I am looking for some autocross and roadracing setups for a 95 Civic EX Coupe. I am going to be keeping the SOHC D16Z6 and 5 speed tranny. NO SWAPS. I want to know what people are running for best performance and handling.

PS: Already Searched

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by harwood39 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Already Searched</TD></TR></TABLE>

Where, out behind your house?

 

It depends on what class you run in. And even then, there is no one "best" setup. Most of us start out by getting what we expect will be a great setup (often based on what other racers use with success), then find that we need to change it up a bit to fit our needs. Adjustability is your friend, get as much of it as you possibly can.

When starting out, don't worry about modifying the car, as that will only encourage bad habits. By far the best bang for your buck is to improve your driving. One of our most common headaches is understeer, but a large part of dealing with that is in your driving. Handling mods will never make your actual performance any better (even though it feels better), unless the driver is skilled enough to take advantage of it. People who only have street experience are far from being skilled.

 

i understand the learning how to drive part. I had a 1987 300ZX that i autcrossed in it a couple times. I would just like to know the basic set up parts for a civic. i had my Nissan set up perfectly for me but that was alot hevier of a car, and was rear wheel drive.

Here is a basic list of what i would most likely be running:

Tien SS Coil over kit
Energy Suspension Poly Bushings
Strut tower bars
Lower tie bars
Dark Star Racing Crossmember kit
DC Sports Header
AEM Adjustable cam gear
Shift Stabilizer
Poly motor mount inserts
2.5 in cat back exhaust
Stripped interior
Short ram intake
Taylor plug wires
exedy stage 1 clutch
Sway bars
Arospeed Short shifter

What i really want to know is :

Wheels and tires
Brakes
Power steering or manual steering

 

You are getting waaay too far ahead of yourself there. All you listed are a bunch of parts that either 1) are useless, 2) push you into a very hard class, and 3) wont do any good if the driver can't take advantage of them.

Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock.

Get the point? <U>Seat time is the single most important factor in going fast. without an adequate amount of it, all the parts in the world are useless.</U>

I would start hitting as many autocrosses as you can, ASAP. Just grab a helmet, make sure your car is in good working order, and that you have fully functional brakes and tires. I 99% guarantee you can't afford to road race, so don't think about that right now. You can however look into HPDE. Check the forum FAQ at the top of this page and the "So you want to drive on a racetrack..." thread for more info on that.

Good luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by harwood39 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Tien SS Coil over kit
Energy Suspension Poly Bushings
Strut tower bars
Lower tie bars
Dark Star Racing Crossmember kit
DC Sports Header
AEM Adjustable cam gear
Shift Stabilizer
Poly motor mount inserts
2.5 in cat back exhaust
Stripped interior
Short ram intake
Taylor plug wires
exedy stage 1 clutch
Sway bars
Arospeed Short shifter

</TD></TR></TABLE>Let's see here...item by item

No
No
No
No
NO!
No
No
No
No
No
NO!
No
No
Maybe
No

 

basically what they are saying is just drive

 

Tein SS are ****

go with somthing better like Koni yellow and ground control custom spring rate coilover sleeves. Im gonna be trying out JIC FLT-A2 with custom spring rates, search around.. theres alot out there. Even omnipower coilovers are better than tein ss, u dont have the option of damping adjustment, but they are valved good anyway.

 

you really need to learn to drive the car before you set it up for things you dont know. your mod list was pointless. maybe find some other OEM honda wheels and get some better track/autox tires on them and learn to drive the car how it is. it will improve your times once you start modding and such.

 

i hate to beat a dead horse, but, just drive the car for a while. since you are 16 im guessing the most you can afford is some autox and maybe a lapping day here and there. go get an extra set of wheels and throw on some falken azenis. keep your stock wheels with all seasons or whatever ( im assuming this car is your daily driver) for when you are not autoxing or at a track day.

the only worthwhile mod besides a good set of street tires ( dont go to R compounds until you have a good bit of seat time under your belt) is a good set of brake pads, good brake fluid and just make sure everything on the car is in good working order. bad habbits are hard to break and the more mods you do to the car the harder it is to identify what you are doing wrong. a lot of people get into the habbit of blaming the car or mods to it for poor performance and always seem to forget that they were the one who was driving

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You are getting waaay too far ahead of yourself there.Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock. Drive it stock.</TD></TR></TABLE>

... learn your car. drive stock

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by travis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where, out behind your house? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Funniest thing i've read here in a long time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Funniest thing i've read here in a long time </TD></TR></TABLE>Yeah, that got a genuine LOL out of me.

