Hi everyone, I've owned AE86 corollas for the past 12 years or so. The last time I had a Honda was in high school (12+ years ago). So Im somewhat familiar with Honda engine codes and chassis names.

Well to put a long story short. I want to get back into Honda's and to particularly build a weekend racer and compete in the VTEC Club USA races. I thought the Accord would be a good base given it's BTCC and JTCC history.

I would like here some of your suggestions and ideas on how you guys/gals would build one? What motor setup? suspension setup, brakes, wheels and tires sizes?
What do you think would keep the accord competitive in a field dominated by lighter civics and integras???

 

Looking into VTEC Club USA class rules, its a lot less strict with a lot of rules than say a NASA autocross event, so the Accord isn't quite as disadvantaged. In auto-x classes, the weight of the car, and its F22 motor really limit how good the car can perform compared to a Civic with similar modification. However, looking at VTEC Clubs rules, they have a lot more slack with what you can do.

Motor wise, an H series motor is pretty much what you're gonna want. Luckily, in the N2 class no one but Preludes/Accords can run the H series, so you don't have 2100lb Civics ripping around with them (if that's the class you're looking at running in, and what would probably be most competitive in). Looking at the rules, you'd probably want to get as much out the engine as possible, or as funding allows. H22s are a dime a dozen, but it may pay to find a H22A7 from a Euro R, or an H22A from a Type S Prelude. Both have bumped up compression to 11:1, more aggressive cams, and better intake manifolds, and make approximately 20hp more than the standard H22. Or, if you can you can always find a more common H motor, and collect the parts needed to recreate a Type S/Euro R motor. Another option is the H23A VTEC motors from the Accord SiR-Ts. While its rated similarly to the H22, being a 2.3L motor it tends to make a bit more torque and responds to bolt-on mods a bit better. You can also run a mixture of H22/H23 bottom end parts to bump up compression to a pretty aggressive level, and stay within rules as long as you retain OEM parts. As far as other bolt on modifications go, they are pretty standard across all the motors. Intake, larger throttle body (port matched to IM), either modded stock IM, or Euro R, or Skunk2, port&polish head/headwork, good header, exhaust. Most important will be the tuning, since obviously you can throw as many parts on the car as you want, but without tuning they really won't be of much use. Thats a whole discussion in and of itself. There are plenty of options. Obviously OBD1 is the way to go, and most people get a P28 ECU with whatever tuning system they want (Hondata, Crome, Neptune, etc..). What it seems to boil down to is research tuners in your area, find a good one, and go with what they are good at tuning.

For a transmission, try finding an M2B4 or T2T4. Both have short gearing and are equipped with and LSD. Or you could always find a base H22 transmission and throw an LSD in that.

__________________________________

As far as suspension goes, for the Accord I feel its much easier choice. We don't have quite as much variety, which isn't bad....the only limiting factor you have to avoid is keeping the coilovers 2-way adjustable at most, which is really all you can get off the shelf....no one makes readily available 3-way+ stuff for the Accord. Brand wise, stay away from the crappy China/Taiwan built stuff. In my opinion, there are really 2 setups that I would used for track use. The first being, Fortune Auto 500 series coilovers. While "relatively" new, they have shown to be quality products and I have firsthand experienced them in my friend's Accord. Base price is about $1200, but its worth it to spend the extra $300 or so, and upgrade to Swift springs of your (stiffness) choice. FA then re-valve the shocks accordingly with your spring choice. If you plan on mostly making it a track car, then you can go stiffer, if you want to drive it on roads, it may be better to soften it up just a bit.

The second choice, and what I'm currently running, is the time tested and proven Koni/Ground Control setup. Money wise, you really can't beat it. If you know what to look, its possible to get the setup for $800ish. And depending on where you order the GCs, you can get whatever spring rate you choose at no additional cost (GC uses Eibach springs for all their kits). Plus, Koni offers lifetime warranty on their shocks, so if one blows, then you can get a replacement easily, and cheaply. The one disadvantage of the Koni/GC setup is that when you lower the car, you do lose shock travel. This can easily be solved with a set of extended top hats. Luckily for the Accord, FatFour Customs makes an excellent set of front billet ones. the rear isn't as much of a concern since the shocks have much more travel (especially if you compare to a Civic).

