The product all the 2006-2009 Honda Civic owners have been waiting for.  The FLASHPRO!

 This allows full tunability over the stock ECU, much like the KPro in the previous generation Hondas.  Even stock Hondas will benefit from this; at the very basic level, it allows a removal of the stock speed cut at 180km/h and allows a speedometer reading in excess of 200km/h.  A few other nice options that the stock vehicle could employ would be a lower VTEC engagement RPM, VTEC window for long high speed drives so that VTEC does not keep cutting in and out at a particular RPM.  There are a myriad of functions in there that could be done.  Send me emails with queries at joel@driven.com.sg if you need more information.

Also NEW:  Hondata by Driven Tags

Notice the bottom right corner of the metal tag at the bottom.  It has “BY: DRIVEN PERFORMANCE” hidden in there with the binary codes.  This metal tag is included with all Hondata purchases from us.  This is to authenticate the product we sell and provide an identification of our products that we proudly stand by.

KPro identity & verification

It has come to our knowledge that there are stolen KPros that are floating in the used parts market in this region.  To put a stop to such deplorable behavior, please do ensure that your KPro has a proper tag as in the picture.  Every KPro will  have a serial number printed and its unique number is identifiable through the KManager software.  If you suspect yours might be a dubious unit, or worse, stolen, do update me and I will update my list and notify you if I come across any.  I guess I would be the best bet to finding your lost KPro since I tune so many of them.

All KPros sold from 2009 should also spot a number that is larger than “05006000″.  This will have the latest firmware update and chipset.

Last week, I was invited to a workshop in Sunway area in KL to tune some cars. Joshua from Millennium Motorsports, who incidentally is also one of my top re-seller for Hondata products arranged for the session.

Joshua who also sells a lot of Microtech products recently just completed his engine built for his race car, a CRX running a huge turbo.

This car made over 1,000 wheel HP on his conservative Dyno Dynamics dynamometer. It has a Honda 4 cylinder H22A motor in there, and to achieve those power numbers are awe-inspiring, to say the least. I was not there to witness the HP run, but I am sure it was done in Joshua’s typical non-dramatic fashion with just plenty of booooostt!!!

So there I was, on a Saturday afternoon and started hooking up the KPro and ECU into the car. Tested the ECU. Made sure I could load maps and make alterations. Confirmed the datalogging works. Wired up a couple of switches for some additional nice features. OK, everything was set, and the car was good to go on the dyno for its tune!

Once on the dyno, we did a base run on the stock ECU when the engine was still cool and not hot from many runs on the dyno. Normally, this would give one of the best horsepower readings assuming the stock ECU had the perfect set of parameters in there then. We normally do that to show the difference in HP we could gain before and after a ECU tune. In the case of the DC5s, we knew for sure the Hondata will make a big difference in power everywhere.

After the base run, it was time to start tuning. A quick switch of ECU from the stock to the KPro and I was sitting pretty with my laptop in the passenger seat with aplomb and going to start tuning the car just like how I did with the other 200 K series engines tunes I have done since 2004.

OK, so we did the first pull…. Hmmm, VTEC would not engage. Took a close look at the datalogs and judging from the logs, it seemed to work. OK, let me try again, maybe the filter was restrictive and we cannot hear the VTEC well since it was set rather low. Run 2; still no luck…

After this, I started to go through the wiring on the car to ensure that everything was correct, and while I was at it, might as well just remove the A’Pexi AFC Neo which was wired into the stock harness. The owner did not want it anymore and so, to eliminate any other causes that might result in a VTEC malfunction, we just removed it.

Now, with the AFC removed, and the wires nicely wrapped back together, it was time to give it another shot. But alas, we were greeted with the same result, still no VTEC!!

After this, we practically tried every trick in the book. Went out to my friend’s car to remove his ECU to test, in case it was a exceptional case where the VTEC driver within the ECU was shot. I have not heard of this happening before with a K Series ECU, but well… there could always be a first. After 30 mins, we got back and tested it out again, but nope, still no luck.

Some other tricks employed were, adjusting TPS settings in the software, shifting VTEC crossover points back and forth and occasionally in part throttle positions while we load the dyno, we are able to get VTEC. OK, at least some conclusions.

1. We can deduce that the ECU works fine.
2. We can also safely say that the hardware on the car was good, as VTEC works on the stock ECU.
3. Wiring is definitely top-notch, all connections were tested and continuous where needed.
4. All sensors related to the fuel injection system reads well, uniformly and correctly.
5. And most importantly, we were hungry.