 

man i did about 10 autocross racing with my suby i had and hade fun doing it. major thing i found braking at the right time not going into corner to hot and and tires with better grip like azeis sports are good to use. ps raced in sts class with lno engine mod 108 hp always second.

 

Stripping the interior in particular puts you in a world of hurt. Prepared is not a fun place to be

 

I dont have the suby anymore dam woman hit me now i got a crx.

 

I'll take a proverbial stab to help. I agree with EVERYTHING said so far. The most important thing perhaps is the suspension. The engine you have is fine.... so don't worry much about it. If you want to throw intake/header/exhaust at it, then fine, but pay very close attention to the suspension because that's where the most speed will be. Tein is a great company and they make great suspensions, but the Tein SS isn't one of them. It's priced well, but the spring and shock rates aren't good. If you plan to really make a play at racing, you will outgrow them before you've finished your first event. ha ha. Not kidding. There is no question that the best setup for the price is the Ground Control and Koni setup. Look around because I think I saw an banner ad for a killer price on that package. (wink wink) You can get custom spring rates, and the shocks are great. You can spend more and get the RACE version of the shocks, but I'd suggest you just run the off the shelf ones for now because chances are the SPSS won't really be so useful to you now.

Also, get a good swaybar setup..... leave the stock front swaybar and run one of the good rear bars that has an integrated rear tie lower tie bar (like comptech, susp tech, etc.).

You mentioned a few things you were still deciding one... wheels/tires, brakes, and steering. My thoughts on those are that they are entirely dependent on autocross versus road racing and then dependent on class too. I'd recommend running STS and go with a 15x7 with Falken Azenis Sports for now. They'll serve you well for track days too. Don't get into race tires yet, because any class with race tires and suspension mods is bound to be tough and not necessarily fun if you are just starting out. STS is great for people just starting out because the level of prep is actually quite high and you don't have a huge tire bill.

Brakes are a no brainer... just go with a slightly upgrade front brake pad and leave the rears stock.... that's for autocross. They will likely fade a bit at a track day, but just drive smart and learn the car and it won't slow you down too too much. Track days are for fun and learning anyway. If you go full on road racing, then brakes are a totally different deal. They are unquestionably one of the MOST important things on the car; so that's another post.....

And power or manual steering?? Well either i guess..... but just leave it stock for now. Power steering is nice and as long as you don't run into catch-up issues (where you run out of pump flow and the wheel feels like it locks up), then just don't do anything.

The spring rates I recommend for people is very dependent on the level of driver and where the car will be driven. I've seen people with little experience take reasonable rates like what I run on my STS cars (400f/450r) on an 89 Civic and spin almost to their death because they entered a turn too fast..... you cannot enter a turn too fast with an agressive setup. If you are an advanced driver, you'd know that, but you can STILL get yourself into trouble if you are being too greedy on the street (we've all done it).

The bottom line is that there are alot of experienced drivers here and where all experienced drivers know is that speed is more in the knowledge of what makes you fast rather than the Tein name on your suspension. So, starting from stock and just driving it for 6 months before making big changes is the best way to understand how the changes improve the car .... and that knowledge is what points you toward making the car really fast. If you just throw a bunch of parts at the car, you won't really understand what's good and what's bad.

So, my recommendation is run in STS. Run the car stock with only the wheels and tires for a few events just to see what it's like. Then do the suspension with GC/Konis (where's that darn banner ad!). Depending on your experience and if you drive it everyday and where you live, perhaps run rates of 300f/300r to 400f/450 rear. Then when you are able to wipe that big grin off your face and want even more speed, then put a bigger rear bar on the car (but for goodness sakes don't kill yourself!). And run it like that for a year or so. also....

