Well, I'm very new to the Honda scene and my 1997 Del Sol Si is the first import car I've ever owned. It's a surprisingly fun car, and it seems like it can outhandle my Mustang any day of the week.

I've attended several HPDE's in my 2000 Mustang GT, so I know about the general improvements most cars need for a track day. (For a Mustang, in a word...it's brakes.)

What are a few cheaper things I can do to improve my del slow before taking it out and really embarassing myself at the track?

It currently has a little over 100k miles on the clock and all of the routine maintenance has been performed. The front brakes need attention soon, so new fluid, performance pads and new front rotors are planned. The car is currently riding on stock wheels with Falken Ziex all-seasons.

Does the Del Sol count as a convertible to most on-track organizations? Most of the people I've talked to don't seem to think so, since it's a targa-top, but I didn't know if I should be factoring the cost of a roll-bar into my budget.

Any other suggestions (or stuff I haven't even thought of) would be appreciated,

Thanks guys!

Matt

 

I'd search, thats why it's highlighted in red. But i'll help you out a bit. Check out the Autocross forum they would be more helpful. Brakes are a must before anything else in my book, it wont be any fun if you cant stop right?? Search thru the Autocross forum aarchives and you should be able to find what you need and use your experiance on the subject to pick out parts you need since it's not a new subject to you.

 

I did search, but guess what? It seems as if not too many folks are open-tracking their sols.

Thanks for the reply, I'll take your post extremely seriously since you have a "free Ipod" link in your sig.

 

not many people do, atleast in my neck of the woods sols are rice burners, haven't seen one that could actually perform . Just follow what some of the 92-95 guys have been doing the form of setups, should give you a good starting point. I think somewhere in the sticky at the top of the page theres a link that goes over interchangable parts in the civic, sol, and teg so that should be helpful too

 

re: rollbar- up to you really...

auto zone rotors, hawk hp plus pads, and motul or ate blue fluid will make you a very happy braker.

everything else should be good to go though

 

Ahhh Finally a topic I am an expert on...

The del sol is a fun track car, the brakes do well with good fluid and pads on just about any track. I would look into a bigger rear sway and some better shocks if you do not already have them. I run Koni withs stock springs and the car does fine on track.

Most Orgs do not count the Del Sol as a convertiable, and roll bars are pretty much no existence. The car actually does ok in a roll over the Bar above the rear window holds up pretty well, its the front window that collapses more, I would run on track with the Top in.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I guess I've got some work to do.

EDIT: Also, thanks to the mod that moved this. I didn't figure this topic was worthy of the RRAX guys.


Modified by drivesideways46 at 1:03 AM 2/20/2006