I recently purchased '97 ItR #263, It is currently awaiting a full suspension overhaul. My question is what should i purchase while in this stage? I intend to keep this a street car but with the full understanding it IS a Type R and not a luxury soft ride, it will really just be a weekend caR at most. So far my thoughts are:

Tein Flex ItR coilovers
EDFC w/ Stepping motors
HardRace front LCA's with bushings
Skunk2 front camber kit
OEM JDM ItR 25mm front sway bar
HardRace Roll center adjuster
HardRace compliance bushings
Function7 ItR rear LCA's (Teflon series)
Function7 Rear sway bar end links
Skunk 2 rear camber kit
OEM USDM R 22mm rear sway bar
HardRace Front sway bar end links
HardRace rear trailing arm bushings
HardRace Shifter bushings

anything else I am missing?

Thanks

-Wesley
SDinHD@gmail.com

 

If it makes any difference, the suspension forum has great info on the KONI/GC setups... I heard not to go beyond 75lb fr to rr... I was thinking of going 400-450 FR / 350-400 RR... This is more of a street/track combo that is still DD'able.

For the bushings, on my 95 HB, I have PIC's complete kit and it made a night and day difference on handling and stiffness. I came to find out many of my bushings were shot anyway. In addition, I changed the lower ball joint bushing and in the process of changing the upper too as well. If you can do it, just change it all.

What else to add? It all depends on what you want to do.

 

spring rate has more to do with intended use and some to do with ride height. autocross only is normally faster rear bias, street driving is usually a little easier with a front bias. 400f/350r isn't a half bad street rate, same with 450/400. rear bias can become dangerous on a street car, often in the rain or snow since driving half asleep, rain on the road and an oversteer bias is a little different than gradual push. ride quality is also heavily influenced by the rear springs.

 

When I was referring about people in the suspension forum, ^^ idrivesideways was the one I was talking about and where I got my info...

 

wats up wes...well u arnt gonna need a subframe brace since our ITRs rear subframe is already "beefy"...as far bushings hardrace and PIC are on the top of my list (i just havent dicided which ha)...

 

 

I have PIC suspension and love it. Mine are 7k in the front and 10k in the rear. Its not too bad driving everyday but it is kind of rough compared to stock obviously.

Sway bars- I kept mine at stock and have not felt the need to upgrade yet.
Strut bars- I dont think you will feel much difference. I would save money and not.
Subframe- as stated above, most are just for looks and the R is "beefy" enough
LCA- I have posted up on this topic before and the majority answer was keep stock. They are the best over other typical LCA.

I guess the biggest thing is go with a good set of coilovers and go from there. I think you will really surprised how much a good set of coilovers will do and not need to upgrade others.

This is my 2cent

Hope that helps!

 

Might want to take a look at all the bushings/ball joints. I would imagine a good deal of them may need to be replaced on a 97.

Edit- I must have read over it but you included some of the bushings in your list. I'd just take a look at the rest to check their condition.

 

SO which ones specifically? HardRace or Prothane is who i am looking at, any specific part numbers?

-Wesley

 

Hardrace all day!!!

 

pros and cons to both. i've never used prothane as it's, at least in other apps even harder than energy suspension. the hardrace are much more difficult to install, have a more factory feel and may live longer. poly i would prefer on track day all day. there is just less flex, also easier to swap out if something goes wrong. the one odd thing about poly is how it lives and in what environment. here in the NW it lasts years and years and....you get the idea. however other HT members have reported it breaking down in just over 1 year. i to this day have no idea why this is the case. the only place poly is often not used is the rear trailing arm. i don't really feel like typing out the argument for or against but good threads exist in the road racing section that cover exactly this.

 

Delrin on track all day

Lots of people like the hardrace, talk to Erik95LS, he has some personal experience with them.

I'll be putting hardrace bushings in the 97 once I get around to finishing all the other work I need to do to it.

