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The Super Spark Build


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2 years ago when i got my first spark (before i knew the difference between a lower control arm and a camshaft) i had a desire to turn it in to a race spark. Present day and many, many, many days of building, tearing down, rebuilding, tuning, breaking, and rebuilding again of my little honda i decided to start making that a goal. Im an inline 4 guy and theres just something about making toy sized commuters into decent performance vehicles that i love. The old spark met its demise and i currently have a 2014 silver 1LS manual that im going to start working on. I have a goal of 110hp N/A and an eventual goal of close to 200 with minimal boost, while still keeping it a good daily driver. obviously thats a goal and not expected gains

Heres a list of everything im going to be doing and tracking the progress of:

Performance:

DC cold air intake

Reducing throttle body bottleneck

mild port and polish of head

custom 4-1 headers tig'd by me

custom catback exhaust using the buddy club muffler

megan racing full coilovers

drilled/slotted rotors on front and rear with larger calipers

braided brake lines

playing with the idea of some different allow wheels, preferably same size but wider

figure out a piggyback fuel system for turbo/how to control factory ecu

Hope and pray current clutch and flywheel assembly wont be a bottleneck

Aesthetics:

6k hid's (legal limit out here, i think)

black out rear lights

Plasti dip all the things

short fhisfter DONE

Composite hood, custom if need be

I want to try and keep the interior as stock and new car feel as possible (other than shifter, it needs to be shortened lol)

Audio:

small 10" sub, wont be a flat hide away since i already have a ported box set up DONE

replace factory speakers

I think thats everything 0.o Ill be starting on the sub and amp install tomorrow as i have it and its easy lol, as well as the short shifter. Im using this partially as a progress tracker for myself and figured itd be fun to involve the spark community as well and get feedback. Im sure the combination of what i want to do and my age probably sets off some red flags for a lot of people, however the last thing i want is for this to become some fart can riced up murrican-jdm horror. I do a lot of sheet metal fabrication and tig welding and my occupation is a manual machinist so im really looking forward to doing the headers and exhaust, also contemplating custom air intake instead of DC one. Those will more than likely be next goals. I also need to figure out what and how badly these different mods will affect warranties. I knew going in that warranties are going to be voided but sometimes rules need to be broken ;) and honestly if done properly everything (other than the turbo) will do nothing but help performance, and being a new car as long as its well maintained theres a very low possibility of even needing the warranties (in my eyes, obviously opinions differ :) )

Edited by Flips
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Thats why i said goal :P top gear brazil claims 100hp spark with most of those mods, i figure allowing better air flow thru tb and exhaust ports will make it fairly close to 110, granted idk if the stock 84 is bhp or just engine so i could be shooting high hehe. And thanks :) ill be uploading pics as i work on ot for sure

Side note ive just learned of the pcv issue and am a little cautious as to starting any under the hood mods now, any input on that topic?

Edited by Flips
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I have a similar goal in mind. I hope to see you do well!

thanks :) got the short shifter and half of the sub install done. I swear theres not enough light in one day -.- Ill post up pics tmr - i need to fix the new nob as it wiggles on the shaft lol

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I would like to se measurements from a rolling road/dyno, before I will belive that :-) the engine was never built to be powerfull, but as an eco-engine. Therefore I highly doubt those mods will do anything. Maybe give 5-7 bhp.

I have read about people putting a turbo on the Spark, who gets about 100-110bhp. Rumors say a yellow Spark on the Web had around 170bhp,

but they have failed to put out dyno-results.

The clutch, transmission, drive shaft and so on are also not designed to that kind of power, so they would be likely to fail.

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I would like to se measurements from a rolling road/dyno, before I will belive that :-) the engine was never built to be powerfull, but as an eco-engine. Therefore I highly doubt those mods will do anything. Maybe give 5-7 bhp.

I have read about people putting a turbo on the Spark, who gets about 100-110bhp. Rumors say a yellow Spark on the Web had around 170bhp,

but they have failed to put out dyno-results.

The clutch, transmission, drive shaft and so on are also not designed to that kind of power, so they would be likely to fail.

thanks for the input :) i was worried about the tranny and clutch but ill board that train when it comes :P Working around these "handicaps" is part of what is going to make this fun and a little different, im going to talk to the parts manager at the dealership tomorrow and see what aftermarket parts they will accept. I cant imagine anything other than the turbo and possibly headers would make enough effect that it voids warrenties, and hell if they do ill just slap on the oem stuff before bringing it in xD Im becoming worried about the oil usage issues ive read about though, would a catch can solve this?

