SHLuding

The Name of the Game
The goal of this thread is to provide relevant and useful information to anyone looking to track a DA Integra. Concepts and mods have been approached from as well reasoned a perspective as I could manage. I will try to provide quantifiable data as much as possible as opposed to just "seat of the pants" type information and reviews. Wish me luck.

The Car
To start I purchased a 1991 Acura Integra DB (4 door) 5 speed w/ ABS for 1500 dollars. The car was in good shape for its age. It had 167,000 miles at the time of purchase last year in December. It now has 176,000. It is 100% stock except for some knock off Rays wheels and some 200 tread wear 205/50/15 tires. Thats it. Shocks are factory and in good working order.

The Method To My Madness
The goal of my purchase was to get a car that would teach me how to do performance driving. I wanted to learn with the best foundation possible. Relying on the advice of national champions in my local SCCA chapter, they said to buy a car and drive it stock for a good long while. It seemed crazy to me, I thought "surely a stock car cant handle or even be fun or useful on track or AutoX". Oh how wrong I was. I begrudgingly took their advice full of skepticism. However, the moment I realized they were right was when I was at my limit on a given course and an instructor, having never driven my car previously, jumped in the car and shaved four second off my time in the first go. This told me two things. 1: I suck. 2: There is way more that car had to give that my mediocre driving couldn't get out of it. So why modify a car, when you can modify the driver? The logic was simple and clear after this. Keep it stock as long as possible. Learn to drive it stock so when I do eventually change it, ill actually know what I am changing and why. Also stock is cheap, which as a college student, is important as well.

Preliminary Maintenance
The things I changed to make the Integra race ready were fairly minor.
Here is the list:
-Aisin Timing belt kit w/ water pump
-Moog upper A arms
-Moog lower balljoints
-Moog tie rod ends
-Hardrace rear trailing arm bushings
-Stoptech S.S. brakelines
-Centric Ctek front blank rotors
-Stoptech Sport front pads (rated for 1300 degrees Fahrenheit)
-Motul RBF6000 brake fluid
-Beck Arnley clutch cable
-Wix 51334XP filter
-Castrol Edge 10w-30 HM
-Honda MTF

Enough talk though, here are some pictures.

















If you have any questions about the car don't hesitate to ask.

SHLuding

Alright, this post will be my summary of the year of stock driving I did with the Integra including some track days but mostly AutoX in addition to things ive learned.

The First Few AutoX Events
Like so many people first getting a dedicated "performance" vehicle for recreational use, I was itching to get on track, not AutoX. However, I was convinced not to jump into track driving right away by a very experienced good friend of mine. He said that AutoX was a much better place to start learning car control. Again, I didn't really want to believe him, but I took his advice anyway. I participated in 4 autocross events and learned heaps about my own driving and about the car. Ill break it down into a list for you.

Things learned:
1. I suck
Nobody is good their first few times out. That's just a rule to which there seem to be no exceptions.

2: Canyon Driving is NOT performance driving and will not help you in any way on track or in AutoX
Performance driving involves being at the limit of grip almost 100% of the time. In Canyon driving, you may never even break traction once, nor should you unless you want to put your car in a ditch like I did. Its not safe for you or those around you. Point being, there is no real skill gained from it because you are rarely at the limit

3: Lots of body roll does NOT mean a car handles poorly
Cars with double wishbone suspension like many of our beloved Hondas roll over and then stick. This means that once the car leans over and stops leaning the actual cornering G's can be quite good. Body rolls means a slow transition time from turning left to turning right, but if you know to initiate your turns early it is not nearly as much of a detriment as you think. This shows mostly in AutoX, for track, transition time was almost a non-issue. Body roll can also be quite good because it teaches the importance of settling a car before fully turning it. This is a good learning tool for beginners.

4: Low horsepower cars are best for beginners
Not only can you get yourself in to less trouble, but low HP cars force you to be very stingy with giving up speed anywhere. We call them, "extreme speed maintenance cars" because every bit of speed you give up is very hard to get back. This forces you to be very selective with your driving line instead of relying on power as a crutch to make up for lack of driver skill.

5: Upgrading a car before you actually can drive it competently is foolish
Figure out what your car does in stock form first. For one, you may be pleasantly to surprised to find out stock cars actually handle quite well. Secondly, stock is an excellent baseline so when you do change something, you can know exactly why you are doing it. Thirdly, because OEM is often quite good, dont underestimate your ability to make a car handle worse by modifying. The engineers who built your car were quite smart, and had good reason for the choices they made. If you feel like you may not know what you are doing, find someone who does, ideally out at your local AutoX club. People there are often very willing to give advice to those who genuinely want help. Fourthly, stock is cheap. If you are doing this on a tight budget like me, saving money anywhere you can is paramount.

6: Sticky tires can cover bad driving
Sticky tires tend to be more forgiving, thus masking your mistakes more hidden. Lower grip 200 tread wear tires are better for improving driver skill even if they arent competitive.

7: If a car handles "on rails" you aren't driving fast enough (please don't try to find out what "fast enough" is on the street, its dangerous to you and those around you)
A common phrase that I used to say and have heard many others say as well. Go and ride along at an AutoX and you will see what I mean. Its free and will be a real eyeopener. In reality cars skate around much more than you think, especially at the limit.

8: Tire pressures are a crucial vehicle tuning tool
Simply by adjusting your front and rear pressures, you can quite drastically alter the tendency of a vehicle in terms of under and oversteer.

9: Do not blame the car, 9 times out of 10, its the driver that makes the difference
A tendency of new drivers can be to claim, "If I just had such and such aftermarket part, it would fix all my problems on this course". This is almost never the case, let an instructor drive your car and be amazed as it suddenly feels like a balanced and graceful machine. Its not the car, its you. Develop some driver skill, then maybe you can change the car.

