The Blind Apex Podcast
The Blind Apex Podcast
Episode 23: Honda L Series Swaps with Scott Malloy
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I was able to sit down with Scott Malloy, Grid Life official, car builder, and future GLTC racer to go over the "new" Honda swap.
The L series engine is a 1.5L turbo engine available in the civic, accord, and crv. These are the Honda engines that will (and are) everywhere... if you are swapping a Honda, a Miata, BRZ/FRS, etc... this is going to be the K series replacement. There are a handful of folks in the US that are doing the swap now... and helping get parts developed... and we talk bout it on this episode!
Follow Scott on IG @gltc_ej2 for future updates!
If you like what you hear, please rate, review, and share the podcast.
I'm your host, Conjoncirk, and this is the Blind Apex Up Podcast. On this episode, we are going to be talking about Honda L series. L15s to be exact, and how to swap them, and what you're going to need to swap them. It is the future. K series is now. L series is where you need to be looking. Joining me to discuss this topic. Another EJ2 driver, but not the track rat. A Honda Insight lover. GLTC Data Nerd and future GLTC driver Scott Malloy. How are you?
SPEAKER_00I'm doing great. How are you?
SPEAKER_03Awesome.
SPEAKER_00That was uh quite the intro.
SPEAKER_03I I love I actually love this part of the podcast because I have to dig up dirt on p folks and um try to string it together. So I enjoy doing that. So um I've heard you on SlipAngle and some other podcasts. So uh when you reached out and everyone was reaching out to me about L series already, so I figured we might as well do this. And you were amenable to be on right away. So welcome.
SPEAKER_00Welcome. Well thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm uh I'm a little bit of a a little bit of an L series nerd. Um so happy to cover anything that you're interested in.
SPEAKER_03So Oh, I'm interested in the whole thing. So people leave my K series alone. But uh I I'm actually interested. I have a Honda Fit and I'd probably love to stuff a little turbo motor in that thing. So we'll see one day. But um what what do you do? Explain to the folks that listen what do you do with GLTC? Um what are you driving, what's the project status, those type of things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um for GLTC, uh I do all of the data collection, um a good amount of the analysis, uh, as well as getting some help from some other folks outside, um, some aim, some some contacts that I have at AIM and such to really uh hone in on some of the finer points in in the data. Um but basically I run around and put uh aim solos in a bunch of cars and uh do all the compliance stuff. So I'm you know measuring wings and splitters and making sure that people don't have ramps and the splitters, all that stuff uh every weekend uh for all the GLTC races. Um as far as uh what I'm driving, uh Daily Drive uh 2000 Citrus Yellow Honda Insight.
SPEAKER_03Um thing's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00We call it the bugger. It's prettier in pictures than it is in real life. Uh it's got a lot of faded paint and chipping clear coat.
SPEAKER_03So Instagram filters are good for something, right? Yeah, exactly. I still put my face in Instagram, so it's fine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um that's something that I've always wanted. Uh my wife has an AP1S2000, um, so we're just a big Honda family, and then I've got obviously the GLTC project car, um, an EJ2, so a 94 Civic DX coupe. Uh but I've owned probably 25 Hondas in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_02So oh, you got a revolving door on your garage, huh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, a little bit. I actually had a I had a 10th gen SI for about a year, um, but the market was so good on it during you know 2021 that and 2022 that I was like, you know what? I haven't lost any money driving this thing. So uh I sold that, freed up some cash flow so that I could uh continue to work on the GLTC car, pay off some debt, all that stuff. So very familiar with uh with the L15 platform from that from that car. So yeah. And that's actually that's actually the car that kind of pushed me in the direction of an L15. Um originally I had some plans for some weird F-series, H series stuff for the car. Uh just based on the rules, there were some some torque advantages for those cars. Um, and then I got my 2019 SI and fell in love with that uh drivetrain, and I was like, okay, cool, well this is this is the route that I'm gonna go. Um so that's that's kind of the rabbit hole that I went down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh I would be cautious about what kind of torque you want to put down in your torque advantage, but you guys don't run the same tires we do, don't have the same tire size.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean I'm not planning to go super heavy on power, so it'll probably end up in the 210-ish horsepower range with probably 230, 240 foot pounds. Um, it's kind of natural that they just want to make a lot of torque, so yeah. Uh, but we'll have some some big wide tires on the front and all that, so it should be able to handle it. And for 15 minute sparant races, I don't think that I'm gonna be too worried about burning down the tires.
SPEAKER_03Oh, well, I burned down 235 Toyos pretty quickly, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think I'm looking at 255s on the front, so that's where I'm looking to go.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And we'll get to that because I have questions.
SPEAKER_00So and I might have answers.
SPEAKER_03We'll see. We'll see. Um, so let's talk about the the cars that the 1.5 liter turbo, the L15, are they all B7s or they're different variations, I assume, right?
SPEAKER_00They're not. So there's several variations. Um they're Honda did a weird thing. They made like five different variants on the engine. Um, and even within that, they had some different turbos and head design and cams and stuff like that. So um I believe it's the L15 BA, which is in the uh EX Sports. Uh that engine makes 184 horsepower from factory. Uh there's an L15BE in the Accord. Um 1.5 sport. So they had two different sport versions of the Accord. They had a 1.5 sport and then a 2-liter sport. The 2-liter got the K20C4, which is basically the baby type R engine. Um, and then the B7 was a Civic SI only variant. Um, and I'm not sure which version is in the uh CRV, but I believe that it's a version of the BA that makes a slightly different uh amount of power than the EX4.
SPEAKER_03Um, I think the CRV has like a 10.3, 10.3 to 1 compression motor.
SPEAKER_00I believe they're I believe they're all the same compression across all the variants. Um I think they're all in like the yeah, maybe they're all 10.2, 10.3, something like that. Um where the differences come in is uh one turbochargers are different from SI to EX to Accord, um, and the head design is different from basically across all of them. So the Accord actually has VTech on the exhaust cam, where the other ones are just VTC, so it's not your traditional um your traditional VTEC in those. Um from everything that we're able to uh deduce, the VTEC is only really used for low RPM torque um in the Accord and for emissions control. Um so we're not really sure whether we're gonna see any advantages from that. I say we, um, there's a couple of us. There's actually there's three of us who are doing uh L15 BE swaps, including myself. So uh myself, Ryan Christoff, who has like a crazy uh first gen CRX, uh also GLTC car. Um he's actually getting really close to finishing his up. Um and then uh another guy who's in the grid life universe, uh um named Jay, he's doing an L15BE in his. Um so the advantages in that is that it also has a uh, you know, most of them have like a single port um exhaust housing, like like in the uh K20Zs, where it's just that single port. It feeds directly into the turbo, the turbo bolts directly to the head. Uh the advantage in the Accord is that it's a divorced port, so you actually get a twin scroll turbo from the factory, um, which actually helps it make more torque earlier and carry more torque throughout the entire uh power band, and that is unique to the accord. Um, that head is not used on any other vehicle.
