Civic Fk8 tough enough for the track?

Civic Fk8 tough enough for the track?

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Discussion

Frimley111R

Original Poster:

15,861 posts

240 months

Tuesday 2nd July 2019
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I heard these have over heating issues once on track due to the compactness of the engine bay. Is that true?

veehexx

118 posts

78 months

Wednesday 10th July 2019
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yep, they have issues. i decided to fit oil cooler to my FK2 (same engine) which has better cooling than the fk8
civicx forums seems to be a good start with track prep - most seem to be going ebay grill and turbo blanket.

other than keeping on top of temps, brakes and intercooler are about the only thing your going to need to do. very capable machine.

Edited by veehexx on Wednesday 10th July 11:32

VTECMatt

1,209 posts

244 months

Wednesday 10th July 2019
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I've not had mine on track but yes it is recommended to look at improving the cooling, personally I think it is a better road car. It is a tad heavy for track work, the brakes are in my opinion not up to it either having found the limits on the road.

veehexx

118 posts

78 months

Thursday 11th July 2019
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VTECMatt said:
I've not had mine on track but yes it is recommended to look at improving the cooling, personally I think it is a better road car. It is a tad heavy for track work, the brakes are in my opinion not up to it either having found the limits on the road.
shame the only 'real' upgrade is £5k on the APRacing upgrade.
I've not tried the 2peice discs yet though although i am skeptical at just how much heat they can get rid of over stock/dba/ebc 1peice discs.

CedricN

825 posts

151 months

Friday 12th July 2019
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I would first try some brake cooling ducting, either hoses or porsche gt3 wishbone mounted deflectors. And raciet pads before going the expensive route

nickfrog

21,762 posts

223 months

Monday 15th July 2019
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Very surprised to hear the brakes are not up to it if the fluid is upgraded to even a basic RBF600 and the pads upgraded to something designed to cope better than the road pads which are... for the road.
The Megane does really well with smaller Brembos providing the above treatment is followed.

veehexx

118 posts

78 months

Monday 15th July 2019
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only going with what i've experienced on the FK2 @ abingdon so far.
I've done brake cooling redirector (H-CTR, but no longer trading), uprated discs (stock > DBA 4000t3), fluid is ATE Typ200, and still cooked a set of pads each time i go there.
First set of pads were even pre-oil cooler so was getting maybe 15mins before having to back off to let oil cool down and still cooked the pads.

brake ducting isnt really possible (atleast on FK2) due to suspension design and turning circle. I've spent a few saturday mornings trying to figure something out but no luck.

what i did at donington the other month was remove brake dust sheilds and change the cooked pads from projectMu hc800's to PBS. a wet donington with 15minute sessions didnt show any problems but thats somewhat expected on a wet day.
planning another visit to donington around late sept/oct so hopefully try and see what these PBS's are up to in the dry. it's a hard pill to swallow if i need to go with pagid RSL29's at around £340 and i cook them too but something i might end up with next change.

There is still the 2peice disc options but if i continue to have heat issues, i'm sceptical if they'll add much more.

brake style is hard (just before abs threshold) and late as possible. cooldown lap(s) i aim for 50mph. VSA/TCS off as the safety tech is known to apply brakes on the car.

I'm not saying it's a bad car - very quick and doesnt take a lot of work to get good. A guy has posted some caterham 620R videos and taking a random clear lap from him, vs my best of the day; 2.6 seconds difference iirc with just catback, IC, ps4s tyres and usual brake upgrades - esentially stock.

nickfrog

21,762 posts

223 months

Monday 15th July 2019
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Are you on road tyres? Just thinking that more specialist rubber may minimise the amount of braking and heat, perhaps.

quick Nick

68 posts

191 months

Thursday 18th July 2019
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Do these still have an issue with fitting a towing eye?