1 hour later, and after a fulfilling dinner which had the wildest ideas about tuning (and possible solutions to the problems) strewn all over, and back and forth. We went back to the dyno, and to the car which had just got a full tank of gas.

Somehow, suddenly I had a voice that crept up to me and reminded me that I have updated the software about a week ago and had not had a chance to try it on any cars.  This definitely was not a problem with the car, could it be within the tuning application?? I never had any problems with new software releases from Hondata. In addition, why would the bug be such a simple one as to be unable to engage VTEC??? VTEC is what Hondas are about, and in that same light, what Hondata is about!

I quickly booted up my laptop again and had a look into the application (not the KManager program) and found something.  A quick tweak to the source code was effected and then, reloaded the base map into the car.  It all took me about 5 minutes. Started up the car, waited for the cam angles to start working, and did a new run on the dyno. EVERYTHING WORKS!! IT WAS MAGICAL!! After going through the whole agony of troubleshooting for the past couple of hours, the VTEC crossover pitch was definitely music to my ears!!

Let me share a dyno chart of this very car, before and after the tune.

As to the expressions on the owner’s face after he got back from having a crack at his new found power… I shall leave that to your imagination.

Now in Stock!!

Engines for Mitsubishi Colt Version R 

Beam Light for Championship White FD2s

Original Honda wheel lock nut.  Very Rare, highly unlikely for someone else to have the same kind.

 Type R Keychains

Type R stickers

 Honda Tshirts

Type R Caps

NOW… we are becoming Honda boutique…

Honda Maketh the Man.

The power of dreams…

This is the latest kit that i have developed for the FN2.

it consists of these items

1. a fiberglass air scoop
this routes up to the air filter and goes through a part of the air resonator system. it allows for ram air effect as air is fed through the bumper directly up to the filter.

2. a large 6 inch K&N air filter coupled with a velocity stack for maximum response and power gains. this filter flows enough for really big horsepower levels.

3. custom made heat shield to block off any unwanted engine heat to minimize heat soak.

4. all hardware to bolt it all up for a perfect fit.

Raise car for easy removal of bumper

Remove fender flares so as to remove bumper

Remove all bolts and nuts and yank bumper out

Area for air scoop

Factory resonator (to remove)

Affix air scoop in place

Relocating horn

Cold ram air effect to air filter!

Here are more pictures of the air filter kit

Original air filter

Air filter kit with custom heat shield

Cold air entry at bottom of custom heat shield

These 2 items will work hand in hand to give the best power gains i have seen over some other available kits in the market. I have also seen some that requires a relocation of the battery, which in my opinion does not serve any purpose. In some worse case, kits are put together haphazardly and sometimes throws a Check Engine Light due to the ECU close loop not working correctly.

 The intake roar on this kit is considerably louder than the stock filter setup, and the power delivery is definitely way better.  On the test car with a Hondata reflashed ECU, the car is very willing to pull all the way to the increased redline of 8600rpm.

Finally, a decent mod for the FN2 without the “drug money” price tag that accompanies the very few other kits available for this car.  Will be posting up a dyno chart to show the gains soon.  Please be patient and let me get the car to the dyno!

I recently had a long time customer drop by the shop to have me spec out a set of custom pistons for his engine.  He had purchased a used stroker kit that stroked up the K20A engine to a stroke of 90.7mm and was unhappy with it.  Toda probably used the same OE crank that came out of the Honda S2000 AP2.  That is a 2.2 litre with a bore of 87mm and stroke of 90.7mm. and since the distance between the main journals were the same as measured previously across the Honda H / F / K series engines, we can safely say that the cranks were interchangeable and will just need to provide for the ancillaries that was connected to the crankshaft to work in unison.

As with all stroker kits, the crankshaft features a longer stroke and required to be placed into the factory block with stock deck height.  It will require either a shorter rod or a piston with the gudgeon pin moved to a higher position; i.e. shorter compression height, or a combination of both.  This is simple engineering that is required so that your pistons are not going to sit out of the bore of the block deck.  The kit that Toda Racing engineered was no different.  In this, they used a rod that was slightly shorter, and a forged piston that had a slightly smaller compression height.

Here is a picture of the piston.  It is a really nice looking piston with a decent forging that will hold up to a lot of abuse.

