I've made the decision that I want to start to build a daily driven(except for the winter)/track car. This will be a long-term project so that I am able to experiment with things, learn and do this right. Eventually, I will have it as a track only vehicle once the wife's vehicle is paid off, but that's a ways down the road.

My concern is deciding between a Civic coupe or hatchback. I know that weight is a pretty big issue so the hatchback will take honors in that catagory obviously, but what about the coupe? I know the weight differance between a CX hatch and DX coupe are approx. 130 lbs. But doesn't a coupe have a little better weight distribution?? I remember a brief discussion regarding coupes as being a better road course vehicle due to it's distribution.

I like the idea of a coupe better because I'm getting older now and seeing that it will be daily driven for a few years, I really don't have a desire to be tooling around town in a hatchback.

A swap would be in the near future for either a hatch or a coupe and it will most likely be a B18C5.

What do you guys think????

How does a modestly stipped Civic DX coupe sound with a full array of suspension mods and engine swap for some autocross and road racing???

Thanks for any input!!

 

choose a class FIRST. a lot of classes do not allow swaps, making you have to drive the motor you have, or against cars that you will never be able to touch.

 

I was under the impression that you can have engine swaps as long as it's from the same manufacturer. Thanks for your concern but I was looking for more of an opinion on running a coupe instead of a hatchback when looking at weight and front/rear distribution.

 

different classes also allow different amounts of weight reduction or have different minimum weights. so an undersirable weight distribution can be fixed. my preference is a ex coupe, but maybe that's because i own one.

 

If you strip the car, it won't really matter what coupe you get. Once stripped, it is pretty much the same except for the sunroof you will replace with a piece of aluminum. One benefit of having the EX is the better brakes up front (& rear if the car has the disc). If you have a lesser Civic & you want to update the brakes with factory units, you will need to buy new knuckles = $.

Lighter is better is pretty much a golden rule. I don't think that having a little better weight distribution will help compared to the extra weight being dragged around.

Why do I run a coupe then? I started with one. I also like the way it looks better. I also didn't want to look like all the other 5th gen Civics.

 

I road race a 5th gen hatch, for the reason that is what I eneded up with. My wife handed me her Civic and I ended up racing it. I think either way you'll have a good time. Once I stripped and caged the car , I rarely get into the rear hatch area for anything. Most of my time is spent in the seat and in the engine compartment.

If you have any tiny thoughts of going club racing (SCCA, NASA...), try and not to build your car outside of the rules.

Greg

 

That's pretty much exactly how I feel. I was just wondering if there is actually any benefits of a coupe compared to a hatchback. I have a 6th. gen coupe now and desperately want to sell it, pick up a 93 coupe to get rid of this pesky car payment and go from there.

Thanks for the input guys!!!

 

Still, you need to figure out what *exact* kind of racing you are going to do. Buy a car for the class you want to run, because if yoiu just buy a car you like, it may not be competitive anywhere.

And weight is weight no matter where it is on the car. Any weight is your enemy.

 

I will have to agree with the above. While I have fun with NASA in my car (D16Z6 engine), it wouldn't be competitive with SCCA. SCCA has it classed in ITS. A non-vtec Integra which makes more power is classed in ITA. Go fiqure.

 

Just curios, what NASA class are you in? Is it PS2? Where would my D15 (Civic DX) fall into? Is it PS3?

 

reason for 5g HB

13" shorter overall, 1.8" shorter wheelbase.

and lighter!