 

So for an update,

Everything has now been installed and i've had a few weeks to drive it, I am very pleased although i need a better alignment shop to really dial it in i can tell

I ended up buying everything brand new and doing a rebuild of the entire chassis/suspension. Once the caR was fully disassembled I had the underside of the car pressure washed. Then before the installation of all my new trick suspension parts I had the shop undercoat the caR giving a very uniform 'flat black' look. It really made a huge difference! When you look at the underside of the car it looks brand new now.

Here's what I had installed

Tein Flex ItR coilovers
EDFC w/ Stepping motors

HardRace front LCA's w/ bushings
OEM JDM ItR 25mm front sway bar
HardRace Front sway bar end links
Skunk2 front camber kit
HardRace Roll center adjuster
HardRace compliance bushings

Function7 'Teflon' ItR rear LCA's w/ bushings
OEM USDM R 22mm rear sway bar
Function7 Rear sway bar end links
Skunk 2 rear camber kit
HardRace rear trailing arm bushings
HardRace toe arms w/ bushings

HardRace Shifter bushings



I'll Post pics soon

Now i need the bottom end rebuilt, any suggestions? Im thinking 11:1, stock bore, needs to run on 91oct but does not need to be street-able

-Wes

 

in for pics...

 

P.S hardrace = megan we talked about in the susp forum!!!

 

Remember if you're upping the compression then you're going to be looking at getting rid of your stock ECU for aftermarket electronics. Unfortunately they don't make JDM ITR pistons anymore (even though sites still list them, stock is depleted) so you'll have to use USDM B16 pistons to get similar characteristics.

 

You can get the oversize piston , the down side is the price 500-600 $ wt the ring!!!

 

It will be put on the dyno and tuned with a P28 OBD-1 S300 ECU once i have figured out what all i need to order for the bottom end.

So you think the best piston is OEM B16A? what will the compression ratio be with those? Any need to sleeve the block or anything else? i just want a NA motor i can run hard up and down mountain passes all day and not burn oil, then if im in the city visually it still looks smog legal

 

Your CR should be around 11.1:1, no need to sleeve the block. As long as it's built properly you will not have to worry about oil burn, you'll have freshly honed cylinder walls and brand new rings.

If you want I'll give you more details over PM once my re-rebuild is complete. It's pretty much a very mild oem rebuild built for reliability and not magical dyno numbers. It should be finished and hitting the rollers on July 16th if you want to shoot me a PM to see if you think my results are what you're looking for.

 

for a guy who list all his previouse cars. you sure dont have a clue what your doing or taking about.
a ctr piston will still pass smog with stock ecu. but your idea of p28 passing smog. your clueless.
i guess its another eibach, showcar made to look like a racecar. let me guess. it will someday be a track car. another useless thread. but you do need more baller parts to take that black one out.

 

who said anything about smog? dipshit. But yeah throw some CTR pistons in there and see how great it runs off a stock ECU kiddo.

If you're that concerned on what I do with my car then please get in the CW picture thread, there are plenty of pictures of my 98 on track, retard.

 

Settle down Steve. He was talking about the OP (who's from SoCal), not you

 

lol dammit. still doing my fight against trolling.

 

dont worry im not easily offended. just an info based on my experience.

ctr piston on itr motor will pass smog on stock ecu. i did because i had nothing to do but waste money. drove the car for 2 years clock alot of daily and road trip miles with no issue (not telling the miles just in case i sell the car). car did run a bit more lean than i like but cali *** tree f*ckers likes it that way. however the car is mostly filled with 100 octane.

i also have a cw and i hate looking at it. now its just a garbage that sits in the backyard and track 5-6 times a year for sometime.

other than that. another clueless ***** build.

 

And I remember why i am never on here.

unbelievable how these kids talk **** but theyre still on their first and only car if that.

I never said it needed to pass smog.

apparently people need to read more and post less, Wow i love the internet!

itrSteez thank you for your input. It is nice to be able to speak with a fellow E46 owner that seems to understand what i am looking for. Yes it would be very helpful if you could send me a PM listing what all you're having replaced and what you put down on the dyno.

The suspension feels great and i couldnt be happier with the adjustability.

Thanks all

-4DrDb8GsR