In this picture, the piston looks like it has gone to Ping Heaven and back…. and barely managed to survive without cracking its ring lands.  The piston runs a total of 2 compression rings and an oil ring; perfect for a daily driver with no oil control issues as with their B16A stroker kits.  I remembered those single compression rings pistons as consuming a lot of engine oil as they had to move the gudgeon pin up really high and did not have any provision to allow a 2nd compression ring.

What really caught my attention in this kit was the rod that came with it.  Here is a picture of it (the one on the right), a really beefy looking cast rod.

When I held it, I can instantly feel the mass.  It was way heavier than any of the stock K20 or K24 rods I have seen/weigh.

Here is a picture of the weight from a sample of an economical, china-made rod for the K20 weighs.  I use these rods in 500hp Honda 4 cylinder motors and never had any problems with them.  They feature ARP rod bolts and are very reasonably priced.

I was aghast at the weight of the rods that came with the stroker kit, to say the least.  After I did some measurements, the rods seem to point to being of another OE manufacturer’s specification.  The dimensions that I measured came up almost identical to those of Toyota 3S-GTE motors, with the exception of the Big End width, which was probably machined down to match the journals of the F22C crankshaft.

Look at the weight of the rods!

I guess perhaps it was purely a business decision to use an easily available rod and cost-effective solution to match up a kit that will work.  In this case, only a custom piston needed to be made out.  However, since most of these parts are going into NA motors, I really do not understand the rational of having a rod so heavy that will ultimately rob some performance out of the stroker kit.

I have tested and proven to many skeptical customers and critics that a good lightweight combination of rods and pistons will make more power, ceteris paribus.  The heavier the rod and piston combination, the more force is required to have them change direction.  In a high revving Honda engine, much of the wasted energy can be translated into more power gains, better fuel economy and lesser stress on internal components.

It is beyond me why anyone would want to purchase a kit that is more expensive than others, less well engineered than others and the worse part is, certain parts in the equation are worse off than stock! I have seen the stock K20 rods (and bolts) work well to about 400hp. I guess aggressive marketing really works when it comes to selling parts.  It could also probably be that this is what the market wants.  Since not all car owners can afford the most exotic of parts but would like to rely on a big brand name, this would have to suffice.

Latest products!!! 

 Works for both FD2s and FN2s!!

- ducts in all the cool air for better power

- no fear of hydrolock

- full benefits of a Cold Air Intake

- large frontal air catchment area

- does not require removal of brake cooling ducts

FN2 custom design air duct.  Works with stock air box or Driven Crazy’s custom shielded air intake kit.

We have probably all come across this scenario; working around a tight budget to modify our cars.  Not everyone has tons of disposable income to work with to get some serious horsepower gains.

 This car had some modifications that was done on a relatively small budget.  It was supercharged and had the engine left intact and had only bolt on parts fitted to it.  The whole idea was so that the owner can effortlessly revert the car back to stock condition (to sell) without having to incur too high a labor cost.

 The Accord Euro R had only these power adding parts fitted to it.

- HKS Hi Power Silent Exhaust

- Toda Exhaust Manifold

- Comptech Supercharger Kit

- Hondata KPro ECU

- K&N Air Filter kit

- Hondata Intake Manifold Gasket

- AEM Water/Methanol Injection Kit

- RC Engineering 550cc/min injectors

Initially, I was rather wary of the high comprsesion of the JDM CL7 engine.  It had an 11.5:1 CR and that was normally a no no with any form of forced induction.  After all, Honda did not design this car specifically for any form of modification.  Honda probably meant it to be enjoyed in its entirety.  It was a comfortable sports luxury sedan; and pretty quick to boot.  220bhp on paper, it actually had closer to 210WHP when we had the basic Intake, Header and Exhaust modification done.  Very decent.  Very quick.

After the customer agreed to a prudent amount to get the car done up with the Comptech Supercharger and a custom Hondata KPro with harness to get it all working perfectly with the CL7, we went to work.  In fact, we worked overtime to get the car out of the workshop in 1 day, including the water injection kit.  After which, it was time to get the car to the dyno to have a proper tune done.

After about an hour of tuning, this is the final WHP figure we achieved.

We managed closed to 286whp, that was a figure that was normally reserved for fully built K24 motors that have probably about $15k worth of mods to them.

What was interesting was, the difference in power we achieve with the water injection kit.  It was a 100% water mix without any methanol and we got about 25whp increase.  Very respectable figures for a cheap mod.

