Well I have Neuspeed Race Springs and their spring rates are 435 lb/in up front and 330 lb/in in the rear and was wanting to know how much that is over stock. (95 Del Sol S)

Also I will be ordering Neuspeed/Koni Yellows soon and would like to know what setting I should start off with for auto-x?
PS: I also have S-T 1"front & 3/4" rear sway bars...

Thanks

 

....anyone???

 

Shock settings are largely driver-suited. What I like... you might not like... etc.

FWIW, I have 380/450s and I have my front shocks at almost full stiff and the rears are in the middle of the adjustment range. I have a big rear bar and this settled the car down considerably, especially on R-compounds.

 

This is a guess (I did own a Sol Si and I know how Honda does springs) but I would say that stock fronts are somewhere be 150-220 and rears are 120-180. So your spring rates are considerably high than stock (they are also higher than my ITR which is 240F 180-220R Progressive - I think)

The 4:3 Front to Rear ratio that you have now is a very safe one for street driving but it might be a little understeery for autocross. If you are ordering new springs then I suggest you go with even rates front and rear for a street driven autocrosser (the standard road race Honda advice is 3:4 Front to Rear ratio but I think that is a little too neutral for a daily driver in the hands of a novice autocrosser)

If you are getting adjustable perches, you might be able to swap front and rear springs (I think they are the same diameter and pretty close to the same height) but be warned - the car may have decidedly more snap oversteer potential. Test the limits out carefully in a safe environment. A few years back I read about a Miata driver that put on a big new rear sway bar, and went out "testing" on his favorite back twisty mountain roads. He came back in an ambulance and the miata came back on a flatbed and directly to the junk-yard.

good luck,
Alan

 

thanks for the info guys.

 

Your spring and bar set-up sounds like a lot of understeer so I would set the shcosk to bring some oversteer into the picture to head back toward neutrality. Set the fronts about mid range and the rears one half turn from max. If the car continues to understeer (and it is not driver induced), then add more rear rebound. If it is too oversteery, take away (soften) rear rebound. If the car gets best at max but it feels like it could use more, then soften the front down a bit to increase the bias toward the rear. The only risk with this is that you may be underdamping the front some but in a controlled autocross situation, that is not a big deal and the lesser of evils. If the shock adjustments make no difference, your cause is farther upstream and the fine tuning of the shocks may not be able to overcome bigger issues.

This is not taking into account your tire, pressure and alignmnt situation. Nothing works in a void so all will interact for a final effect so you have to make sure that everything is working for you and not against you or each other.