[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

+1000..
Somehow I too feel they are not VFM mats.
I'm not going to buy these mats at that price, something on which I''ll be putting my dirty feet and pay 5.5 grands for the same. LOL
Pretty much happy with the OEM mats ;-)

Well, my OEM mats are pretty much done! The foam in their bottom is long gone and they keep moving around in the cabin. So I had to get a new set of mats and I thought to try 3D Kagu ones this time.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Here are some of the pics of the 3D kagu mats on civic.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2415511

Yep, these are the mats I have got myself. m4ugr8 had the same mats in black color. Here are the pics of the same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post2413257

Originally Posted by sushrutha

I know it feels odd to see a beautiful car with a dent.
If you are planning for a change in colour very soon, then keep the dent as it, else get rid of it.
Here in BLR at reputed garage(sai colorium), they usually charge 2500Rs for a medium to small dent/scratch removal which also includes painting charges.

That is what I had in my mind too. Anyway, I just got back from Raja Paints in Gurgaon, handing over my car to him. He will get the denting-painting job done for the front door.

It seems like I am keeping the CBP for a little while, may be another year or two. If the itch comes back again after some time, will get it repainted. I was leaning towards Aqua Blue myself, actually.

@ Mods: The end date of the poll is a bit too far, could you take the poll down prematurely, folks? I have this feeling that even votes are torn equally! Guess the exterior color will always be a subjective choice, as it is now! As of today for me, Aqua Blue it is! Thanks for your co-operation.

[Vtecguy7166]

There is a red painted Civic in my area which I have spotted a few times. Looks good.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by Vtecguy7166

There is a red painted Civic in my area which I have spotted a few times. Looks good.

Nice. Care sharing a few pics if you have any?

[Vtecguy7166]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Nice. Care sharing a few pics if you have any?

Yes sure. I will try and get a few pics as soon as possible.
I know where that car is parked. When I happen to go that side I will surely.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by Vtecguy7166

Yes sure. I will try and get a few pics as soon as possible.
I know where that car is parked. When I happen to go that side I will surely.

Thanks buddy. Looking forward to the pics.

Meanwhile I am posting this picture of my car after adding more light to it. Of course it is a horrible quality pic (excuse me for that) clicked using my cellphone in a dark night, however it showcases my Shark very well as the Ferrari 599 is staring at her!

[Ace F355]

I am supposed to leave for another business trip Central and Central West India on coming Wednesday. So decided to make this regular weekend a bit more exciting and planned a quick trip to Agra, the city of Taj Mahal. The whole idea was to enjoy the long drive and watch the sun setting over Taj! Well, you get the drift who was accompanying me on this 550 kms return trip!

Yesterday was a bright sunny day. We left Delhi at about 11 in the morning and returned by 11 in the night. The highway patch was good enough, save for a few bad stretches! The alloys, the tyres continue to impress me like nothing else in term of driving and handling pleasure. This car has got such a deep character in term of steering feel, I swear!

Here are a few pictures I clicked during the drive. Official photo shoot will be done once I find the time to get my front chrome grill painted black. Till then, feast your eyes with these pics. First another pic from my late night drives!

The Shark, after a quick session of heavy showers... Notice the beading on the paint!


On my way to Agra on NH-2... Not very good pics due to incorrect exposure in high sun! Will process the pics in Photoshop to correct once I visit my home!










Taj Mahal, from the Northern Bank of Yamuna river...




The signature Taj...



The incredible sunset....




Back in Delhi late night...





All in all, it was a good run and a fun day! FE continues to amaze me like anything. Here are the figures for this trip.

Total distance covered - 550 kms

Got my tank filled from Delhi and got another bummer of fuel price hike. Never the less, I got 42 litres filled for about INR 2900 or something!

We were back in Delhi and 1/4 of the fuel is still there. I considered 32 litres of fuel consumed and the FE came down to be - 17.1 kmpl... God bless Honda for creating vtecs!

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Total distance covered - 550 kms

Got my tank filled from Delhi and got another bummer of fuel price hike. Never the less, I got 42 litres filled for about INR 2900 or something!

We were back in Delhi and 1/4 of the fuel is still there. I considered 32 litres of fuel consumed and the FE came down to be - 17.1 kmpl... God bless Honda for creating vtecs!

These are some very nice pics Ace especially the sun set pictures.

When I got over 17 KMPL from my Venus while driving on NH1 I posted in my thread "Driving 1.5 L i-VTEC petrol at the mileage of diesel".

This is the dual character of i-VTEC which is powerful yet fuel efficient.

Happy miles crunching!

[dot]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

We were back in Delhi and 1/4 of the fuel is still there. I considered 32 litres of fuel consumed and the FE came down to be - 17.1 kmpl... God bless Honda for creating vtecs!

