JUst bought an Accord 1996. I want to use it for track days and possibly race it at club level. What suspension, brake and exhaust as well as airbox modifications would you all suggest? Please bear in mind the costs involved.

 

track race??
how fast you want it

do a swap
turbo.
stip and make it full drag

 

Tein HA coilover system
H22 swap with turbo.
your choice of a performance brake system- id prefer willwood, although i believe that most of them aftermarket brake manufacturers just have replacement front rotors. but for what you want your going to be doing a lot of custom stuff anyways.

weight reduction.


my $0.02!


[Modified by carolinaACCORD, 1:38 PM 12/21/2002]

 

heh heh heh heh,,,,,,,, how fast do you want to spend?

Don't plan on going fast unless you let your wallet see the light of day.

 

It depends on how much you want to spend, and before doing all these mods check the rulebooks for which are allowed in what class, etc. For track days it doesn't matter, but for club racing your gonna be bumped into some crazy classes if you start doing "big" mods like engine swaps. Also try the Road Racing/AutoX forum, they have some real knowledgable people there that can help with your decision.

btw, 97accordex how do you like your clutch/flywheel combo? I'm about to buy an Action Stage 1 KS with a 8lb Fidanza flywheel...


[Modified by p0pe, 1:16 PM 12/21/2002]

 

do a search, these topics have been covered frequently, after doing research if you have more specific questions then feel free to ask

 

do you have any on track experience?

and contrary to popular belief you do not have to spend a lot of money to race.......... I don't

start stock, learn the car, it's capabilites, then modify
in many race groups an engine swap and/or turbo upgrade bump you up in classes to an almost un-competitive level where the big money lives
start low, stock classes, where the cars are more even
talk to Andie at Cobalt about brakes and fastbrakes on this board up equipment upgrades
I would suggest looking into the clubs rules and buying safety equipment first, it doesn't matter how fast you make the car if it isn't safe it doesn't race

 

get that weight down no matter what you do. a sawzall, grinder, and air chisel are your friends.

 

most road race groups put a minumum weight restriction on you and even limit what you can remove from the car

 

This would NOT be legal for almost all types of track racing.

 

Those 2 things are the last thing, err, actually I wouldn't even consider them.

Maybe the h22 swap if you want to run w/ a much 'faster' group. TEINs are to costly and and if you break them, shock goes out, decide you want to change spring rates, I hope you don't mind your car sitting for awhile. A nice Koni shock/coilover combo would be cheaper and yield the same if not better results in racing.

And like mentioned above, you don't have to spend a lot of money to race. My car is 'stock' and I have been racing it for 3yrs w/ the SCCA and have been doing track days for 2yrs.

 

94+ have fairly decent aerodynamics but its the weight of any accord that makes the cars suffer. if its against the rules then dont do it, but if its not, then by all means hack anything you can. accords are not quick or fast cars w/ stock weight.

 

to be more specific. the car is stripped out and was a fire car at Pembrey race circuit. In order to race the car needs__
1/ roll cage 2/ mintex 1155 pads or similar front and back 3/ a performance exhaust system 4/ air box pipe and conical filter 5/ a shock absorber and spring set up that will allow the car to handle well on circuits in the U.K.
Together all these mods will allow the car to be raced in the club level production saloon class 2wd.
Regards, Mike Bev

 

turbocharged H22A
w/ 5spd manual transmission
stripped interior
Greddy EVO or Tanabe Exhaust both good with turbo
Eilbach Suspension
AEM big brake system
PLUS...fully built motor
engine management systems
NO NITROUS PLEASE

 

Circuit racing. Gut the car and put in the cage and fire system. Get a good suspension, wheels, tires, "cold air" intake and maybe header. You can probably do away with the exhaust on the track. No motor swaps, no turbos, none of that ****. Competing in the hybrid/heavily-modified classes is a money pit.

 

OH MY GOSH I almost forgot brakes. Brakes are the single most important thing. You can swap calipers and rotors off a '96 V6. The rotors are 1" larger in diameter I believe, and the calipers/pads are much larger.