SPEAKER_03So is are the heads interchangeable? Have you guys looked at the code?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, from what I understand, the heads are interchangeable. Um, I think the blocks are basically all the same. Um the accords are rumored, maybe confirmed, to have stronger rods, um, which to me would actually make sense because you know the accord is Honda's is Honda's moneymaker, so they're gonna put you know the best parts in that, and it's it's also meant to be you know a quarter million mile car. Um so I I think that they put a ton of money into the Accord engine to make it stronger. Um and from what we've seen, the Accords, the Accord engines actually have fewer issues with rods than um the SI and EX variants do.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean they're all running over one bar of pressure from their turbos. What I read was they're all 16 and a half-ish PSI or more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so so the uh EX is run like 16 and a half, and then the Accord runs all the way up to like 22 PSI. I think the SIs are 21. So basically a bar and a half. Um those numbers are misleading, though, because a lot of people don't realize that direct injection engines take twice as much boost twice as much boost pressure to make the same amount of horsepower. Uh okay. So if it was port injected, it would be you know 10, 12 psi, um, but it takes twice as much boost pressure in uh in a direct injection engine to make the same uh same amount of horsepower.
SPEAKER_03Still 10 or 12 psi in a OEM car is kind of that's pretty good, I think. Yeah. I don't know. I don't do turbo stuff, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm just learning turbo stuff. I mean, I'm an old like D series nerd myself, so that's kind of how Jaime and I uh connected as well as as actually as well as uh Adam Jabet, he's a big D series guy, so that's kind of how we all uh connected as far as Honda stuff goes.
SPEAKER_03So oh single jingles. They love turbos too, you know.
SPEAKER_00They do love turbos, but I had a crazy built NA D series years and years ago that made almost 200 wheel. Uh but those those days are long gone. That was back when you could buy one of those engines like full swap from Japan for like 600 bucks, and now they're 1200, 1300 if you can even find a good one.
SPEAKER_03Right. Or at best, you could people were giving them away 10, 12 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I remember that. I remember those days.
SPEAKER_03I recycled more D series engines than I know what to do with, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think I think a lot of us threw them away.
SPEAKER_03I did for some reason they just captured my heart and I I did crazy things with them for a while, so so we've picked out our engine, I'm assuming there's manual accords, the the civics are all manuals. I don't know about the CRVs, so that's the transformation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't believe there's a manual option in the CRV, at least in the United States. Um and that's the weird thing too, is that there's all these like weird variants of them overseas. Um, but we got basically four versions. And then now there's the 11th gen version, which I honestly don't know much about, but from what I've read, it's basically they changed the designation on it from L15 B7, but it's basically just the SI engine now across all of them. They just made one engine this time instead of multiple.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you gotta save money somewhere.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and I think you know, early on there was a lot of like fuel dilution issues and all sorts of stuff with the direct injection, people weren't getting them warm enough, and so I think Honda just like went back to the drawing board and uh made it simpler on themselves to do recalls and stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um so we've got our car and we've picked our engine and the very limited transmissions. What what are the mount options that are out there right now?
SPEAKER_00Uh so Hasport has a drop-in mount kit for uh EGDC and then for EK. Um and then I they've also done some fit swaps. Actually, the first running L15 swapped car ever was a Honda Fit. Uh that was Brian from Hasport's personal car. Um and then I believe his name is Michael from Axion Industries. He just finished up his um L15 B7 swapped uh fit as well. And I think that that's much more of a direct drop-in than what we're looking at for our cars, but um Hasport definitely definitely makes mounts for it. So yeah, and they also offer axles, so that's that's okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's that's down on my list to talk about, but yeah. We're talking about a swap that's we're early in the game. Think very early in the 2002 K swap life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's probably a dozen, yeah, probably a dozen that are happening right now. There's there's like two fits in the US, there's probably two or three in Malaysia, which is a weird market, and uh we can cover some more of that later too. Um, and then um there's the soul of my civic, which you mentioned, uh Nikki Robinson. Um she is has an EK that is running and uh sees some track time. Uh, I believe that's in Arizona. I think that was like the first test vehicle for um Hasport as far as like building them building a drop-in mount kit. Um and then there's some others kind of scattered around North America. Um, not a lot going on overseas, like Europe or anything like that yet. Um, but yeah, there's a couple in Canada that are happening, and then there's probably six or seven more in the US that are happening as well.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00It's actually a NASA STU car that has it, but um, I think that they were having some issues and are are like kind of rethinking a couple things on that car.
SPEAKER_03So I mean I can imagine um you're sort of paving the way, so um yeah, and that was part of the goal of the car too, was to was to kind of prove it as like a racing platform, you know.
SPEAKER_00Like it's it's one thing to have it running and driving and going to car shows and doing street things, um, but it's a whole nother thing to like do four races on the weekend and have it survive. And um I've been talking to a lot of like the WRL teams as well that run the TCA cars, um, seeing what kind of issues they have and um trying to talk to people talk to the right people and get the right people in place to create solutions for um some of those issues.
SPEAKER_03So yeah. So what uh is there a Honda out there for it? Yep, so there's Flash Pro.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, so you can use the stock ECU, um, and I think they they have both the Accord and Civic variant um because there's a little bit of difference between the two. Um there's Hondata Flash Pro um and then there's K-Tuner as well for native chassis stuff. K-Tuner also has a swap set up because we all know with CAN and everything that there's body control modules and ABS modules and everything that are talking to each other now. Um so K-Tuner has actually got for the EX and SI variants, they have a swap version of the of their little tablet, like their little K-Tuner V2 tablet that's able to control and um be tunable for the stock ECU.