Some lovely shots there, Ace. A story very well told. Regarding the FE, what were the usual speeds on the highway? I understand that if one maintains about 90, Civics return this much.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

These are some very nice pics Ace especially the sun set pictures.

When I got over 17 KMPL from my Venus while driving on NH1 I posted in my thread "Driving 1.5 L i-VTEC petrol at the mileage of diesel".

This is the dual character of i-VTEC which is powerful yet fuel efficient.

Thanks bluevolt, this is precisely my point. Getting this kind of FE from a 1800cc engine is just amazing. And that too, when I am running on ultra wide rubber of 225 cross-section!

Originally Posted by dot

Some lovely shots there, Ace. A story very well told. Regarding the FE, what were the usual speeds on the highway? I understand that if one maintains about 90, Civics return this much.

Thank you dotty. The average speeds were in between 80-100 kph with couple of 150-160 kph bursts. After upgrading to 17" alloys, I have mastered the art of driving my Shark at 80 kph in 5th gear @ 2000 rpms. Minimal risk of damaging the alloys, best in class FE and a comfortable ride. Find a slick piece of asphalt and I shoot to the redline occasionally.

Sometimes while in 80 kph driving mode, I wish I had the AT Civic with slight tall gear ratios!

[sushrutha]

That's very good mileage.
By the way how is the output of these projectors ? You haven't talked much of it in this thread.
Are those FX-R projectors ? How good is the light throw and foreground light. What is the bulb colour ?

I'm replacing my Mini Morimotos H1 with FX-R. I have already ordered a pair of FX-R from Theretrofitsource.com.(cost 175$ including everything)
Morimotos... all I can say is, foreground light is good, but the throw(light distance) is not that great in highway, but overall good. I want something better that MM H1.. so going for FX-R.

I have got the same Gatling gun shrouds(new one yet to fit), but had issues getting the CCFL rings (I'm unable to find the right size - 100mm).
All thanks to Dikshit of Retrorides,
First he sent me a size of 105mm, which is as same as your CCFL size (that's what he said), but when I put the same in my shrouds, the CCFL's are slightly bigger & 1 broke while fitting.
he sent me another pair of CCFL of 100mm, well in courier transit both the CCFL's were broken due to inefficient packaging & handling of courier.

Dikshit has couriered me another pair of CCFL of 100mm size, it's still in transit.
Should thank him for this effort of sending them thrice.

Once I get.. My headlights would look the same as that of your's but a white CCFL ring ;-)

[Ace F355]

Thanks sushurutha.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

By the way how is the output of these projectors ? You haven't talked much of it in this thread.
Are those FX-R projectors ? How good is the light throw and foreground light. What is the bulb colour ?

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Got one question for you regarding your headlights, how is the throw and quality of the beam with your after market lenses? I've not heard good things, hence the question.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

haha... I will let Nikhil and Akshay answer this! Nikhil has regular angel eye projectors on his Civic and he was quite keen to test the throw of my projectors.

His first comment after testing them was, and I am quoting it "seriously, these projectors have better throw than Skoda Laura's stock projector setup".

I have heard the chinese projectors do not have good throw! Nikhil was complaining about his setup too. But the light quality on my pojectors is really awesome indeed.

Adding to the above info, my projectors are indeed FX-Rs and I am thoroughly satisfied with my headlights. The bulb color is white (4300K). And I should add that my car's headlight throw was on par with a visiting F10 BMW 5 series at my home.

The angel eyes keep making some fiasco sometimes, especially during monsoons as I have observed in recent days. Guess my car's splash guard/fender lining was damaged and hence water was getting in contact with wires and electricals. Now that I got my car's fender lining replaced, the lights are working fine.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

I'm replacing my Mini Morimotos H1 with FX-R. I have already ordered a pair of FX-R from Theretrofitsource.com.(cost 175$ including everything)
Morimotos... all I can say is, foreground light is good, but the throw(light distance) is not that great in highway, but overall good. I want something better that MM H1.. so going for FX-R.

Good decision. I had suggested you FX-Rs at first actually, if you remember. Dixit hasn't worked on my car's headlight though, however he knows what he is talking about.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Once I get.. My headlights would look the same as that of your's but a white CCFL ring ;-)

And minus the smoked headlight assembly!

[Ace F355]

Forgot to add, yesterday I impromptly planned to visit Sukhdev's Dhaba to have his signature 'aloo parantha' in my brunch. This place is like 80 kms from where I live. That drive was pretty nice too! While coming back, I decided to get my car washed to get rid of the underbody mud she had collected while 'off-roading'. Since the car was elevated, I peeked into her underbody to have an idea of belly scrapping. The beams, usual point of contact in case of car bottoming out were showing the signs evidently. I can tell that I have scrapped her belly 3-4 times during early days of our romance. So, some beating must have been inherited from the previous owner. Gotta say she has taken all the abuse on her underbelly nicely. Other than these, no damage or anything.