The lower hp line was a tuned map without water injection, whereas the higher hp figures was with water injection and tuning.  I could actually bump up ignition timing by as much as 7 degrees and was still safe.  The air fuel mixture was also lean out somewhat, which will assist somewhat with fuel consumption.  I must say that the charged intake temperature must have shot up the roof without any aftercooler.  The Comptech Supercharger kit does not provide for that, unlike the Merc’s Kompressor design.  Overall, considering the price of a water injection kit, the value of hp/$ is really huge with the gains we obtained with this car!

In comparison with some other supercharger kit that I did.  This was on a TSX motor.  K24 with 10.5:1 CR, everything else was the same.  We only achieved about 255whp.

You will notice the higher torque that was achiveable with the K24 motor, but a little more lacklustre at the top end.  The K24 didn’t have any cooling aid, it might have been able to perform better with some water/methanol injection though.

Comparing with another car that I tuned that was a circuit machine.  It was a K20, NA, with high compression, big cams, IHE, etc.  It had about $20k worth of modifications in it.

What more need I say?  Basically, the K20SC (supercharged) just killed it everywhere in the rpm range!  It is a perfect build for the street and has plenty of low end torque for useable everyday power.

This article is contributed by a satisfied customer who truly appreciates what tasteful mods should be.

Is it possible to have a comfortable daily ride that performs in the 3 areas demanded by the owner, i.e. 1) sporty performance, 2) competent yet comfortable handling, and 3) looks with In Car Entertainment (ICE) that would melt any enthusiast’s heart? To top it off, it’s an auto, which would complicate things quite a bit when it comes to performance compared to a manual.

The Beginning….
The journey started about 4 years back, when the owner took possession of his gleaming new black Integra GSR Auto. Immediately, the puny 15” OEM wheels were replaced with the all time fav’ - Volks Racing CE28N. Grex 6 pot with 330mm 2-piece rotors provided much better stopping power. With a replica Type R Wing, the car still looked relatively stock and mild.

  The beginning of the journey….

Dressing it up!
Deciding on a menacing look, GarageR brought in J’S Racing bodykit, which included a limited edition 5-vents bonnet, GT wing, sideskirts with CF undertray, and wide-body front fenders. Mugen underlip was used for the front with Modulo underlip bringing up the rear. To complete the CF look, the interior was spiced with custom CF panels by Robson Designs, and the GSR OEM steering wheel was replaced with a genuine DC5R Momo piece.

   J’s racing DC5

   Custom CF Interior with DC5R Steering Wheel

    Custom A-Pillar

ICEing on the cake
ICE was carefully designed with Audioedge, to ensure the heavy components like subwoofer could be easily removed for track days and rear coilovers were easily accessible. The design was kept light and simple, with Alpine 9887 HU connected to H701 processor. Powering the 2-way active Focal K2P Upgraded components and SB27V1 subwoofer were Italian phd 4075 and 2050 thoroughbreds. Custom sculptured A-pillars gave the components an OEM look. Er (tuner of champion IASCA cars) gave his maestro touch for a breathtaking soundstage.

Handling before performance
With consciousness on safety, the owner decided to build up on the already competent handling of the Integra before performance. J’S Racing lower tie rods, Cusco front and rear struts, Tanabe 4-point brace, Cusco rear ARB and Hotchkis front ARB were added to stiffen up and balance the chassis. GarageR then fitted the top of the line Tanabe Sustec Pro 7 coilovers with Tanabe Electronic Active Suspension (TEAS) kit. This allowed the F10/R12 coilovers to be comfortable or hard when needed, with a programmable auto mode that would adjust the damping on the fly! Kenny completed the handling package with his legendary alignment skills and his “Kenny” rear camber kit special. For street, camber were set as -2º front and -1.5º rear.

  Tanabe Electronic Active Suspension (TEAS) kit in action

Performance – by DrivenCrazy!
Having satisfied himself with looks/ICE and handling, the owner started on the most difficult part of the journey yet – squeezing more performance from an auto K20A3. At first, simple enhancements like ARC airbox, DC5R header, midpipe and an LTA compliant Mugen exhaust system were used to set the stage for the traditional Intake/Header/Exos mantra of NA tuning. A base dyno was run that produced 130whp at 6846rpm and 14.8kgm at 3998 rpm. This was already pretty good, considering that stock auto GSR’s have been dynoed at around 120whp. This was expected due to the auto transmission loss. The K20A3 engine was rated 160bhp with 19.2kgm at crank. At best, it translated to an auto loss of around 25%.