Somewhere early on, after the suspension is on, have a really advanced driver drive your car with you in the passenger seat and see how fast the car really can be through the course.

So, learn and learn and learn and learn. Because when you get good locally and can win there, then you can come to Nationals and relearn how to drive again where you realize that you have to find even more speed. It's fun.... but don't just throw name brands at the car. The money and time spent on your knowledge is lasting speed that you'll carry from driver's seat to driver's seat. Done that way and if you have the drive and funds to support 20 events a year or more, you should be in the trophies at nationals within a few years.

Good luck..... and where did I see that banner for Ground Controls and Konis???!!!! sorry... shameless plug!

Chris Shenefield

 

I dont know if i mentioned this before, but i autoxed in my 87 300zx i had, but that was completely different. 3600 lbs, RWD, Eibach springs, tokico shocks/struts.

This is whats done to my car right now:
Bomz Racing coilovers(rates are 350f/450r)
Stock Struts(wouldnt be suprised if they are blown)
Stock Rear Brakes
Power Stop Drilled Front Rotors
AEM Front Pads
AEM Adjustable Cam Gear
Removed Smelly and Stained Carpet and Rear Seat
APC Front Upper Strut Bar
Short Ram Intake
16x7 5 Zigen Fighters w/Nitto NT Neogen VR Tires(205/40R-16)
2.5in Mandrel Bent Cat Back Exhaust
Magnaflow Muffler
Aro Speed Short Shifter
Energy Suspension Shift Stabilizer

Car handles great, can take 30+ mph turns easily

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by harwood39 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I dont know if i mentioned this before, but i autoxed in my 87 300zx i had, but that was completely different. 3600 lbs, RWD, Eibach springs, tokico shocks/struts.

This is whats done to my car right now:
Bomz Racing coilovers(rates are 350f/450r)
Stock Struts(wouldnt be suprised if they are blown)
Stock Rear Brakes
Power Stop Drilled Front Rotors
AEM Front Pads
AEM Adjustable Cam Gear
Removed Smelly and Stained Carpet and Rear Seat
APC Front Upper Strut Bar
Short Ram Intake
16x7 5 Zigen Fighters w/Nitto NT Neogen VR Tires(205/40R-16)
2.5in Mandrel Bent Cat Back Exhaust
Magnaflow Muffler
Aro Speed Short Shifter
Energy Suspension Shift Stabilizer

Car handles great, can take 30+ mph turns easily</TD></TR></TABLE>

Way to completely ignore all the advice you've just been given.

Who cares what is is on the car, work on the driving!!! Taking 30 mph turns easily means nothing if it is a 37 or a 41 mph turn, but you wont be able to know that until you get some serious track time!

 

Since you already have a lot done to the car, don't change a thing except - your tires suck get some Falken Azins Sports and cheap 15x7 rims (Rotas, Kosei)

Most important - get someone who is experienced to drive it and to ride with you to see how you drive. (and I mean someone really experienced. If you are in the Mid Atlantic get Chris Shenefield or Sam Strano. In New England Tyson Sawyer, in the midwest Todd Meade or Jeff Browne, in Arizona Jim Harnish I don't know about the south or Cali). Then LISTEN to their recommendations.

regards,
Alan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00R101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> don't change a thing except - your tires suck get some Falken Azins Sports and cheap 15x7 rims (Rotas, Kosei)
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldnt bother.

Drive on what you have and learn.

 

I agree with the above, except, REPLACE the shocks. 15 year old shocks with upgraded springs=no control. The lots in my area are ROUGH. Several cars have shown up with worn out shocks and I seriously considered having them parked rather than risk crashing. It is also possible to damage the car if driving hard on blown shocks. One Honda with a B16 swap broke the engine mounts on course from so much wheel hop. Sparks out from under the hood combined with massive grinding sounds makes for an interesting run.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I wouldnt bother.

Drive on what you have and learn.</TD></TR></TABLE>

RJ, You are probably correct but those are really "no performance shoes" (TM)

 

OMG forget about everything but get new shocks. The one thing you need most has been completely ignored... SHOCKS!!!!!!!
Chris

 

I know ive neglected the shocks, im getting some koni yellows and debating on Ground control coil overs.