Why I SOLD my 400 bhp Civic FN2 Type R (Supercharged)

[@Ands..........]

Brilliant and honest. Big respect for you sir.. hope to see you back with your next project. Who's to say selling it is right or wrong. Personal journey your taking. Enjoy it

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks for your comment Andy, really glad you liked the video! Looking forward to posting more updates on my current project (VX220 Turbo) soon!

[@Matty_Champwhite]

Great input mate, and you’ve probably saved me 6-7k confirming my fears with supercharging this model. Think I’ll stick to N/A mods and aim for 200whp and enjoy it as a fast road hatch 🤘

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks Matty! I did have a lot of fun in the car and it was mega reliable too, in fairness. If you ever want to 'scratch the itch', there are quite a few cars out there pre-done at bargain prices second hand now. Otherwise, the Civic FK8 are really great cars (once the prices come down!) and GT86 are getting reasonable now (even more awesome with a 2JZ!)

[@snakeeyesjdm9416]

Fn2 love world wide.... Please check out my content... FN2 civics are thrashing the boosted cars.. We can etune your Fn2.. If u need a reliable fast tune.. ✌️

[@Matty_Champwhite]

@@AK88onCars changed my mind and bought a 30-94 shaft drive kit! Just spent £2000 on suspension and brakes and a further £1700 on a high quality exhaust system. Hopefully with Paul Wests adjustable traction control system I can engage beast mode!

[@AK88onCars]

@@Matty_Champwhite Best of luck with your build Matty, I'm sure you'll have fun. Have a look at final drives for the gearbox, as in my opinion, with close to x2 the power, having longer (rather then shorter) gears make it miles easier to get off the line. It will be good fun, but you might come out of this in 24 months time wanting an s2000 :)

[@Matty_Champwhite]

@@AK88onCars it’s in next week for the charger really looking forward to it. A longer final drive is something I’d really be tempted into looking into, I believe the map will be tweaking for cruise etc to work with it? And mate I’d love an Sk2 But I’m far too large to get in and out gracefully 😂😂

[@dodge1724]

Just came across your channel- really interesting - I have an Fn2 with mild mods +remap lovely to drive around the B roads. I was thinking about supercharger and tracking it this year but It is my daily driver and I’ve come to the conclusion that if you are going to track a car then it has to be for that soul purpose so I think you made the right decision

[@AK88onCars]

Hey man, thanks and welcome to the channel! In fairness, as a road car, the Supercharger is an awesome addition, especially on B roads. I never really felt like any of the reasons in this video effected it in that setting, its just as soon as you push it a bit harder and put it on track or the drag strip, you have the identify crisis of "what is this car for?" - you know. If the car was 4x4 or was a little lighter, it could have probably done a "duel role" on a much more balanced scorecard. As much as it pains me, Porsche's are great cars for these "duel roles".

[@snakeeyesjdm9416]

Fn2 love world wide.... Please check out my content... FN2 civics are thrashing the boosted cars.. We can etune your Fn2.. If u need a reliable fast tune.. ✌️

[@Trumppower]

Hey nice Video, Fn2 is almost forgotten these days but it's a nice car.

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks! Despite this video, I did really love this car. Other then being a nice place to be, the reliability was amazing. Drive 600 miles to a track day, blast it round pretty hard all day (open pits) and then drive it all the way home again without a worry in the world. Compared to my current car, whereby I just worry its going to catch on fire 24/7!

[@lexzenis2544]

interesting...after this ive decided to stop going all out on my fn2. i think the car is at its chassis/mechanical and driveability limits at 300BHP . you have gone balls out on a car just not designed to perform so heavily modded. it became a wild pig. i admire just how far you went ..alot of money spent . its a good lesson. you made the correct decision... you will just be throwing good money after bad otherwise.

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks for your comment Lex! In fairness, as a "road car" it was completely usable, so in some way - hardcore track and drag testing is a little fair (lets see if my current car does that any better!). But FWD and the weight did effect it, have that same engine in a midengined car that was lighter - would have been awesome.

