ok, so ive been out of the honda game for a while. i feel like ive forgotten a lot of the specs/knowledge i used to have. a few years ago i started building a CRX for track use. i built it with the H1 rules at the time (not sure how much has changed in the rules) and i only had the chance to get a few track days on it at Summit Point. it was great at the time, but i now have an opportunity to start working on this car again and hopefully get some more track time.

basic rundown of car's current specs:

engine:
B18C GSR motor and head
ITR intake mani fitted to GSR head
SMSP header jet-hot coated in black
JDM ITR .25mm OB pistons
Portflow headwork
Skunk2 Stg2 cams
motor put down 210-215hp

suspension/brakes:
ingalls front and rear camber adjust
GC coils and tophats (600f/500r if i remember correctly)
22mm rear sway bar
poly bushings in many places
10.2" front brakes with ITR calipers HPS pads
stock rear discs regular pads
GSR "fat five" wheels with Kuhmo MX 205/50/15 tires

so i want to get (well just bought) some ARP extended wheel studs. mainly for added strength, but also for the ability to run some spacers and whatnot in the future if i need to. plus one of the studs feels kind of loose when tightening the lugs so i want to just replace them all for piece of mind.

1.) how involved is replacing the studs? is this something i can do myself?
2.) i was planing on replacing the wheel bearings while i was at it. again, difficulty of a self install?
3.) lug nuts. most people seem to be running an extended open ended nut, but most ive seen are aluminum. are my concerns of stripping them valid? are there stronger options?

im also going to be looking for some new wheels. rota slips where all the rage back when i fell away from working on my CRX. id like to get something maybe like a 15x7 pretty lightweight and not too expensive.

im sorry if im sounding like a broken record to you guys, but just trying to recoupe some lost knowledge and see what some of you guys are running suspension/wheel wise these days on CRXs. any new products i should be aware of that came out in the past few years? im not going out and buying up parts right now, just trying to get back to the basics and do some research.

some pics of the car for some views

 

The most obvious things I'd change are the tires and brake pads. In both cases you can go with a more aggressive street setup or a track-only setup.

205/50-15 works fine on the 15x6 fat fives, although you can also go down to 195/50-15 which will give you slightly shorter effective gearing. For more aggressive street tires, consider the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec in either size, Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 in either size, Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 in 205/50, or Kumho Ecsta XS in 205/50. If you want to go with R compound track tires, nearly all of them are available in 205/50-15 (with a big cost advantage for the Nitto NT-01 and Toyo RA-1 and R888).

If you want a more aggressive street-track pad, I like the Hawk HP+. If you want a track-only setup, there are lots of excellent track pads, including ones sold by Hawk, Cobalt Friction, and Carbotech.

 

15x7 rotas will work just fine. aluminum lugs will also work fine.
as previously stated, your gonna need more aggressive pads up front. hp+ if your starting out, ht-10 or dtc60 if your on r-comps and are fast.
your suspension set up looks fine. realy the only thing we're doing differant these days is alot more metal instead of rubber. but for now i wouldn't worry too much. what you have is good.
other than that, glad to see your comming back out. if you gonna make it to hyperfest, come on over to the honda challenge camp and say hey

 

Thanks guys. Any of you replaced wheel studs or wheel bearings? Any tips? I have a helms but I haven't looked at it yet.

Also, I'll probably roll on the mx's til they are done. But when I do, has anyone moved to 215 or wider tires? Any real advantage in doing so?

Thanks lo buck, I'm anxious to get back out there I may have to renew my NASA membership though

 

I had to replace studs on a wheel when I stretched them by changing a tire and torquing the lug nuts when the wheels were hot shortly after a track session. My tip is, wait till the wheels are cool before torquing the nuts.

There aren't any sticky 15" tires in a 215 width. There are a few in 225/45-15, but they're too wide to mount on 15x6 rims. (You'll need 15x7 at a minimum.) However, as long as you're on street tires anyway, I wouldn't worry about getting those 225 steamrollers; the 205's (or even the 195's) will give you all the grip you need. If you eventually go into competition where you're looking for every tenth of a second in lap time, then you'll be getting R comps and you might want the 225's.

 

wow.. never heard of this... Maybe its a stock stud thing??

I've done, minimum, 50 tires changes on cars where the brakes are still smoking hot. Like even though i have gloves on i can still feel the heat burning my hands.

And i have never had that happen. And these where all over torqued too (just gunned them on no torquing). As as every GA ST/GS team and many teams in the 25hours of thunderhill.



OP-

Change the wheel bearings (front) and studs isn't too hard, you will need a press though. Pretty sure there is a write up on here some where.

The rear (on rear disk cars) is a bolt on/off affair.

Get the APR studs, and you'll never have to worry about them again.

I'd also look into getting NASA coupon from a friend for $150 off of 205/50/15 R888. It is cheap, an Rcomp and you can drive to-from the track with it.

 

Thanks nsxtasy. I'm not going any wider on my current wheels. I'm pushing it with 205's lol. I was talking on new wheels. I'm going to do some 15x7s. Just have to find some that are pretty inexpensive and relatively light. I'd like to do some black rpf1s but I dunno their prices. I'll have to look into them. Bum I'm not sure they will clear my brake setup. Slips are a good choice too, but I may want to go with something else. I dunno. I was reading the thread about the tire rack wheels. Thoughts?

 

Slammed, yea I bought some arp studs last night. About the rears, what about it is bolt on? The bearings or the studs? I was looking for some rear bearings last night but couldn't find any. Not even on majestic. And the arp bolts I got are the same model all around. We'll see I guess

 

Sorry didn't expand on it more.

The rear bearing comes with the hub. So you just pop off the dust cover and expose a 32mm (that is what mine is atleast) nut. Just like on the front, but its attached to a spindle. take that off and then the hub/bearing comes right off.

Some times the inner race sticks to the spindle, some lite work with a pry bar/screw driver and PB blaster makes it easy to get off.\

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...EAR+BRAKE+DISK

Part#1 in this diagram (note this is for the 1991 Honda CRX SI)

 

oh ok, i see. didnt think to look in the brakes section lol. hopefully i wont have to replace the whole thing, but maybe a good measure?

im ditching the ingalls front kit and picking up the skunk2 front A-arms. these werent available for the crx before. glad to see they are now.

edit: planning on ordering front bearings. koyo vs toyo? same thing? i thought i remember a thread about thins a while back

 

ordered:
2 new front bearing
2 new lower ball joints

along with the wheel studs and skunk2 pro-series adjustable upper A-arms. front end is getting a little overhaul. i dont like how the ingalls front camber kit works on the crx (replacing the shock tower a-arm bolts) and they squeak like crazy. hoping for so good results with this setup

 

Hey ive seen you run at summit point one time. Im also doing something similar with my crx but engine problems are pain. Yea your setup looks good. As mentioned pads and tires would be something to look into.

Good luck and see you on the track soon.

Lobuck when is hyperfest? id like to make it and get a chance to see some honda challenge cars in person.

 

yea, im thinking about that too. tires arent so much of a big deal, i like the MXs.

 

 

Lol. I can tell you don't like them. Why not? And I mean they still have a lot of life to them. It would be foolish to not use them until they are worn.

 

Here's a DIY for the wheel bearings if you dont have a press and want to do it yourself. Iv done it and honestly cant wait to use this method again haha.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...=wheel+bearing

 

Looks cool. But I have a press