Just wondering what can be done to lighten your car and stay in STS class for autocross. I started a list, please add to it, if ya can think of any other way.

1.) Take out spare tire/jack cardboard thingy in trunk.
2). Get a lighter battery.
3). Get lighter front seats (must be able to recline or U get bumped out of STS)
4). Take out your AC. (I like my AC so not an option)
5). Lighter rims / springs / shocks....
6). Buy a civic

 

after nationals this year, looks like weight is the major issue in sts. maybe move to dsp with the prelude.. dunno

 

The common power mods also reduce weight.
Intake : say goodbye to all those extra pipes!!!!
Header : No more hefty exaust manifold!!! The stock one on my GS-R was very heavy.
Exaust : can be lighter... might not be... depends how HUGE your mellon launcher tail pipe is!!!!!!

Header is definitly the most effective here



[Modified by Watkinsm3, 1:40 PM 9/19/2002]

 

You do not have to have a mellon launcher. You can get a straight pipe from the cat back for events if you want to lose weight. One thing you need to consider about this is if you reduce the weight in the rear, running no muffler, whether it throse the balance of the car off. I know my crx, got REAL tail happy when I would drop the muffler. You may have to accomidate for this with your suspension set up.

 

I find it funny that a carbon fiber hood bumps you out of STS.

I might as well ask this as well; how competitive the gsr is in STS. Do Type-R's get placed in STS as well? Might as well move up to DSP if that's the case

Shingo


[Modified by Shingoblade-GSR, 5:52 PM 9/19/2002]


[Modified by Shingoblade-GSR, 5:53 PM 9/19/2002]

 

No. Mechanical limited-slip diffs are illegal in STS, so the Type R is in STX.

--buji

 

Interesting... I never would have guessed taking the muffler off a Rex would affect the handling so much. Can you say "ballast"?

As has been mentioned, there are modest ways to save weight in STS, but that's it.

 

hey is a carbon fiber hood illegal in a stock class like DS....im pretty sure it is but just checking

 

Yes, illegal in every class besides Prepared, Street Mod and Modified.

 

Past the basics that you mentioned for weight savings, the only real way for weight savings is exploring the undate/backdate rule. This does not apply to all cars, but there are some it could make a BIG difference. All others in STS will cringle if someone does an 88-89 dx civic with a CRX Si engine swap (as these cars are listed on the same line in SP). As the rules are written now, this is legal. The DX is below 2000 lbs stock and the Si engine will only add 25 lbs. Do the additional weight savings and you will have one HELL of an STS car. Before someone goes running, I would check the legality of this with Howard Duncan, the Update/Back date ruel is sometimes a little funny in STS. But it seems legal to me. So basically you would take the top two cars from Nationals and drop about 150lbs off them and that is being a bit conservative I think.

 

I'm no rules expert but i think that is illegal or else many hybrid hondas could be considered in sts if you took a dx coupe and put an 99-00 si engine in it.

 

If I understand correctly I think someone around my area is doing the SI engine in the lighter body... though this is for the older 18-91 cars. If I remeber correctly I think he alsready contacted Howard Duncan about that.... I'll shut up now.

 

No, not true. 96-00 DX coupes are in a different line/class in Street Prepared category than any 99-00 Si. So this is illegal. But all 88-91 Civics (DX and Si) are in the same line in Street Prepared category, that's why this could be legal.

 

yes, the 89-91 chassis update-backdate reguarding the engines. i think it may work for the 92-95 chassis as well.
-spenc

 

Ok, i understand now why it would be legal. I didn't actually know that was part of the rule.

 

CRX Si is not legal for STS though. I would triple-check that swap before I made an STS car out of a 88 hatch or something.

And 92-95 is only legal for a vx/cx/dx swap. Si goes to DSP and those go to FSP.

------

And personally, I *hate* all of that update/backdate bullsh!t. To win CSP, you need to build some kind of hybrid monster out of a HF chassis with Si goodies. Sounds like a SM project to me.

Seriously, The guys who actually bought the Si are screwed because only a HF with Si motor will be competitive. I say make the car run SP in the trim level it rolled off the manu. line with. Let Prepared do the update/backdate stuff and get it out of SP. FSP would grow with lower trim-lines and so would SM and SM2 with the current crop of swapped SP cars. CSP would now be open to Si's and other higher trim level cars that were actually "sporty" cars to start off with.

I should have made another post out of this...


[Modified by Todd00, 8:37 PM 9/20/2002]

 

Yeah, it made no sense to me why the base 88-91 civics in SP were on the same line as all the CRX's, but the 89-91 civic Si was on its own line. So basically to do this swap, you would have to use an SI engine out of a CRX, but it is technically illegal to do it out of the Civic Si. Makes no sense to me.

I personally have no problem with the update/backdate rule, it allows people to be creative. It also does not require that you spend HUGE chunks of change. Look at Alan Kugler, the top finishing CSP Honda for the last three years. That car is an HF that is VERY low budget. And actually the 88 Si and the HF conversions in the 2nd Gen are not that much different in weight. My roomates CSP Si weighs in at 1965 lbs and it still has AC, stereo, stock seats, and a bunch of other wieght it could lose. Alan is weighing in in the mid 1800 lb range. But this is just one example there are ones that make more of a difference. Like the civics. It does depend on what year you buy too. They got pregressively more heavy each year from 88-91.


[Modified by Crosser, 6:33 PM 9/20/2002]

 

I can understand update/backdate with say a 89 Si to a 91 Si if any parts were different (like lighter doors from the 89), but i still hate that rule otherwise. All of the guys with the 84-87 Civic S & Si are screwed as are the 89-91 Si's. And in BSP you have guys running 84 vettes with 96 Grand Sport motors. That is no where near being cheap. FSP you have guys who find 1977 rabbits running 84 GTI motors. Good luck finding a clean 1977.

I know it is too late to change the SP rules now, but it is things like this that are making people go to SM or the ST classes because they have a sporty car from the factory and some guy with a base model and their engine show up and whomp them because they are 200lbs lighter. This is why I like ST so much and will probably never go to SP unless some changes are made.

 

Can you take out the tar paper and the rubber behind the dash? That might be an option. But I am not really up on the STS rules.

Ben

 

No

 

I understand what you are saying Todd, you want as many cars to be competitive as possible. And for it to be as cheap as possible. The thing is people will always find ways to play in the grey areas of hte rules. I think that is part of the fun for a lot of people is engineering and taking the time to buildthese cars. These are national level cars you are talking abou tthough. You can have a very competitve regional car for much cheaper than these. It is the nature of the beast. Speed costs.