Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying

stever

You can appraise it using the True Market Value tool. And you can get personal feedback over in Real-World Trade-In Values.

Steve, Host

90gs

Okay I like this idea of torque. Harry you got me thinking. So obviously the B18B is heavier than the B18a that I have to compensate for the weight gain I could use the lightweight front bumper support and a carbon fiber hood. Than I could start with a B18B obd 2 (96+) which I can probably get for lets say a thousand ( I'm about 9hours from LA which is a huge resourse for used JDM engines) I'm sure I can find one around 50-70k miles of course theres no way of really knowing but I can have it put in writing and pressure tested and such. Than I can get a Jackson Racing 6psi for about $2,000 (i saw it for eighteen on superchargersonline.com without shipping) and than another $500 on intake and headers (I really hate a loud exhaust and I'd like to stay away from one at all costs - remember I wanna stay sleeper) and maybe another 4-6 bills on cam gears and the AEM fuel pump and I'm at $4,000 excluding labor, Okay, but with that combination I shoud be going extremely fast and reliable right? I'm now awaiting criticism, advise for my plan. I like Harry's point about torque gains and I think I'm starting with the right car as far as weight goes. If I think about it (cant think too hard) $5000 into a newer/faster/more reliable engine isn't that bad considering people blow a bare minimum of $20,000 on a new car not including the financing/ intest costs, I dont know, what do you think?

garados

Sounds like a plan. Like Harry said, it'll be really torquey. I don't know if it'll be extremely fast, but it'll be much faster than what it was. As far as engines go, obd1 engines are easier to tune because of lack of emissions and other things that are present on the obd2 cars to make them more "aware" of themselves.

only1harry

I personally know more than 2 people that paid $7-8K in parts alone to rebuild their B18C1 motor & peripherals. I meet many people at the race shops I go to and while I wait for my car I talk to them and drill them for infromation. Now this doesn't include the price of a motor. They already had that. They just wanted a naturally aspirated fast car. That 's $7-8K just in high performance internal engine parts (including heavy duty race gaskets, intake manifold, throttle body, ignition, fuel rail, etc.). It doesn't even include an aftermarket ECU. A good one that provides 10+whp gains costs $2500-3K. It doesn't include labor either. If you can't do the work yourself or have someone helping you, building a motor like I said can get very costly. So $10K is nothing unusual for people to spend to build a motor and that's very conservative if you include labor. The outcome: average ~190hp at the wheels (usually 180-195 depending how much money you spend - this is on a GSR motor that has a baseline of ~140whp). 200whp is rare but they 're out there and they 're usually blueprinted. But you know what? With a supercharger you 'll still have more torque than those guys for less than half the $$.

In any case to realize decent HP gains from a built motor or a supercharger you 'll need a larger exhaust, as well as a good header and intake (I/H/E). I don't like exhausts either which is why I still don't have one but I 'll be getting one soon. Our factory exhausts are very restrictive and I wasn't a believer that exhausts made power on mildly modded Hondas until 2yrs ago, when I saw the results on the dyno with my own eyes on someone else's '99 Civic Si which has a very similar stock exhaust to the GSR's. The Si was completely stock without even aftermarket header or intake. It was a 17-18yr old kid that came in to the shop with the exhaust in the box (2-3 boxes actually) hanging out his trunk. He got almost 3whp from it in the upper range and he had nothing else done to the car.

only1harry

Kelley blue book is what most people and dealers go by. Go to ww.kbb.com. For a quicker sale, just go up several hundred $$ from the wholesale price and you should have no problems selling it, or just stick with the "private sale" number KBB gives you. If you use the retail #, you 'll have a very tough time finding a buyer.

What car will be replacing your GSR? Most people I know went from GSR (or Type-R) to BMW 330 (or M3), Nissan 350Z, Subaru STi/Mitsu EVO and sometimes Honda S2000. Of course there's always the ones that get married or have a child and need a sedan or SUV. Just curious what your next car will be..

stever

What is the "Kelley Blue Book" Price?

Which brings up another point; unless you find the right buyer, most mods and accessories don't seem to add much value to a used car, and some actually hurt the price.

Steve, Host

90gs

Just to elaborate more on Steve the Host's last note about cars with mods (buying/selling), Here are my 2cents/experience with it: The only people who really know the value of the aftermarket parts you put on are the people like some of the people here (me included ) that waste hundreds-->thousands of dollars on hopping up their cars. That's why your ideal buyer needs to be a kid that wants to pour his money into a car but doesn't know where to start and that's when you want to emphasize the facts/amounts of money/time you've already spent modifying the GSR. When Steve said it can "hurt the price" my take on it is that the potential buyer usu. thinks you've been racing/pushing the car a lot, and they don't want sloppy seconds.

Okay, so I still haven't heard back from my mechanic about a possible price quote for rebuilding a B18b b/c he still need to talk to his guy that does all the internal work. I like the idea of going with an obd1 (94-95?) b/c they're cheaper and according to Garados:easier to tune. Even though on Harry's show they took the stock 96 Integ and did no internals they pushed out 39hp but I think it might be a better investment to throw another $1-2,000 on forged rods/pistons/rings/bearings, etc. to make this engine last longer especially b/c of the point our gracious host noted that "any gap between the piston/rings will be amplified by the supercharger. Also I don't plan on selling this car with a new motor for at least 5-7years and at that point I might as well just get a new chassis of a 2nd gen like mine. Please PLEASE someone step in if this is illogical!!

