I am going to auto-x my 99 Si for the first time this weekend.
I am not expecting much, I just bought it in Sept of 2004, and up until then had a 92 Si hatch I ran in Cmod and Dsp. That car was pretty well prepared and I could get the odd regional FTD if the course was right, I think this new Si is going to suck compared to it, but I am hoping its not too bad. It only has Neuspeed Sport springs and Gr2 shocks, all else is mostly stock, aside from an intake.
The 2 cars get almost exactly the same lap time on my local race track, the old hatch being lighter and better setup for the track, but the new Si has WAY better gearing and more power obviously.
I am looking forward to running it, shall see what happens.

 

Not sure what your other civic was like, but the trouble I had with the 99 Si when I ran them in autocrossing was the slow ratio steering rack. The first run or so, I would always seem to get caught out by this. Other than that, the gearing is pretty high for the car. They can move if you get them on a course that will put them into VTEC, it is just hard to keep them there. Overall, the 91 are not the best suited cars for autocrossing, but still not horrible.

 

You'll be surprised what the 99-00 Si's can actually do. In mine I have year end championship trophies for GS ('02, '03) and STS ('04). Sure I get beaten by the '89-91 Si's in STS when they show up but I'm close enough to them to know that with a little more tightening of the loose nut behind the wheel I can give them a serious scare.

Good luck with it.

BTW - What class do you plan on running it in?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Blue Si #72 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You'll be surprised what the 99-00 Si's can actually do. In mine I have year end championship trophies for GS ('02, '03) and STS ('04). Sure I get beaten by the '89-91 Si's in STS when they show up but I'm close enough to them to know that with a little more tightening of the loose nut behind the wheel I can give them a serious scare.

Good luck with it.

BTW - What class do you plan on running it in?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep. I did pretty well in mine in the couple GS class event's I did. One regional and a few local. I placed 4th regional out of I think eight and at the local events I won two and came in second at the other one. All I had done was KYB AGX's, Spoon drop in filter, Ultimates all around and 205/50 Azenis! No front bar, no Hoosiers either.

I think the car can be set up to be a national contender in GS especially since most national course offer more leg room and keep the Si up in it's power band which it NEEDS. It doesn't fare as well to say a Mini Cooper S with it's supercharged low end TQ or some of the much smaller local and regional events. That car will probably be its main competition.

I didn't keep it stock long though and the couple STS events I ran, got my *** handed to me by EF's. Those '98 ACR's and R/T's do fairly well to in STS. They will give you a GOOD run for your money.

It is unfortunate that you have springs and an intake, but you'll have fun none the less I think.

 

I had 2 local SM and 1 local DSP season championships in mine, but I can sortof drive. There used to be a guy locally who did okay in G-stock too. They're great fun to autocross but they don't fit in to any of the classes they're classed in right now. I don't think you'll be disappointed by it.

 

I was too doing pretty well locally with my 00 Civic Si in STS. Full prepared sans seat replacement and AC removal. Also could have gone with stiffer springs, but when 2004 rolled around I figured it was cheaper just to be a lemming than to spend more money on a car I didn't know was going to do well.

I won the year end trophies for my region in 2002 & 2003, South NJ Region in 2001, 2nd place in 2000, 2001, 2004, and Philly region 2nd place in 2004.

My thinking is that if you could loose another 100lbs somewhere (my car was down to about 2425-2450'ish pounds), it would be more competitive. I started experimenting with shaved 215/45x16" Azenis (front) and 205/50x15" Azenis (rear) towards the end of the year and had some great results. The extra width of the front tires really helped the car to turn quicker.

I also thought about swapping the spring rates (according to Nate's advice) and putting the stiffer springs up front since the front of the 99-00 Civic Si is heavier than the 1989-1991 Civic Sis.

 

Cool, I think the car will do ok, just not quite as good as my EG did, I could squeek out an FTD now and then if the course was right. I am hoping for top 5 overall, I'll be happy with that, should be 30-50 cars there. My EG was usually in the top 3.
I don't mind the steering too much, having raced the eg for 5 years.
I don't care about classes as I only do 5 or so events a year due to race season, I usually stick myself with the rest of the Honda's, which is Cmod currently as they are all swapped cars, we have no STS here, everyone runs R compounds for the most part.

 

FYI

My setup:

550f/750r springs
Koni Yellows (revalved and shortened)
2.4f/1.6r camber
Stock bars

Still working with this setup but it's doing rather well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Blue Si #72 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FYI

550f/750r springs
Koni Yellows (revalved and shortened)
2.4f/1.6r camber
Stock bars

</TD></TR></TABLE>

You don't find the need for a rear bar with those rates? I would like to keep my current springs, (I had stiff rates on my last car, it started to get to me) so I wanted to go with a rear bar to get the required rear roll stiffness.

 

That's the other thing I wish I had money and time to try. The Koni SPSS. I have them on my 91 Si and I believe the shorter shock would definitely help out the 00 Si.