Pete Whitstone
True Classic
All,
I took delivery of Matts latest K20 creation a couple weeks ago and promised to write about it after I had some seat time under me. Here it is, enjoy!
Handling
The car is not that different than stock in the handling department, and there’s not really a lot of reasons that it should feel different. Larger wheels and tires, stiffer springs, and a front anti-roll bar are about all that separate this car from stock. Yes the car has coil-overs, but that’s not something you will “feel”. I suspect Matt dialed in a bit more camber and a bit less caster than stock, but probably not by much. So the car handles essentially like anybody’s X1/9.
I thought the 300# springs all around were going to be very stiff, but the ride is nowhere near harsh. Nice and firm, and well damped by the Bilsteins (rear) and KYB’s (currently in front, may go to the Bilsteins up there too but the KYBs actually handle very nicely up there). I think retaining the stock rubber strut mounts (new, from Obert/Plaia) helps a lot with the ride. Spherical bearings on CC plates would be far less forgiving, no doubt.
When pushing hard through a corner, the rear breaks loose first, but it is controllable with either/both the throttle or the steering wheel. I haven’t pushed It hard a lot yet, I’m still getting used to the power, and haven’t had it out on “fun” roads a lot yet.
Tires/Wheels
The car has Progressive 5-spokes on it in 15x6, and wears 195/50-15s in front and 205/50/15’s in the rear. The tires are out just a tad too far, I need to work out a new spacer arrangement. As such, the suspension has to be set up about an inch higher than I would like. Matt had it at the correct height but tire contact was too much an issue so had to raise it. The tires will still rub with the current arrangement if you try hard enough, but it’s only happened once, over a big frost heave. Like I said, I just need to work out the spacer arrangement better. The fronts exhibit some tire shake at 70 and above, so I also need to get a precision balance job done. Note that I supplied all the tire/wheel hardware to Matt, and he installed it as is. The work left to be done here is because I should have done better homework.
Brakes
The rears are stock, while the fronts are Beta disks and the PB Racing caliper bracket modification carrying the stock caliper. Beta semi-metallic pads are used. Again, not all that different a feel from stock, although I think the larger disk will absorb a lot more repeated hard stops without fading than the stock disks would handle. I have not tried to lock them up yet so I don’t have a good feel for what the combination is like at the limit.
Instrumentation
The cluster looks like a stock gauge setup with a couple of exceptions. The first is that the hole for the odometer rollback is plugged. The other is that the stock speedo and tach have been replaced with a couple nice looking units with black faces and white markings. An orange needle indicates, and a small red LED readout gives mileage. Speaking of LEDs, at night the whole thing glows a pleasing pearl white that is brighter than the stock lighting. If not for the red LED readout, you might think it was all stock if you weren’t familiar with X’s. As I understand it, Bob Brown built it. Thanks, Bob!
Shifter
The shifter definitely feels tighter that the stock setup. The range of movement is abbreviated compared to stock, even though there are more gears to grab (4 vertical gates vs. the stockers 3). The stock shifter feels rubbery and vague by comparison, and can be moved a lot even while in gear. Not so with the Honda setup, as I said there is not much movement, but there really doesn’t need to be. The pattern is very narrow and tight, but there is no problem finding the gear you want, once you get used to it. The first time I drove it I couldn’t find fifth after several attempts, and thought something was wrong. Matt calmly advised that I try not moving the lever so far to the right, and sure enough there was fifth, just a hair over from third. The overall feel of the shifter is very tight and precise. When the car is cold it can be almost too stiff, but after everything warms up it’s great. The clutch pedal movement feels shorter than stock, as far as I remember. And I believe Matt said it actually is shorter. But it is even with the brake pedal, and clutch take-up is smooth and easily controlled.
Engine
The Honda engine is silky smooth in operation. At idle, it tends to shake the car a little, which is most evident in the dash and if you watch the sun visors. Down low, the power is not all that noticeable. If I stayed out of the throttle and kept it below 4000 rpm, I would have no trouble convincing you that it was just a strong 1.5 with a loud exhaust back there. But who drives an X like that?