Regarding the exhaust which Harry noted 3hp from a stock Si, should I assume that the motor I'm planning on would be missing out 3hp multiplied? (b/c of the turbo) I understand the whole straw analogy (breathe through a straw and than breathe normally; straw = stock exhaust, no straw = performance exhaust) but is there some way around the really annoying "rice rocket" sound that comes from our 4cylinder engines with the four inch tips? Can I put a silencer on or does that defeat the whole purpose? I wanna get the most out of the combo but I also don't wanna be the car the cops look at driving alone at 2 in the morning. :surprise:

deryckfm

My 2000 GSR's check engine light has turned on 3 times now. I only have 15k miles on it and the first diagnosis was a loose gas cap. Found it hard to believe since I made sure to tighten it more than 3 clicks whenever I gassed up. Few days go by and it came on again. Bought a new gas cap, light stayed off for more than two weeks and today it lit up again. Common denominator is that it always lights up after I've left the house in the morning on my way to work. 15 minutes into my trip (same intersection before reaching the light) is when it lights up.

Was wondering if the O2 sensor is going bad, or if I should just wait until the code clears itself. Thanks in advance.

only1harry

It's most likely an oxygen sensor but it could be many things (gas tank evaporator valve and bypass valve could be others). Your best bet is to take it to a shop (or the dealer) that can read the computer diagnostic code when the light comes on again. It 'll tell you what component is malfunctioning. This way you can replace the part yourself and save some $$. Of course there will be a charge for the diagnostics so you might be better off having the dealer or shop replace the part because they usually charge less if you do the work there. If you just say thanks and leave they 'll charge you $70+ just for hooking up the computer to it.

It's not the gas cap, I can tell you that much. In all '01+ Hondas if the gas cap has not clicked 3-4 times the check engine light will come on (it happened to my Civic). I 'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to any '00 models.

only1harry

I was on the regular Integra forum and saw you drove your friend's '05 S2000 and were impressed. Well you should. The S2000 is in a different class than the GSR. If you drove a Type-R, you 'd also notice major differences, like in the torque/power and handling. When my GSR was stock, and drove the Type-R, I thought it was night & day. The Type-R felt like a sports car. That's when I realized I had to do something with my GSR which felt more like an LS/GS at the time, except a little quicker.

I take it your GSR doesn't have too many mods or suspension ugprades? Once you start modifying your GSR you 'll notice that it 'll get closer and closer to feeling like a sports car. If you drove my GSR you 'd say it's a totally different car than yours. Even my brother who owns a '98 Type-R says my GSR now feels better than his R, more responsive, brakes better, handles better than his Type-R, and is almost as fast as his car. I still have great admiration for the Type-R mainly because of its stiffer/more rigid chassis and better gearing of its tranny. The GSR will never be an S2000 but there are lots of things you can do to make it more fun to drive. Like 10 times more fun. A rear 22mm sway bar will increase your fun factor by at least 200%. Koni shocks, springs, cold air intake, good tires, performance brake pads, etc. There are so many things we can do to improve our cars and make them more fun to drive.

I recently installed poyurethane motor mount inserts on my car (I don't recommend them for daily driven Integras). Although I have more mods on my car than most people, I was still able to see a big difference when launching the car and it has made it much more fun and satisfying for me to drive the car now. I have ZERO torque steer (the car has 19.3 HP more at the wheels) and I could not spin the tires even when I tried. The GSR now takes off like it has 4WD (the LSD I have helps too). I 'm sure this will make me at least 1/2 sec. faster in auto-x too. I usually launch at higher RPMs so I don't bog, and experience lots of wheel hop. The car also feels tighter overall because there 's hardly any engine or tranny movement. So you see everything you do just makes your car feel better and more fun to drive.
I can't wait to see the difference with a lighter crank pulley (ok I promised myself that's the last mod!!) that I 'm about to order.

BTW, my plans are to get a used S2000 too in a year or 2 at the most. Integra prices have fallen however. Kids are still willing to pay good money for an Integra though. They want one because most of their friends have Civics. They want to be a step above their friends. I had an offer of $10K for my '99 GSR at one of the race events a couple of weeks ago from a kid with a '97 Civic EX. I said no. The kid said how much do you want? I said "at least $11K (I just wanted to see what he 'd say) but I 'm not ready to sell". He immediately said "I will give you $10,500". I said let me think about it but you 'd have to agree that I take some parts off the car. He said as long as they don't make the car slower, it's fine by him (I was thinking of my race valved Konis which I can get good $$ for). He gave me his ph#. I 've spent way too much $$ to give it away for $10,500 but I know I 'll never get what I put in it. I just want to have fun with the car for now but I think I would 've been able to squeeze $11K out of that kid. I only paid $19K for my GSR (Sticker was $22,650) due a $1500 dealer incentive.

