Nick Comstock

On my EF Civic. The good thing is this is such a proven platform that I could copy any of the proven national championship winning setups and have a very competent autocross car.

The problem is I don't want an autocross car.I will autocross the car but I will also rallyx the car. And I have speed bumps in our neighborhood that scrape the belly at it's current (topped out) ride height and our roads are in terrible condition.

The car currently has Ground Control coil overs with 2.5" I.D. 7" Eibach springs with rates of 350-F and 250-R. It has no sway bars front or rear. It has blown Tokico Blue dampers in the rear and Cheap eBay dampers in the front. The balance feels pretty good and on gravel it's very easy to rotate. But it's very harsh which I'm sure has more to do with the terrible dampers than the spring rate.

They feel a little on the stiff side to me. I know that they are way soft compared to typical auto cross set up but it's a really light car, about 2100lbs according to the FSM. The best numbers I could find for stock spring rates are somewhere around 150-180 for the front and 80-90 in the rear.

I've seen setups with the same spring rate front and back and also I've seen them with stiffer springs in the back.

I've seen setups that use the small 17mm HF front bar and setups with no front bar.

What I'm thinking is this. Get some 9" 250-F and 200-R springs, run the Sedan 19mm front bar, copy Andy Hollis's diy adjustable rear bar. Or get the Suspension Techniques rear bar.

Street- sways connected softest setting on the rear, ride height at the standard height of 25.3 front and 25.8 rear.

Disconnect the sways for dirt and raise the ride height .5" from standard.

Connect the sways for AutoX, stiffest rear sway setting and lower ride height .5" from standard.

For dampers I'm debating between of the shelf Koni yellows or custom valved Bilsteins. I like the idea of a monotube damper considering I'm planning for rough terrain. With no first hand experience my impressions of the Koni's is that while they are adjustable, they adjust from stiff to stiffer. I really just want a damper that will control the springs well.

Anybody like to second guess my thinking or have any wisdom to impart?

Tyson

The problem with Koni's is that they only adjust rebound and youre right, it goes from stiff to stiffer.

Tokico illuminas adjust both compression and rebound in 5 settings. i use them with stock springs, prokits, and 450-900 lb springs, and everything in between.

i prefer the stock springs, with some extra bar up front and rear, and illuminas set to something like 3-2, i really dont remember exactly. but what i did to find my setting was go over the same speed bump and adjust until it settles with 1 bounce.

if stock springs are not your thing, then you can use pro kits. and if you still think its too soft in the rear, you can just change the rear springs with GC to 450. thats exactly what i did for a while too.

just try whatever you want.

Nick Comstock

I hadn't considered Tokico illuminas, I'll look into them.

After doing some more thinking and research I think I've settled on 225F and 125R spring rates. According to some numbers I've found that should be around 65% stiffer than stock.

Tyson

What brand spring ?

Nick Comstock

QA1, PAC racing or similar. They are all about the same cost. Any 2.5"I.d. coil over spring of the correct rate and length will work.

Tyson

No you might as well just get stock springs. Those kind of rates are just too low to be worthwhile.

Off the shelf GC 350/250 and illuminated are fine too. I cannot see wanting anything less other than stock.

Nick Comstock

The car is too stiff and low with the off the shelf GC setup. It scrapes it's belly on the speed humps in my neighborhood with the coil overs adjusted all the way to the top. It's harsh and jitters all over the place on our chopped up terrible roads around here.

The local rallyx spot is rough, local knowledge says too stiff springs are no bueno. However, stock spring rates are too soft. Once the outside front tire loads up in a corner it's on the bump stops. Once it's on the bump stops all grip is lost.

So the trick is to find a spring that is stiff enough to mostly keep it off it's bump stops but not too stiff to reduce traction in the dirt.

I will be trading autocross performance for a car that will work in the dirt but I'm okay with that.

Tyson

well sounds like your mind was already set then.

just so you know, in order to achieve stock ride height, or near stock, you MUST preload the spring with GC's, or any lower perch adjustable spring kit. it doesnt matter the spring rate either. however, a higher spring rate will just need less preload distance, but the amount of spring force will be the same, thats why its a spring "rate".

i mention this for two reasons:

1. you said you were too low and scraping, seems like you didnt bother to preload the spring.
2. if you go so low of a spring rate, youll need a (relatively) longer spring in order to preload it more to get to the equivalent height. which just means its compressed more and will take up some of your spring compression travel.

Nick Comstock

1. I've only had the car for a week. I certainly didn't set it up. Honestly I would have much preferred the suspension to be stock.

2. Hence why I'm going from a 7" to a 10" free length spring.