JACE323
New Member
- First Name
- Jason
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2025
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 7
- Location
- Northern IL
- Vehicle(s)
- 2025 Civic Si
- Thread starter
- #1
Howdy Y'all
Been lurking on here trying to learn about how most to enjoy my first ever Civic while keeping it alive and still daily friendly. Finally decided to sign up and introduce myself and do some show and tell. Be forewarned. I can get long winded LOL. Don't worry there will be pictures AND video. Sadly not as much as I would like. Between camara issues and accidently deleting the wrong videos. Next year will be better. I promise. Keep on eye out at https://www.youtube.com/@JACE8866
After going for way to long with out a fun car and REALLY missing my old Beretta GTZ. It was time to buy another one. Sadly of the few priorities I had. (reliable, fun daily and on track, easily mod able) Quad 4 powered cars don't really fit any of those. LOL. Enter the Si!
I had been eyeballing them since the 11th gen came out. There were just the couple small things that kept me from pulling the trigger. Until the 25MY refresh. When I found out the added they heated seats and the full digital dash, I went a shopping. Which quickly turned into a frustration headache from dealing with dealers that think adding $5000+ for come cheap ass accessories was acceptable. Went through 4 different dealers and had almost giving before I found one that was selling at MSRP. Shout out to Brilliance Honda in Crystal Lake IL incase anyone in the area is looking. Made the purchase the end of sept 24. Giving me plenty of time to drive the car stock and learn what I like/don't like.
Come spring I was ready to hit the track for the 1st time! Other then the basics of tires, brake pads, and brake fluid. I was gonna leave it alone and just get seat time and learn the car. Before I could manage that though I found an amazing deal on a TSP BBK that was never installed. So I had to buy it! I mean the cost of consumables in the long run! That led to needing wheels that would clear the brakes. Decided on the 17x8.5+35 Motegi wrapped in a 245/45/17 Falken 615K+ for a cheap but trackable set up. Slapped some Porterfield R4-E pads on and to the track we went. My Local track being Blackhawk farms Raceway In South Beloit IL.
For my first ever session in the car. The plan was to just learn the car and have fun. I left the TC and everything on. Just incase I had a moment. That plan was terrible. The car just felt weird. I can't really explain it. But entry/mid corner it never felt consistent and very vague. Also had no accel on Exit. I figured it was just me and my first time tracking a heavy and under powered FWD. Luckily the instructor/friend in the passenger seat's butt gauge was saying the same thing. With him having some knowledge of the platform he told me to turn the VSC off for session 2 and try again. So I did. Man what a difference. I would still overdrive some corners, but I could tell that's what I was doing. Not just some vagueness. It also helped mid/exit power. Its still heavy and underpowered, but it no longer felt like the car was hesitating to accelerate. I got one more session that day. That led me to learn how low I can fun the fuel before I get starvation LOL. I also found out that I killed the rear pads in 60 mins of track time. OOPS! SO much for an endurance pad.
For the 2nd event back to Blackhawk we go. I swapped to some Carbotech XP-12 in the front and XP-10 in the rear. Replaced the rear caliper bushings with the Wunderladen brass. And replaced the rear motor mount with the Wunderladen race version. (this was done because it sounded like the engine was trying to escape and we cant have that. Sadly with a driver in a new to him race car. (he should of been in beginner but the stewards were nervous to do so with it being an open wheel car and other drivers having zero to limited track experience.) The 1st session was a waste of fuel. Luckily I did learn a thing in the 2nd session though! That thing being that 615k+ are no good in wet conditions. I spent the entire session sliding around. Thankfully the 3rd session dried out and I actually got to set some lap times.
For the 3rd event of the year we are off to the historic Milwaukee Mile. I was actually debating skipping this event. From the outside, the track seemed boring. In general I'm not a huge fan of rovals. Man am I glad i decided to go. The track is really fun especially when you start pushing things. I recommend you go if you ever get the chance. No changes made since the last event. Made the jump to the Advanced group and got to spend the day with clear track in front and having a blast dodging MUCH faster cars in the rear. This would end up being the last event for the year. Sorry no pics.
Now that you are up to date. We can go over the winter upgrades and plans for next season. I was able to score a very lightly used hybrid shifter along with a PRL HVI intake with the duct. They might not do anything to lower lap times. But man does it do a lot for driver engagement and smiles. Next inline is getting the car to rotate better and gain some front camber. The RV6 rear bar that I just ordered should help the rotation. I am currently on the fence on what to do about camber. Since this is my daily I'm not sure if I want coil overs. Granted I have never had coil overs. So I may just be overthinking it. I do know I don't want CHEAP coil overs. I've always been a Koni yellow and good lowering spring guy. I think that with the strut pins pulled and some offset ball joints would be perfect for my needs. As that option isn't available on this platform. I'll probably end up just pulling the pins and doing the ball joints for now. I am keeping my eye on the new Koni GTS and Fortune 500s. I really just have to know how bad the ride quality is. Hopefully someone else has bought these and can give their opinion.
For the future. I plan on stepping the front pads up to XP-20/24. I feel with the lack of cooling I am overworking the 12's. I still need to figure out a wheel/tire package. I want to go to a higher offset wheel (I have to figure out what will clear the brakes) and faster tire. Patiently waiting to see what happens with the new RE71 before I jump on anything. I am planning on doing the full season of midwestern councils HSAX series and would like to try to be competitive. I don't think the 615k+ can manage that. Especially If i cant get the car re classed from A to B. I also need to upgrade the camera and or data acquisition.