Now, regardless of choice, in regards to spring rates and what not, it really is up to you and how you want the car to handle feel. I personally DD my car, so I kept it a bit more conservative and went with 550lb (10k) front, and 450lb (8k) rear spring rates. This is the perfect mix of performance, while still keeping street comfort. You can obviously go from there. If I had the chance to do it again, I may have stepped up to 12k/10k rates, at the cost of a bit of comfort. Sway bars are also a must have. Depending on the trim level of the Accord, it will come with different size front and either no rear sway or a 15mm rear. The DX and LX trims I believe have a 22mm or 25mm front hollow sway bar. The EX has a 27mm hollow sway. DX/LX do not have any rear bar, while the EX has a 15mm I believe. The front isn't as necessary, and an EX one may be sufficient. There are two main from bar options: Suspension Techniques (ST) (solid 27mm) or Tanabe (hollow 30mm). Really not much difference. For the rear, there are 3 choices: ST (19 or 20mm solid), Tanabe (20mm solid), and Progress (22mm solid). The Progress is the largest and most popular choice. Of note however, the Tanabe is the only brand that uses the same shape as the OEM rear bar. As such, if you have a DX/LX trim, you will need an EX rear subframe to mount it. It does however offer the most exhaust clearance, an issue that the ST and Progress bars can have due to their different shape when running larger aftermarket exhaust systems. I have a set of Tanabe sway bars and am completely happy with them.

A few other chassis upgrades I have are Fat Four Customs (FFC) 3-point solid front strut bar, FFC 2-point solid rear bar, and Ultra Racing fender braces. Also a few other misc things like Energy suspension endlinks, Ingalls rear camber kit.

___________________________________________


Brake wise you have a lot of options. First thing I would recommend is to go 5-lug for a few reasons, the two most compelling being 1) ditching the horrid Hub-over-rotor design, and 2) 5-lug gives MANY more wheel options. 5-lug is a fairly easy affair in the Accord. I'd also recommend at the same time you do any brake work to get SS brake lines and if you delete the ABS if installed (EX trim, half the time the control unit is bad anyways), to run a DA Integra 40/40 prop valve.

Right out the gate with a 5-lug conversion (use an Odyssey front knuckle), you'll get a a bigger front brake setup. OEM rotors are like 10" rotor with a fairly small caliper. The Odyssey rotors are 11.1" and have a larger caliper to match (pretty much the same caliper the Integra Type R and Accord V6s came with). From there, its possible to upgrade to Acura Legend or NSX dual piston calipers. After than, you get into 4-piston caliper choices....the most common of which is the Acura RL caliper, paired with the needed FFC bracket and appropriate rotor. Its completely bolt on affair, not too expensive when compared to big name brand kits. Its also possibly to retrofit Acura TL Type S Brembos, although its a bit more involved. And while Wilwood doesn't make an Accord kit anymore, you could probably have one pieced together. For the rear, there are no real options, and honestly getting a good quality rotor with a pad to match the front brakes should be fine.

_______________________________________


Now, to wheels, my favorite subject. Strictly speaking for track wheels, this is why I recommend going 5-lug. The CD Accord is larger, and can thus shove some pretty good size wheels under its arches. I've had 10+ sets of wheels over the past 3 years or so, and have had a wide range of specs which has allowed me firsthand to see what fits. Because of its size, and with you wanting to run as wide a tire as possible/allowed (235 width in VTEC Club N2 for example), I always say go with 17in diameter. These allow for larger brake setups, and you can find endless sizes to suit your needs.

As far as specs go, for a functional setup, the Accord can handle a 17x9 with a +30 to +40 offset range, with a beefy tire. Any higher than +40 and you risk hitting the inner knuckle, and any lower than +30 and you will risk hitting the fenders. Its possible to go a little lower offset in the front, since you can modify the front fenders if need be. And if you know how offsets work, you can calculate what offset in 17x8 or 8.5 would fit, etc.....

