i wanna set my car up to take it to the track and have a little fun driving it, like a road track not a drag track. the car is a daily driver so i need to be able to drive home. can anyone help me with some advice? i was thinkin a better radiator and maybe an oil cooler, or any other parts to keep it healthy. would those help? ill eventually get suspension, brakes, and tires, im just lookin for any tips at all so i dont blow the thing up. even the best types of fluids to use. any advice is appreciated.

 

lol your civic aint gonna blow up from you goin fast... or tryin at least....

 

How about some details on the car/current setup?

 

can't go wrong with installing an aftermarket intake, it will help give your car some HP gains.

 

if you're looking to do a road course, first thing I would work on is suspension, short shifter, and short shifter bushings. since you said you'll do that later on though, moving on...

for the radiator, yea you might want to upgrade it to say an aluminum one. The ones with plastic endcaps love to crack and they're just in general a pain in the ***. CXRacing radiators on eBay are not bad, and they're fairly inexpensive. If you get one with a slim fan, get the one that comes with a shroud (without a shroud, mounting it's a pain)
You could also go with a Mugen fan switch and thermostat to make the fan turn on earlier to keep the engine cooler.


I'd replace all your fluids:

-Oil and filter of your choice
(just use something good like Mobil1 or even Amsoil if you can get it locally without breaking the bank. for the filter, purolater gold filters are pretty nice... just don't use FRAM.)

-Genuine Honda MTF
(you need 2 quarts. follow instructions in the DIY section of the forum)

-Synthetic Brake fluid
(doesn't break down over time as quickly)

-synthetic clutch fluid
(just use the brake fluid)

-antifreeze/coolant
(you can make a 60-40 (60% water, 40% antifreeze) mix instead of using 50-50. this will keep the engine cooler because water cools better. remember though that antifreeze raises the boiling point, so you don't want to use too high of a percentage of water, otherwise your coolant will be boiling a lot.)

-genuine Honda power steering fluid
(might as well replace it... may improve steering minimally. this is assuming you have power steering. if otherwise, just ignore this.)

-last but not least, wiper fluid... make sure it's full. nothing's worse than driving with bugs all over the windshield and not being able to get them off. also make sure the wiper blades are good.


you might want to pour some lucas fuel cleaner in the gas tank with the next fill up. it does a great job of cleaning out fuel injectors.


you also may want to replace your brake pads and get the rotors turned, depending on how worn they are.


basic tune up:
spark plugs (NGK V-power (OEM))
distributor cap
distributor rotor


adjust your clutch pedal too (i did mine the other day and the clutch engagement point is way smoother now). instructions are in the downloadable factory service manual. look in RonJ's signature for the link to download it. this is not required of course but after how well it went for me i highly recommend it.

 

thanx trustdestruction, that helps a lot. are u sayin run brake fluid in the clutch? never heard of this.

BTW car is all stock, besides an AEM intake. anyone here use an oil cooler? will it help at all or just be a waste of time?

 

Yes, because clutch fluid and brake fluid are both the same thing. Brake fluid isn't really just "brake fluid," it is Hydraulic Fluid. They call it brake fluid for sake of simplification.

An oil cooler couldn't hurt. Not sure if it's a waste of time or not. It probably is on such a low powered engine, but i'm not sure since you'll be putting some stress on it doing road racing.