Now at the time I had no idea what the Kelley Blue Book was for my car for "private sale'. I went home and looked it up and it was only $9K for good condition and $9,650 for excellent. I was almost shocked because last year it was $12K, but I was happy to see that I could get $1,000 more than KBB listed it for. It's probably because of the Limited Slip Diff. lighter flywheel, suspension mods, header, Spoon bars, etc. People know that they would spend $3-4K if they had to buy those themselves and pay someone to install them. This guy didn't care that I was racing the car. He was one of the spectators. I think he was more impressed at how well I was doing against WRX's (they were in my class) and Bimmers and how fast my times were. He wanted to buy a proven car maybe. I don't know, whatever the case may be, you can always get more for your car if someone wants it bad enough. You and I have low mileage on our side. It's hard to find Integras with low miles. We also have time on our hands. We 're not in a rush to sell and can wait till the right buyer comes along, while we look for the right S2000 seller

jessiebrownjr

Hello all! I just bought a 98 gsr. Came with exhaust headers and cold air. Im about to put an aftermark aegs intake manifold on. I'm gonna go all engine, maybe nos.. but i dont wanna do a turbo cause it hasd 109k miles on it. Im not sure what exactly to do next, except either port/replace my throttle body. When do I need to worry about ignition and the fuel pump and stuff? thanks!

jessiebrownjr

bump

krao1

I recently went to acura dealer ship for the oil change and was told that my Clutch Master Cylinder is leaking and the fluid is very low. They quoted $375 to repair and refill it. I dont see any leakage under neath my car. Can any one explain me what this thing is and why is it so expensive?

thanks alot,
kris

90gs

Hey so I finally recieved my ST front and rear sway bars (they dropped to $238 for the set so I broke down and bought them). BTW Harry, I couldn't find a size in "mm" but when I removed the stock sway bar I could see the difference. It took me 3hrs total to remove & replace but a good 40min. was dedicated to shaving down the prothane bushings that the metal sleeve slides over. I lubed it up well but I hope they don't start squeeking. The rest of the time was lost due to my lack of tools and my personal lack of experience but I'm proud that I did the whole thing myself.

However I drive home after the installation only to read from some of these forum pages I printed out that Harry's seen my rear sway bar break at competitions!!! I wish that comptech made parts for my gen but I guess mine is too old. I know they have superior Acura products. So harry, my question - are my new ST bars easier to break than the stock ones or am I better off with what I have now?

One thing that Harry was dead to rights about was how important a bigger back bar is. Once I got a feel for the car I realized I could sweeping my turns a lot faster without losing control. Infact, yesterday I pulled up to this guy in a 5th gen prelude SH. It was right before some hard turns and I had no girlfriend, jacks or other unnessary weight in the car so I figured what the hell! Any way he pulls way ahead of me on the straight away but once we hit the turns I started punching the gas half way through each turn as much as I could and totally smoked him. I could tell he was pissed too because once the road straightened out he flew past me and rolled up his windows. Thank you Harry! :P

One more question, you guys were talking about bleeding the clutch (I think Garados). First of all I didn't even our car had a reseviour for clutch fluid, where is it?!?!?! I've got a really sticky clutch: I don't need to go to a gym because I break sweat everytime I push the clutch down!! :mad: How do I correct this?

deryckfm

Glad to see that you still pop in, only1! O2 sensor was my next guess too, but some sensors/valves in the EVAP system did go bad they said. Need three (don't have their exact names right now) replaced and will come out to close to $300 (around $100 ea.) just for parts. Might have my mechanic neighbor put them in, since the dealer wanted $200 in labor. Supposedly, a 99 TL with over 100k miles had the same valves go bad too. Guess it's not the miles, but the age.

Thanks again for your help. As for the S2000, I think my GSR got jealous which is why it acted up. Might have to put those thoughts aside first for now too. A Lexus dealer wanted to give me $15k for it just last year when I was checking out a GS400 for my sister. This year, an Acura dealer told me he'd give me $10k - only because he approached me while I was checking out a blue NSX on the lot. Some guy got married and traded it in for an MDX. Anyway, I wanna see if things change during the wintertime, as far as how dealers "treat" a used S2000. But since the S2000 hasn't been around as long as our GSR's, I'm still leery about it's reliability in the long run. Chioces, choices - should've politely turned my friend down when he asked me to try out his S2000.

garados

"Hello all! I just bought a 98 gsr. Came with exhaust headers and cold air. Im about to put an aftermark aegs intake manifold on. I'm gonna go all engine, maybe nos.. but i dont wanna do a turbo cause it hasd 109k miles on it. Im not sure what exactly to do next, except either port/replace my throttle body. When do I need to worry about ignition and the fuel pump and stuff? thanks!"

For ignition upgrades, I'd highly recommend getting an ignition system that will automatically retard the timing when you spray. I believe MSD makes a system like that. For fuel, you can do 1 or 3 things. 1) bigger injectors, 2) more-flow fuel pump, or 3) both. The problem is that you'll have to get some sort of fuel management system. What you can do is get Hondata or Uberdata (they're both standalone fuel/ignition management systems) or get a piggyback like the ApexI VAFC/VAFCII. Either way, get it tuned. Running wierd air/fuel ratios are a bad thing.

"I recently went to acura dealer ship for the oil change and was told that my Clutch Master Cylinder is leaking and the fluid is very low. They quoted $375 to repair and refill it. I dont see any leakage under neath my car. Can any one explain me what this thing is and why is it so expensive?"

The clutch master cylinder is the cylinder that is connected to your clutch pedal. It's what transfers the pedal pressure into separating the flywheel/pressure plate from the clutch disk. When it leaks, there are no leaks outside of the car. If you feel up the clutch pedal and it's wet, then you've got a leaky clutch master cylinder. The reason it's so expensive to get and have replaced is because it's hard to get to (they get paid by the hour) and then the actual part is quite expensive.

