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philyphreak2127

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I am trying to build my civic as a daily driver with moderate horse power (200 ish) but more so for the handling aspect of driving. I want to take it to the local road course for some runs and be able to post competive times. So what should I do next? I already have coilovers with a 2" drop, front and rear strut tower bars, and a lower tie bar. I bought 17" rims but have yet to pick out tires but I have what I want in mind. My question to you guys is what should my next handling related upgrade be?
 
I forgot to mention I have it the car aligned about once every 2 months. It costs me like $10 at the alignment shop my work goes through. Some options I have been thinking about were: drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads, rear disc brake conversion, h brace, mid brace, upgrade to a 4 corner front strut tower brace, upgrade rear strut tower brace to 4 corner brace, lower control arms, or camber kits.
 
if you've lowered it, you probably will already NEED a camber kit, atleast on the front. regardless, if your getting cheap alignments for free, go for the camber kit, and before race day add a lil extra negative camber to your wheels.
 
first off, toss the 17's. they are going to be heavy and if your car is lowered, they will probably rub on hard corners. look into some 15's like rota's or konigs.

second, don't worry about fancy brake set ups. you will be better off with some brembo blanks and some hp pads.

if you want to race at the track, head out there when you have free time. try to meet some people and see what they run. road racers are wayyyyy different from drag guys. road racers will tell/show you their setups and be very willing to help out the noobs. learn about what you want to do before you spend more money.
 
thanks for the advice guys. It probably wouldn't hurt to ask guys who have been at this for a while. I am kind of new to the suspension aspect of it. the first car I built, (this will be my second) is a 95 civic hatch with a B20b/B16 jdm head, t3/t4 turbo, cams, cam gears the works. its a sick car, but that gave me the want to move into the road racing world rather than running the quarter, don't get me wrong after I put more work into the motor it will hit the strip.
 
What kind of shocks and coilovers are you running? Since you didn't list the brand, Im going to assume they're worthless crap and you'll need new ones. Here is what I would do.

Suspension:
Koni Race shocks (Yellows modified w/ a shorter body for more travel, done by Koni)
Ground Control Coilovers 400lb/450 (500?)lb springs
--OR--
Omnipower Race coilovers.
Make sure not to lower the car much, 2" is probably the MAX you'd want to go.

Suspension Techniques rear sway bar
Neuspeed front tower brace
All new bushings
NO CAMBER KIT - If you're road racing, you want as much negative camber as you can get.

Brakes:
Autozone blank rotors ($16 a pop, if you warp one, just get another)
Hawk HP+ Pads
SS Lines

Wheels:
Enkei RPF-1 15" Wheels
Falken Azenis RT-615 Tires (street)
Race tires (track) - I can't recommend a tire here, I'm only familiar with AutoX tires.

Right there you're looking at about $5-7k (depends on if you do your own work). However, if you really want to do it right, this is a pretty good setup.
 
What kind of shocks and coilovers are you running? Since you didn't list the brand, Im going to assume they're worthless crap and you'll need new ones. Here is what I would do.

Suspension:
Koni Race shocks (Yellows modified w/ a shorter body for more travel, done by Koni)
Ground Control Coilovers 400lb/450 (500?)lb springs
--OR--
Omnipower Race coilovers.
Make sure not to lower the car much, 2" is probably the MAX you'd want to go.

Suspension Techniques rear sway bar
Neuspeed front tower brace
All new bushings
NO CAMBER KIT - If you're road racing, you want as much negative camber as you can get.

Brakes:
Autozone blank rotors ($16 a pop, if you warp one, just get another)
Hawk HP+ Pads
SS Lines

Wheels:
Enkei RPF-1 15" Wheels
Falken Azenis RT-615 Tires (street)
Race tires (track) - I can't recommend a tire here, I'm only familiar with AutoX tires.

Right there you're looking at about $5-7k (depends on if you do your own work). However, if you really want to do it right, this is a pretty good setup.

dude if he got a camber kit, couldnt he add more negative camber than just lowering it would give...?



oh and edit: you've got to adjust the front and rear camber to match regardless. just lowering it w/o a camber kit will yield an uneven feel. imagine more negative camber on the front wheels and less on the back...
 
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YBlegal you took the words right out of my mouth. and as far as the coilovers you are more or less right, they were put on by the previous owner so I have no clue what brand they are but I'm willing to bet they aren't a quality set...very bumpy ride, the front strut tower brace is the pep boys kind it needs to be upgraded, but the lower tie bar is neuspeed, and the rear strut tower brace is good. I only put those rims I have listed on lay a way so I may be able to switch them to 15" instead I'll ask tomorrow. As for the coilovers, I would like to replace that last. I would rather get all the cheaper upgrades out of the way first.
 
