rallyrcr

Safety
Pacific Raceways is its own demon. It's a very fast track that needs a lot of safety upgrades in my opinion. Turn 9 and 1 are done at full acceleration with blinds spots and non-flat surfaces that are pretty dangerous even to experienced drivers. Knowing this, if I consider this car faster than my BMW, and my BMW in stock trim can hit 153mph at the entry of the braking zone to turn 2, then I understand your cause for concern.

Still I do not intend on a roll cage. A cage just isn't what I wanted near term. My goal has always been an enjoyable street yet capable track car. This will still be a street car, but it won't be a daily driver. Full roll caged cars are awkward on weekend drives along the coast or to the mountains. I do have full personal safety equipment for the track. My personal preference has been the feel of my Rage Pro over the Hans.

Budget
I should clairfy the $5k price point. It's wasn't in budget in the sense that it was the maximum limit, but it was set low to minimize price creep....which always tends to magically happen with cars. $9k was my true starting limit because that is the approximate used resale value of all the parts for my BMW that have sold/selling. $5k allowed extra budget overhead to allow for repairs and necessary upgrades. Choosing to pay $7k was because the car is in excellent condition and didn't need additional repairs. But in the end, I expect somewhere in the range of $15-20k spread over the course of several years to make the CRX track capable.

Initial Configuration
My immediate (within the year) upgrade/safety plans call for the Willwood kit front and back. New wheels/tires, and I think I'm going to go with 949 19x8 front and 19x7 rear shod in BFG Rivals. I'm also considering an APR GT-1000 wing to increase rear traction at higher speeds. I have no plan for any near term power upgrades. If I can source the Wilwood kit and wheels used from the forums that will keep my budget just under $10 for the first year of ownership.

Below is my intended starting suspension configuration. I'll adjust as I go along, but this should start me off right. If anyone has any opinions, I'd be more than happy to get the advice.

Camber (fr/r): 3.0 - 2.0 degree
Toe (fr/r): 1/8" - 0"
Roll Bar (fr/r): none - solid adj.
Shock (fr/r): Koni adj. full soft - Koni adj. full soft
Springs (fr/r): 400lbs - 550lbs
Air: depends on tire/track

*Note: springs/shocks/tires/pads are always their own separate budget from the car. There will always be money to keep these parts fresh and/or appropriate...safe.

mattbatson

just out of curiosity, if springs/shocks/tires arent under the budget for the car....what are they under?
kids college fund?
lol

sorry, but I imagined for a second telling my wife that the 1300 dollar coilovers I'm looking at for the track day car are not ACTUALLY in the budget for...the track day car...

rallyrcr

Haha...my wife would have my ***** if my consumables budget meant that. No, I guess I should clarify that budget means basic maintenance. For shocks that's revalving/rebuilding, brakes it means pads and fresh fluids, springs are usually a 1-1 swap when trading out spring rates, and for tires it means not running to the cords.

rbwdriven

Q: What Chassis would you use?
EF. I’ve been around them for over 15 years. I have enough parts.

Q: What Engine combo would you use?
I would build a d16a6 engine from the ground up. (Plenty of SCCA experience in watching those guys (crx’s and hatches dominate with a standard d16a6)

Q: What suspension and tires?
light weight cheap wheels (we ran panasports on our VW Rabbit). We always ran Hoosiers for tires on the miata and the VW.

Q: What aftermarket parts would you use to get the most bang for your buck?
pretty much dial in the suspension with replacement bushings. Koni shocks and ground control sleeves.


Q: Would you start from stock or buy a track car already built?
To me it depends on the kind of deals I can get.
I could always walk outside and start prepping my other 1989 civic si or my 1988 crx si.

There are plenty of racers also that you will find dumping the cars at the end of the season due to money or over it. I know from first hand building a track prep car is a lot of time and money. We set a budget when we built my buddies spec miata, by the time we were done that was just under $15k. I said never do that again. At the end of the season you will find the deals for cars and parts.

Lately due to all the hype with EF’s people are selling them for stupid money for a trashed body. I remember a couple of years ago me and a buddy would pick up wagons, crx or hatches for under $300. Those days are gone.

I’d start probably from one of my own cars since I know what has been done and it has been done correctly not rigged.