Harry: I just fell in love with Castrol oil =P It's good stuff. Originally I was running Valvoline 20w50 all-weather oil and it was alright. I'd get 45 psi @ 4k rpm and it would rattle and click on startup (no oil pressure/no residual oil on the bearings). I switched to Castrol 20w50 and it starts up with no rattling or anything and I get 55-60 psi @ 4k rpm. Apparently miata's need 60 or so @ 4000, so I think it was a good investment.

So, when I get some more money, I'm going to be upgrading my suspension. I currently have koni yellows and stock springs all around with a huge front sway bar, but the thing is, the driver front shock is bashed up pretty good (the spring perch is bent :confuse: ), and the rear shocks can't be adjusted anymore. They're just stuck.

I'm planning on going with Flyin Miata's lowering springs and KYB AGX shocks. Apparently, it's a good upgrade as if keeps the stock (almost) ride quality, but the spring rates are almost 3 times stock. One of the bad things about the early miatas is the lack of suspension travel in the back, and when the car is lowered, it becomes much worse. So, I'll pick up new mounts for the back that increase suspension travel by up to an inch, so I think it'll be a good modification.

So yeah, other than that, I need to get some sticky rubber too, and I'll be set =P

Take care y'all.

90gs

Well, if the clutch master cylinder is anything like the brake master cylinder I could imagine it costing from 1-2 bills. I saw this diagram of the master brake cylinder and it's like a little friggin maze with all sorts of engineering designed into making the whole thing work. When I had my civic and the brake pedal started sinking to the ground the brake specialist reported it was an internally leaking master brake cylinder. He also wanted almost $400 to replace it. So I called about 4 or 5 other shops and (key here is I told each shop I was shopping around) and finally one of them said he could do it for $290. maybe you could do the same garados.

Also Garados, I thought I read a few posts back (#558??) that you said you bled your master clutch cylinder just like you bleed brakes. Was I mistooken? You said something about running it dry and thanremoving the resevoir and spraying the inside with brake cleaner. If so, where is this component!?!?!? and will it make it so I don't have to stomp my foot on the clutch to get it down. I.e. how do I reduce the resistance from the clutch pedal? :mad:

garados

That dealt with cleaning the resivoir out. There was a bunch of nasty deposits and sediments in the master cylinder, so I just took it out and cleaned for the heck of it. I actually started the bleeding process (writen below) and when the fluid level was below that of the resivoir, I took off the clamp, removed the resivoir and cleaned it with brake cleaner. A wonderful thing was that the clutch started working better because of the cleaning and draining of all of the old fluid. If my memory serves me correctly, you have a cable-actuated clutch. In that case, you don't have any hydraulic lines. If I am mistaken, then you'll bleed the clutch like the brakes. The process goes something like this ...

1) clutch cylinder cap off
2) push clutch pedal down
3) releive the pressure at the slave cylinder (a little thing that sits in front of the transmission. It's about 4-5 inches across and has a rubber boot thingy on it and has a hydraulic line running from the passenger side of the car). The relief screw is an 8mm bolt with a nipple on it.
4) close the releif screw
5) check fluid level at the master cylinder resivoir
6) repeat 2-5 until clean fluid comes out of the slave cylinder.

90gs

Thank you Garados but now I'm almost positive I don't have any of that stuff... It must be a 3rd gen integra thing cause all I've got is a cablefrom tranny to foot. But i LOOKED AT A 98 Integ GSR and it had the whole bit you're describing: slave cylinder, master clutch cylinder, heh, hehe, "nipple" heh, he... anyway, my new question is:

Seeing as how I have now hydraulic lines, which I guess is good cause I don't have to shell out $375 on it once it starts dripping on my left foot, how do I overcome the resistance that this clutch is giving me?? can I just squeeze some Tri-Flow (WD-40) down the cable? Do I need a whole new cable? I know this car didn't have this sticky of a clutch 15yrs ago, so what's the remedy??? :confuse:

only1harry

Yep still come around after 6yrs..
Wow, so I was right about the EVAP valves. That was one of my guesses in my previous post. Yes there are 3 of them. Most of them usually attach to the gas tank or are above the tank and it needs to be dropped to replace them which is why the dealer said $200 for labor. I can't believe the parts alone are $300! Are you sure about that? Check out the prices here too:
http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/

They charge a $5 handling fee on top of shipping but everything is 15% off list. That's not bad considering most repair shops only get 20% off and then charge you list or more.

I know sensors & valves can be expensive (like an ogygen sensor) but $300 is outrageous. What I see in the above web page (they give you drawings too) is one valve for $130something and a couple of others that are $40 and $11. So I don't think you 'll be spending $300 for parts. $200 maybe. Look at component: Fuel tank. The whole tank is $288 (discounted)! Sounds like your mechanic is marking them up 35-40%.

only1harry

Hey buddy,
Yeah, Valvoline is really not that good of an oil. It's all hype and advertising..

Every time I put Valvoline oil in my Civic, 5W-20 (factory recommended) or 10W-30, my gas mileage drops like 4-5mpg!! This is no bull. It's funny you mentioned that because I just went back to that Valvoline express oil place again for the last time. I go there like once a year and every time I notice a huge drop in performance and gas mileage. I will not go back there again.
I 've been putting nothing but Castrol GTX in my car and it likes it except my regular guy is on vacation again (dang Italians go on vacation 3 times/year) and are closed. The motor purrs like a kitten and stays strong. Castrol all the way!