10. Cars can take far more abuse than I ever thought previously
Ive driven 10,000 hard miles with my Integra in stock form and have yet to encounter a mechanical issue because of it. That consists of about 14 AutoX days and 3 track days over the past year. Two of those track days were in 100 degree heat at Buttonwillow. Car didnt care and I drove it home like nothing ever happened. Honda has some damn good people working for them in the 90s. Dont think this isnt hard on a car, it is. Hondas at least just seem to be able to take it quite well.

11. Alignment is a crucial tuning tool
Just like tire pressure, a simple toe adjustment can have a huge effect on your cars behavior. Don't underestimate the power of this simple adjustment.

12. A surprising number of track guys hate AutoX for no good reason
Track guys look down on autocross because they say its too slow. This is a silly qualm. AutoX teaches you car control basics at a safe speed. When the speed increases you will find the car behaves similarly, not the same, but similarly. Thusly AutoX gives you the tools to know how to handle a car when it gets out of shape and many of those skills hold true even as speed increases. Also, AutoX forces you to have fast reaction times in order to adapt to courses that are always changing. This sharpens reflexes and driver instinct. Moral of the story, both track and AutoX teach invaluable skills, but if you are just starting off, AutoX is a far better place to do it.

So chances are if you haven't ever done any performance driving there may be some things on that list that go against what others have previously told you. I completely understand that, because that is exactly what happened to me. Many of my preconceived notions about vehicle tuning and performance were shaped by forums and my local car community. I thought the people telling me these things knew what they were doing. In reality, they didn't. Its sad, but many car enthusiasts are very ignorant about what they are actually doing when they modify a car. I was one of them https://www.preludepower.com/forums/...d.php?t=447258. That is a link to a build thread I made a few years back. Its proof of how dumb I was. Now, I'm still dumb, I just know a little bit better.

The First Track Day
My first track day was at Auto Club Speedway infield. A great track for first time track drivers due to its forgiving nature. Car did great, me not so much. Its a lot to think about adding shifting and downshifting and heel toe. But after a few laps, I quickly began taking out other drivers in the beginner group. Wanna know why? Because I had AutoX experience. Don't take this the wrong way, I was nothing special, anybody could have done what I did with the same level of experience. My point is that, I was far more comfortable with my car on track because of AutoX. Here are a few pictures from the day.








Here are some more pictures from my first AutoX as well as a few others.









We definitely put 5 people in the Integra and did a lap of the AutoX course. It was tons of fun.







The Prelude will come out to AutoX someday



In Summary, I learned an awful lot in the first year. I hope some of this was useful and feel free to ask any questions. Thanks

SHLuding

So you must be thinking, "You beat up your car for 10,000 miles and it never gave you ANY issues?". Well, for the most part yes, but for fear of misleading you allow me to go over the ones I did have.

1. Alternator failure (twice)
My alternator died so I replaced it with a reman Denso unit. That Denso unit also died within 2 months. So I took it back and got it warrantied. Im told high RPM track use isn't something they are fond of.
Solution: Replace it for 90 dollars and a few hours of my time.

2. 2nd Gear Grinds
If I were to shift very aggressively (and at redline of course) sometimes 2nd gear would protest with some grinding. Trans fluid was always fresh. The best shifting fluid seemed to be Honda MTF but it seems to vary from transmission to transmission.
Solution: Shift the transmission just a bit more nicely. I can still change gears quickly, I just have to be more smooth.

3. Uneven Tire Wear
Due to the very stock nature of my suspension and the fact it was NOT designed to sustain high cornering load ALL the time, my tires would wear almost exclusively on the very outside edge. Imagine extreme positive camber wear. This lead to my tires chunking on just the outside edge even though there was still plenty of tread on the middle and inside of the tire. This was wasting money by going through tires faster than expected.
Solution: Get 3 degrees of negative camber. I ended up lowering the vehicle almost exclusively to gain negative camber. This solved my tire wear issues. Ill post details of that at a later date.

4. Coolant Jug Overflow
On track days my coolant jug would begin spewing coolant after at the end of a session, thereby coating the timing side of my engine with flammable coolant.
Solution: Replace the radiator cap. A stant rad cap from rockauto and I was good to go

5. Main Relay Failure
Common among early 90s hondas in particular my main relay, or fuel injection relay as its sometimes called, decided to stop working. This was characterized by the car starting and then stalling immediately after I had taken a short drive.
Solution: I replaced it with a Standard unit from a local auto parts store. I wanted the lifetime warranty so that's why I bought it locally.

6. Water Leaks....everywhere
Not really track abuse related but my DB leaks water from a few places. For sure there are some leaks letting water into the blower motor which then leaks on to the passenger side floorboard. It also turns the trunk into a swimming pool in even the lightest rain. It doesnt accumulate where the spare tire is, it accumulates on the left and right sides. Some is definitely coming from the taillight seals, but it seems like it has to be from somewhere else as well.
Solution: Take out the plugs from the drain holes in the trunk, cover the car when it rains.

7. AC Freon Leak
When I first got the car, the AC worked great, and slowly over the year it got worse and worse. There is clearly a slow leak somewhere in the system.
Solution: Not sure, probably put dye in the system to try to find the leak

8. Fuel Pressure Damper Screw
On my way to the most recent autocross event I noticed the Integra attempting to asphyxiate me via gas fumes emitting from an unknown location. The fumes continued throughout the day and when I finally figured out it was my car, a quick poke around the engine bay revealed that the screw that sits in the center of the fuel pressure damper had come completely loose.
Solution: Tighten the screw and add loctite

Next post should be a good one. Ill outline my new suspension setup and logic behind why I chose the spring rates I did.