutch does engage slightly high but its been that way forever.  I just bled the clutch a few months ago when I did the brakes, and I've also adjusted the CMC a couple times to get it where I thought it was "just right".  Redline MTL is currently in the trans and I think that contributes to the easy shifting.

I did wear through the PS4S's in about 20k miles, due to a bit too much camber and toe in the rear which was fixed with a good performance alignment about a year ago.  The Firestone's aren't on the PS4S level as you can imagine but one thing I think actually improved was the turn-in, those sidewalls are stiff.  Ironically I kind of like less grip for daily playfulness, but its still enough in the dry that it will really pin you on the bolsters in a good off-ramp.

The only "con" I've noted about the car is that the gears are a bit "grumbly" for lack of a better description, in gears 1-3 on decel.  Its been that way since I bought it 7 years ago.  I don't know what's actually causing it other than harmonics, or maybe tired pressure plate springs.  I figured if it was an issue it would have failed by now.

It never leaks a drop.  I strongly recommend running Mobil1 0W-40, the engine loves it and has never, ever been run low on it, I typically topped the oil off every week or fill-up, whichever came first.

You got a free USB flash drive in the console too, haha.  Hope my music choice wasn't too cringey.

please feel free to email me at scottkbradford@gmail.com if you do wish to reach out, and I'd be happy to talk your ear off about the car.

Awesome man glad to hear from you and the little pre sale story.  I love the car and hope to take real good care of it.  I'll definitely email you.  And yes I got it from Buster Miles.  They were excellent to deal with BTW.  

I have a pretty amusing story about your USB music drive.  I brought my aux cable for my phone (Pixel which still has a headphone jack) and naturally plugged it in for the long drive back to Houston.  The selection for the aux port and the USB drive all go off the "AUX" button apparently as you just cycle through them.  I didn't realize that and just told my phone to "play some music".   The volume was turned all the way down which took me a second to realize but when I turned it up it sounded like music I would listen to on my playlist.  Anyway I'm cruising for while and skipping songs here and there on the steering wheel controls and suddenly realize that I shouldn't be able to use the steering wheel track skip buttons since I'm only running off the aux jack.  I finally realize that the song playing on my phone isn't the song I'm hearing.  I was thrown for a loop for a few minutes trying to figure out where the music was coming from and finally stumbled across your thumb drive lol.  

Really cool to see what happened to this car. I had lost track of the thread soon after posting about buying my r18 coupe, which was a couple of years ago now.

I'm still daily driving mine, plus using it as an alternative autocross car, plus running it in track sprints (my miata doesn't have a roll bar).

Raw timed the B Street class in December.

activeaero said:

Awesome man glad to hear from you and the little pre sale story.  I love the car and hope to take real good care of it.  I'll definitely email you.  And yes I got it from Buster Miles.  They were excellent to deal with BTW.  

 

I have a pretty amusing story about your USB music drive.  I brought my aux cable for my phone (Pixel which still has a headphone jack) and naturally plugged it in for the long drive back to Houston.  The selection for the aux port and the USB drive all go off the "AUX" button apparently as you just cycle through them.  I didn't realize that and just told my phone to "play some music".   The volume was turned all the way down which took me a second to realize but when I turned it up it sounded like music I would listen to on my playlist.  Anyway I'm cruising for while and skipping songs here and there on the steering wheel controls and suddenly realize that I shouldn't be able to use the steering wheel track skip buttons since I'm only running off the aux jack.  I finally realize that the song playing on my phone isn't the song I'm hearing.  I was thrown for a loop for a few minutes trying to figure out where the music was coming from and finally stumbled across your thumb drive lol.  

 

 

Ha, that's hilarious.  I would have done the same thing.  Please do reach out if you get the chance.

Again, super pumped to hear its done well for you and you're enjoying it.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm still daily driving mine, plus using it as an alternative autocross car, plus running it in track sprints (my miata doesn't have a roll bar).

thanks for sharing those pics, i love to see 8th gens doing their thing and even better when its an R18 beating up on the field!  you're a brave man sending that thing so hard it looks like its about to de-bead the front tire....awesome. 

sorry to be a bit self serving here with the cross-post, but I've got some civic goodies for sale that never made it onto the car before I sold it.  If you want to pick them up in E. GA I'd definitely work out a better deal for ya.