 

y no turbos or motor swaps

 

because it puts you into a class with other swapped/hybrid cars. That becomes a money pit, because whoever can get the most money into thier new engine( by means of bigger turbos, bigger engine bore for more displacement...etc etc) will beat you, based on money alone. When you race in stock classes, its more fair

 

you want a race car? trade in and get a different car, actually the best accord race car I've see was running 10s and wasn't even dialed in yet(and that's 10 N/A). I loved it, heard this nice loping coming up to the line, then a vicious burnout, and I look over and saw an accord with powered by chevy across the windshield!! I saw a similar one sell on ebay, RWD, smallblock, and a nice turbo 350 tranny will get you a fast honda. It just kills me why people buy a honda and think overnight you can throw a few hundred dollards into it and you'll be fast and furious pimp style. What attracted most "REAL" tuners to hondas is in fact the opposite of domestics, because hondas are harder to mod, more expensive, and it was to be different. for $5K I can build a smallblock from the ground up that would pump out 550hp all motor and do it for 100k mile. If you just want to be like all the other cool people, throw a 5" exhaust tip on, some lighted squirters, drop it to the ground(by cutting the springs of course).

If you're talking about auto-x'ing do what newbies are supposed to do, go to a few meets, watch and learn, also if you're serious about auto'x there's some very hard nosed rules as to what you can do with your car.

I guess to end this post, what kind of racing, what kind of budget, and why an accord? for auto-X DTM dominates.


[Modified by v6illusion, 2:48 AM 12/23/2002]

 

Go here: http://www.improvedtouring.com or ask on our own roadrace/autox forum.

Your accord is an ok chasis. Don't take the advice of the noobs who said all the bs about turbos, etc. You need to sit down with a budget and see what you are going to be able to do. In addition to getting the required licenses, you'll need to have your car up to spec as far as your local scca rues are concerned. Don't do anything to the car without consulting your rule books first. It'll save you some time, headaches, and money in the long run. Good luck man.

 

I don't get it. It's always been Accords in touring car series world wide. I guess the Civic/Teg is too small? Only in mostly club racing do you see Preludes, Integras and Civics on circuits.

 

The longer wheel base of the Accord is favored for road racing from what I can tell. Allowing it to have greater stability in the turns. In the racing series it runs in, their are weight mininums, and unlimited budgets, so they want the longer wheel base to start from. Most circuit racing in the US is grassroots type, where people don't have unlimited budgets and Civics/Tegs are cheaper to buy and build up.

 

what's your suspension setup..? don't talk about parts that you don't have-you get what you pay for with Teins... and don't compare a shock/adjustable spring combo to true coilovers... Tein HAs..!

edit: taken out the vulgarity


[Modified by accordexchange, 5:26 AM 12/23/2002]

 

go with the H/R Cup kit
injen intake
tanabe super racing medallion or similar
willwood/baer/aem big brake or similar


[Modified by Illtal, 5:00 AM 12/23/2002]

 

Currently I have Eiback Pro kit springs and kyb agxs on my car, only because my car main purpose is daily driving. When i was at VIR last Feb i had some no name coilovers (i beleive they were APC, im not sure, they cost me like $50) and kyb agxs and i was faster than all the civics/tegs in my run group, minus my friends jrsc gsr, that includes several ITRs, hybrid hbs etc. You know why? Me. I could care less if you have a $8mil dollar susp setup, but if you have no skill why does it matter? Look at what all of the cars that race are using, you won't find any JDM TEINs etc on them. Most of them are using KONIs and a some type of sleeve coilover. Or the higher up people like to use Penske remote reservior shocks. And yes, shocks to go out after a period of time. I don't care who makes them. So you will at some point in time get the revalved/replaced. IMHO TEIN are just JDM Bling, Bling, but to each their own. I don't flame people for using them. I just suggest to people who are looking at susp to look at all the possibilities, and get what suits their needs best. and please refrain from vulgarity in MY forum.