[@AntoMoto]

There was so much more on the table there if you spend some time on a proper setup. 215/40 budget semi slicks with 400hp is not optimal. More tire width up front, more sidewall (17inch tires), lower tire pressure and adding camber (for track cornering) would have made a significant difference. The FN2 chassis was not Hondas best engineering but a good setup on your car would have made it much faster/better handling.

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks for your comment (and like the content on you're channel btw). In terms of you're point, could more be done - yes completely. Ultimately, was a good experiment of pushing a "fast road car" to the limit and for me, made me want to get into something of a different formula. It was still fun working that out mind you.

[@01942891376]

Sorry to hear about your dad still got the FN2

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks Mario, wait - is this the same Mario I sold this Civic too or is this just a naming coincidence?

[@01942891376]

No it's me

[@AK88onCars]

@@01942891376 Amazing! Lovely to hear from you. How is the car doing? I saw TDI North did some more work on it 18/24 months ago now was it? Is it behaving itself other then that? Still enjoying it?

[@mitchellwolf69]

good vid bud, very honest, not good when you spend so much cash, and get little usable power in return. this is why i kept mine N/A and close 2 standard. same spec as yours, 59 plate, hft and sat nav. just simple mods, millteck non res, tegiwa 421, and tegiwa carrbon intake. hondata proper rolling road map seen me to 226bhp and 176flb. more than happy with that, and tbh how the car should have come as standard. i have since sold my fn2, and miss it like mad! dont get me wrong, my e53 is by far the better car, but smiles vs pounds........no comparison imo.

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks Craig, I mean - lessons learnt right? Always makes the next one a little more 'on point'. That being said, this thing was a lot of fun because it did have more power then the platform had use for. The one massive thing for this car was reliability, it was just a gem. Also, I actually bought the car with 90% of the work done for c.£10k at the time. Was a hell of a lot of car for the money, and tbh, I'd happily do it all over again, in all its wheel spinning, loud noise making form factor!

[@thejannerwanderer3723]

Great vid mate, I’m enjoying your channel 🤙🏻 if you’ve got any clips of our shenanigans i.e Silvia drifts/ donuts, corsa or 206 footage then post it up lol 🤣

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks mate! ha, I will find an appropriate video to put them in.

[@TheFK8Life]

My FK8 is making 434/417 about to upgrade the fuel system/p600 525/490 Im on 265s and going to 305s - I can floor the throttle in 1st, 2nd, 3rd making 400ftlbs at 4k rpm - Hondata traction control works perfectly for me - car is lots of fun If your going to drag race the car - use full slicks - softer on the trans and actually hooks Also the 8th gen civics need the compliance bushings upgraded to limit suspension deflection under power - otherwise youll get wheelhop and steering slop under power

[@AK88onCars]

I mean, very different cars, very different style of forced induction. Ultimately still fun, ultimately still flawed.

[@TheFK8Life]

@@AK88onCars Well when I waffle stomped the 718 Cayman it didnt seem very flawed lol Or the CLS 63 AMG The FN has horrible suspension geometry and was built on the Jazz/Fit platform so it wasnt a real Type R which was the FD2 at the time - the FK2 was a touch better than the FN but Honda developed the FK8 with much better geometry and departed from that god awful cab forward design style ....much more fender well to fit proper rubber for big power and better overall balance. The dual axis setup really allows the car to lay down power unlike previous MacP civics which have alot of deflection in the front end trying to lay power down while turning. Bushings helped alot but these forged arms are setup more like a double wishbone car If you ever get the chance you should drive one with a 305 front and 275 rear setup ....immense grip laterally and puts the power down very well, even on my mates 646whp Type R ....obviously slicks work better for dig racing but from a 60mph roll on, it just goes

[@AK88onCars]

@@TheFK8Life Sure - so I guess the point of my video is illustrating was when you take a "fun fwd car" and try and do circlets, drag racing or similar - its still fun, you just find the 'failing' limit easier. I still had fun, but after 6 - 10 events my personal feeling I was left with was "I wish this was in another form factor". And its not just a fwd thing, I found the s2000 similarly great, but also with shortcomings.