Miatas need lots of suspension travel unless you have shortened stiffer shocks and 400+lb/in. springs (same for Integras really). I recommend the Bilstein shocks that come with the suspension package of later model Miatas. KYBs are not that great and won't last. Your Konis must have been very old or the previous owner had that Miata up in the air, especially since you 're describing bent perches and stuff. That doesn't happen during normal driving or auto-x racing. Konis don't break easily. I was racing mine for 4yrs and had 35k mi. on them before I sent them in for a rebuilt/revalve and there was really nothing much wrong with them. Nothing was bent and they were adjusting fine just like the first day I installed them. Your car sounds like it came down hard after being off the ground.. That's how perches and mounts bend, as well as the shock shafts.

blackrobb

which car is better and faster?

garados

Depends on your definitions of better and faster. I like Hondas because of their reliability, but kids (and some adults) rag on gsr's, so if the price is right, I'd definitely get that. However, Mazda has been coming out with some outrageous cars lately. IIRC, the protege mp3 became Sport Compact Car's fwd benchmark (the Integra Type R held that title for many years) for handling. So, I'd bet the Mazda has made all of their cars handle really well out of the factory. If I were you, I'd drive both of them and see what you like better.

90gs: Yeah, maybe cleaning the cable and lubing it up will help. If you're feeling adventurous, replacing teh pressure plate with one that is like stock, you'll get a softer pedal. There are some companies, though, that play around with the lever arms of their pressure plates and have managed to get awesome clamping force while keeping a soft engagement. I don't know what to recommend, though.

Harry: Yeah, I don't know what happened with the car before I bought it, but it still drives awesome and handles well. I'm curious to see what the suspension tweaks will allow the car to become. I would love to get the yellows again, but there's just something inside of me that doesn't want them. I really liked the illuminas that I had in the integra, so maybe I should get those. They should be able to handle the mild drop (~1-1.5") and higher spring rate (350 front, 230 back) of the springs I want to get. So, as with the Integra ... koni's vs tokiko's

only1harry

Wow, you installed them yourself? A couple of months ago you didn't know the difference between strut bars and sway bars Good for you, you 've come a long way.
I hope you installed them properly. Did you jack up the LCAs before installing the end-links onto them?
Did the ST combo come with a tie bar as well? That's a great price for front & rear sway bars. Don't worry. These are the newer ST bars. You shouldn't have any problems for a long time and if I said there were problems with them, that's only after a few years of auto-xing and/or road racing. You won't come close to simulating those conditions on the street. I saw one Civic break an end link of his ST rear sway while auto-xing about 2-3yrs ago but that was a much older bar. ST has improved their fasteners since.

Good job on that Prelude. I 've done the same with a couple of 330ci Bimmers. They 'll take me on the straightaway but when we he hit the twisties I usually fly right by them. Imagine if you had good tires what you could do, hehe. BTW, my new Falken RT-615 are on the UPS truck.. Grassroots Magazine announced them as the best auto-x street tire. I 'd get the Falken Azenis RT-215 if I were you. Prices are dropping on those (the 215 is the old auto-x tire of choice). Those are still very close to the 615 but cheaper. Great on the wet the first few thousand mi. but after that not that good (when tread is down 30-40%) though. The 615's are supposed to be much better in the wet.

only1harry

The Type-R would run circles around the Mazda 3. In acceleration and handling. I 've been in the 160hp Mazda 3 wagon. It handled ok but not like a Type-R.

The reason a magazine would say it's the best FWD handling car (did they really say that? I wasn't that impressed but then again I might have compared it to my modified GSR), is because the Type-R is not in production any more. They only compare cars that are still in production. Besides, they can't really compare a 4-dr to a 2dr limited production Integra that was built for the track.

In any case a GSR is faster in acceleration than a Mazda 3 any day of the week. I jumped into a Wagon a few weeks ago leaving the auto-x event for a few minutes to go get some sandwiches from a near by Deli. I knew the guy from different auto-x events and he had approached me a couple of times to give him tips and gave me praise for my fast times, etc. They guy put the pedal to the floor when I asked him if wouldn't mind.. and it wasn't even close to my GSR, not even close when my GSR was stock 20hp ago. Look at the power to weight ratio. The Mazda 3 did feel torquey though and it was decent I guess to like 40-45mph but the GSR after hitting VTEC in 2nd gear (around 40-45mph) would just blow it away. I think it would 've passed even in 1st gear.
The Mazda 3 felt like my Civic when accelerating. I don't know if anyone looked at Edmund's specs for the Mazda 3 but they have it as going 0-60 in 9.1sec. That's a little slow for today's standards. I 've seen road tests on my '01 Civic EX coupe for 8.1 and 8.3s 0-60! And here 's a 160hp car that's almost 1sec. slower. I don't know where Edmunds got that # but the car did not feel faster than 8.5-8.7 sec. to me. Also don't forget the Mazda 3 (160hp) has a sticker of $17K while the GSR had a sticker of $22.8K in its last month of production in March '01. You have to remember you get what you pay for. Stock to stock, the Mazda did handle better than my GSR when it was stock, but not much but again I didn't drive it myself so I couldn't be sure of how wide a margin. With good tires a stock GSR is a decent handling car but if you look what a stock Mazda 3 has compared to a stock GSR it wouldn't be fair. The Mazda 3 has bigger sway bars and bigger & better rubber (I 'm sure a better stiffer chassis too). If you only gave the GSR 1/4 of what the Mazda 3 has, like a bigger rear sway bar and better wider tires, just those 2 alone would make them very close in the handling dept.

