UPDATE!: My engine was hydrolocked last year so I used the Insurance money to upgrade to a '99 JDM B18cSpecR from Rcrew Racing in San Francisco. Thanks to Dan Phan for all his help... my Honda guru! I also replaced the AEM CAI intake with a Comptech Ice Box. I will get pics up soon.

Below is a list of mods I have done to the car since my hydrolock in 2003!

B18cSpecR: Thanks to insurance and Dan Phan at rcrewracing.com I got a '99 R engine with only 10k miles on it. I used to think that my GSR with CTR cams was comparable but boy was I sadly mistaken. What a great engine! It's filled with Amsoil oil and ready to get on a road course.

Comptech Ice Box: Even though I put a bypass valve on the AEM I was still skeptical, especially with the flash floods DFW sometimes gets. So I dropeed the $$ on a Comptech air filter and Ice Box. It is very low key and i love it. I am not as worried about water since the filter is up high and the design of the Ice Box allows for water to drain out if it does get into the air box or the piping via small holes drilled in the piping and the bottom of the box itself.

JDM Spec R header: I actually got this a couple months prior to the hydrolock. What a nice upgrade from the Comptech piece.

AMSOIL 5w30: I am waiting for my oil analysis results from the year long test of the Amsoil product. With Amsoil you change the Amsoil filter at 12.5k miles or 6 mos. and then the oil and filter at 25k miles or 12 months, whichever is first. The first analysis at 6mos came in clean and good to go. If the 1 year analysis comes up good I will be sticking with Amsoil since it's saving me a ton of $$ and time in oil changes. Keep in mind I only drove about 10k miles within the one year. But I do drive my car hard at times. I'll keep everyone imformed or email me if you have any questions.

MUGEN ITR (XM4) ECU: I got this from my bro Reid. Thanks man! What a fun upgrade! The butt dyno says much better bottom and midrange power that just goes up to redline at 9100RPM's! Doh! Too bad a/c is deleted. It's too hot in Dallas to use it for anything other than a track day.

Below is a list of mods I have done to the car since I bought it in February of '99! This is prior to the hydrolock.

AEM CAI: This is the very first mod I put on the car! It was recommended by Jeff Taylor (Lip on the H/T.com board). With his instructions I was able to install the AEM fairly easily. As for the difference in power? The butt dyno felt it was a very good investment! And the roar on WOT was outstanding! I live in the west coast so the rains are a huge problem where I live so I'm not worried about getting water in there. I rank the AEM CAI as one of the best mods for my GSR.

COMPTECH HEADER & EXHAUST: I got lucky on this one! My friend Dan B. was selling his SC'd GSR to buy his TT Supra (Supdawg) so he wanted to bring the car back to stock and I was the lucky recipient of his Comptech stuff. I was actually second on the list but James couldn't meet up at the time so I slid into the #1 spot! As for the gains? Well, the stock piping is pretty good as is. I'd not much more than 2-4whp out of it when combined w/ the AEM. For instance, I got 157.xxwhp on the dyno with just I/H/E and my buddy Ed w/ the same year GSR reached about 153.xxwhp w/ just the Iceman CAI and stock header and exhaust. I'd say the Comptech stuff flows nicely, sounds great and saves weight (not to mention it looks nice and shiny!) but they are not the best bang for the buck. I'd think other than cosmetic reasons, you may want to wait on these until you plan to do some internal things like cams.

UPDATE FOR COMPTECH EXHAUST: Well, the B-pipe cracked twice where the pipe goes into the resonator. Not great workmanship on Comptech's part but I must say their customer service department, namely Bob, has been very helpful. (Knowing Elton, who works at Honda, doesn't hurt either!) He replaced them both times and the last b-pipe I got was a new reinforced pipe so I'm thinking this case is closed! At least I hope so! :) It may have been a design error on their part. It's coming up on 3 years old so my warranty is on it's last legs.

B&M FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR & GAUGE: I got this to raise the fuel pressure for the CTR intake cam. It's nice but the VAFC is a much better and precise unit to use. But, again, I got it cheap so...

CTR INTAKE CAM and SKUNKWORKS ADJUSTABLE CAM GEARS: So far, other than the AEM, the CTR cam is my favorite engine mod! Power gains are definitely felt right off the bat. When I dyno'd it at Dynospot Racing in Mt. View I got a 162.7whp and 120.7wtq. The gain may not look very significant (~5whp) but the gains are definitely felt! The VAFC was not installed yet, cam gears were set at stock, 0 degrees, and I found out my timing was way off and my spark plugs were not correctly gapped. So there might be a little more power I can find in there. I definitely should get my cam gears tuned in the near future!

Speaking of cam gears, the Skunks are nice ones. The reason I picked these ones was because they have 6 bolts holding them in place. I know the AEM's are good too but I have a little bit of piece of mind w/ these ones. As soon as I get them tuned I'll post up the results! But don't hold your breath, it may be a while. :) BTW, thanks to Elton for installing these for me! I still owe you big time!

APEXi VAFC (VTEC CONTROLLER): A fairly easy to use and install item. I researched the install procedures long before I bought the unit. I'm not really electrically inclined so this type of prep is very necessary for me. And I must say it turned out to be very easy to install. Since my last dyno, it showed I was running a little lean in the 5000 to 6000 RPM range so I richened up that area in particular as well as a bit more up top. I don't feel any huge gains but I don't expect much. It's more of a fuel tuning mod than anything else for me. And the fact that you can choose what RPM increments you want the fuel curve to use is a big plus. I ended up not needing all of the points but it's good to know they are there if needed. I will have to get this unit professionally tuned along w/ the cam gears sometime soon.

MAGNECORE 8.5MM SPARK PLUG WIRES: Since I was planning to upgrade my ignition I felt it necessary to upgrade the wires to a spiral wound core type to be able to take the bigger spark of an aftermarket ignition box. Fitment wasn't the greatest but they have performed as expected so far. Plus I got them for a decent price so... Replaced with NGK wires

MSD 6AL IGNITION BOX: Well, not a necessary mod but I got it for real cheap so on it goes. It was a pretty easy install. I think 6 wires altogether. Four to the distributor and two to the battery power and ground. Looms and zip ties are your best friend in making a clean install. The hard part was fabricating a bracket for the box. I had to mickey mouse one but I tried to make it as clean as possible. I think it turned out nicely. As for the power gains, I really didn't feel any extra power but it seems to idle and rev smoother. I basically wanted the spark to burn better and more complete since I was having issues w/ running too rich. It seems to have taken care of that. SOLD

CIVIC Si VALVE COVER: Okay, this mod should probably be in the Aesthitics section but oh well! I traded my friend my OE GSR valve cover for his late model Si cover. To me, the USDM GSR cover is very plain and boring. And the Si cover looks like the JDM R cover but in black. It's not a very noticable mod unless you are looking for it, just the way I like it!

ITR EXHAUST CAM: I finally installed it! After a minor error with the valve adjustment, it is now running very well again. The cam makes the car feel a bit faster on the butt dyno. And the exhaust seems to flow a lot better as well. No backfire so far like before. Which I feel was caused by the exhaust backup due to the smaller exhaust lobes on the GSR cam. It couldn't handle the extra gasses from the CTR intake cam as well. It was a pretty easy install considering I have never done this before. I learned by watching Elton do my CTR intake cam and Reid do his cam. I recommend getting both the CTR intake and exhaust cams just because of the better flow allowed by the R exhaust cam. Plus it'll free up a couple horsies. (Although maybe not worth it in terms of dollar to HP ratio.) Get them in the set to save some $$.