SPEAKER_03Um that's more than I thought was out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So there those are the two main ones for stock ECU stuff. Um there's a couple of different things happening in the standalone world. Um one of them is not out yet, one of them is in testing, um, and then the other one is uh MoTec. So Motec is um able to control the direct injection and all that, which is actually a bigger problem than a lot of people realize um as far as the future of the swaps. The the direct injection support currently with ECU manufacturers is actually not very good. Um and I think a lot of it comes down to you know putting RD money into it when the EPA has been breathing down everybody's neck about you know, tuning vehicles and all that. So um I think a lot of you know, like Haltech, I've talked to them for a long time, and they were just like, yeah, we don't see direct injection on the future um for some time now. So um we've had to get creative with some other solutions um and uh have talked to a bunch of different ACE manufacturers about creating standalone solutions. So um one of them is actually Amtron. Uh they make a plug-and-play kit for the Honda Fit that we're trying to adapt to run the L15 uh turbo engines. So it was originally uh GT86, so FRS BRZ direct injection ECU that a race series in China and Malaysia uses for it's called Super Turbo. It's like 300 horsepower L15 turbo engines. Most of them are like the Honda Fit variant, um, but sequential transmissions, there are these crazy, crazy Honda Fits.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that sounds wild.
SPEAKER_00So we talked to Mtron when we found out about that kit. Actually, Ryan Christoph found it, um, and he was the first one in the US to purchase one and is is working on adapting it to uh run his L15 uh in his CRX. So that's one option. Um there's another standalone manufacturer um that I've been speaking with um talking about building an L15 specific ECU. Um they're based out of Texas. Um and then um yeah, MoTec. Motec is obviously like on emptanium money. So a lot of the drag racers have used like the M142 with a lot of success. Uh but you know, we're talking ten to fifteen thousand dollars by the time you get it fully unlocked and all that, plus harness and all that, which is probably another four or five grand.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, so uh something we probably skipped over a little bit. What's what's an L15 B7 costing these days?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think I paid just over a thousand dollars for mine. Um engine, no, so that was engine turbo. Mine was missing the alternator and starter and stuff because there was a miscommunication with the salvage yard that I purchased it from. Uh but it's like it's super clean. It's like a 40,000 mile accord engine. Um and it was a rear end hit, so I didn't have to worry about any of like the auxiliary stuff in the front being damaged. Um and then transmissions, transmissions are actually more expensive than engines. Uh, I was able to get a super, super. Clean one. Mine's actually zero miles. But my transmission was I think$120 or$1,300. So we're talking, you know,$2500,$2600 for like a drop-in, um, you know, fully dressed engine and uh transmission.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, that's not hateful at all. I've yeah, I've definitely we've definitely seen the prices of B series double, triple that for a swap.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean I mean if you're looking at an L15 or uh sorry, uh B18 C5 or you know JDM B18 C, they're seven, eight grand some of them now, so um yeah, they're pretty they're pretty wild.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um and the K series is not helping out either.
SPEAKER_00I mean No, I think you're still able to find K series for cheap, but it's you know of questionable origin, I think a lot of times. You know what you know, how are they run? Were the was it you know regularly maintained, things like that become a become a big issue with a lot of these K series that are popping up now.
SPEAKER_03I really hope my microphone's picking up what's happening outside. I live in the middle of nowhere and I can hear somebody doing donuts down at the like the crossroads that's like a mile and a half from my office. So I really hope it picks that up. But there's a bunch of hooligans out here. We all live out here for peace and quiet, and then we're all the ones that interrupt peace and quiet.
SPEAKER_00So right. I live in the middle of the city, so I don't get peace and quiet.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I used to. I used to live that life. So um so we well so we're covering the ECU, but are you guys making your own harnesses? Are you like deep, repinning? Are you making your own adapters? Um what are you guys doing to plug things in?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um actually Bryant, uh Nikki's husband, makes uh swap swap harnesses that are based off the OEM stuff, and he basically deletes the body control module stuff and gets it to communicate with the stock ECU and K tuner. Um so that's one option. Uh the Mtron kit actually comes with like a motorsports grade harness. It has um you know auto sport connector, uh quick disconnect for the firewall. Um it's all like you know, RayCem DR25, all that. So that that ECU kit comes with the harness, the direct injection driver, and um basically a dual wideband controller, um, as well as the ECU. So it's not cheap, but you know, as far as like being able to have like a basically ready-to-go harness. Um I think Ryan's working on uh switching out some connectors and um you know maybe extending some wires and things, like rerouting things to fit onto the uh turbo L15, because it's you know, like I mentioned, it was the initially designed for the fit L15, which is sensors are in some different places and things. So uh Ryan's kind of leading the charge on that. Um and we've been in really close uh contact with Mtron about all that. So um the great thing about Mtron is that it's a torque-based ECU, so um they're they're basically controlling the entire vehicle by you know torque control rather than um just fuel and timing and all that. So it's it's a really, really, really high quality ECU. Uh it's incredibly capable as far as you know, boost by throttle position, things like that, that that are available on that ECU. Um so that's that's definitely and it's a motorsports grade ECU. It's not just an OEM one that's being adapted for uh being able to be tuned and stuff.
SPEAKER_03So boost by throttle position sounds like a nightmare for you in compliance, just saying.
SPEAKER_00Um we don't have a rule against it. We do have a rule against boost by gear. So uh when we do dyno pulls, we'll do them in different gears, we'll do them at different throttle positions, stuff like that. Um, but um it's definitely something that you know with me knowing that that stuff exists, uh it's definitely something that I'm trying to pay attention to.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, yeah. When you figure it out, let me know. So we can try to police it on our end to the code.
SPEAKER_00We can't have a bunch of people, yeah. We can't have a bunch of people driving around a half throttle making 30 PSI. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's I know it's possible in the K series, so um Yeah, I mean it's with a drive-by-wire car.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely. And and the L15s are all drive-by-wire. Um there's a there's actually one guy, uh, he has an integer type R that was J32 swapped. Uh he just got his L15 running, um, and he switched to uh cable or he kept his cable throttle. Um he basically used the element. There's like a little piece on the Honda Elements that does cable throttle to uh drive-by-wire conversion. Um part from from Honda, so he adapted that so that he could keep his um integrity R throttle pedal and um still control the drive-by-wire.
SPEAKER_03That's wild. Yeah. Because I I don't know. I've I've had both now and I don't seem to feel a difference, so we'll see.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think drive-by-wire has gotten really good, and and for you know, something like GLTC, where we're de where honestly a lot of cars are being detuned, it's almost you know a necessity at some point to uh have dry-by-wire.
SPEAKER_03I can I can go down a rabbit hole about how terrible detuning my car with the throttle body was. So we don't go over there. It was the curve was ugly, it didn't you started ramping too early. There's limitations to Flash Pro.