If the SCCA thought the Mazda 3 (or MP3 whatever you call it) is comparable to Type-Rs, then they would have placed it in D Stock but they didn't. It's in a slower class G Stock. The same one as GSRs, Mini Cooper S, Sentra SpecV, etc. That class is dominated by the '00+ Celica GT (140hp, not GT-S) and the Cooper S. The Mazda 3 has been able to compete with those in the handling Solo2 (auto-x) courses. And naturally so. A 2350lb Celica or 2600lb Mini turns much better & faster than a 2800lb Mazda.
Also in the Street Prepared category, the Mazda 3 goes to FSP where our GSRs go to DSP, a faster class. So it's obvious that a GSR with suspension mods is faster on a handling course than a comparably modified Mazda 3. Only the Mazdaspeed Protege goes to DSP because it has more HP and few more bells and wistles in the suspension and chassis dept. The limited production Mazdaspeed Protege is a very good handling car, better than the mass produced Mazda 3.
Overall the Mazda Protege 3, 145 or 160hp models, are a good deal for $15-18K but I can't see anyone jumping from a 7.0s GSR to a 9sec Mazda 3. For me it's not practical. I need a car with great gas mileage (have you noticed gas prices are still going up? $2.70 for regular here!) for my long commute and at the same time I 'd like to have decent acceleration. The ONLY car that can do that today is the Honda Civic. 37mpg and low 8's 0-60 acceleration cannot be found in any other production car. Besides what would I do in the winter with the Mazda's 16 or 17" wheels and low profile tires when it snows? Go off the road in a ditch that's what.

The new '06 Civic will have 140hp (vs 127 in the old) and more torque because it 'll be 1.8L vs. the old 1.7L. Honda has also announced that the gas mileage is the same or better with the new 1.8L motor! I can't wait to jump into a new Civic in a few months. My '01 Civic has hit 150k mi. and although I know it will last over 300k mi., I 'm getting a little bored with it and want a new car while I can still get good money for my '01
I 'm thinking if it's close to a '94+ LS/GS Integra that had 140hp and 127ft-lbs of torque, then it 'll be a fun Civic to drive unless they mess up the suspension. I really like my '01 Civic's suspension and the way it handles. I have 1 size smaller tires in the back and it rotates very nicely. It feels like a RWD car sometimes.

90gs

Jack up the LCA??? I had a hard enough time getting the OEM sway bar out and the BIGGER one in with all that Cat converter and shift rod in the way, gees!!! :sick: But everything bolted in really smoothly on the front it was just the back that I had to cut/sand two bushings. Why was I supposed to lift the Control arms???

Thats good to know that these bars won't break b/c I really don't wanna do another installation. I can't wait till I get another car and I can take this one auto-crossing.... just out of curiosity Harry: What class would I be in with the motor swap? does a motor swap even change the class? And I assume that the classes are divided by the actual, physical part that's been upgraded and not by any specific brand of that part correct? Thanks for your help Harry, I feel like this car is going the right direction now!!! :shades:

garados

Since you're swapping motors with a more powerful one, you're going to be put into Street Modified (SM), where you'll be up against other cars with unlimited modifications. Thing is, if you go out and have fun, it won't matter what class you'll be in

90gs

Well said, well said.... So let's say I had just completed building my super motor, Garados, how do I now "properly break it in" like you put it a few posts back.

Also, a while ago you were talking about putting your motor together, where did you learn how to do it? Maybe installing the sway bars and my new bumper this weekend has gotten my ego a little too big, but how hard would it be for the average person to take apart and reasemble a B-series motor, let me re-phrase that... what could a grease monkey do as far as motor building goes that doesn't require a machine shop, experienced mechanic, or special tools?

deryckfm

Only1, you being right did not come as a surprise to me. With your experience, I'm sure that it was more than just a guess that led you to the EVAP valves. Much thanks again for your time and also for the parts source. I will try to get the exact part #'s they say need replacing and see what the web page lists it for. I again will not be surprised to see a 35-40% markup. I think I paid close to $20 for a gas cap, only to see it there for less than $10 (but with shipping and a $5 handling fee, I calmed down a bit). Since the $200 for labor did not make you cringe, then I'll take it as a sign of being acceptable to your standards.

Hopefully, I can scrounge up the funds needed soon, since I miss being on the Integra already. But, like they say, everything happens for a reason. With the recent news about the Integra being in the Most Wanted (by thieves that is) list again, maybe it's better if it just stayed out of sight for a few more weeks. Thanks again, only1!

only1harry

Anytime. That Acura parts web site is good if you 're ordering over $100 worth of stuff or hard to find parts. Last year I ordered plugs, wires, distrib. cap & rotor and a bunch of oil filters (which also fit my '01 Civic). I had gotten a quote from the dealer first. Even with shipping and $5 handling fee I still saved about $25 because I don't have to pay the 8% sales tax they charge in my county (now that's a ripoff).