The budget can be done you just have to have a good plan of attack.

kseriesn/a

1) Chassis Use: 92-95 Civic Hatchback SHELL
2) Engine Combo: low budget B20 Vtec
3) Suspension/Tires: find some used GC/Koni Yellow, or any full adjustable dampers would work (depending on driver) and as for tires, I'd go with Hoosier slicks.
4) Aftermarket Parts: the basic i/h/e, intake manifold/throttle body, RS Pistons/Blox Cams + Valve Train, good clutch and lighten flywheel, p28 chip on chrome, with a good tuner, (should easily hit 200whp +)
5) Stock or Buy? Honestly, I'd personally start from stock, but if there's a good buy out there, then why not save the time/hassle and just pick up a track car under 5k.

scottdh20

because of this thread I search out some racecars....needless to say me and my uncle just snatched up a former scca 89 crx si for Penny's on the dollar. I could build have this car for what we paid. full cage, seats, harnesses, bushing a all done, final drive swap, I/h/e and mild cam d16, new slicks and new street tires.....list goes on and on..can't believe how much car we got for the money

miamirice

Assuming you already have tow vehicle and trailer.......that alone will dramatically weed out a ton of potential buyers for a full caged car. From what I have seen you get a sound, well sorted log booked car for $.40 on the dollar.......you will still have bugs to work out and need spares, etc.

scottdh20

yes car came with log books, the car is well sorted, any car of this age will have little bug to work out. car is also street driveable, although I don't recommend it without a helmet since your head is so close to the cage.

we all have trucks and trailers owned or available. unfortunately in our search we came across 4 different types of cars: fairly stock, well sorted race car, half *** ghetto rigged racecar, and ricer garbage. just because it has a cage doesn't make it a racecar we came to find out.

miamirice

Yes, I would only buy a car that regularly attends the sanctioning body event that I race with, I want to see up close and personal the car running a sprint race at minimum and what goes on with it before and after.

. I was making a point that when you are selling a car that:

1. Not street legal
2. Requires storage
3. Requires a trailer
4. Requires a tow vehicle
5. Requires others stuff- fuel jugs, SETS of wheels/tires, .....etc

Ifs a far more limited group of buyers vs the track toy that has A/C, windows, radio etc and can be driven to/from the track.

rallyrcr

Congrats!!! That made me very happy for you to read your purchase. On one hand it's painful for the owner who just had to sell all their blood sweat and tears. On the other hand, all the work that the new owner(s) don't have to do leaves so much more time and money to drive and enjoy the car. Again, a very sincere congrats!!

scottdh20

no I fully understand Miamirice. I know the demographic is much smaller market to sell to. but the price still gets me. cut out the cage and put carpet back in and it would have sold for plenty more. I live in Michigan a non rusted out crx can pull a premium. so I understand pricing and how it is a effected. on the same token its a very well put together car, that alone is worth money....again to the right person

and thanks rallyrcr

I will continue to race my hatch....this is a car for my uncle who may use it once or twice and he is giving to me on a long term rich uncle payment plan....lol...he has money and has always wanted to try road racing....I got him into it, as with all his hobbies they burn bright and fade out just as fast. basically he wanted an out. which was eventually I will buy it off him...win/win

Bundysauce

The best for cheap 96 ek9 hatch with blown motor 500$
B20 with transfer case pulled from rear end colision 500$
Y8 lsd gsr tranny 125 if wait to score at wreckers
Sell B20 transfer case 200$
Rear brake swap from an acura legend I think wreckers 60$
New pads ball joints ty rods 400$
H&r 2 inch drop springs wrecker score again 60$
21/2 free flow exuast to no muffler I've learned from trial error if you put a few bends in exuast pipe it builds enough back pressure so you not burning valves .
Pull all that **** out you don't need it stage one weight reduction remove airbags spare tire panels make sure the ek is base model power options create unnessary weight get wrecker tires I like steelies with winter tires have bald I use them because steelies are light cheap and easy to replace from curb rub burnouts just racing in general delete power steering pump all you need to do is fill the rack and pinion with fluid the run the lines that come from the unit back into them selives sealed unit and if your skilled you can put a pinion from an Integra into the ek rack to increase handling I built this car for my first build all wrecker built cost me about 2000

bigtimegambler

EF civic with an obd1 b16 swap that comes with a full exhaust, strut bars, and integra brake swap - 2000
general maintenance (fluids, gaskets, plugs, wires, distributer, grease) - 500
weight reduction (strip out panels, carpet, sound deadening) - free
brakes (project mu pads and brembo blanks) - 450
GC/Koni 10k front 12k rear - 800
Used 15" wheels with used Dunlop ZII (205/50r15) - 1000
ASR 24 mm rear sway - 200

Total: 4950

The price for the ef is a little far fetched, lets just assumed the body wasn't perfect.