SPEAKER_00So Yeah. Yeah, I think most of our guys are on uh standalones too, so that that kind of helps.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that helps. Yeah, I mean we're allowed now, but I wasn't allowed before when I built the car, and so I have to come up with the scratch. And I got other things I want to buy. So But um okay, so we talked a little bit about axles. My concern is we break things all the time. Yes. So you're gonna have to carry spares if if Brian and Hosporters are the only folks making them, you're gonna have to carry spares. So put that in your budget.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. And um it's something that like Ryan's got some custom ones from Drive Shaft Shop that he had made, uh, partly because he's got weird stuff going on in the front of his suspension being uh GT lights car, um, and it all being tube chassis and custom uprights and all that. Um his is a little different, but um we're all kind of figuring out what ends, you know, what inner end we need and what outer end we need and rod lengths and all that. Um Hasport's been uh very helpful as far as that because there's some differences between the SI transmission and the sport and accord transmissions. Um so yeah, there's definitely like a lot that we've been finding out as we are all building these cars. So um found out actually last week that the accord differential and the SI differential are the same size, same ball pattern. Um because the SI was the only one that came with a helical uh limited slip. It wasn't offered in any of the other cars. Um, but it's nice to know that the SI diff is the same size as the uh accord diff because um we think that there's a better diff option in the SI trans, and the size of the ring gear is a little bit better for acceleration. Um so yeah, there's just been like a lot of random little things that we've been finding out as we go. And as guys open the transmissions up and see, you know, as they're looking, you know, for for differential options and things like that, um, we've been able to figure out a lot of stuff pretty quickly, I think.
SPEAKER_03So they're they're obviously six-speed cars, right? Yep, all of these. Six-speed transmissions.
SPEAKER_00All of them have the same uh gear ratios as well.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00So the SI, non-si, and a cord all have the same gear ratios.
SPEAKER_03So you guys are all planning on running the SI diff, or is it are there aftermarket options yet?
SPEAKER_00There are. So um most of us are actually gonna run the Civic Sport Trans um for a couple of reasons. One, it's about half the price of an SI trans. SI transmissions are around$1,900. Um, and we're able to get ours for right around$1,000. Um,200, depending on how clean how many miles are on it. Um and then M Factory makes diffs for the non-SI versions only. Um the only SI diff that exists that we've been able to find uh is actually the HPD um Honda Performance Development diff that's made by Cusco. Um and it's also twice as expensive as the um M Factory differentials are.
SPEAKER_03So um as much most HPD parts are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it's a great diff. Um I actually I have an HPD account, so I actually bought one for an autocross friend or a friend who auto-crosses, Jason Tippel, um, and he loved the diff. He's like, it's amazing. Um but you know, as we're trying to figure out these cars and as we're um you know testing things, we wanted to start with the cheaper stuff, and then you know, if if we see an advantage to go to the more expensive, then we will. But because the gear ratios are all the same, um, and you know, there's no real variant as far as um gear sizes or anything, we we all decided that we'd uh most of us decided that we would use the um the accord sport or the civic sport transmissions, just for for cost purposes at first.
SPEAKER_03Right. So the when you're talking to the diffs, is M Factory making final drives too?
SPEAKER_00No, no final drives yet. Um there's some stuff in the works. Uh there's a guy out of Malaysia who's building custom gear sets um for L15s.
SPEAKER_03Um and is he the same guy that builds custom gear sets for anybody?
SPEAKER_00I'm not sure. His Instagram name is tuned by capped C-A-P-T-S. Um he is doing a lot of L15 stuff, including like CVT L15 track cars and um like L15 drag stuff. Malaysia and like Indonesia and stuff is like a weird market for cars, and they um tend to do some pretty funky things, but um he's building some custom gear sets that are different ratios, uh like customizable ratios. They're all like shot beaned and polished and all that. Um and then um he's also doing uh some of the gears are dog tooth engagement because one of the biggest weaknesses in these transmit in these swaps is actually the transmissions. Um even Honda performance development makes a fourth gear, uh, but even that has had issues in some of the WRL cars. Uh the gear just explodes. Um so that's I would say that the biggest issue right now is transmissions as far as uh getting getting these swaps to be viable um long term.
SPEAKER_03So it seems like the K Series fourth gear problems are still haunting them then.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean we've seen we've seen failures in third gear and in fourth gear, in both drag racing and in the um and in road racing cars. So uh it seems to help a lot to run an oil or to run a transmission cooler on them. Um a lot of the WRL cars have actually gone to a transmission cooler, and I think we're most of us that are doing race cars or track cars are also planning on running transmission coolers. So um hopefully that'll help alleviate some of the stress. But I'm trying to adding it's also adding a little bit of complication as far as packaging, so um, to confitter it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm trying to talk to uh Nick Kors about his setup specifically for the K series, but I'm sure it can apply to all of them. I just gotta get him on so he can spill the beans. But he's also trying to like finalize it because he's really swapped parts around and done certain things.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm gonna assume all your intake and exhaust stuff is basically custom, right?
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, so hood clearance is a big issue because of where the turbo sits, it sits so close to the core support that uh we actually I think all of us are running it on the lowest setting. So Hasport has the flip mount where just like they do for the K series, where you can raise it or lower it. Uh my hood absolutely would not close on the highest setting, so I had to flip mine. Um I think the DCs are better as far as hood clearance, just the front end of those cars is so much longer. There's actually a lot more space in a DC Integra, uh, especially if it has a JDM front end. Uh that court report gets pushed forward and um they have a lot less issues as far as clearance goes. Uh the EKs, I think, are all running on the lower lower position as well. Um but EKs are a little easier to fit an intake on, uh, like an off-the-shelf or a modified off-the-shelf. So like Soul of My Civic, she runs a custom pipe over the turbo, but she runs the PRL um intake like inlet tube and um all that. So uh mine's gonna be custom, just one for packaging reasons and uh yeah, I mean mostly mostly packaging reasons, just being able to like shoot it out the fender directly instead of like going up and over the turbo and adding that complication of the intake potentially getting hot too.