Been lurking on here trying to learn about how most to enjoy my first ever Civic while keeping it alive and still daily friendly. Finally decided to sign up and introduce myself and do some show and tell. Be forewarned. I can get long winded LOL. Don't worry there will be pictures AND video. Sadly not as much as I would like. Between camara issues and accidently deleting the wrong videos. Next year will be better. I promise. Keep on eye out at https://www.youtube.com/@JACE8866
After going for way to long with out a fun car and REALLY missing my old Beretta GTZ. It was time to buy another one. Sadly of the few priorities I had. (reliable, fun daily and on track, easily mod able) Quad 4 powered cars don't really fit any of those. LOL. Enter the Si!
I had been eyeballing them since the 11th gen came out. There were just the couple small things that kept me from pulling the trigger. Until the 25MY refresh. When I found out the added they heated seats and the full digital dash, I went a shopping. Which quickly turned into a frustration headache from dealing with dealers that think adding $5000+ for come cheap ass accessories was acceptable. Went through 4 different dealers and had almost giving before I found one that was selling at MSRP. Shout out to Brilliance Honda in Crystal Lake IL incase anyone in the area is looking. Made the purchase the end of sept 24. Giving me plenty of time to drive the car stock and learn what I like/don't like.
Come spring I was ready to hit the track for the 1st time! Other then the basics of tires, brake pads, and brake fluid. I was gonna leave it alone and just get seat time and learn the car. Before I could manage that though I found an amazing deal on a TSP BBK that was never installed. So I had to buy it! I mean the cost of consumables in the long run! That led to needing wheels that would clear the brakes. Decided on the 17x8.5+35 Motegi wrapped in a 245/45/17 Falken 615K+ for a cheap but trackable set up. Slapped some Porterfield R4-E pads on and to the track we went. My Local track being Blackhawk farms Raceway In South Beloit IL.
For my first ever session in the car. The plan was to just learn the car and have fun. I left the TC and everything on. Just incase I had a moment. That plan was terrible. The car just felt weird. I can't really explain it. But entry/mid corner it never felt consistent and very vague. Also had no accel on Exit. I figured it was just me and my first time tracking a heavy and under powered FWD. Luckily the instructor/friend in the passenger seat's butt gauge was saying the same thing. With him having some knowledge of the platform he told me to turn the VSC off for session 2 and try again. So I did. Man what a difference. I would still overdrive some corners, but I could tell that's what I was doing. Not just some vagueness. It also helped mid/exit power. Its still heavy and underpowered, but it no longer felt like the car was hesitating to accelerate. I got one more session that day. That led me to learn how low I can fun the fuel before I get starvation LOL. I also found out that I killed the rear pads in 60 mins of track time. OOPS! SO much for an endurance pad.
For the 2nd event back to Blackhawk we go. I swapped to some Carbotech XP-12 in the front and XP-10 in the rear. Replaced the rear caliper bushings with the Wunderladen brass. And replaced the rear motor mount with the Wunderladen race version. (this was done because it sounded like the engine was trying to escape and we cant have that. Sadly with a driver in a new to him race car. (he should of been in beginner but the stewards were nervous to do so with it being an open wheel car and other drivers having zero to limited track experience.) The 1st session was a waste of fuel. Luckily I did learn a thing in the 2nd session though! That thing being that 615k+ are no good in wet conditions. I spent the entire session sliding around. Thankfully the 3rd session dried out and I actually got to set some lap times.
For the 3rd event of the year we are off to the historic Milwaukee Mile. I was actually debating skipping this event. From the outside, the track seemed boring. In general I'm not a huge fan of rovals. Man am I glad i decided to go. The track is really fun especially when you start pushing things. I recommend you go if you ever get the chance. No changes made since the last event. Made the jump to the Advanced group and got to spend the day with clear track in front and having a blast dodging MUCH faster cars in the rear. This would end up being the last event for the year. Sorry no pics.
Now that you are up to date. We can go over the winter upgrades and plans for next season. I was able to score a very lightly used hybrid shifter along with a PRL HVI intake with the duct. They might not do anything to lower lap times. But man does it do a lot for driver engagement and smiles. Next inline is getting the car to rotate better and gain some front camber. The RV6 rear bar that I just ordered should help the rotation. I am currently on the fence on what to do about camber. Since this is my daily I'm not sure if I want coil overs. Granted I have never had coil overs. So I may just be overthinking it. I do know I don't want CHEAP coil overs. I've always been a Koni yellow and good lowering spring guy. I think that with the strut pins pulled and some offset ball joints would be perfect for my needs. As that option isn't available on this platform. I'll probably end up just pulling the pins and doing the ball joints for now. I am keeping my eye on the new Koni GTS and Fortune 500s. I really just have to know how bad the ride quality is. Hopefully someone else has bought these and can give their opinion.
For the future. I plan on stepping the front pads up to XP-20/24. I feel with the lack of cooling I am overworking the 12's. I still need to figure out a wheel/tire package. I want to go to a higher offset wheel (I have to figure out what will clear the brakes) and faster tire. Patiently waiting to see what happens with the new RE71 before I jump on anything. I am planning on doing the full season of midwestern councils HSAX series and would like to try to be competitive. I don't think the 615k+ can manage that. Especially If i cant get the car re classed from A to B. I also need to upgrade the camera and or data acquisition.
