[cityvic]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Naah, the filter was fitted properly, it was just that the filter seal gave up, could be due the the pressure generated in the filter under heavy acceleration.

Ace,been almost a year since an update on the thread.
How's the civic keeping?How many kilometers done now?

[skdking]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

...

Gaurav had a word with the aftermarket guy from which we bought the oil filter and he said there is a chance we could write to the company and claim our losses. Wishful thinking I say, but I will at least try.
...

Hi Ace,

An unrelated query.

Have you got your 60000 km servicing done?

I am asking because my 60000 km service is approaching. And 60000 km is supposed to be a major one.

Can you share the job list of your 60000 km service please?

[jatinpatel]

hey ace,

how are you ? long time no updates

Hows the civic doing ? its still there or you upgraded to A4 ?

[Ace F355]

Sorry guys for no updates for so long. My job keeping me so busy that i don't get time for logging on Team BHP. Typing this from my phone...

Shark is very well with me and has been a great companion so far! Crossed 80,000 Kms mark couple of weeks back while travelling to Chandigarh. Am in Rajasthan currently and will be here for most part of feb-march. Shark is at my home and being used by family. Will post all details of services and others once I get back to Delhi...

What I plan for time being for her is 80K service, a through check up, repainting the bumpers and a new type R rear spoiler. I think tyres are getting close to their life cycle end and will be replaced after another 5 - 7 K Kms.

Will post a detailed review as soon as I get time.

[Ace F355]

Just a quick one... Have got full paint job on my Shark.

Details and Pictures are posted here.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/delhi-...ml#post3089644

[Ace F355]

First of all, my apologies for being away from this thread for so long! I don't get enough spare time to log in at TBHP, although I have been reading posts and being in touch for all this long!

Now, the car... my Shark! Well, she is still with me and has been a faithful companion covering 82xxx kms till date. She has been around with me for little over 2 years now and is munching miles like anything without asking too much from my pocket. Apart from regular services, only one front hydraulic engine mounting (which was busted 'again' at 72000! kms) and one front fog lamp which was courtesy of a biker who decided to go under my car while I was waiting at a red light.

I had sourced the engine mount from aftermarket, and I was able to procure it for INR 3200 this time. At first, I thought being so cheap its not gonna last for long, but its holding up quite good so far. Broken fog light was also sourced after market for around one thousand rupees.

The car still feels pretty taut to drive, nothing feels loose and she drives like a dream... 2 days ago only, I have got her re-sprayed completely, not that I really needed to, its mainly because of the gifts from my fallow bikers on road who pay a little respect to other vehicles on the road and the inconsistent paint touch up jobs performed by various workshops on body panels.

As I have been getting her services done by my mechanic, costs have been fairly low (in the range of INR 3500 - 4000, including Synthetic oil, other part supplies and labour charges). After the oil filter fiasco happened just after 60K service, I had her running on Normal Mineral oil for 7000 kms and afterwards she is regularly fed upon 5W40 Synthetic oil every 10000 kms.

Also, I have got one of my alloys repaired because it was bent due to a hard impact caused by running over a brick at a considerable speed. The repair was part of the aesthetic make over performed by Bright Motors and they spent INR 2000 to get my alloy repaired (I was accompanying the fellow when he left my alloy for repair job). Because the alloy was heated to correct the bend, it had lost color and I asked my painter to paint all 5 alloys to paint glossy black. I will post details of the workshop who fixed my alloys in the Directory section so that other BHPians can also get services in their need.

In between, I had plans to sell her and upgrade to various options at various times, an Audi A4, a CR-V and even an Accord. Things didn't work out for one reason or the other, now that she has hit 82K kms without breaking any sweat, I intend to keep her for another 4-5 years!

Will post more details and pics once I get some spare time to write down a proper review.

For now, here is how my car looks...

[sumeethaldankar]

Finally a long waited update.Car looks fantabulous.For the mount is the engine block completely removed for the fitment or is just jacked up enough to make the replacement.Also was any ac service required in the kms that you have had her.Independent garages do not usually have the obd scanner so were you able to manage without one?
Sorry to bother you with so many questions,it's just that i too plan to keep the car maintained from independent garages rather than Hass.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Finally a long waited update.Car looks fantabulous.For the mount is the engine block completely removed for the fitment or is just jacked up enough to make the replacement.Also was any ac service required in the kms that you have had her.Independent garages do not usually have the obd scanner so were you able to manage without one?
Sorry to bother you with so many questions,it's just that i too plan to keep the car maintained from independent garages rather than Hass.

Will be short in answering as I am typing on phone.

1. No need to completely remove the engine block. Jacking up does the trick.
2. I haven't gone for any AC service till date because the AC is working brilliantly on my car. I keep ACC always on at 21-22 degree Celsius. Yet, I plan to get AC checked once this year before the scorching heat wave hits north India.
3. As far as I know, my mechanic doesn't have an OBD. So far to be honest, i haven't seen any trouble with my workshop without OBD.

[Ace F355]

Two more pics from this morning to show how glossy black roof contrasts the carbon bronze shade of the car. Sorry for the poor quality of pics, had to crop them as these were arial shots from phone camera.

[Ace F355]

Have bought few more toys to go in my car for pleasing my ears...

Here is a teaser. More to follow once I get everything put together.

[iTNerd]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Have bought few more toys to go in my car for pleasing my ears...

Here is a teaser. More to follow once I get everything put together.
Attachment 1077868

nice! appears to be speakers or amplifiers... show us soon

[Ace F355]

I am not an ICE guy! Rather I wasn't...!

