Project Civic SI – Hondata Flashpro & Tuning at Church Automotive Testing
By Aaron LaBeau
Remember the show Monster Garage? It's been ten years folks. At some point in the show the announcer would say freebee, zip, zero, nada for the swag Jesse James got for the show's projects. The Hondata Flashpro is not free and it shouldn't be but what is free at Hondata, is the wealth of knowledge poured into their website, FAQ and help files and 35 base tunes included with the Flashpro for the Civic SI. It's a serious time saver on the internet where opinions are long and useful information is sometimes short.
I'm basically starting over with this Honda project discovering which sites keep the opinion at a minimum and can engage in thoughtful discussion about automotive aftermarket performance. I've seen bench-racing posts, YouTube video's with Civic SI's winning or losing street races and lots of seat of the pants testing. Who's got the most accurate butt dyno? For all the bullshit that gets shoveled on the internet every now and then you find a gem. I think The Oatmeal illustrates my point perfectly in his comic Minor Differences, Motorists cutting each other off .vs Pedestrians cutting each other off (scroll down half way through the page and look for the comic) we'll be here when you get back. You see, people in person are rarely as rude as they are on the internet, similarly to The Oatmeal's illustration about how crazy people act in their cars. In the same way, we're creating these series of project articles to organize the information that's already out there negating the chore of sifting through twenty-nine pages of forum posts by colostomy bag punching lunatics.
Plenty of internet trolls state something like “why would you bother modifying a FWD car that isn't a REAL SPORTS CAR?” Rule #1 never engage a troll on the internet. Rule #2 never argue with a troll on the internet. Rule #3 Since you're here we assume you're not an internet troll so we'll list some reasons why we're modifying a FWD car…
- It's fun, serious fun! For every domestic guy who's blown away a Honda with a fart can exhaust and then runs into an import that really goes fast it's a crackup.
- This car hauls the groceries, kids, goes on long distance trips, gets 25 mpg city and 32 hwy and is super reliable. Practical, affordable, dare we say economical, check.
- Stepping up to the next level of performance car requires roughly $10,000. Mechanically, these cars are even more complicated so guess what happens when parts break. Keep that in mind on your island of real sports cars Mr. Moneybags.
- For those that read #3 and said what about the S2000, Miata and new BRZ/FR-S. Sorry folks I aint strapping my kids to the trunk of the car as much as they would love it. 2 doors + 2 kids with car seats = serious agony.
- In a scenario where this car has to do all these things and more it was a great choice.