Power is strong from off idle on up, but the engine really starts to come into its own at around 4k. It pulls strong through the 5’s, and if you kept it below 6k it would be a very strong X. But the K20 engine really was built for the 5.8k to 8.0+k range. When the VTEC system engages at 5800, the exhaust note changes drastically and it feels like the JATOs ignited. The pull is just unbelievable! Here’s where things happen fast because the engine is pulling so strong that you run out of revs pretty fast – the engine can sweep the 2400 or so RPMs on the VTEC very quickly. But if you take it up to 8k, an upshift will land you above 5800 and so still in VTEC territory. Repeat as necessary, but you will quickly run out of legal speed limit.
This is simply the engine this car should have come from the factory with.
Cooling
So far the car is very well behaved in this area, even though you may have heard about our heat wave down here. I just ran around for an hour in stop and go traffic in brutal 107 degree heat, and it never got above 2 ticks above the 190 mark. The highest I have ever seen it is 3 ticks above, but it will not stay up there. It’s slow to rise and quick to fall. Spending the money for the flex-a-lite dual fan and shroud package was well worth it.
Overall value
I intend to use this car as my daily driver. The total cost of the car and conversion was less than you could get almost any new car for, and certainly any new car that you would look forward to driving. Bang for the buck is pretty well unparalleled unless you want to buy a pig-in-a-poke used sports car with a lot of mileage. I’m not quite that brave. The Honda engine is a low mileage unit that will be good for at least 100k more, and has a large aftermarket support. Matt and Jonathans engineering are top-notch and everything looks well executed. Most anything that goes wrong with the rest of an X1/9 I can stumble through fixing, unlike new cars. There are a few niggling issues to be worked out yet, but with support from Matt and crew I’m sure they’ll be resolved shortly.
Summary
To steal a phrase I heard somewhere, “If you have the means, I highly recommend it”. :wink2:
A big thanks to the crew at Midwest Bayless for their work! :clap:
Pete
I took delivery of Matts latest K20 creation a couple weeks ago and promised to write about it after I had some seat time under me. Here it is, enjoy!
Handling
The car is not that different than stock in the handling department, and there’s not really a lot of reasons that it should feel different. Larger wheels and tires, stiffer springs, and a front anti-roll bar are about all that separate this car from stock. Yes the car has coil-overs, but that’s not something you will “feel”. I suspect Matt dialed in a bit more camber and a bit less caster than stock, but probably not by much. So the car handles essentially like anybody’s X1/9.
I thought the 300# springs all around were going to be very stiff, but the ride is nowhere near harsh. Nice and firm, and well damped by the Bilsteins (rear) and KYB’s (currently in front, may go to the Bilsteins up there too but the KYBs actually handle very nicely up there). I think retaining the stock rubber strut mounts (new, from Obert/Plaia) helps a lot with the ride. Spherical bearings on CC plates would be far less forgiving, no doubt.
When pushing hard through a corner, the rear breaks loose first, but it is controllable with either/both the throttle or the steering wheel. I haven’t pushed It hard a lot yet, I’m still getting used to the power, and haven’t had it out on “fun” roads a lot yet.
Tires/Wheels
The car has Progressive 5-spokes on it in 15x6, and wears 195/50-15s in front and 205/50/15’s in the rear. The tires are out just a tad too far, I need to work out a new spacer arrangement. As such, the suspension has to be set up about an inch higher than I would like. Matt had it at the correct height but tire contact was too much an issue so had to raise it. The tires will still rub with the current arrangement if you try hard enough, but it’s only happened once, over a big frost heave. Like I said, I just need to work out the spacer arrangement better. The fronts exhibit some tire shake at 70 and above, so I also need to get a precision balance job done. Note that I supplied all the tire/wheel hardware to Matt, and he installed it as is. The work left to be done here is because I should have done better homework.