I have owned this car for 2 years and 3 months now and the stock ICE was perfectly suffice for me so far. As you might know from many other Civic ICE threads (GTO, Dinu, Shuvc, Dynomite et al), Civic has very puny speakers in the front and back. Yet, the stock ICE sounded very nice to my ears.

The bug actually hit me when I thought of getting some more bass from stock ICE. First thing that came into my mind was "I know! Lets just upgrade the front speakers!"

So, the hunt begun on April 16th. The initial budget was 15,000 INR. I called Aman at Motor Concept and Subhan at Driven in Delhi very casually to get an idea what I could get in that range. 1st thing they both suggested was a Rainbow! Dreamline 2 way Components. I was like "hmmmm... Rainbow, nice speakers, those". Because I had auditioned these speakers in 3 different cars earlier, so I knew.

Next question was just an extension to previous one. Aman suggested to add coaxials in the back to get that extra bass I required. That was the time things started to let loose. I did a lot of late night research on ICE, contacted a lot of people on & off the forum, things took some sharp left and right turns, and here I am almost 3 weeks later... with my Civic 'properly' ICE'ed.

The final result so far is way off the mark from my initial budget or ICE'ing ideas. Talk about ICE'ing ka keeda...

Here is the list of equipment put in:

- Front Speakers: Rainbow Soundline 2 Way Components (very neutral sounding speakers)

- Rear Speakers: Rainbow Dreamline Coaxials (have quite decent bass kick)

- Headunit: Pioneer 8490 BT Double Din (fully loaded HU, the sole reason to upgrade from the stock HU were the added features.)

- Amplifier: Genesis Profile Five (an All-in-one solution to power up all 4 speakers and the subwoofer)

- Subwoofer: Image Dynamics Max D2, Rated @ 1000 Watts, currently being fed 250 Watts by Genesis Amp's mono channel. Enclosure quite small, made by BBW to deliver the tight punchy bass.

- Power Cable: Bull Audio 4 Gauge kit for power & earthing.

- Speaker Cables: Rockford Fosgate.

- RCAs: Gladen

- Damping: Damp Mat bulk pack (36 Sq. Ft.) for front doors and rear parcel tray. Fellow BHPian Safari Beast helped me sourcing this. Thanks a lot, Pal.

- Other consumables: Civic Dash Trim Kit, ABS Plastic Tweeter Pods, Water Guards, Amp Board, Speaker wooden rings etc.

Chosen Insaller was Motor Concept. The base reason was the price diffential between Driven and Motor Concept. I found Aman's prices to be better e.g. for the headunit, Aman's 1st price was 25,500 INR while Driven was selling it for 27,000 (Although when I asked them to re-confirm, actually had to chase them for 3 days, they got back to me matching the price offer of Aman). Similar observations with cable prices, Aman's prices were slightly better to start with, so his store was an obvious pick. Aman is a nice guy to deal with, he patiently listens to the customers and suggests accordingly. Although a few things he didn't have in stock (e.g. Tweeter Pods). I arranged these from Driven only. The install took approx. 9 hours and was completed in one day itself.

The whole setup and the resulting sound is so awesome, I actually drive the car just to listen to the music. Its approx. 80% of what I wanted. I have been told by many about the efficiency and Sound Quality of Genesis and ID Max; and it actually shows in the resulting sound.

However, I am still working towards making the bass tighter and punchier.The tuning of the system is still on-going and I am being helped by many audiopiles and ICE nuts (Aman, Sumit Bahl, Abhishek to name a few). Just met Nikhil Sharma this evening only to have him audition the car and tune it for more tight punch from the sub. The tuning part will continue till I achieve the kind of sound I want from the system (still a lot to come).

Whats more to be added in coming days:

- Pioneer Connector to enable Steering Controls for the headunit (Aman didn't have it in stock).

- Pioneer iPhone cable to fully access advanced AppMode apps (mainly, to mirror the iPhone navigation to headunit).

- Mono Amplifier to power the ID Max. Either a Genesis Profile Sub Ultra or a DLS D3/D6. If none of these, then Digital Design's CM 1000.

Now for the pictures, here are a few taken by my phone. Will add proper pics later.

Damping process on-going for front doors






Damping on Rear Parcel Tray


This is how the car dashboard looks now... do note the aluminium pedals


The close up of the HU




Rear looks completely stock...


The HU is fully compatible with my iPhone, syncs my contacts, call history and other data and also can play songs through Bluetooth Audio


The Amp & the Sub in the Boot


Tweeter Pods on front Quarter Glass (Pods are of very high quality and made of ABS material)


Close up view of the Pods


Notice the gloss black panels inside (look very classy, but are finger print magnet!)


Original Civic Type R Gear Knob & Leather Cover


And a few External Shots...

[mjumrani]

The sweet ride gets even sweeter


I gotta get me those tweeter moulds.
Been thinking about sub plus amp for a long time, how much did you get them for?

[gaurav_chopra04]

Originally Posted by Ace F355

I am not an ICE guy! Rather I wasn't...!

So, the hunt begun on April 16th. The initial budget was 15,000 INR.

Congrats again Sir! I was waiting was this update. The set up looks great and I am sure it sounds great. You are now left with some more damping and a separate amp for the sub if required.

In btw:- Looks like I am swapping my car with yours for the month of August..

[arvi86]

Wow, so the Grey Shark is getting better and better as she grows up with you. She looks stunning inside and out! To think of where you started and where you actually ended up, I don't believe that you didn't have the ICE bug before.

This just doesn't look like that to me.