I have also ordered LCA bolts and other fasteners from them because none of the dealers within a 100mi. radius keep any of them in stock and told me it would be 2 weeks to get them! In the last years I have seen a major reduction in the amound and variety of parts dealers stock. It seems they only stock regular maintenance parts that move quickly. They don't want anything sitting on the shelf for more than a few weeks I guess. A couple of months ago one of my Civic's tail light bulbs died and the local Honda dealer didn't have it in stock! They had the audacity to tell me that it will be at least a week before they get a regular stop light bulb! So my reply was: "ok so in the meantime I won't mind getting pulled over 2-3 times a day or getting several tickets on my 160mi. daily commute". The guy looked at me for like 30 sec. and didn't know what to say. Finally he apologized and went to ask the parts manager if they could expedite the light bulb. He comes back a few min. later and says sorry it's still going to be about a week. Drove to an auto parts store nearby and purchased the light bulb which happened to be the same exact OEM (Sylvania) bulb for 1/2 the price. I don't know why I even bothered with the dealer.
For some reason this dealership on the web seems to have everything in stock. I 've also called them and spoke to the guy in charge of the Internet parts sales and he said if they don't have what I want they can always get it in 2 days. They also have a Honda parts store and luckily for me the discount there is 25%! They only give out 15% discounts on Acura parts because maybe they think Acura owner have money and don't need good discounts? (yeah right!).

90gs

Ha! :P No lightbulb at the dealer! That's just crazy. What were you thinking going to a dealer for a light bulb though??? you can go to sylvania.com and get light bulbs that last twice as long for half the price! I have mixed feelings about stealerships... on one hand you have the piece of mind that they use OEM parts and can easily shell out any amount of money if they screw up.... on the other their markup is NUTS!!!! :confuse: I've gone to our local dealer for diff. hard to find odds and ends. Once I made friends with one of the guys and he started discounting my parts about 30-50% I remember getting a $9 little metal fender connector thingy for an older civic I had. I called another dealership and identified myself as a non-auto shop rep, just ordinary guy and they quoted me $17.24 for that $9 part!!!!!

GARADOS: How do you "properly break in" an reasembled/ modded engine?

garados

sorry for the delayed response. I'm coming up on finals, so I haven't been on the internet lately. As far as proper breakin, You're going to want to do a few things. These will get the rings to seat properly and seal the cylinders well.

Before you assemble your motor, use oil that is made of dinosaurs and old plants. No synthetics. They're too slippery and won't allow the motor to break in properly.
1) Start the motor and check for leaks. Let it warm up to operating temps and keep checking for leaks. Let the engine cool and change the oil and filter.
2) After it warms up again completely, take it nice and easy and go to a street without much traffic. I did my breakin at 2-3 in the morning on a tuesday evening.
3) For your first outing, keep it in low gears, and be easy on it. DO NOT LUG THE MOTOR! If you had to choose between lugging the motor and revving it, rev it.
4) Take it through first, second, and maybe third (speed limit determines this) and take it into fourth.
5) Full throttle in 3rd or 4th and take it to 4000 rpm in gear and the 0 throttle until you get to about 1500 rpm.
6) repeat #5 15-20 times. This process will introduce postive and negative pressures in the cylinders and get the rings to seat in nicely. Change the oil and the filter again.
7) After the initial break in, you're going to want to do 1000 miles of easy driving.
8) breakin - 200miles. Don't rev past 3k rpm. You'll want to keep the engine rpm fluctuating during the next 1000 miles. So, that means no cruising, unless you plan on doing 60-80 mph the whole way. I'd HIGHLY recommend against any kind of freeway travel.
9) 200-400. Rev to 4k
10) 400-600 Rev to 5k Change the oil and filter
11) 600-800 Rev to 6k
12) 800-1000 Rev to 7k
13) Change the oil and filter (maybe go with a synthetic) and go whoop on some people

90gs

Three Questions:
1) What is "lugging" a motor?
2) Where do I get oil from dinasours
3) Please explain #5 again, I'm very unclear on it?

garados

lugging a motor is when the motor starts to stutter because it's running in low rpms or when the clutch doesn't engage properly so it's very rough.

Dinosaur oil is oil that isn't synthetic. I say it's dinosaur because oil comes from the decomposed remains of dinosaurs and plantlife.

You don't want to get the motor to rev at a constant speed. Thing is, you have to be full on throttle or no throttle because it's that extreme that causes the rings to seat.

90gs

Okay I think I get it; better to rev than lug, use 5-30 non-synthetic oil and than...
5) [correct me if I'm wrong], 0mph: 1st gear: Punch the gas until 4k rpms than change gears and punch the gas again until 4000 rpms.... than when I'm at a stoplight or just ididiling am I suppose to tap the gas pedal to 4k again or just let it idle?

Also, Garados, you never told me how you know so much about motor building!

P.P.S. Very rarely (like twice in the pase 6wks) I've shut the car off after driving for more than ten minutes and than I try to turn the car on a few seconds later and it will turn on, rev a little than drop down to 0rpms and shut off. After I wait a few seconds it will start up normally... I almost suspect the "warm" injector thing, b/c it seems to start fine "cold" but I really don't know... suggestions? :confuse:

only1harry

hehe,
Garados: Do you mind if I give it a try? (BTW, did you steal my 5-6yr old posts on how to break in a motor? hehe)

90GS: Pay attention! This is the last time we 're going to say this

Like Garados wrote: GO SLOW at first up to the desired gear which is 3d or 4th depending on the speed limit of the road you 're on. If it's a 30mph zone then go slow through the gears up to 3d. If it's 35 - 55mph, go up to 4th and stay in that gear.
Find a country road with no lights - that's what I do when I break in my new cars. I 've also done it on the hway in 5th gear but it's very hard to vary your speed on the hway, even with your emergency lights on. People will come very close to rear-ending you.. or you might cause an accident.

