back when i started upgrading my z28 I asked Strano what was the best bang for the buck and the order to do the upgrades
****(drivers school)****
1. front sway bar 35mm hollow (sam's bar)
2. rear bar 22mm(sam's bar)
3. front shocks (koni's or bilstiens valved by sam)
4. rear shocks( koni's or bilstiens)
5. front springs/ sam has a custom spring
6. rear spring
7.t2r diff (makes a huge d
8. 17x11 on all 4 corners
9. Alum flywheel
10. headers, engine upgrades.

 

^^ yeah I hear that but mine kind of went compleatly opposite LOL, my motor took a crap on my so I had to make it better right. Right now I have a WS6 32mm front sway bar with poly bushings, poly endlinks on front and rear sway bars. I forgot about those already

And I'm not doing a k member for better handling, I'm doing it for more clearence. Right now everything is so tight it makes everything I do to the car not fun at all. And I'm also doing it to help balance the car back out after I install the cage. I'm going to try to make it to Road America with the NMFBA?? in the spring of next year to get some good insite on what I should be doing and what I'm doing right. Should be a good time.

But you are saying to get the konis first....that sucks LOL those things are expensive, but all of the good reviews I have read I know they are going to be worth it.

Thanks again guys, time for me to start looking at some more mods

 

Problem is when you push the car to its limit, and the tire grip runs out. Im sure you know that a stock (non-1LE) fbody is a squirly car. Snap oversteer, little feedback from the suspension or steering. All this is due to one major flaw, the stock shocks. While I agree tires are very important, Im more concerned about how the car behaves (when gripping or not), feels, and how easy it is to control.

Ive driven a stock RSX (non-S), sure it wasn't a type-S, but I got an overall idea of how the car is. The RSX had absolutely nothing on my car with Konis and otherwise stock suspension. Ignoring the power difference my car could hold so much more speed in turns, while being able to feel everything it was doing.
Konis should be the very first thing done to these cars, the difference is ridiculous.

 

Konis first it is, just need to save my pennies. I'll probably just get the fronts first, then do the rears shortly there after. How much are just the fronts?? About $500 if I remember correctly. And are the stranos revalved to be better or can I just get them anywhere and have them be the same?

 

Sam does not revalve the Konis.
I don't know that anyone does (not even Koni USA or True Choice) on the single/double adjustable street shocks.
Now of course they do for their alloy, threaded, coilover racing dampers.

The ONLY shocks that Sam has revalved (AFAIK) are the Bilstein HDs.

 

I would get both at the same time if possible, spend your other mod money on the Konis, they are worth it. I much rather have a car with just Konis, than one with stock shocks and good springs and swaybars.

 

i would add to save even more money and do the shocks and springs at once. you can do the shocks alone, but theyre made to be with lower, stiffer springs. you wont really get the most out of them with stock springs.

 

shocks will work fine with stocksprings f-stock all run on stock springs and are very fast the softer the spring the better the tire follows the road (better mech grip) and the shock has an easy job of controling harmonics. I lucked out building my car could only due on mod at a time, that taught me exactly what upgrades affect the cars handling, so know if my car has a handling issue like oversteer or a push i know how to correct it (usally driver error)
the Strano ESP setup is a no brainer multiple national championships. if you listen to what he says , your car will handle great . if your not fast after that
then look in the mirror.

 

Ok back to the intelligence level of this guy. I sent him a link to roys video of him owning that autox and the kid says "oh thats slow, my car right now would waste his times" No offense to you roy, your car is badass IMO but this kid just doesn't get it, then he sends me a link of an 06 SI running 11.50s in the 1/4 and says that is what his SI will do in a year. Sorry to burst his bubble, but the car that ran that time was completely gutted and setup for drag racing and will not work on the street.

But anyway above I was just saying basically its easier to convince the wife to spend $500 here and $200 here and $150 here than it is to say that I'm spending $850 on parts. I'll probably order the front struts, then in a couple weeks order the rears and install them. Then in another few weeks order the springs, and then a few weeks after get the sway bars. She doesn't mind me wasting money on my car as long as I don't do it in big amounts. I know it doesn't make sense, but I guess it does to her LOL

Thanks for all of the help guys

 

I have done 4 HPDEs and here is my take. My only suspension mods are Bilstein HD shocks, sub-frame connectors, and rear lower-control arms. I also have ceramic pads. I think that the best car Honda has for this is the S2000. On a tight road coarse I am close to running with them. On a faster coarse I can beat them. I think you would murder him on any road coarse. I have not done autocross but think he will have a better chance there. Our cars like fast sweeping corners but the extra weight hurts when it's really tight. Your planned suspension mods should put the advantage back to you.

 

^^I agree with you there. I know his car is quite a bit lighter than mine and on a tight course like you said I think he would stand a really good chance or beat me. He wants to race me on road america though and thats a 2.5 miles track I think with a couple tight turns and some nice sweepers, but there are 2 nice long straights and 1 more with a little curve to it but its still really high speed. I know my car would eat his bad on that track right now as it sits, but I can't wait to have some good suspension on my car. I have bump steer just horrible and need to get it taken care of before it causes something bad to happen.

I would invest in a set of tires right away, but I just got new tires last year and they only have about 1000 miles on them. I was looking into the new nitto road race tires, they are pretty cheap compared to some others but how good are they?