SPEAKER_03So yeah. There's a lot of um there's a lot of stuff you can do with material to help keep that heat out, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean I've looked at like all the you know DEI gold tape and um you know the ink canal wrap or whatever, but I figured it would just be easier to go straight out the passenger fender, um you know, down behind the bumper. Yeah. And then it'll also protect it a little bit better too. It won't be you know getting all dirty from stuff in the engine bay. So um, and then um I think a couple of the guys have been able to run the stock SI intake pipe, but the a cord intake pipe basically won't clear anything. It's round instead of like that pancake intake. So that one that's what I tried to fit that on mine and it was absolutely not gonna work.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah. Working all that out is like custom work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And then as far as exhaust, um, actually, one of the guys who's doing uh the swap out of Canada, he's building down pipes. Um so he had laser cut flanges made for the turbo, and he'll sell you either the the flange or he's gonna end up building uh down pipes and having those available. Um and the cool thing about those is they'll be like B series style. So normally it's like a down pipe and then a midpipe and then back to the cat back.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00Um but his are gonna be like all one piece that snakes down under the transmission and ends behind the subframe like the like the B series headers and stuff. So that'll make it a lot easier for like you know, running your exhaust out uh wherever you want past the past the angle down pipe.
SPEAKER_03So and then you can sort of keep a normal exhaust or an off-the-shelf exhaust for it.
SPEAKER_00Yep, and that's I think that that's the plan for a lot of the streetcar guys. Um uh you know, obviously we're gonna I'm gonna run custom exhaust for my car um because I want that oval titanium and for hot boy points.
SPEAKER_03Oh man. You who's doing your oval titanium?
SPEAKER_00Uh I have a buddy who's gonna do the welding of it. Um and then but I found a company, I think it's JMD tube that actually makes oval titanium. So um yeah, I want to do like hotboy center exit uh oval titanium.
SPEAKER_03So uh I like spending money, so I figured I was gonna do a titanium exhaust here one of these days, but yeah, we'll see. My car is ungodly loud right now.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, hopefully the turbo helps keep it pretty quiet, but I also might run like I actually think I'm gonna run a catalytic converter on my car just because uh just like a nice Jesse cat.
SPEAKER_03No. Don't do it. I'm I'm telling you right now, you're gonna go you're gonna have to gut it at track side somewhere. It's you're gonna melt it. You're gonna do it. If the OEM, if a stock K20, if a mostly stock ITR running purpose aftermarket, you know, performance uh catalytic converters will melt them, your turbocar's gonna melt it. Don't do it. Just skip it. If you want, you just put in like a you put in a a little magna flow whatever resonator, and you can tack weld on your little catalytic converter shield and be like, look, it has a catalytic converter on it, so but don't do it. I'm telling you, they clog immediately. They they don't take to as hot as we run these engines very well. So even the performance ones. So I can pass that along for sure. So are you guys all running going to run 10th gen shifters?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, so uh Acuity has a 10th gen uh shifter that they've actually they have an adapter plate that goes over the transmission tunnels um and then adapts the 10th gen their 10th gen Civic uh shifter to uh the Golden Era Honda's. And then uh Civic Sport or SI cables. Um I think actually even the Civic type R and Accord 2.0 cables will work too if you want to move the shifter back a little bit. Um but yeah, so that's something that's already actually been figured out, and I think we all have it. So okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've been looking longingly at the 8th gen Civic triple adjustable acuity shifter.
SPEAKER_00It's it's I've had a lot of nice shifters in vehicles. I've had CAE shifters, I had an IRP in my BRZ. Um, and man, it's the nicest shifter I've ever felt. Like it's just crisp and clean and tight and super adjustable. Uh I can't speak highly enough about that company. They also haven't a sponsor of mine, so well I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah the they put out good products. The problem for me is I need more driver mod than I need car mod, even though I love shiny things. I love shiny things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But I definitely was super uh super lucky to have them come on board. Uh they actually came through Hasport. So Hasport uh came on board and when I found out I wanted to do the L fifteen, they were like, hey, we'll you know, we'll hook you up with mounts, and then I guess Hasport and Acuity had made a deal for any car that was gonna be L fifteen swap that ha that, you know, would be C track time and all that, that Acuity would Um help support those guys too. So they reached out to me and said, Hey, we heard you're doing L15 swap. We want to support you, so we're just going to send you a bunch of stuff. And I was like, Okay.
SPEAKER_03Awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, can't argue with that. No, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And they're great guys.
SPEAKER_00I mean, Russell, Russell at Ecuity is amazing to work with. And I'm sure you've seen Evan Weeder and uh Mario Moroni and all those guys from uh Grid Life Club TR and all that, um, with all their beautiful acuity raps. So there's they're super supportive of motorsports. They're heavily involved in the gridlife community. And um, yeah, like I said, I can't speak highly enough about them. The quality of their stuff is unbelievable. I mean, even the packaging that it comes in is just beautiful and like well thought out, and yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've I've watched some of the unveiling or the unboxings, and I'm like, wow, they put more time. Well, if they put this much time into engineering the package that it went out to, the the product is probably pretty well engineered. So I'm not sponsored.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh I come from like high-end fine dining worlds. So like all those like tactile, very like nice, fancy things are like something that really makes me happy. So when I like got all the boxes, I'm like looking at all the details and the design work and everything.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I mean the the GLTC cards look like they're boxes, so they're yeah, they're delivering, right?
SPEAKER_00They're pretty, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um let's talk about some specialty parts. Are there any like off-the-shelf radiators for you guys yet?
SPEAKER_00So there's there's not really. Um I'm working with Rob at Tracktuff to hopefully develop a solution for that. That's kind of a drop-in, you know, and have like a motor sports variant and a streetcar variant. Um but uh I think a couple of things.
SPEAKER_03He just released some uh some billet and end mount things.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, then billet end tanks, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I don't know if that's that's gonna make it pretty flexible to to to make things, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, those uh those billet end tanks are not cheap.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I'm yeah, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00And he'll he'll be the first one to tell you that those aren't for everything, you know, those are for very specific use cases. Um, and that's one thing that I love about Rob. He he designs his stuff for like this is for this, this is for that, this isn't gonna work for everything. If you don't like it, don't spend the money on it. You know, like Rob's a great guy. Um so there is no drop drop drop-in radiator solution yet. Um, a couple of the guys have used um actually I think the soul of my civic, Nikki, she used um a DA Integra radiator and modified the upper water neck to fit. Um, and then uh a couple people have used the K swap, uh, the Coyo K swap radiator.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_00Um, with varying levels of success, mostly failure as far as being able to keep it cool. Uh, but you know, the the hard part too is that like a lot of us haven't had our eyes on all these other cars and like seen how hard they're driven and all that, so it's kind of hard to say whether it was ducted properly or whether it had proper ventilation behind the radiator. So um, you know, I think a lot of those things are still being figured out. Um so but my plan is to you know have you know whatever radiator I have in the car be a production unit and and know 100% that it's gonna be fine, you know, that if it's able to run a six, seven hundred horsepower K series with no cooling issues, then I want to know that you know I'm not gonna have cooling issues, um, especially if we decide to put a big intercooler in front of it.
