andy's nerd blog

So long fg2

it’s been totaled! possibly an fa5 on the horizon?

Full synthetic

The fg2′s trusty maintenance minder indicated it was time for my second oil change so I stopped by a Mobil 1 Lube Express to get it done. I decided to go full synthetic since I drive the car pretty hard and I might end up keeping the car for a long time. I waited until the second oil change to ensure the engine would be pretty well broken in.

I almost got the oil from Wal-Mart ($37 for 6 quarts) but it turns out to be a slightly better deal to just get it from the garage because they charge a flat $20 extra (the Si needs about 4.5 quarts.) I also decided to replace the transmission fluid with the new Honda one that just came out (p/n 08798-9031) and the guy was nice enough to do it for free.

Overall I was happy with the Mobil 1 Lube Express and I will be going back. The tech was really friendly, the whole thing took less than 30 minutes and I really liked how I could stand in the garage and watch him work. They also have these $10 off coupons on the web so with full synthetic it came out to $44. Considering I paid $32 at the dealership for the last one this is a much better deal. Some remarks:

ALWAYS make sure you check your oil level before you leave the shop! The mechanic consulted his computer system and said my car needed 4.2 quarts of oil even though I repeatedly told him my manual says 4.6. At the end when he checked the dipstick it was on the low mark and only because I was hovering over his shoulder did he top it off with another third of a quart. I suspect the numbers they use are purposely on the low side to save them money because most people will never notice. Especially since the same thing happened after my first oil change at the stealership, except that time I didn’t check the oil level until the next day and had to top it off myself.

I forgot to ask so I got stuck with a cheap oil filter! For an extra $5 they can use a Mobil 1 but you have to ask for one. Next time I’m going to either buy a HAMP filter online and bring it in or just get a Mobil 1. I think I remember reading the Mobil 1 was one of the better filters available.

The new transmission fluid is silky smooth! Third still has a little bit of notchiness sometimes but it definitely feels better and is well worth the $12.

My first tank after this oil change was my best ever! I averaged 27.8 mpg over 335 miles, including about 75% highway and 25% city driving. Of course part of it was due to the fresh oil but considering my previous best was 26.6 mpg the synthetic oil must be partially responsible. So while the oil changes are going to cost more, it’s looking like I’ll definitely be saving on fuel.

Fog lights

Consider having fog lights installed at the stealership. The install is kind of a pain in the ass. If you decide to DIY, expect it to take at least 3 hours and leave you with a few cut fingers. Now can someone tell me how we’re supposed to level them when they only turn on if the headlights are on as well?

DC5 dead pedal

Last week I ordered the dc5 dead pedal to fit over the ugly black stock foot rest. Once it arrived I started by pulling out the plastic foot rest and drilling/boring two holes to match the mounting points of the dc5 dead pedal. I test fit it into the car and liked the size and shape. I decided the hard part was going to be cutting off most of the stock dead rest without affecting its mounting position and stability. But once I saw the dc5 pedal in daylight I noticed it had a brushed aluminum finish while the pedals in the si have a polished finish. It was too bad because I found it quite noticeable. So I’m going to return it and wait for the civic type r dead pedal. I kind of think it looks weird because it’s so huge but it should be easier to retrofit and will probably look better overall, as it’s a direct match to the accelerator pedal.

Rev happy

After a four week wait my new plates arrived. It took a long time to make up my mind but in the end I settled on kind of a “sleeper” personalized plate, which at first glance might look like a state assigned pattern. But once decoded you’ll find it’s an excellent 2-word description of the k20z3.

CSX console/short shifter/shift boot

Finally received my csx console, comptech short shifter and alcantara shift boot so yesterday I installed them all at the same time. I ended up ordering the console from north shore acura in vancouver, bc for about $95US delivered. The color is an exact match to the dashboard, a honda color called gunmetal metallic, whereas the old console was black. I would have liked the console to be black but it honestly looks factory either way. Also the handle on the sliding door has a chrome finish that matches the shift knob, which is nice. The storage bin is slightly smaller than the stock si one but still large enough to fit plenty of stuff. The shift boot fabric is a slightly lighter black than the seats but still looks wayyy better than stock. Not much to say about the short shifter except that it pwns.

New ride

what a day! check out my sweet new car:

just to set the back story a little bit, i first fell in love with the civic si when i was in high school. at the time it was offered in black, red and electric blue and had a 160 hp, 1.6l vtec engine. i remember first reading about it in car and driver and being blown away by the fact that honda had figured out how to get 100hp/l from such an economical car. i lusted over it obsessively for months and begged my dad to come see one with me. he finally did just to shut me up but of course nothing came of it since the land yacht was ultimately serving its purpose of getting me from a to b…

they say you never forget your first love. based on how quickly i fell in love with the nighthawk black pearl 06 civic si i’m inclined to believe that. unfortunately, finding one at a reasonable price turned out to be quite a hassle. starting my search near the end of the model year i expected to find many on closeout or clearance before the 07′s arrived. not so. disappointment began to set in as salesman after salesman told me “it’s a hot car right now,” “nobody is selling them for under msrp” or “we just sold our last black one but how about a red one?” honda of bellevue wanted $2k over sticker for theirs and every other dealer in the puget sound that had one refused to deal.

unwilling to accept defeat, i expanded my search radius. soon i had located one in sacramento and after several phone calls got them down to $1k under sticker. i was feeling slightly relieved but for the fact that the sales manager wouldn’t agree to hold the darn car for me, even with a deposit, until i had purchased a plane ticket! i mulled it over for a day and thought about the logistics of flying down and driving it back alone. should i ship it back? bah whatever it’ll be a fun road trip i thought. all set to purchase a one-way ticket to sac-town, i called the dealership one last time only to discover that it had been sold out from under me. @%^#!

hardened from the sacramento experience but undeterred, i continued my expanded search. finally i located one in beaverton, oregon and was able to negotiate them down to $750 under msrp. thankfully the salesman working the deal was a nice guy and didn’t seem to mind me calling his cell phone five times a day to reassure him that i was indeed coming down to buy the car. with everything squared away at the dealership i moseyed over to amtrak.com and purchased a $40 one-way ticket from seattle to portland for saturday.

this morning i awoke and caught a metro bus to the amtrak station downtown. i made a point to arrive early since i really didn’t know what to expect having never ridden amtrak. well, i definitely didn’t expect to find out that the train was going to be 4-8 hours late! so much for plan a. i cancelled my train ticket and for a moment considered renting a car and driving down but i didn’t want to face potentially exorbitant pricing since i’m not yet 25. within seconds plan b was hatched: seattle-tacoma international airport! i whipped out my trusty iphone and found out which bus would get me there. less than 30 minutes later i walked right up to the horizon air ticket desk and bought myself a $119 one-way ticket to pdx.

not being a big fan of turbo-props i spent most of the flight daydreaming scenic drives in my new si. i can’t wait!! touched down and found the max, which was actually pretty nifty. for just a couple bucks it got me from the airport to within 5 blocks of beaverton honda in like half an hour. and that’s pretty much the story of how i got my civic si . the rest is a blur as all i could think about was getting behind the wheel of my first new car. thankfully i kept enough of my wits to not get sold on any extraneous crap. holy moly that extended warranty pitch seemed like it would never end.

as for the car, it is blissful. that’s all i have to say for now. i have a feeling we’ll be inseparable for quite a long time to come…