Hi guy,

I posted my question over on CRX forum and was advised to post it here for better response.

I am new to racing FWD car car, CRX in particular. The current setup is Bilstein HD with H&R Race. While is it decent for street, I think it is time to bite a bullet and get a track worthy suspension. This car is track only and will be towed to track.

As for my budget, I try to stay within $1200-1500.

Here are couple of route I can take (suggestions welcome)
1. Revalve Bilstein for $75/piece + GC ($300?) + Camber Kit front/rear
2. Koni Sport ($500) + GC ($300) + Camber Kit front/rear
3. Koni race ($1150) + GC + Camber Kit
Any complete coilover kit worth looking at?

What spring rate do you recommend for 90 CRX Si with B16A?

Our goal for this year is to go to many race as possible, tune the car, get use to it, and hopefully get into NASA by the end of next year.

Many thanks,

Mack

 

maybe instead of Koni Race and GC ($1400)
look at the Ground Control Advance Design coilover system. wouldn't be that much extra $$
i believe $1600-$1800 with springs (GC/eibach)
plus they are dual adjustable. can rebuild them yourself. and i believe they have titanium internals.

 

Welcome. Don't confuse doing track events with "racing". They are not races. It might help to know do you plan on still driving your car to the track or will it become a trailer queen. Spring rates would be dependant on that. Also Koni OTC yellows will not support spring rates more than 600lbs. without blowing out early IIRC. Do you have a full cage in the car? That affects spring rates too if the chassis is real stiff.

Just for point of reference, I have a fully caged track car for DE events. No "racing". I still drive my car to the events but with no interior and no A/C or heater well it is a spartan ride that you don't do any "cruising" in.

My set up is Koni yellows, Eibach ERS 450lb. fr/550lb. rear with GC sleeves. I think that set up ate about $1200 if I remember correctly. I have no camber kit. I have about neg. 2 on all four corners.

Barry H.

 

Thanks Hybrid & Barry,

Yes, it won't be driven to the track. It might see street after equipments installation at best. I want to build and get comfortable with the car. The chief end, hopefully, is to race in Honda Challenge Series. It won't be anytime soon but I want to keep that goal in mind when building this car so I don't do it twice.

So you think 450/550 should be good for track-only, right? Yes, the cage is going into the car and hopefully new suspension before Jan 6 SOW event.

Any other suggestion?

Thanks,

 

There are guys that go much higher but with shocks that can handle the spring rates. I forget the popular spring rates above the 600lb range. A search will probably get you there. Some people prefer an even greater differential between the front and rear springs but my car rotates very nicely (loose) on corner entry with a 100lb spread in the range I am in.

Barry

 

don't forget to check out the rules too...

 

HEy i just bought a 89 CRX and it is gutted. I am going to put a cage in it and a 1.6 sohc vtec. I was wondering what would be a good suspension for DE. It will be towed to the track. It will be awhile before i will be solo. The car will only be used for DE. I was just wanting some ideas on what springs would be good to get and spring rates. And also about brakes. I am sorta new to road racing, but i had a 91 civic that i raced and it handled great with at set of skunk 2 coilovers. I was out running the porsche's i was running with. And i want to do it again to so them boys you dont have to spend a bunch of money to have fun and go fast.

 

koni yellows and ground controls should not cost you more then $900 total
look in the sponsor sections on honda-tech. you can get Konis yellows for about $450 shipped
Ordering from Ground control can take awhile. you might want to order a custom spring rate GC setup from a distributor. try RedshiftMotorSports.com
they also carry the KONI SPSS (race valved) shocks. i believe those handle up to 1000 lb spring rates.

450/500 isn't very stiff for track use. though that isn't saying it's a bad setup
the CRX has a very short wheelbase so most likely it will not be necessary to go with much higher spring rates in the back.

my EF i run 450 / 550. it's mainly my autox, almost daily driver.
i think it's fine for the street.
i have some friends running more in the neighborhood of 700 which is rough on the street but great for Autox and track
last i checked one of the best ITA / H4 cars in the area (integra) was running over 1000 pound spring rates. of course that is a full track car, but

 

Koni SPSS for sure, these are a very well developed and reliable shock. The Adv. designs are good, but seem to not have the reliability factor that the Koni's have. I know people that have them and they seem to have to rebuild the things all the time. As for spring rates I run 600lb/in all around on my CRX, ST rear bar stock front bar and really like it for both autox and track. It suits my particular driving style. You pretty much have to budget in the fact that you will go through a couple of sets of spring rates to find what best works for you...

 

I'd suggest looking at which area you want to make a compromise in: street or track. If the car is going to be mainly for street then you'll be forced to compromise the handling at the track and vice versa if the car is used mainly for the track.

FWIW, I run SPSS Koni's with 500f 700r on my w2w CRX with no front bar and the 7/8th" Suspension Tech rear bar. The car rotates "ok" with the rear bar on medium. I'll be going higher on rear bar and possibly spring rate for 07.

RE: camber adjustment. You really don't need it but the ability to adjust the rearcamber is handy. You don't need it for the front at all and it will only limit your suspension travel before the upper arms hit the unibody.

Other things to look at are spherical bearings for the front radius rods and new bushings for the lower control arms and rear trailing arms.

Best of luck with the build.

Christian

 

is there a good website to find some of these parts or just from the manf.? also who makes a good cage for a crx?

 

I have an ITA/H4 Integra and run 672 front / 896 rear. Car handles very well on the track. I tow this to the track and I think this would be too stiff for the street. I also believe this is too stiff for the CRX (Integra IT weight is some 400 lbs above the CRX), however the balance is likely correct. One of the lead ITA CRX's around me used 450 front / 600 rear. I would have guessed this too stiff for the street, but from other posts here those rates sound fine for the street.

These springs ride on a TEIN SuperStreet kit (http://www.tein.com/). TEIN will re-valve the shocks to handle any custom spring rate you want. My SS kit, with 4 custom rate springs, and 4 re-valves cost $1500.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by trailblazer51127 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is there a good website to find some of these parts or just from the manf.? also who makes a good cage for a crx?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'd look at http://www.opmautosports.com or http://www.ltbmotorsports.com for the SPSS3 Koni's, Ground Control for the coil-over's, http://www.summitracing.com for the rear bar.

I believe OPM can also still get the spherical bearings for the radius rods and rear camber adjustment.

Also, you may want to talk with OPM about wheels... they've got some great Team Dynamics 14x7 wheels for around $130-ish/wheel. They've got the right offset to run 225/50 Hoosiers all the way around although you'll need a small spacer for the rears and thoroughly rolled fenders all the way around.

For LSD/FD and front airdam/splitter options give Blake Merideth a call/email at http://www.roadracegear.com.

Good luck out there and make sure to spend some $$ on safety equipment

Christian

 

where is a good place to get used race tires?

 

You can check the race tire FS post here or on http://www.roadrace-autox.com and may also find some for sale on http://www.improvedtouring.com in their classifieds forum.

The best way to get them is to start going to SCCA and NASA races and get to be friendly with some of your local racers. I just sold 4 225/50 14 used Hoosiers and a set of 4 14x7 wheels with 225/50 Toyo RA-1s to someone at the ARRC last month for $600 total. Typically used tires will be in the $25-50/tire range depending on heat cycles and tread depth.