Hey guys,
I've been looking for the answer to this for a while now. Lets see if anyone on the forum can answer this.
Before I get into the subject at hand, let me back up a little. I do a lot of work on NSX's. I set them up for track sessions, racing, etc. An NSX runs 8 degrees of caster in the front suspension. As most of you know, caster helps the car turn better by tilting the tires in the direction of the turn. If you turn left, the left front tire will tilt more toward 0 or even positive camber. (caster affects camber by allowing the tires to tilt in a turn). NOW, back to the original question. I have a 93 LS special. I'm building it for roadcourse racing. Nothing professional, just for personal fufilment. You know the deal. I just bought an alignment machine for my shop. I was checking the specs on the 90-93 integras. The camber spec is 1.5 degrees. NOW, the camber specs for the 94 and up Integras, including type R's is 1.17 degrees. This is counter intuitive for tuning. BUT the Integra type R is well known for it's ability to turn and handle well. So this is my question. Why would an Integra with the ability to turn well have less caster than an older model?
The more positive caster you put in the more the tires will tilt. Why would they back off the spec for the caster? Especially in a car that is a Front wheel drive Front motor design. Normaly a FF car will have a ton of understeer. This would tell me that more caster would be needed to turn the car in a high speed turn. Am I missing something here?
Next question. I'm thinking about taking the factory radius rods off the front and modifying them to put more caster in my car. BUT, if someone will tell me a reason why I shouldn't I'd like to hear why. Would it be better to take the upper control arms off and swap them from side to side?
Thanks guys, have a great weekend,
Barn Man..

 

It is hard to get a lot of caster on FWD car because of clearance and angles of the axles. You can get about +3 on a DC2 w/o much trouble though.

 

Have you heard of this helping turn-in on the integra's? I just want to make sure it will be worth the trouble.
BTW, I'm trying to get a group buy up for 90-93 Integra carbon fiber sunroof plugs. It takes the place of the factory sunroof glass, it's glossy on both the inside and out, it seals into the roof so it doesn't leak, and comes with all the hardware to put it in. Also, you get to take the track/motor/drip tray assy out of the car dropping your weight by around 40 punds. The big plus is that it's weight that is up high. This is the best weight to loose besides unsprung weight. I need 5 more people to get a price of 330. Let me know if your interested.
b.demonbreun@att.net

 

wtf does sunroof plugs have to do with caster?

 

Not a thing. I just thought some of you might be interested. Forgive me for boggling your mind with an added remark.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPiFF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It is hard to get a lot of caster on FWD car because of clearance and angles of the axles. You can get about +3 on a DC2 w/o much trouble though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ehh... true for hondas, not always FWD specific though.

for reference, i believe some A4 VWs came with over 5 degrees of caster in stock form.

 

swap UCA's , gain 3 or so degrees of caster.

done.

 

what do you mean by swap UCA. just swap the left to the right and vice versa?

 

I am pretty sure that the upper contol arms of the DA Integra are already installed to optimise caster unlike the later DC2 Integra that benefit from swaping UCA's side to side. To answer your question, yes, the DA Integra will benefit from increased caster and the induced camber gain when cornering. Either machine the radius rods or use Specialty Products Co. inner UCA accentric bushings to achieve this. Or you can slot the arms at the pivots

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Setup &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">inner UCA accentric bushings to achieve this. </TD></TR></TABLE>

eccentric ?



opposite of concentric ?