Ever since my last official race in the NASA Nationals at Mid Ohio in 2007, my race car has been out of mission. Now that I want to slowly get back into the sport, first thing to do is to refresh the car. I have decided not to race in Honda Challenge anymore, so I can try out different setups just for fun.

Got it back in my garage. It's been a while.


Mugen N1 shocks would be taking a trip back to JDM land for a rebuild.



I just heard back from Scott of King Motorsports that Mugen has completed the rebuild and they will be sending them back to me directly from Japan.

Rates were F26K R22K. Too stiff for many tracks here in the US. New setup would include softer springs.


Trying new wheels and tires too. Thanks GT Motoring for getting them.




Now comes the tasty part. I've always wanted spherical bearings for my suspension pieces, but those from JDM brands were so expensive and future rebuild was questionable. Not to mention that I can hardly find any now due to the age of our DC2. Until recently I spoke to Password:JDM and found out that they are making their own. They were made in the US so future rebuild would be much easier.

Rear camber link. Teflon lined bearing. Stainless steel instead of some zinc plated metal from other cheaper companies.



The almighty trailing arm bushing. ADVICE!! Many racers have experienced binding issue when changing the TA rubber bushing to anything other than OEM or Mugen. So the general consensus is that, you either replace it with OEM or Mugen, or go spherical. Don't get any aftermarket rubber that's supposed to be harder. Here're ones from PWJDM made by PCI. Many racers have nothing but good thing to say about these:



Adjustable sway bar end links. Important pieces to have especially on height adjustable coilovers and corner weight. They can relieve any pre-load in the sway bar. Again they are stainless steel with teflon lined bearing.




As soon as I get the shocks back from Mugen I would install everything at the same time. When all the suspension pieces are done, ProFunction would look over everything, and we should be good to go. I will report back on the new setup and how the spherical links perform. I will also try to note the noise and longevity of the bearings once I put more track time into it.

Lastly, thanks the following companies for helping me with the car:

Password:JDM - http://www.passwordjdm.com
ProFunction - http://profunctionauto.com
GT Motoring - http://www.gtmotoring.com
King Motorsports - http://www.kingmotorsports.com/

 

good luck with heR future. def in for more on the R

 

Great pictures, great build. Can't wait for this one.

 

I like where this is going. Subscribed...

 

Nice car!
ProFunction

 

nice stuff man keep it updated!!!

 

awesome! Can't wait till she is redone!

 

Good stuff Wai. Do you anticipate everything to be completed prior to WMHM this year?

 

Holy spring rates! What rates are you looking at setting up now?

Good luck mang...can't wait to see you out there with heR

 

lookin good, post pics of how you installed the rear endlinks, seen then but never understood how they install
BTW I have a KYB coilover setup on my car (from JDM container) and your mugens are the only ones Ive seen that have the same strut design so kinda crazy

 

Nice, got any more pics of the car ?

 

very nice.. post more pix please

 

Hmm I'm not sure. Installation shouldn't take long. But what takes time after that is setting ride heights, alignment, corner weight and etc. I really hope to make it out there but also try not to put too much pressure on this whole car thing. I've come to a realization that this should be for fun. Maybe I'm getting old. :D

 

No kidding...! It was so stiff with fast response, but any bumps on the track or rumble strip or off track excursion I was in for a wild ride. I've used F20 R16 with great success before on a dedicated track car (not race car). Now I'm thinking F22 R18.

 

Mugen coilovers on a Spoon car? Is that the way it came or did you update it that way?

I like those swaybar endlinks. My beef, especially in the rear, was that with certain swaybars it introduced a slight angle when it attached to the LCA.

 

KYB has a lot of awesome stuff for racing that they never sell them outside of Japan. The most popular stuff here is AGX, which is mainly for street. It's too bad.

I had a set of SSG coilovers (super special gymkhana) and everyone loved how they performed. Let see some pics of your set.

 

That's the way it came. Spoon uses (or used) Showa to make their shocks too, so I guess we could call it "Showa N1" shocks to make it more technically correct.

 

Yeah, both the Spoon setup and the Mugens were close to being the same (Showa). Just surprised that Spoon would actually use a "Mugen" branded coilover.

 

Looks like a nice refresh you've got going there Wai.

What was the deciding factor for going with a 17×9 35offset wheel?

 

What are you referring to?

Wai, what about power output?

 

Nope, you hit the nail right on the head.

 

agreed

 

only pic I could find off the car(green one)
way the rear in constructed is similar design. only ones Ive seen like it.
ONly site I found on them was all JDM and found one that had all the spring rates listed

 

I always liked your R!! Glad she getting refreshed!! GL on the build and keep us updated

 

That actually related to Kenny's question about engine output. I'm running a B20 vtec motor that Profunction put together, with cams and about 230whp I think? With so much extra power/torque, the 225/50-15 setup I had in H2 trim would not be enough. So I'm planning on 245 tires, and 17's would get rid of the sidewall flexes. For the rear, I plan on running 225 in 15's, so that I can reuse the many 15 inchers that I have. I'm not saying that it'd be the ultimate setup, but something I'm really excited to try out.