[@TheFK8Life]

@@AK88onCars I understand - Ive owned 17 Hondas and just bought an 11th gen Si for my daughter - with more than 25 years of Honda experience Ive put most of the chassis thru their paces as an owner. I still own my 2008 FA5 which had similar geometry to the FD2. I shredded 3 sets of factory engine mounts on the car and experienced gear lockout countless times....made me rethink owning a Honda But then I did research as to why my issue was happening. Whereas my double wishbone cars I used a "traction bar" which isolated the lower control arms and allowed me to drop the clutch at 7k rpm and launch the car with minimal fuss.....the MacP civics had no such device available.....however they use a giant compliance bushing which controls arm movement back and forth under power.....Honda being Honda made these very soft and this allows massive movement under power, magnified the more power you add So I bought Full Race "traction balls" which turned those bushings into metal bearings that controlled the movment and kept the car straight under power/launching I also ditched the torque mounts which were super soft and bought Boomba torque mounts - this kept the engine/trans from rocking - isolated the trans for shifting and allowed me to perform full throttle shifts without much effort....I also adjusted the clutch pedal, upgraded the plastic CMC to a 9th gen CMC and bought a Hybrid Racing shifter assembly I was able to throw on the stickiest of rubber, not wheel hop, full throttle shift and allow the Hondata traction control to do its magic which made the car 100x better than factory Its currently getting a k24 bottom and IPS k2 cams - I daily drive my FK8 so the FA5 is more of a spare car Honda has some great engineering and then some weird cost cutting measures that need to be overcome to extract the cars full potential. The 2003 thru 2015 era was sort of a teething period where they went from small double wishbone cars to larger MacP cars ....they were still sort of learning how to maximize MacP when they made the FN and FA5 so there was alot to fix from an enthusiast perspective Finally by the 10th gen they really sorted MacP by developing a psuedo double wishbone setup.....broke the Nurburgring record and developed the K20c1 into a real beast of an engine. The AP1 S2000 had many quirks as well - the AP2 fixed many of the issues but I dont know if you guys got the AP2 version with the 2.2L engine and sus changes The car needs underbody panels and a rear wing for sure....the AP1s were a touch twitchy and Honda gave it narrow fenders so tough to fit decent rubber. I think thats what hurt the 7th, 8th and 9th gens the most - narrow fender wells, cab forward design leaving little underhood room and very early MacP designs with quirks/flaws to overcome Having owned a 10th gen Si and Type R the experience is night and day better than my 8th gen nightmare of wheel hop, shifter lockout and tearing engine mounts.....I still upgraded my engine mounts on my Type R but the issue wasnt as bad. Also upgraded my shifter assembly to a stage 3 Acuity setup - steel shifter assembly, no flex, positive engagement feel Anyway - hopefully you try a new FK8, I think youll have a much better go of it - im 450bhp on stock sus and brakes and its a blast.

[@AK88onCars]

@@TheFK8Life Thanks man - would love to give and FK8 a try. Lets see where the future takes us.

[@dk100han]

Interesting video, having owned a well set up N/A Fn2 that was sold last year, and looking to get a s2000 in the coming months, made me question if it’s the right move.

[@dk100han]

Completely agree with the importance of the LSD, had a accord type R in between with the H22 and factory LSD. And while the engine wasn’t anything on the K20 imo the LSD made corners so much more rewarding

[@AK88onCars]

Hey D Khannnn - thanks for your comment, swear I replied earlier by KZbin seems to have not posted the comment! Alas, the s.2000 is lovely car by all accounts and I'm sure turbocharged/supercharged, they are similarly to the FN2, a completely different car. Also worth considering that they are probably going to start increasing in value soon (especially if you get a nice one). However is stock form, there really (unlike CTR) is this area between 3,500 - 6,000 RMP when nothing happens, they are also quite difficult to control when they step out, perhaps more so then some mid engine cars I've had before. Other options, depending on how much of a "duel personality" you need the car to have between track v road, might be Cayman / Boxster S (very duel personality) and if you wanted something a bit more track focus, maybe actually Elise/VX220.

