So, some months have passed and recently I have done some changes and fixes to my Civic hatch. After driving it for a while I felt like the turbo I had was a bit too large for the application, with the power coming on really late in the power band. I opted for a Bullseye Power t3/t04e 50 trim with a .55a/r turbine to replace my MasterPower turbo. This turbo spools a good bit sooner and faster as well. I have not driven it that hard being that my tune is off now but I was able to get a good idea of how it performs. My old Greddy bov also blew it’s diaphram and was leaking bad at the mounting flange, so I decided to upgrade and replace that with a new Tial Q bov. A new catch can was also installed recently. Finally, my boost solenoid is also about to get installed so I’ll have boost control. Plan is to get more tuning on high boost settings in 2 weeks. Stay tuned!

Justin Car

Check it out, a couple new flying videos with my Supercub electric R/C airplane!

Justin R/C Airplanes

My Civic hatchback is back on the road, after a fresh tune on e85 and ~7psi of boost. It made really good power, 215whp/175ft.lb. torque, but it does not come on until real late in the rpm range. Looks like the turbo is a little too big for the setup. But, I am going to wait and see how it looks on higher boost settings. If it doesn’t turn out the way I like I will probably change to a different turbo and get re-tuned. Overall though I am enjoying the car, it still has some minor issues that need to be fixed but I at least have it back on the road.

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

Turbo installation is underway, but not before I had to deal with some other problems. I had to start the weekend (last week) by dropping the transmission to replace the main seal that was leaking. What a pain, twice now I have pulled and re-installed a transmission by myself, without proper tools or lifts/jacks. DUMB! Anyways, to the turbo install, I got the fuel system done. New in-tank Walbro pump and some RC1000cc injectors, along with a new liquid filled fuel pressure gauge. After that I got to installing the manifold, wastegate, and downpipe. Here I ran into some more issues related to fitment with the wastegate and downpipe. I’m working on getting those fixed up so for the mean time here are a few pics of the progress so far.

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

Well, just received the last parts I need before doing the turbo installation on my car. I’ve got almost 800 miles on it right now and will be hitting up the dyno to get some baseline power numbers this week. I was going to run it at Bandimere on the 1/4 mile but track is closed this week due to the Mile High Nationals, oh well. I may start the turbo installation this weekend, or maybe start it the weekend after. Have to see how things go as my fresh new manifold and downpipe are at the shop for some ceramic coating. Here’s a few pics:

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

Well, the hatch is finally back on the road. But, not after a laundry list of problems that cropped up. I had my local shop fix up a few of the issues but had to tow it home after I was out of money and couldn’t afford to have them fix the other things. I’ve got most everything else fixed up and the car is finally running good and on the road. Only thing I need to fix is the upper timing belt cover, which is still rubbing a bit on the Tbelt (currently running no upper cover). I got the break-in process started and so far 160 miles on the new engine, it runs good and strong! I’ll be spending the next couple weeks getting it broken in and hope to make a trip down the 1/4 mile before I get the turbo on (for a baseline run). Not too many new pictures but some of the exterior, I’ll include a few from a stop at the race event held at Bandimere Speedway this past weekend (the replacement for the cancelled Nopi event).

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

So work has finally started again on Erik’s Civic. Custom bumper support brackets have been fabbed and welded into place. Trying to drill the holes into the sheet metal was especially difficult. My best guess is that the metal became somewhat heat treated/tempered after doing some welding but I broke about 4 different bits while trying to drill through it. Also my Paintscratch.com order came in so the front bumper was cleaned, prepped, painted, and clearcoated. I should be getting to the fenders next and then finally mounting some painted panels. Also coming up in the very near future will be an install on my new Aerocatch hood latches.

Justin Car

Well, finally the new engine is all in and wired up. Fluids have been added and everything looks good, until I try to start the car Ran into multiple problems right off the bat. My fuel filter was leaking, so I had to replace that, and I still have a very very small leak on my fuel feed line that I made from SS fuel line and Earls fittings. I will get to that later as it only leaks sometimes. Next problem was my starter was not cranking the engine. The problem was my chassis/engine grounds were not good, I had to wire wheel off some paint at the grounding points to get a good ground connection. Once I did that the starter worked and turned over the car. I thought I was home free at that point…nope. I had, and still have, a problem with all the spark plugs not sparking. I am only getting spark on my #4 spark plug for some reason. That is where I sit at this point, I will take another stab at it tomorrow and hopefully have a running engine soon. A few pictures of the finished engine bay, oh and the new 2000 model Civic front end I had painted.

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

Well, the engine bay has been re-finished and re-painted, it came out pretty well although I do have some imperfections. After the paint was done I could concentrate on engine work and things like that. I setup the new fuel feed line and filter, along with deleting a lot of parts and brackets that were not needed. Erik helped a ton with the wiring work and tuck part of the job, along with all the other stuff as well. We pulled an all nighter Sunday night and at 6am we finally had the engine back into the car! We still have some work to do, including finishing up the new tucked wire harness, and putting the interior back together, plus some miscellaneous engine parts and pieces. Lots of pics, I’ll post a few here but don’t forget you can see the whole lot in our gallery:

Engine swap
Engine bay paint and wire tuck

Justin Justin's Hatch Log

After trashing my last plane, I finally got around to picking up a new one. This time I got a scale trainer plane, the Hobbyzone Super Cub. Nice little electric setup for $150, includes complete plane, 3 channel radio, and all the electronics to fly. The maiden flight was yesterday and it flew pretty nice, a lot more fun then my old Aerobird. One of these days I’ll get some in flight video! For now some pictures.

Justin R/C Airplanes

Jmetz.net is home to my hobbies and interests. You can find many things I have done over the years as well as current events. Some of my more popular ventures include motorcycle stunt riding and track riding, as well as Honda/Acura import performance and modifications. Some of my others hobbies include flying R/C airplanes, playing paintball, and general computer nerd type of stuff. Check back often or subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up with my latest adventures!