sway bars
Otherwise called anti-roll bars, sway bars will make the most dramatic difference in your Integra's handling characteristics. The main purpose of sway bars are to reduce body roll. Sounds simple, but the effects of simply reducing the body roll of a vehicle are many.
A sway bar consists of the main portion which attaches directly to the chassis by bushings (allowing the bar to twist), and lever arms which connect to both sides of the suspension through end links.
Of course no sway bar is perfectly rigid, differences in suspension travel on opposite sides of the vehicle will still occur, so a sway bar can be thought of being a big spring. The bar is able to bend and flex as needed.
There are many benefits from a sway bar's effects of resisting opposite suspension travel.
The most stand out benefit that everyone talks about is the ability to change a vehicle's handling characteristics. Excluding the Type R, our front-wheel drive Integras come stock with pretty heavy understeer. This characteristic can be observed during accleration through a hard corner. The vehicle will have a tendancy to "plow" forward not turn as well as desired by the driver. Most will suggest that this can be solved with a larger sway bar in the rear. But why?
Roll stiffness determines the cornering load at any given end of the vehicle. In a corner, with a stiffer front and flimsy rear, centrifugal force will throw the majority of the weight of the vehicle to the rear. This will cause the chassis to lean upward in front, removing weight from the front wheels and effectively losing turning traction. With both a stiff front and stiff rear, the weight is balanced properly on both ends, and neutral handling is achieved.
Another side benefit is steering response. The further the body rolls, the longer it takes for the vehicle to become stable into a turn. With less body roll, steering response is greatly increased as the car will set in to a turn much quicker with less suspension travel. The quicker a vehicle finishes it's suspension travel, the quicker it can respond to new steering inputs by the driver.
Honda's suspension geometery is also subject to change depending on the height of the chassis in relation to the axle. When body roll occurs, changes in toe and camber also occur. This is okay to a degree, but when suspension travel has reached an extreme level, you can bet your suspension geometery is not where you want it to be for optimum handling performance.
Lastly, reducing the body roll will help the driver to maintain balance in the cockpit and concentrate on driving. The centrifugal forces of the corner are already pulling on the driver hard enough, when the car leans over the driver is then also subject to the force of gravity.
Sway bar sizing
The diameter of a sway bar determines it's stiffness. You can compare the stiffness of your stock sway bar to a bar you are thinking of purchasing by using a simple formula.
% stiffness compared to stock = (new diameter/stock diameter)^4
For example, if you have a GS-R with a 14mm rear sway bar and upgraded to a 22mm Type R rear sway bar you would calculate
(22/14)^4 = 6.10
This means a 22mm sway bar is roughly six times as stiff as the stock sway bar. Big difference don't you think? Subtract 1 at the end of that equation and you'll get a figure telling actually how much stiffer the bar is. So in that equation you'd come out with 5.10 or 510% stiffer than stock.
It's important to make sure the company you are buying your sway bar from includes proper mounting hardware. Stiff sway bars can easily tear out of the chassis during a hard corner if not mounted properly and your spring rates are too low to assist the bar in minimizing suspension travel. From what I know off hand, Comptech's sway bar is very good and comes with proper mounting hardware and will not tear out of the chassis. Comptech even guarantees it. Also BSQ makes a kit to allow a Type R rear sway bar to mount onto a non-Type R chassis so it will not tear out. Check out BSQ's kit and install instructions at
http://geocities.com/bretq/swaybar_install.html
A big rear sway bar with a small one up front will make your back end more prone to swing out, called oversteer. something that is good for autoX
With a big front and little or no sway in the rear, your car will have understeer or PUSH where you go to the outside. Good for nothing
With a front and rear sway with the proportional sizes will cause your car to be nuetral. Good for road racing
Traction bars
These things are bars that help eliminate wheel hop. Other things that will stop wheel hop is better motor mounts.
One of the biggest problems we front-wheel drive cars have in putting power to the ground at the strip is wheel hop. Bouncing across the line waiting to get traction is the last thing you want to waste your time on when you're trying to pull good ET's
Polyurethane Motor Mount Inserts
Probably the most effective upgrade you could do to your suspension for the price. What happens during acceleration is that the engine will flex and pull up on the suspension. These inserts will replace your stock rubber inserts to minimize this engine flexing. Supposedly you should also get a little bit more power to the wheels as torque is not wasted flexing the engine but I have yet to see a dyno to prove that.
Z10 Radius Arms
If you're willing to pay ten times more than polyurethane kits, the ultimate in eliminating wheel hop would be using radius arms. Z10 makes a kit for Civics/Integras that will bolt right up to the cross-member and front tow hooks. This braces the suspension assembly and does not allow for any deflection when launching. You can also adjust the stiffness of the arms as well as adjust wheel caster.
Here's a picture of Z10's kit for the early generation Civic/CRX
The radius arms would be the best choice for eliminating wheel hop and improving launch ability. However if the Z10 kit is a little out of your price range, the cost effective poly kits still do a good job in helping to get you those low 2 second 60 foot times at the strip.
95% of this is thanks to Teamintegra.net