[@snakeeyesjdm9416]

Fn2 love world wide.... Please check out my content... FN2 civics are thrashing the boosted cars.. We can etune your Fn2.. If u need a reliable fast tune.. ✌️

[@apollonitro4802]

What size rims did you put on the fn2? They look good

[@AK88onCars]

Think they where 18” from memory

[@daidavies530]

Good vid bro but that music is breaking me

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks dude, lesson learnt for next time 😅

[@diaz0051]

Needed a em1 cmc to eliminate the 2nd gear issue

[@AK88onCars]

Suspect it would have been a completely different car if this was set up differently 👍

[@SpoonGT500]

Thanks for sharing -it was interesting. Sorry for personal question, but I remember original name of the channel - do you have any ukrainian background in your family?

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks man, glad you liked it. Ha, great memory! Yeah it used to be my full name (have Ukrainian last name, as my dads father (my granddad) was Ukrainian). Changed the channel name to keep a bit of separation between personal life and interest/hobbies :)

[@SpoonGT500]

@@AK88onCars That's cool mate as I'm Ukrainian and I instantly suspected something haha. Was looking at getting supercharger(reason was following your channel), but decided to stay N/A. FN2 is good for what it is - high revving engine and lots of drama. A bit slow by modern standards and suspension not great for London roads, but it does it thing on a B roads and still fun. All in all I think it's a good alternative for a hot hatch that you can enjoy and don't break the bank, roomy too for it's size. IMO 300bhp+ you need rwd or awd to use all available power. Modern crappy looking electric cars will be as fast from traffic lights if not faster - ask me how I know it lol. Reason I don't race from traffic lights haha.

[@AK88onCars]

@@SpoonGT500 No worries, but great memory again! I think everything you say is right, but 1 other thing would have changed the game here - gearing. With x2 bhp and 100 lb/ft of torque more, a lower final drive (given the gears a longer run out) would have been a game changer here. In my VX220, I'm thinking about putting a longer final drive in the box. Most cars, 1st gear will do 35mph (Civic actually did 40mph), but if this was closer to 45mph - this would have changed the game. The issue with that is sorter throws typically give better control, however entirely different when your running x2 BHP from stock. I'm looking forward to exploring this more with the VX220, although will be taking some advice from TDI on this subject. I also know what you mean about electric cars, however in the corners (due to their weight) is where we'd hope (currently) ICE engines have a leg up.

[@jero358]

where do i buy parts for exterior and interior for this car

[@AK88onCars]

Tegiwa Imports UK 👍

[@samwilde595]

My standard Fk2 is bad enough in the wet, I can’t imagine 400bhp in one of these, I bet it’s mad in the dry in 3rd/ 4th

[@AK88onCars]

In most cases, 2nd was fine it was just 1st that was completely pointless. Different final drive in the gearbox would have done wonders. But a fun car all around in retrospect.

[@michaelb5330]

Would have thought you would pull the engine and all the good bits and go buy a lotus Elise and drop it in and have all the pluses You could put the fn2 back to stock cheaply ? Or conversation to awd fn2 using crv parts ??

[@AK88onCars]

Hey dude - that would have been the dream at the time (into an Elise)! The CRV 4x4 conversion I feel really wanted know/talked about/as doable as it is now. Put of the reason for the selling is, I was living in the city and just didn't need a car and enjoyed 3 - 4 years using the money for other things 😁

[@jelly12903]

Did u have boost by gear?

[@AK88onCars]

On a supercharger?

[@owensoft]

Every car has its time.

[@AK88onCars]

Very true also

[@bowches]

What was your best quarter mile time?

[@AK88onCars]

This was on an airstrip, it might have gotten be a fraction of a second faster at Santa Pod, but not really a time ‘befitting’ the power figure kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqjLmH6Ppcmabbc

[@Steven-kt8np]

What was the best 1/4 mile time that you had from the civic? its a shame about the gearbox issue

[@AK88onCars]

Thanks for your comment Steve. 13.6 on an un prepped surface (runway on an airfield). Suspect it could have done more on a prepped surface but would have still be difficult to do (and probably not a lot of fun by comparison)

[@SR22VET-S15]

@AK88 on Cars 15x8 wheel with a 255/60 drag radial would have helped shave a heap of time.