SPEAKER_03Or um yeah, I was gonna ask about intercoolers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um I don't have a solution figured out yet. Uh I think Nikki's running a PRL, like their PRL big turbo intercooler, um, just with like custom piping and stuff. Um and I guess they haven't had any issues as far as like intake air temp. They had a lot of problems early on with uh the radiator and getting enough airflow to it. Um the cars that they come in obviously have big grills that are designed, you know, to cool that engine.
SPEAKER_03Huge grills.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, so putting them in a putting them in a golden era Honda with you know a tiny little grill opening, um, you know, especially in EG, they have the smallest grill opening out of all the golden eras, um, you know, not having the upper up upper grill and all that, um uh that's definitely a big concern is being able to keep the car cool. But I think you know, properly designing it and having ventilation out the hood and making sure that you're giving the air a clean path to get in and out is uh is the end goal as far as being able to keep it cool. And then Ryan, Ryan's running like a custom radiator from um a company in Michigan, I believe. Um he had great success with their stuff uh with his previous D series swap. I say D series was an EW, like the predecessor to the D series. Um but he's running a custom radiator in his car again because such a small grill opening, weird custom tube chassis stuff.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I I think that that problem definitely has to get solved. Um I and I'm sure you guys are on your way. Uh the streetcar guys are probably gonna be less apt to be ducting and venting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03But they're probably not going to run it nearly as hard or as long as a track car would be done or a race car.
SPEAKER_00So for sure, you know, but at the same time, whatever I design, I want to make sure can also sit in traffic and you know be able to you know keep the car cool and all that too, so those guys those guys can also have an option uh for you know a nice nice radiator.
SPEAKER_03Just just like my K series episode. Surface area is king.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, you know, and proper flow too, making sure that it's got you know the right amount of fins per square inch and all that to make sure that it's got the ability to cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's pretty important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know Rob Rob is the cooling guy, so that's uh that's why I'm talking to him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he just he just put out a water pump housing something for you guys. Is that part of the cooling package you guys are looking at running or a problem you guys noted?
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, so that's specifically for the motorsports guys. Um I I don't see any of the streetcar guys running that. It would be asinine for them to do so. Uh, but basically that deletes the complicated upper water neck that Honda had for those and the crossover tube that goes behind the turbo. Um and then it gets rid of the factory water pump uh and replaces it with an electric water pump. So you're able to do pulse width modulation and and uh and run on you know run it electronically uh versus relying on uh thermostat to do to do the job. It also helps with um with routing of the upper um radiator hose. Um so we we specifically talked about you know lengths of hoses that would need to be made. And um the problem is that the way that the stock one is the hose is actually super short, so you lose so much volume of coolant uh just in that short run of the hose. So it flattens it out and gives it like a little 90-degree two, so it adds adds a little bit more um uh you know volume to the system uh is is kind of the idea. Um and I think I've I'm the only one so far that has it. Um and my car is still a ways out from being done, which we can we can also touch on later. Um but um yeah, that that was something that Rob and I had kind of talked about and Rob had dreamed up and was like, hey, you know, is this something that you'd be interested in? Do you think there's a market for it? You know, what do we because because basically when we first started looking at this build, cooling was like our biggest thing. Like, okay, cool. How now we have this, you know, it's it's actually a pretty big engine, um, as far as you know being a 1.5 liter, it's very tall, it's very far forward, so it everything kind of gets shoved into this small little little area in the front of an EG. So cooling was definitely top of mind when we when we first started tackling this project.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh that would be my biggest concern, right? Um well we we see what the the type R is going through, the struggles the guys with the type R's are going through. Cooling their engines down. So this is more of a little type R, not the poor man's type R, but uh but the mini type R, right? It's a 1.5 liter, it's still a turbo Honda car. Yeah. Um so if they're struggling with cooling and they have the big grill. You know.
SPEAKER_00Which I don't think big always solves the issue, but it definitely helps when um when the car is designed around, you know, that engine, that package, that that radiator size, all that. Um you know, the I guess there's the old adage that the front opening only needs to be one third the size of the total surface area of the radiator um for optimal flow.
SPEAKER_03Um tell that to BMW, tell that to all the the truck manufacturers where the grills just I mean when I was a kid the grill on a truck wasn't that big, and now it's like the whole front end that the headlights poke out somewhere, you know.
SPEAKER_00So I think a lot of that is like sitting in traffic too, right? So they need surface area when it's just sitting there versus when it's you know at at moving at speed. A lot of them now have those shutter systems where they actually close at speed um because they don't need as much airflow through 'em.
SPEAKER_03That seems complicated. Something else they can fix when it breaks, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03I built you this very complicated vehicle that I will repair for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um what else do we need to cover about the swap?
SPEAKER_00Um I mean I guess we can talk about like kind of where I see the where I see it fitting. Um I think currently I think currently GLTC is about the only class that it would probably more regularly be seen in. Um you know, I think I don't know much about I mean I'm learning more about Honda Challenge as I listen to your podcasts and Jackie's and um, you know, Jaime's and all that. So uh but it's not a rule set that I've like memorized and looked through and you know had to know. Um but I do I do think that H1 could be somewhere that that it could make a lot of sense. Um I think that those a lot of those cars are able to run heavier. Um, you know, I think I think you said that the native chassis uh SIs are running like 2850 um in H2. Uh getting an integra or a civic to 2850 is not smart. Um that's a very, very heavy golden era Honda. Uh I think my plan is to run high 25s, maybe 2600 pounds, and even that is pretty heavy for an EG. Um so I might have to do some do some detuning.
SPEAKER_03I ran uh I ran an EM1 at 2550. Yeah. Um Ronnie, who left H2 to go to GLTC, he he was running his at his DC at 2750, 2775, somewhere in there.