Brakes
The rears are stock, while the fronts are Beta disks and the PB Racing caliper bracket modification carrying the stock caliper. Beta semi-metallic pads are used. Again, not all that different a feel from stock, although I think the larger disk will absorb a lot more repeated hard stops without fading than the stock disks would handle. I have not tried to lock them up yet so I don’t have a good feel for what the combination is like at the limit.
Instrumentation
The cluster looks like a stock gauge setup with a couple of exceptions. The first is that the hole for the odometer rollback is plugged. The other is that the stock speedo and tach have been replaced with a couple nice looking units with black faces and white markings. An orange needle indicates, and a small red LED readout gives mileage. Speaking of LEDs, at night the whole thing glows a pleasing pearl white that is brighter than the stock lighting. If not for the red LED readout, you might think it was all stock if you weren’t familiar with X’s. As I understand it, Bob Brown built it. Thanks, Bob!
Shifter
The shifter definitely feels tighter that the stock setup. The range of movement is abbreviated compared to stock, even though there are more gears to grab (4 vertical gates vs. the stockers 3). The stock shifter feels rubbery and vague by comparison, and can be moved a lot even while in gear. Not so with the Honda setup, as I said there is not much movement, but there really doesn’t need to be. The pattern is very narrow and tight, but there is no problem finding the gear you want, once you get used to it. The first time I drove it I couldn’t find fifth after several attempts, and thought something was wrong. Matt calmly advised that I try not moving the lever so far to the right, and sure enough there was fifth, just a hair over from third. The overall feel of the shifter is very tight and precise. When the car is cold it can be almost too stiff, but after everything warms up it’s great. The clutch pedal movement feels shorter than stock, as far as I remember. And I believe Matt said it actually is shorter. But it is even with the brake pedal, and clutch take-up is smooth and easily controlled.
Engine
The Honda engine is silky smooth in operation. At idle, it tends to shake the car a little, which is most evident in the dash and if you watch the sun visors. Down low, the power is not all that noticeable. If I stayed out of the throttle and kept it below 4000 rpm, I would have no trouble convincing you that it was just a strong 1.5 with a loud exhaust back there. But who drives an X like that?
Power is strong from off idle on up, but the engine really starts to come into its own at around 4k. It pulls strong through the 5’s, and if you kept it below 6k it would be a very strong X. But the K20 engine really was built for the 5.8k to 8.0+k range. When the VTEC system engages at 5800, the exhaust note changes drastically and it feels like the JATOs ignited. The pull is just unbelievable! Here’s where things happen fast because the engine is pulling so strong that you run out of revs pretty fast – the engine can sweep the 2400 or so RPMs on the VTEC very quickly. But if you take it up to 8k, an upshift will land you above 5800 and so still in VTEC territory. Repeat as necessary, but you will quickly run out of legal speed limit.
This is simply the engine this car should have come from the factory with.
Cooling
So far the car is very well behaved in this area, even though you may have heard about our heat wave down here. I just ran around for an hour in stop and go traffic in brutal 107 degree heat, and it never got above 2 ticks above the 190 mark. The highest I have ever seen it is 3 ticks above, but it will not stay up there. It’s slow to rise and quick to fall. Spending the money for the flex-a-lite dual fan and shroud package was well worth it.
Overall value
I intend to use this car as my daily driver. The total cost of the car and conversion was less than you could get almost any new car for, and certainly any new car that you would look forward to driving. Bang for the buck is pretty well unparalleled unless you want to buy a pig-in-a-poke used sports car with a lot of mileage. I’m not quite that brave. The Honda engine is a low mileage unit that will be good for at least 100k more, and has a large aftermarket support. Matt and Jonathans engineering are top-notch and everything looks well executed. Most anything that goes wrong with the rest of an X1/9 I can stumble through fixing, unlike new cars. There are a few niggling issues to be worked out yet, but with support from Matt and crew I’m sure they’ll be resolved shortly.
Summary
To steal a phrase I heard somewhere, “If you have the means, I highly recommend it”. :wink2:
A big thanks to the crew at Midwest Bayless for their work! :clap:
Pete
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