[@checkyourself164]

Music way too loud, cant focus on anything you're saying.

[@AK88onCars]

Music is likely more interesting then what I’m saying anyway… 😂

[@clutchfreak13]

Have you tried with wider tires? 225 is not enough for 400bhp

[@AK88onCars]

It’s a really good thought, but on the traction point probably not the biggest factor, plus difficult to go wider(without arch cutting or extensions). So by comparison, my VX220 has 225 at the rear with 330bhp and manages a 0-60 of 3.95 seconds. Plus, it wouldn’t solve the weight and gearbox aspects either, like longer gear throws (through say a shorter final drive)

[@clutchfreak13]

@@AK88onCars well Civics were made for short twisty roads. People use them a lot for hill climb racing. But i often see, 16-17", 235-245mm on the front, slick or semi slick

[@AK88onCars]

@@clutchfreak13 Sure. But what type of Civic or type of car are we talking about here? Because your not running slicks on a road car and FN2 wont fit much wider wheels when your running DC5 Brembo's (which require spaces) without said arch modifications. My car also had semi slicks on (Federal RSR) for most of its life too. For hill climbs, I mean you have all shapes and sizes right, but 90% Civics are mainly the v.light EG/EK or the double wishboned EP3. Don't get me wrong, FN2 are lovely cars - but from having been there, a c.250bhp NA or a 300bhp Jackson Root Supercharged is probably the sweet spot, in my view.

[@paullewis7287]

Some things I disagree with. I mean no one really buys a fwd car to drag, drag is never going to be its thing. Secondly the tyres u show are pretty poor and not good track tyres, the video u showed with understeer u massively missed the braking point which isn't the cars fault. Next dc5 brakes ain't that good ( I had 2 dc5s) and the I assume ds2500 pads u mentioned aint much cop either. I have a supercharged fn2 myself and don't suffer any of the issues u mentioned including never having an issue getting into 2nd gear. Your gearbox was screwed

[@AK88onCars]

Hi Paul, I'm curious on your view and thoughts on; What tyres you're currently using? What pads you're using? Why you bought a fwd car? And whether you've tracked it and where? Not leading or loaded questions, just genuinely interested.

[@paullewis7287]

@@AK88onCars I run michelin cup 2 connect tyres and an mfactory race pack dif. I'm running yellowspeed 6 pot 330mm 2 piece discs with pbs pads and rbf660 fluid. I never ever drag any of my cars so traction from a standstill isn't an issue. As for why fwd, well I love how they feel when driven on its limit. Currently only 340hp on low boost but in the hands of my mate ( more racing experience than me ) managed to overtake our mates 630hp 4wd new m5 at castle combe and stay in front. I need to go back next year to record a time but comparing with my mate even with my driving I should be around 1min20 or less ( he's done 1.19 in his 230hp fn2 with rear stripped 1240kg...stock the gt model is 1320kg) if he recorded a time at combe in mine it's around 1min16 ish I'd say. My experience is mostly fwd with 3 dc2s including a 320hp turbo one, 2 dc5s including supercharged one and now fn2 supercharged after my 300hp megane 250rs.

[@alitoroganan2442]

Should've gone for a turbo instead

[@AK88onCars]

Actually bought the car for a bargain supercharged already. But I suspect, even if I did - the same 3 reasons would have occurred and the same conclusion would have been reached.

[@user-rd3lz4ty5r]

Turbo it all the way supercharged is ok but if u want the ultimate turbo it all day!!! 700hp is a perfect number for those cars.

[@AK88onCars]

I do love a turbocharged K20, but that my HP would be in the wrong form factor IMO for a FWD car. Put the same engine in a car which is 4x4 or RWD with half the HP and it will be faster 95% of the time in comparison to the FWD.

[@joshwatton9335]

Are you alright?

[@rey6450]

Civic isnotfor drag racing. Civic is a track car

[@AK88onCars]

I’d argue it’s for neither. It’s a great street car. Video touch on in this video (and my other videos/experience taking it on track), but unless spent mega bucks £££ and made it undrivable day to day - it would get beaten around any circlet by a 150bhp Lotus Elise.