I'm starting to finish off my suspension before I drop my motor in and just want to know your opinion. I'm running function & form type II and and I've got all password jdm swaybars in the car. The two trunk brace ones and the one that goes from the firewall to the two shock towers. I want to purchase a front and rear sway bar and front and rear LCAs. Also I'm planing on putting in an 8 point cage and all poly urethane bushings.Now my question is for the street will this be way to stiff of a ride for me to enjoy??

Thanks guys.

 

You've already got password jdm swaybars in the car, and you want to add MORE swaybars? You already have LCA's in the front and in the rear btw, so no need to buy more of those either. Why does a street car need a roll cage?

Honestly, it sounds like you're getting in over your head and spending money on things you do not need.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civic_66 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm starting to finish off my suspension before I drop my motor in and just want to know your opinion. I'm running function & form type II and and I've got all password jdm swaybars in the car. The two trunk brace ones and the one that goes from the firewall to the two shock towers. I want to purchase a front and rear sway bar and front and rear LCAs. Also I'm planing on putting in an 8 point cage and all poly urethane bushings.Now my question is for the street will this be way to stiff of a ride for me to enjoy??

Thanks guys. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I think you need to do a little research instead of throwing parts at your car.

1. You said you have the pwjdm sway bars but then described a set of tie bars. These are entirely different devices.

2. There is nothing wrong with the lcas on your car. Unless you find some that positively alter the geometry (which is unlikely from an lca), aftermarket ones are just bling.

3. Poly bushings bind and wear out. Bad plan for a street car. Try some hard rubber bushings or just put all new factory ones in. Once again, there's nothing wrong with the stock stuff for a street car (in fact many racers still use stock bushings in their track cars)

4. A cage in a street car is also a bad idea. Cages are meant to be used with harnesses which are meant to be used with proper race seats and all with a helmet on. If you hit your un-helmeted head on that on that cage in an accident, youre pretty much dead. If you tell me that this is a mostly track only car that you'd like to occasionally drive on the street, I'll let this one slide, but only if the rest of the proper equipment is there too.

Even if you had all that stuff, I'm guessing that you would have a car whose capabilities are much greater than your own (don't take that personally, most people's cars are that way, many even as stock).

Get yourself some nice coilovers (like the ones the guy above sells ), go over the rest of the suspension to make sure its all in primo shape, get an alignment, and drive the **** out of it (on the track!!) until you learn the limitations of that setup. Then add sway bars, rinse and repeat. By that point you should have a better understanding of what the different parts do and your questions will begin to answer themselves

Edit: P.S. Never underestimate the importance of really good tires. All the bithcin supension in the world means nothing if you're rollin out on bald *** cooper cobras... I would do that before anything else.


Modified by spAdam at 9:21 PM 3/26/2008

 

I appretiate your feedback. Yeah the car is going to be a daily driver during the week but a track car on weekends. The only reason I want the cage is because I want to do autocross and solo sprint and I hear a cage will make a huge difference. Also I wanted to finish my suspension set-up before I drop my motor in.

 

Maybe look into an Autopower street roll bar if you're just looking to stiffen up the chassis. You still need all the ancillary equipment to keep it safe though.

But like I said, start small. Especially for autocross, a lot of the mods you want are going to bump you in to higher classes where the racers have a lot more experience and/or r-compound tires are legal. Unless you're some sort of a phenom you're going to end up frustrated with not being competitive and more than likely will give up. And you miss out on the experience of growing faster alongside your car.

 

Thanks again. Looks like I can save some money then.

 

For sure. I didn't want you to think I was flaming on your ideas, but thats why you shouldn't be afraid to ask!

First auto-x I showed up to I got my *** handed to me because I got stuck in street modified

 

I'll second spAdam's comments about poly bushings - absolutely horrible!!! ...maybe a purpose built dragster, but not for a street or road car.


Mugen hard rubber is the best way to go. Incidently, (re a 99 Si) there is no detectable difference between the Mugen rear trailing arm or toe compensation links and the factory bushing material. I get the same deflection from each. The front upper and lower control arm bushings are much stiffer than stock but still allow some compliance.

Poly will not allow the suspension components to work the way they were design to work. Add a little bind...bad bad bad

 

Thats good to know. Yeah a buddy of mine is in the process of putting poly bushings on his car and he's super stoked. I guess thats the wrong way to go though. You've all been really helpful and no I dont think your flaming my ideas at all. Better I asked then wasted all my money right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spAdam &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> 3. Poly bushings bind and wear out. Bad plan for a street car. Try some hard rubber bushings or just put all new factory ones in. Once again, there's nothing wrong with the stock stuff for a street car (in fact many racers still use stock bushings in their track cars) </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd suggest poly bushes are fine if you don't mind pulling the suspension apart every few months to clean and lube the bushes (I'm sure we're all keen on that idea!). Personally I think for a road car that poly bushes are a PITA, though I do have them on my ARBs which are easy to access for maintenance.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spAdam &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Get yourself some nice coilovers </TD></TR></TABLE>

Get some nice Konis or Bilsteins, and some coils.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spAdam &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Edit: P.S. Never underestimate the importance of really good tires. All the bithcin supension in the world means nothing if you're rollin out on bald *** cooper cobras... I would do that before anything else. </TD></TR></TABLE>

On the other hand, really good tyres on crap suspension can mean the car may handle just as badly but at higher speeds! Both tyres and suspension are important of course. A well set up suspension can still handle quite well on lesser tyres and be a lot of fun, though sheer lack of grip may not equate to good lap times, as is also likely to be the case with good tyres on a crap suspension.

PS Adam, re your sig, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks that drifting is a bit wierd...at best!

 

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

On the other hand, really good tyres on crap suspension can mean the car may handle just as badly but at higher speeds! Both tyres and suspension are important of course. A well set up suspension can still handle quite well on lesser tyres and be a lot of fun, though sheer lack of grip may not equate to good lap times, as is also likely to be the case with good tyres on a crap suspension.


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

I agree totally... I said that with the assumption that with the rest of the oe suspension in proper working order and freshly maintained (which sadly most aren't), tires are probably going to make the biggest single improvement in handling abilities... but yes they are all integral parts of a system and far and away the whole is greater than the sum of the parts themselves.

Maybe its just because my flavor of car geekdom leaves me up late at night wondering what I can do to irk that last little bit of grip out of my chassis, but I am a firm believer that most of the suspension tuning that people do is way more of a joke than any intake company who claims 30 hp from slapping an air filter on your car....
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johnlear &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

PS Adam, re your sig, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who thinks that drifting is a bit wierd...at best!


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

I will admit, there are a lot of talented drivers and a lot of sick engineering going into that side of the sport, but I just prefer more quantifiable forms of competition. Drifting is the four wheeled version of a motorcycle wheelie contest imo.

The best part of drifting is that its pulled the bandwagoneer ricers away from our Hondas a little bit so that the rest of us can get some real work done and worry about building sick cars(and it shows if you look at the stuff thats being built these days)