 

alot of people have good results with the NT01, as i think theyre called. theyre basically an r-compound for the street. they have some grooves, but i would highly avoid driving in any kind of rain. on an autox or track, i think theyre about the best thing next to a dedicated r-comp. slick, like the kuhmo 710.

heres my experience with jap cars vs. my TA. i have some susp. work, ie: koni SA, strano springs, STB, 35mm solid front bar, and 710 slicks. a guy i race with in my local autox club has a bone stock S2000 (not sure of the year). with my setup and tires, i could consistantly beat him on most of our autox configurations. beat him within a second or so, that is. this season, all he did was buy rims and tires. hoosier A6s. now, he is usually 2-3 full SECONDS faster then me. this is from tires only, and i was also just having a bad year this season.

now, this past sunday, e-town opened up their new road course free to try out. i went with my TA and street tires. one of my run groups had what looked like a fairly raced out S2000. hard top, big rims, high perf. tires, brakes, lowered (suspension work), 5pt. harness. it wasnt too riced out, but more raced out. although there was no passing allowed (it was just a free fun run), i could easily walk him on the straights. i had to let up every time i was behind him. if there was passing, i know i could have put a length or two on him, and taken the position before the next turn. im fairly sure the course was small enough that i could have kept him behind me until we hit the straight again. this was a rather small course, set up like a big autox, but it shows to some degree the differances between our cars and a little rice box.

considering this guy had a better car for racing, rear wheel drive and more work/expeirance then your friend, id lay a safe bet that youd **** all over him on a real road course. do some basic autox/safety mods, get some good tires, and spank him.

 

Thanks alot. Thats the plan, I'm going into this with safety in mind. I'm probably going to put in my roll cage this winter, that should stiffen the car up like crazy and I have an opportunity to get a set of corabue (SP) seats for a really good price. And if I get the seats I'll get the harnesses too. But the suspension is my #1 concern right now, and then tires. I think I'm going to try to run a 315 at all 4 corners, but might stay with 275s for a while so I can use my stock SS wheels (Only 9" wide)

Heres what I'm looking at for tires....
Falken RT-615- $153
Nitto NT555R II Extreme- $186
Nitto NT-01- $198

I know theres more, but I think the Falkens price looks good. Are they a decent tire for now until I have more money to get a better tire. Also if these are used on the street what kind of a life will they have? I don't DD my car, only on nice summer days but I try to get at least 10K on it per summer

 

i would highly look into getting a dedicated set of race rims/tires, if youre going to do autox/road race more then a few times. 5 or less times a year, i wouldnt bother. but if you want to run a full season, or really get some time in and learn, then a second set will pay for itself in one season.

any of those tires will be fine on the street, or on the track. however, getting 10K+ per summer AND racing will chew them up in no time, and youll go through a set of tires each year, no doubt. im actually looking into getting a set of rims with falken 615s already on them just for a nearby road course. add them to the 710s i have on another set of rims, PLUS my street/show rims with street tires.....you can see where im going with this.

falkens are probably the best bang for the buck, all around. ALOT of imports use them. they are good on our cars, but i have heard on frrax.com (check it out -all f-body road race and autox forum) that with our much heavier weight, theyll get hot and squirmy on a track. would probably fare better at an autox, with lower speeds, shorter run times, and more cool down time. my guess would be the NT-01 would be the best on a track/autox, with some street use. as in driving to the track, not really all summer.

dont worry about getting 315s until you get more time and exp. into racing. its more trouble and expense then theyre worth at this point. quality 275s will be fine for learning the first year or two. dont forget buying all these tires and rims add up. 315s, in any flavor, are usually $40 more per tire then 275s. plus, EVERYONE makes tires in 275-40-17. you can get anything you want in them. 315s, while popular, arent as vastly used.

dont forget if youre at a track, youll have to upgrade your brakes, first thing. at the fun run i listed before, i had all of TWO track runs.....and my stock brakes are absolutely cooked to the point of being unsafe on the street. look into upgrading your pads, and adding brake ducts. hawk HPS or HP+ is a great starting point. just get plain, blank solid rotors. GM, brembo, even autozone brand. one theory is to get cheap, no-name **** pads and rotors, use them for ONE track day, then toss them. you can turn the rotors, but they may be warped, and the pads might be shot anyway. the other theory is to upgrade and add cooling for your brakes. spend more in time/money, but theyll last alot longer.

swapping to race fluid, like Motul 600, and stainless steel brake lines will also help alot, and should be done along with any brake upgrade/changes youre doing.

 

Nice, I was planning on doing LS1 brakes with baer 2 piece rotors up fron and probably the stock brakes with good pads out back. My brother works at autozone and most of their **** has a lifetime warrenty, so if I run their stuff on the back and ruin it in a weekend I can get new stuff for free I plan on getting into the racing slowly, but I hope it progresses into something bigger. Most people around here have drag cars, but the closest track is about 3 hours away. Doing an autox setup would be way more badass IMHO and I can still go plan in a straight line with the rest of the fools, just playing. But there aren't really any events around here, but there are alot of nice low traffic twisty backroads that can easily be blocked off to have fun on. Not saying I'm going to have races on the highways but you can still mess around without too much trouble. I'm going to look into another set of 17s and see what I can do for race tires, then keep my wheels with the street tires so I don't go through 2 sets of tires a summer.

Thanks again man you have been alot of help

 

make sure you get blank rotors. drilled/slotted arent worth it, and dont help in stopping. youd never cook your rear brakes. 90% of all braking is done with the fronts. alot of guys just leave the rears bone stock. if youre doing mostly autox, then you dont need brake ducts. they wont hurt if you want a project, though.