For this challenging task, the owner turned to the trusted name in local Hondata tuning – Joel of driven. Unlike a manual, the auto required the original ECU to control the auto D mode. The solution by Joel was to custom a harness that connected a JDM Hondata KPro ECU to the OEM ECU, taking over the functions such as fuel injection, VTC, VTEC switchover etc. There was absolutely no wire cutting, and reverting to stock was as simple as plugging out the harness! Ingenious!

After Joel has settled the difficult ECU management, Derrick of uberGarage started to rebuild the K20A3. Out went the K20A3 cylinder head, to be replaced by a new original DC5R K20A cylinder head from driven. The lower block’s compression was raised from the stock 9.8:1 to 11.5:1 by swapping in new K20A pistons. A PRC Intake manifold and DC5R throttlebody completed the engine conversion.

The engine was carefully run-in with mineral oil for 1,000km. It was then serviced with new engine oil and dynotuned. It achieved 169.8whp at 7025rpm and 18.1 kgm at 5899rpm. With the 25% loss, the engine was producing 213bhp with 22.7kgm torque at crank, more or less DC5R rated performance! Remember the owner was looking for a reliable, sporty and comfortable daily drive, and not outright drag performance. The souped-up auto now fitted the bill to a “T”.

Just as important, the car was idling buttery smooth at 680rpm and everything worked like clockwork. Engine started at first crank, producing a nice purr and hardened to a growl that was the trademark of a true VTEC engine.

At last, the K20A3 Auto has been transformed….

  Rebuilding the trusty K engine

  Dyno time!

  True VTEC!  Before and after head swap.

  The rebuilt engine

  Nice and Shiny!

  Driven Crazy - Performance Tuned!

After dyno testing a variety of intakes, we have realized that the K20A in the FD2 actually works very well with an intake with a relatively short pipe.  Something that uses the factory rubber tubing actually works pretty well too.

 However, heat soak is always an issue with the filter situated in the engine bay.  We had to combat that head on, or else power gains would be compromised.  So, what better way to do that than to route cool air from outside the car to the air filter.

On separate occasions, we tested with different air ducts.  The first one was the M&M intake duct, which is situated behind the left bumper air dam.  It is also interesting to note that recently, Toda Racing has also launched an air duct that has an uncannily similar design.

Here is a picture that had the M&M air duct installed.

It sits behind the factory brake air duct, and connects up to the airbox via a snorkle that forms part of the original resonator system.

Driving impression was that it definitely works better than without any ducting.

 Now, we had another one that we wanted to test.  This time round, it is from Backyard Special

Initial observation of the product was that it was of a lesser quality compared to the M&M, which had a nice FRP gel coated finish.  In fact, the piece i had where the 2 separate fibreglass pieces butts were met, besides having the normal faint line, it had a crack!  But I guess, functionality wise, it will work just as well (regardless of fibreglass finish). 

This air duct gets the cool air from the large front air dam and gets routed towards the airbox in a more direct path.  It also has a larger catchment surface area and should be more efficient.

Here are some pictures of the installed product

Front view

Side view

Installed with crash bar back in place

My observations on it were that it’s catchment area is a little too big.  Such that it actually covers a small part of the A/C condenser and radiator.  Yes, I want cool air, but I am unwilling to sacrifice any cooling efficiency.  It also hides the ambient air temp sensor (right behind bumper) from a direct stream of air.

I will be improvising on the design to incorporate some of my observations and test it out on the car again to see how it works.  Do come back and check it out soon.

This is our latest kit for the Honda Civic FN2.  We have sat around for too long, and waited and waited and no one seems to come out with a satisfactory solution for an intake kit.  So, we decided to take matters into our own hands and fabricated one.

This kit is complete and comes with all the necessary hardware.  It makes good horsepower too!

We used a big ass K&N filter with a customize intake to improve breathing and also calculated (and dyno tested, R&D, proven!) diameters and lengths for maximum gains.  It resides beneath the wiper panel and is placed close to the rear firewall for maximum effect.  The side nearer to the engine has a aluminum heatshield that pretty much enshrouds the entire filter.  This enshrouded filter has superior heat management benefits of a closed box and ample air supply feeding the large filter.

If you look closely at this picture, you will also notice a cold air inlet tract which draws cool air from outside the car to feed the filter for maximum horsepower.  There is a giant scoop which ducts air; rammed into the air filter area.  The scoop is currently under mass production and will be available for viewing in another 3 weeks.

There is approximately about 12 hp gains at crank.  Very respectable figures for just an intake mod.  Car has also became much livelier and the gains in power is very apparant.

Coming soon… new update for FN2 customize air ducts for cold air feed… watch this space!