Also in the middle of uploading pics for the sub and shorty shifter install :)

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Alright, so i started with the chopping the shifter as it was just too long lol, if you pull on the base of the boot it just pops. Cut the zip tie and it slides over the shifter eQ1Ve93.jpg Since im chopping it anywho i didnt bother prying off the old knob. At this point its smart to put something to catch the metal chips from going into the shifting mechanisms bhIk4V2.jpg I just eyeballed a place to cut and it worked great for me. After its cut plop on whatever new knob you got (i ended up having to make a plastic adapter for my knob because it had a 1/2" adapter but these shift rods are .511" or 13mm, hooray for machining) once the knob is on zip tie that boot back on and snap it in place :)J9PqOuV.jpg I must say i was a LOT more pleased with the results than i thought id be, and it feels a bit more sporty, obviously adding at least 30 more hp. e5Oa9F0.jpg

Now to the sub install. I already had a nice lightweight (like under 10 pounds for amp sub and box im pretty sure, mybe 20) 10" ported box and 1500w bargain amp. The most frustrating part of this was figuring out what to run the remote wire from, i ended up choosing the 12v adapter above the aux in. To start i ran the power cable and ran wires from the rear speakers to wire into the line adapter (seeing as there are no rca out on stock stereo) qNCHu4u.jpg I ended up just shving the wire through a grommet in the firewall, it worked well and is still water tight :D o2HtBwT.jpg after that it was time to find a good ground, i found one under the trunk goodies that bolts the seat in place (never skimp on your ground or youll regret it later :P) O9uW3Uh.jpg second to last is to run the remote wire, the purple wire from the 12v adapter plug is the +12v youll need (popping off the aux cover really helps getting that plug off) bUH5Si0.jpg aaaand finally all thats left is wire it all up to the amp and BAM VvmGoA6.jpg If youve read this far; I highly reccomend using a different color wire for EVERYTHING, helps in the long run. Also zip tying any wires you are running to something solid helps keep them from getting snagged by something and ripping out. Im very pleased with it overall, i just need to make that wiring a little more presentable haha. Up next will probably be some plasti dip adventures. Once i figure out what im doing with my little honda dictates how soon i get money for the good mods. Hope you all enjoy :)

Edited by Flips
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  • 2 months later...

"never skimp on your ground" - and then you choosed that thin piece of wire? Looks even thinner than that tiny power wire. And that is an absolute no-go. Do yourself a favour and buy some descent cables, and not that skinny crap.

Edited by Schaltz
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey I have done similar mods except for the shortshifter.i have done custom piping after headers removed the cat as in my country its fine without cat :P,I have done a port polish job with the head and the results are way better pickup than stock you can check my pictures of the ported head its a mild job because I was told the ports are too small and not much can be done or else it would damage the head.im planning to bore the throttle body and lighten the stock flywheel.and the clutch isn't and gearbox of spark isn't so great to handle much power.im getting around 90bhp and 80 on the wheels at the moment.

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Hey I have done similar mods except for the shortshifter.i have done custom piping after headers removed the cat as in my country its fine without cat :P,I have done a port polish job with the head and the results are way better pickup than stock you can check my pictures of the ported head its a mild job because I was told the ports are too small and not much can be done or else it would damage the head.im planning to bore the throttle body and lighten the stock flywheel.and the clutch isn't and gearbox of spark isn't so great to handle much power.im getting around 90bhp and 80 on the wheels at the moment.

Do you have a dyno reading before and after your mods?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...
On 2/8/2015 at 5:36 PM, Miraj Choksi said:

Its pretty accurate trust me not as accurate as dyno I have tried on 6 cars of mine and its gives me close to accurate readings.

Really?...A dyno app?...I know there are apps for almost everything...but a dyno app reading from the OBD cannot be accurate for reading the true HP and torque on a mechanical engine...Only a bench test with a true Dyno physically attached to the output shaft can read that accurately. Lets get real here..Dyno?? apps are handy but, well, you get my drift here...what can I say..hard not to scratch my head and wonder what kind of apps are or will be out there..Maybe we need an app to tell people to turn the smarty fone off and use our brain ...Ha!

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