SPEAKER_00So that's a that's a big old girl for uh for those golden rondas.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think he's in the 20, I think he's right just under 2,500 pounds in GLTC trim.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, yeah. I'm sure his tire wear is happier for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he's 255s on the front too, he's not limited to 235 anymore. Um so um, but yeah, so I th I think that H1 Um could actually be a really good place for the engine. It has the ability to make power, you know, rods, rods become an issue around 260, 270 wheel torque. Um so that's definitely something that would need to be looked at um if you're if you're looking at doing an L15 swap and and making more power with it. Um but I think you know the happy place is you know right around 220, 230 wheel horsepower. And um, I know you guys live in NASA land with average horsepower and stuff, so it's a little bit different.
SPEAKER_03Honda Challenge doesn't average horsepower.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03So we don't those super touring guys, the T T guys, I don't I don't even want to know what fake math they're using to do it, but yeah. Because if I knew I could make it.
SPEAKER_00I've done a little bit of I've done a little bit of NASA stuff, like as a crew member. I worked a couple of 24 or 25 hour Thunder Hills uh with uh what is it, GTS class? Is that NASA? Yeah, yeah, that's GTS.
SPEAKER_03Um German touring something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um yeah, so I did a couple 25 hours as a crew with that, and you know, we were trying to figure out average horsepower, and they had a calculator, and uh it was a lot.
SPEAKER_03Um Yeah, you just tell me where you're uh pulling your sample that then you're gonna average, and then I'll make it work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I guess. That's the problem with average horsepower, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I do data for a living. Don't don't ever let that cat out of the bag because we'll have we'll have the squiggliest little lines you could ever see when we're tuning it.
SPEAKER_00So um yeah, uh I don't but yeah, so I think you know I think that H1 would be a good a good candidate for that. Um I don't know what like an H1S2000's making uh power wise, but um depends what engine they're running.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So we've got we've got Justin out of North Carolina trying to put a J35 in his. Yeah. Um that's a thing. We've got the F series, native F series engines, K swaps in the southeast.
SPEAKER_00So I was gonna say there's a couple guys with F-24s too, like built built up F-Series.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So um but yeah, I mean, I think the H2 and a native chassis, I think that could be pretty good. I think, you know, an 8th gen Civic would be pretty good with uh with an L15 in it. Um I think that like I yeah, and uh, you know, that's the biggest thing is like convincing the rules makers to do it, and you know, also proving it. Um you know, as as like, hey look, here's the car and it's well driven and it does these lap times and it's comparable and all that, like that's that's definitely like a hard thing to to prove and get a rule written for. You almost have to build the car and then show show it.
SPEAKER_03Yes, so that's my struggle. Yeah, the the two things are you gotta build it and show it, and then they all wanna go, well, is it well driven?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, depends. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, that's part of my strategy with my car is to actually like, you know, I wouldn't say that I'm the best driver. I haven't been in even really in a seat in four years, so um, you know, my plan is to actually build the car and then kind of go up through the grid life ladder system, but I wanted to build it to the spec of the rules so that you know when I am ready for GLTC and they sign me off that I'm ready for wheel-to-wheel, then um the car's ready to go and it's built to the rule set. So um but yeah, my plan is to you know give it to Eric Cattil, give it to Ronnie Vidock, give it to these guys, and like show what the car can really do and you know have them help me with setup and stuff like that. So I definitely want to share the car a lot and you know, like like make make it well known, like look, take me out of the equation. The car's well driven. There's nobody who's gonna deny that Eric Cattil or Ronnie Vidock or Tom O'Garman or whatever are you know incredible drivers. So that uh that takes that question mark out of it and shows what the car is.
SPEAKER_03My issue is handing over keys to a car I just finished building where I know exactly how much money I have in it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't really care about that so much.
SPEAKER_03Uh I want people to know what what the car is capable of, so well, so the other thing is maybe they drive it and you have it set up garbage, right? Yeah, that becomes a problem. Yeah, but um if you look at Ronnie's car, if you look at Eric's car, if you look at what Tom's driven in the past, oh they're not all set up the same.
SPEAKER_00Oh, for sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's do you have to have a compromise?
SPEAKER_00Eric and I talk a lot too, so you know, I kinda know. Like he and I have bounced a lot of ideas off of each other, he's helped me with things with the build. You know, a lot of my suspension is based off of his original EG, so I've got all the fancy kingpin stuff and uh home developments, geometry correction, all that stuff. So um, you know, we'd put a little baseline setup in it and see what see what it can do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So where where what is the status of your car right now?
SPEAKER_00So my car, part of the problem is that I live in Nashville, and uh either somebody in my neighborhood or the city came by and decided that uh having my car on jack stands in my driveway was uh not okay by the city. Um even though it was like nicely maintained and cleaned and covered and all that, uh they didn't they didn't like it, so the car had to go into uh temporary hiding at my parents' house. Uh well then they sold that house.
SPEAKER_03Now, when it was on jack stands, did it have legal plates and all that stuff, or no?
SPEAKER_00It did not, no. Okay. No, because I never I drove the car for a little bit and then the original D series started having issues, and I was like, well, I'm just gonna tear it down. So I never even actually like switched the title into my name or anything. Um but then uh so then it went to my parents' house, they sold that house, so the car had to move again, so it's actually at uh my buddy Andrew, who's also building a GLTC car. Uh he lives really close to me, so it's at his house until tomorrow where it goes to my brand new fancy garage. So uh then the build will will resume, but it had to take a little bit of a little bit of a break.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it happened.
SPEAKER_00Um but as far as status, the engine and trans are in the engine bay. Okay. Um I've done a bunch of stitch welding on the car, it's you know, gutted, torn down basically to a sh to a bare shell. Um and then uh all the suspension parts are bolted up to it now just so that I can make it a roller. Um and then I'm basically going like system by system and checking things off. So my last suspension parts just got ordered. Actually, my coilovers um were just ordered this week. Um, and then um that will check off everything on the suspension side. Um so then I'll start moving on to like the cooling package and stuff like that, getting it plumbed, getting fuel lines, all that stuff in it. Uh I want to make it a runner and do some testing before I actually like take it and get it caged and make it pretty.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um I was gonna ask about when when you thought you were gonna put a cage in it, since you're working up the ladder.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I I will cage it before like it's actually going to like comp like not competition events, but like grid life events. I just want to have it caged just for safety. I mean, it's it's a ninety-four Civic with thin sheet metal that's gonna Probably the fastest car I've ever driven on track. So I want to make sure that I'm that I'm safe. But tentatively the plan is that it'll start like really seeing a lot of track time probably 2025. So I'm going to take the rest of this year and next year to like get everything dialed in, get it built, do some test days, probably late 2024. And then 2025 will be the plan for like full effort.