If you plan on competing in any official events, scca or anything, you might want to research what upgrades are allowed. 15" rims might bump you up a class. you dont want 17s tho, not enough acceleration. Try sticking to the factory overall wheel diameter. rims + tires sidewalls. dont go too far from that.

Also i agree with the rotors and pads comment. deffinatly just go w/ cheap blank rotors. drilled rotors are a gimmick, only good for those cars w/ asbestos pads from way back in the day that created gasses under heat. the only reason porche uses them is for the look. slotted are ment to vent gasses just the same. dont be fooled by people saying that helps cool your rotors faster. nope. surface area and air is what cools it best. again, blank rotors will suffice. and the cheap autozone ones have warrenty against warping.

polyurathane bushings are cheap and highly effective! that statement also means motor mounts! that will reduce wheel hop on take off, and help put more power to the ground as soon as you step on the throttle.

cheap, almost free, you can weigh your car per tire and get the weight distribution. Relocate the battery to the trunk, maybe shuffle some things around. try and even out the weight some.

lower control arms are more of a reliability thing. they shave about 8lbs between front and rear LCAs but it's more for the extra strength. not necessarily gonna get you lower lap times.

if you want to start goin nuts, you can tack weld stratigic places in your chassis to stiffin it.

and if you want to go super nuts, re work the roof and make it as light as possible. this will lower your center of gravity, and thus make handeling ever so slightly better.
 
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okay well this will still be a daily driver, and I don't exactly plan on running it in any official events but if I was happy enough with the car I might consider it.
 
dude if he got a camber kit, couldnt he add more negative camber than just lowering it would give...?

Probably not. If you look at most kits, they only allow for camber correction, not additional negative camber. I was looking at getting the Ingals kit but I realized it wouldn't help me get any more negative camber so I didn't buy it.

As for uneven camber, you don't want the front and rear to have the same camber. Most AutoXers consider the ideal camber settings to be around -3 front, -1 to -2 rear. You're forgetting that the front wheels turn when you corner so you need more negative camber to increase your contact patch because of the caster settings.
 
oh man I forgot to list that. lol how fast do you run LS?

The stock b16a in the hatch ive never ran, not really worth running. My old setups were quite fantastic, they were...

81.5mm sleeved gsr, je/eagle, ferrea with gsr cams, 60-1, 22psi, defi gen-6. 551 whp, 383 trq. = 10.20 @ 141 mph.

81mm lsvtec, ctr pistons, shotpeened ls rods, itr cams, mild port work, manley valvetrain = 204 whp, 12.5 @ 106 mph.

stock gsr engine, itr cams, 100 shot wet fogger NOS = 12.8 @ 102 mph.
 
If you have rims on layaway and you only own one car, you need to hold off on track stuff. That is a big red flag. You should be saving your money or buying cheaper rims like some oem integra/honda wheels. You are going to break stuff, wear out tires, and go through brakes. Look at your money situation before you get into breaking stuff.
 
My money situation is fine I have them on lay-a-way because I work there. and actually I own 3 cars, my civic, my trans am, and a camry that I drive to work and back. I put the rims on lay-a-way because I get them at cost but only when we have them in stock, so if I pay them off and we don't have them in stock I don't get charged extra for restocking fees. It is a pretty lame deal as far as paying the restocking fees but i get kick ass prices on wheels and tires.
 
My money situation is fine I have them on lay-a-way because I work there. and actually I own 3 cars, my civic, my trans am, and a camry that I drive to work and back. I put the rims on lay-a-way because I get them at cost but only when we have them in stock, so if I pay them off and we don't have them in stock I don't get charged extra for restocking fees. It is a pretty lame deal as far as paying the restocking fees but i get kick ass prices on wheels and tires.
well, that's a totally different scenario then. if you have extra cars, you should just build a full track car. If i had the time and money, i would go that route. that way, if there is a lot of down time, it wont hurt at all.

good luck and post a build thread.
 
the only problem with the down time is that the camry belongs to my dad. he is trying to sell the camry to buy a work truck, but if that happens I would be able to drive his car he has now. But either way I wanna cut down on down time as much as possible, if I wanted to build a track car I wouldn't build a 4 door.
 
[ my lil bro just had bmw suspension put on his 99 teg, shit handles nasty...
 
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