Here are the underbelly beam pics showing Shark's wounds while scrapping...




Also, while I was driving back in the evening, an interesting thing happened. If you recall, I had reported the vibrations in the steering during my last run and I was keenly waiting to get my car washed and test it out whether these vibrations were due to the mud stuck to the alloys. And guess what, it was the case! Once the car was washed thoroughly, the vibrations vanished and I was grinning ear to ear like an idiot while driving her!

Now here is the interesting thing, while I was driving at around 30 kph during my return trip to home around 7PM, I suddenly started feeling the vibrations again and it drove me nuts. I stopped at and had a look at the alloys, everything looked fine. I decided to take her to the wheel balancing and alignment shop. To my surprise, I drove my Shark again at above 100 kph but could not feel any vibrations. While I was scratching my head about his weird problem all my way, I got the news about earthquake after reaching home. Is it indeed possible to feel the quake in the car while driving, I am still wondering about it!?!

However, my car steering doesn't shudder at high speeds now and the problem is gone!

[dot]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

The average speeds were in between 80-100 kph with couple of 150-160 kph bursts. After upgrading to 17" alloys, I have mastered the art of driving my Shark at 80 kph in 5th gear @ 2000 rpms. Minimal risk of damaging the alloys, best in class FE and a comfortable ride. Find a slick piece of asphalt and I shoot to the redline occasionally.

Ah what life. But seriously, some amazing figures there. I, on the other hand, am a very very weak person. I just cannot keep driving at 80kmph on open highways.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

I'm replacing my Mini Morimotos H1 with FX-R.

Somehow I knew this was going to happen.

As you know I have replaced the stock bulbs with Sylvania Silverstar Ultras. They are pretty powerful, even during heavy rains. So no real need to change anything. However the other day a Black civic visited our building and it had a set of full bodied full angel eyes. Looked pretty good in person. Was thinking about both the Shark and Concorde at that time.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

While I was scratching my head about his weird problem all my way, I got the news about earthquake after reaching home. Is it indeed possible to feel the quake in the car while driving, I am still wondering about it!?!

That is entirely possible.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by dot

Ah what life. But seriously, some amazing figures there. I, on the other hand, am a very very weak person. I just cannot keep driving at 80kmph on open highways.

When you have spent a fortune on new tyres/wheels, and you are being apprehensive constantly about them getting damaged; you become stronger by will and start driving carefully by yourself.

No seriously dot, all these trips are testing phase of these wheels. While I do revv the nuts off the engine many a times, I actually want to drive my Shark in every possible speed/territory to get a hang of advantages/limitations of 17 inchers. I have been munching miles like crazy all these days. The odometer reads close to 52,000 kms now! That is about 18,000 kms in less than 8 months...

So far so good... *goes out and pets his car*

Originally Posted by dot

That is entirely possible.

Huh... talk about lively steering!

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Adding to the above info, my projectors are indeed FX-Rs and I am thoroughly satisfied with my headlights. The bulb color is white (4300K). And I should add that my car's headlight throw was on par with a visiting F10 BMW 5 series at my home.

I have ordered the same from TRS. FX-R 1.0 with 4300K Morimoto bulbs.
Believe me, the Morimotos are far better than Skoda Projectors too.

Somehow, I'm more inclined towards the FX-R.

The angel eyes keep making some fiasco sometimes, especially during monsoons as I have observed in recent days. Guess my car's splash guard/fender lining was damaged and hence water was getting in contact with wires and electricals. Now that I got my car's fender lining replaced, the lights are working fine.

It's not to do with the wires, it's the Angel eyes inverters, which play havoc when water goes inside them. As the inverters are not waterproof, make sure you get them covered properly so no water enters the inverters.

Once I experienced the same, to test the inverters I purposefully let running water on them, after a while when I ON the CCFL's they were almost acting like tubelight(blink, blink...). After a while it started working fine.

Good decision. I had suggested you FX-Rs at first actually, if you remember.

Originally Posted by dot

Somehow I knew this was going to happen.

Yep.... but was too much interested towards Mini H1's , Deaf ears & my mind was just Morimoto.. Morimoto
But, these are good projectors too, but somehow not happy with the distant throw of light, foreground is very good.
Good for city... But will never beat the Halogens.

Believe me, I was considering the LIGHTFORCE Blitz 240 Lights, but..... never saw any civic with these lights & somehow thought, though it might add some looks to the car(though huge lights) , but if fitted the OEM Civic feel would have been lost & affect the aerodynamics of the car too.
So dropped them

Originally Posted by dot

Black civic visited our building and it had a set of full bodied full angel eyes. Looked pretty good in person. Was thinking about both the Shark and Concorde at that time.

Those lights look evil, I didn't opt from them because, when I saw the reflector + Projector quality in them, it was not at all designed properly & was sure they would be only LOOK COOL factor than producing a proper beam on a highway.