SPEAKER_03Hey man, I I I'm adamant. Okay, first off, the most listened to uh episode for this podcast year to date is the budget. So you think you're on a small one, somebody else might have a smaller one. I thought I had a small budget or I know people who have smaller, I know people have bigger. It doesn't matter. Uh what you my biggest thing about everybody in budgeting is just making sure that you're legitimately doing it so you can uh do what you need to do to the car to make it safe and do what you need to do so you can get out there and optimize the amount of track time you can get your hands on, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Um that's been one of my biggest things is you know, I want the car built a certain way. This is this is a dream car for me. Like I've always wanted to build an EJ2 race car like since I was in high school, and I had my first EJ2. Like I've the it's a dream build to like be able to do a full like shell ground up, like all new bolts from Honda, like uh you know, all that just like all the nice things that I've always dreamed of. So I do.
SPEAKER_03You're gonna go broke buying bolts from Honda.
SPEAKER_00I got I got some help with that.
SPEAKER_03So but uh you know there's we clean them and get them re-zynked.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I don't know. I worry about hydrogen embirdlement and stuff too if they're not zinc right. So uh luckily I've got I r I run OEM on my side to to get all new bolts and stuff like that. So it's helpful too. We've got a running we've got a running list of things that uh you know, bolts that I need to replace and stuff like that. So and luckily my car was actually like a really clean car. It was a southern car its whole life, so uh don't have to worry about rust. Like all my lower control arm bolts just broke free, like didn't have to get a breaker bar out, didn't have to cut anything. Like it was it was I got pretty lucky. The body's got some dings and dents and stuff, but we'll make that pretty too and get a nice livery on it. But yeah, so you know, it's just it's one of those things where this is this is a dream build for me, and I want to do it a certain way. So if it takes time to do it, then then that's what it takes. Um but you know, I've also got um trailbreak is another one of my partners. They're one of the biggest aim dealers in the country. Uh Matt over there, and he's he wants to put a bunch of sensors and stuff on the car, so uh shock sensors going. Yeah, yeah. So that's one of the things, you know, we want to put shock pots on it and make sure that we're making setup changes based on data, not just on uh you know, on a whim. So uh and my my suspension sponsor, they're they're big into you know putting shock pots on cars and making sure that everything's working right so that should we decide to revalve later on and change spring rates and all that that we know um you know we have data to back back those changes.
SPEAKER_03So you're supposed to mention your suspension sponsor, not just call them your suspension sponsor.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so annex suspension, they're based out of uh Fremont, California. There's some buddies of mine from my FRS BRZ days when I lived in Northern California. Um so we've got I've actually uh ordered their first set of uh their new motorsports line of suspension that's coming out uh hopefully soon. Um and we're gonna have some nice custom triple adjustables on it. So they're gonna help me come and set it up and do all that because I don't know how to turn all those knobs.
SPEAKER_03Me either. That's that's one one too many knobs than I'm comfortable with, and I'm not really comfortable with two.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I've had doubles on I had doubles on my BRZ, and I had like just started to figure those out. Um and then uh they were like, hey, so we want to do triples. Are you interested? And I was like, Oh yeah, sure. So I was like, Are you guys gonna fly out and like help me set it up? Like, yeah, sure. I was like, alright, cool, let's do it.
SPEAKER_03And business expense life is amazing.
SPEAKER_00Right? So yeah, they'll be there'll be um you know, nice remote reservoir, triple adjustables, swift springs, all that good stuff. So fancy fancy. Too fancy for me. I don't I don't know why I deserve any of what the support that I've gotten, but uh I'll definitely take it because my budget needs it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I know I don't think I deserve the support that I've gotten over the years, but I'm very appreciative for it.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I mean that's that's one of the biggest things. Like, you know, I've just I've been lucky to get a lot of support, um, you know, sponsor support, and I I hate the word sponsor, actually. I say partners. Um we develop we develop stuff together and build a relationship over years. So um uh you know, I've been I've been very fortunate to get some really great partners on board and a lot of people who really want to see this happen and who have been understanding of my timeline and all that. You know, initially I had one timeline and then life happened and COVID happened and all that. So um things have gotten delayed, and you know, I'll like I said, I also want to make sure that the car doesn't go out and like fall on its face the first time, you know, with a bunch of partner decals and nice livery all over it. Yeah. So putting the money in and putting the effort in up front to to hopefully mitigate some of those issues.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. So where can people find you, follow you for this build? I'm sure most people who listen to this already follow you, but you never know.
SPEAKER_00I don't know about that. I don't have a big follower base, but it seems to be pretty targeted. So um yeah, on Instagram uh GLTC underscore EJ2. I've got a Facebook page, GLTC EJ2, uh my personal Facebook, Scott Malloy. Um yeah, that's that's most of it. You can find me at pretty much every uh grid life festival round this year, I think, if not all of them. Um I'll be at Watkins Glen in a week. Feel free to come up and say hi. Um I'll be running around with uh I'll probably be running around with aim cellos in my hand and a clipboard.
SPEAKER_03So that's how everybody can find you at the track.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, exactly. I'm the really tall guy with long hair that runs around the paddock.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, awesome. Uh any parting shots on what people need to consider when they look at doing a L15 swap?
SPEAKER_00Um, no, I mean I think we covered a lot of it. Uh feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I mean, I'm I'm available. I have a big group chat of everybody who's doing L15 swaps currently that I can find. Um, and we all share stuff as we find it. And um it's been it's actually been really great, you know, because there's people scattered all over the country doing different things and using different variants of the engine. So um I'd be happy to add people to the into the group chat if you're you know doing L15 stuff, you want to learn about it. Um yeah, just big open book, you know, the whole thing is sharing with the community, growing the community, and making sure that um you know we're keeping these cars that we love so much on the road and keeping them on the track um and doing new fun and interesting things.
SPEAKER_03All right, man. Awesome. Well, I really appreciate you coming on. I honestly I had half a dozen or more DMs about this topic, and then you hit me up and I was like, yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_00So no, send any of those people my way. I'm I'd be happy to answer any questions. I I wouldn't say that I'm like the expert, but there's a bunch of people in that group that uh have done it and are doing it, so there's definitely a lot of uh information to share.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I don't know if they're actually doing it. I think they're more on the inquisitive side. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, like I said, happy to answer any questions.
SPEAKER_03So awesome. Well, I appreciate you coming on, man.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having me. It was fun.
SPEAKER_01Until next time, keep working on yourself. Keep working on the car. And let's get faster.