Tire wise, you may want to take that into consideration when choosing wheel specs, since not all tires of the same size are really the same size. I have 235/40s that are wider than my previous 245/40s. It really comes down to what brand you choose to run, and how they fit.

And lastly......wheel quality. Obviously being a track vehicle, its gonna see some abuse. So a high quality wheel is a must in my opinion. There are obviously tons of options, but if you can find a forged lightweight wheel that would be ideal. Otherwise, there are also flowformed/pressure cast wheels made by reputable manufacturers. I'd say search and be patient, I recently just picked up a set of 17x9/8.5 Volk CE28Ns for a whopping $750 out of pocket.....about 1/4 the brand new cost. Since you're already in the car game I figure you know most of this already.


__________________________________


As far as any other misc stuff to do here is what I'd say.....

- gut the car as much as possible. Interior, sound deadening crap, ditch the A/C, switch to manual-window DX doors, basically anything you don't need that can be unbolted, do it. the car is already at a weight disadvantage, so anything you can do would help.
- ditch the OEM hood for a Carbon fiber one. Doesn't have to be pretty, but thats an easy 35lb weight loss. CF trunks are much more rare, but if you come across one, it may be worth getting.
- as far as helping you the driver out.....swap out the steering wheel. S2000 is a great OEM option, or you can run a number of wheels with the proper hub. A full bucket seat, and subsequent harness/rollbar or cage will help as well.
- there is plenty of other things to do, but I'm tired of writing for now lol.

__________________________________________

Hope this helps. Most of this is all my opinion from my experiences over the years and as such may vary from others. Just figured I'd share some of what I've learned. And if you want, feel free to check out my build thread. I'm in the process of H22/5-speed swapping the car, then plan on tracking it once its all in and buttoned up. Everything else is pretty much all ready to go.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/appear...2823394/page3/

 

There is an excellent kit made by Fastbrakes which uses the 319 mm rotor from the Honda Pilot. That with the 38 mm piston calipers from either a station wagon or an Acura TL makes a great rear setup.

 

I didn't mention this because 2 close friends of mine ordered this kit not too long ago, and had issue with the brackets not centering the caliper on the rotor.

And for the 5th Gen, the wagon rear calipers share the same part number with the coupe/sedan. Only the wagon front calipers are larger than the coupe/sedan. Not sure on the RL rears however.

 

I took the brackets to a machine shop and had 9 mm cut off the mounting surface and it worked well.

The wagon rear calipers are "supposed" to be the ones with the 38 mm pistons (different part numbers) but I have found that if you simply ask for wagon calipers you will probably get the 34 mm ones. The Vigor and TL calipers are the same up through the 98 model, parking brake and all, and are 38 mm pistons.

 

Thank you for the detailed information. Seriously, it will be put to good use. I need to get my finances in order first and sell my ae86 then using that as my project starter fund.

Your build is pretty effing awesome! Love the BBK with the CE's on. Not to internet creep but I saw you're from socal... I'm in San Diego. Can you name any shops or tuners you feel are trustworthy?

And yes, I think I would stay in the N2 class. That seems like where I would be the most competitive and learn the most.

 

in regards to the bracket, my friend at some point should be working something out, and getting a bracket produced to be 100% bolt on. I'll probably jump on it then.

I'm up in Chino area. I actually visit San Diego about once a month, as I have family there. I'm not to familiar with shops down there....up by me there there is Nemo's Garage. They are awesome, and who I've used to get a lot of my non "specialized" parts from. Theyre pretty good at price matching, and I end up paying close to the same amount as I would a shipped item. And Im supporting a local business.

 

Picked up this 97 LX sedan for $1000. My immediate attention will be to get the car registered this week, fix the door locks, LR window motor, wiper switch and buff out scratches on the windshield. I'm in the beginning stages of acquiring Odyssey knuckles to start the 5-lug process. Also trying to locate an EX rear sub frame. When you got yours, did it come with all the hardware? I'm not sure what I'm looking out for before I pull the trigger and pick up one. If you could post some pics of your rear subframe I'd really appreciate it.