Now, once you 're in the desired gear (3d or 4th - I prefer 4th), hit the gas (Honda engineer told me half way on the throttle, not full throttle) and go up to 4K RPM. Once you reach 4K, get off the gas and COAST down to 1500-2,000 RPM. Once you reach 1500-2K RPM, get on the gas again and go back up to 4K RPM, coast back down to 1500 and keep repeating. Do this at least 20 times so make sure you 're counting and don't lose count. If you 're not sure you did it 20 times, then do it a few more. Take it easy for the first 800-1K mi. and follow Garados schedule which is pretty close to what I would tell you. That means no drag racing or full throttle at the light, even if you are allowed to go up to 6 or 7K RPM.

This is the proper way to break in a Honda/Acura motor.

garados

I'm only 20 years old, and I won't pretend I know everything about building motors, but what I can tell you is that you shouldn't be scared of the motor. It's actually very simple to work on. Just make sure you have a manual (Helms or Haynes) so that you have the torque specs as well as the tightening sequences. Other than that, the buildup isn't too hard. The only things I didn't do on my rebuild were the machining, mounting the pistons on the rods (floating wristpin design), and the head work and head reassembly (putting the valves, guides, seals, springs, etc., mainly everything between the mating surface of the head and the things the cams swipe against). I put the cams in myself, but if you do it wrong, it will be deadly for the motor, so follow the timing instructions to the letter from the shop manual.

I took the motor apart slowly, remembering how everything came apart (it's actually very simple), and then keep things clean and organized. Keeping the bolts in order is actually very hard, so label everything or put things into bags. Just take your time and don't be scared to dive into a motor-building project.

Harry: I think I found your instructions somewhere when I was breaking in my motor, so that's probably my instructions are like yours.

only1harry

it is good though to have someone who 's done something like that before guiding you or giving you advice. Or do it with a friend (didn't your father help you?).

I started out small with spark plugs, starter, carbeourator, valve cover (leaky) gasket, etc. when I was 18 on my '71 Nova 350SS. I didn't have the money to keep paying someone for all the stuff that broke back then, and believe me every few weeks something always broke. GM (Ford & Chrysler too) intentionally built most parts so they only last about 50k mi. back then. Rebuilt parts only lasted about 30-35k mi. They didn't have any competition. Cars were a little easier to work on back then plus you had more room under the hood. I was a little insecure at first but then I decided to do my alternator when it went bad instead of bringing to my friend's shop. I didn't have all the tools so I ended up making a trip to his shop in my mom's car anyway. He gave me everything I needed plus a new belt. I had to call him once because I couldn't get one of the belts back on. A couple of months later I did the water pump (had to remove the radiator - it was a breeze), brakes, etc. with no hesitation. The more stuff you fix/replace the more confident you get and the easier it gets. The biggest thing I 've ever done was a head gasket. Took me the entire day and part of the night but I was going slow making sure I didn't mess anything up and was trying to have a system with all the bolts, nuts and washers so I knew where everything went back. I did however do it outside my friend's shop in case I needed any tools which I did, and just in case I ran into any trouble.

It just takes the courage and will power to say "I 'm going to do it myself". You will need a lot of tools though and they do cost a lot which is why it's good to always have a friend with tools.

90gs

:surprise: Only 20!!! I'm impressed. I definately know what you guys are talking about. I used to be scared to change my own oil... but after I watched my friend do it I figured it was easy enough and now I don't let anyone even touch my drain plug! :P But I'll tell you, when I ordered those sway bars I was planning on having a shop put them in. But I felt curious enough to open up the bag of pieces and look at the instructions... It seemed easy enough so I decided to just do the rear one because it had far less pieces than the front.... When I got them both on I DID gain a lot of car confidence. The only thing working against me is my lack of tools which with my luck I ususally don't realize I need it until I have almost everything disasembled! The other thing that works against me is the various times that I've broken something trying to do something else myself... like a month ago when I accidently ripped my speedo cable off the instrument cluster trying to replace my bulbs with bluish ones. I just get really frusterated and I want to throw money at the problem and have someone else fix it. But gees; if garados is taking apart motors at 20 I'm way behind!!!

But one thing I can say that IS encouraging after all those screw ups is that now I know exactly what NOT to do! Plus after the sway bars all my friend were astonished that I had installed them myself... they thought it was shop work too. I feel like I'm getting a real head up on the other fast drivers in my city with the knowledge I've gained here so thank you Harry and Garados....

PS:Two questions...1) Any ideas on the "warm" starting problem I described earlier? 2) I want to tackle the rotors myself after this little inspiring stream of threads... I know I need an Impact wrench to pull those guys off... any tips or other uncommon tools I might need? I don't need to put new pads on right... mine still have a good 70-85% left cause I just changed them a little while ago. :confuse:

garados

I'm not too sure about that. If anything, it should start easier when it's warm. I'm going to shoot in the dark on this one and say that it has something to do with the injectors, distributor, or one of the sensors that detect where the motor is (where the #1 piston is at top dead center).

As far as rotors, they're pretty easy to take off. Those screws that hold the rotors on are hard to get off. If you have a larger phillips head screwdriver and some elbow grease, they should come off. If they're rusted on, try some PB blaster on them. It's a penetrating liquid that breaks up rust. There's a tool that you can get that you hit with a hammer and it simulates an impact wrench. So you hit it (impact) and it also does a reverse spin on the bit you have in there (unscrews the screw). I don't know what it's called, but I'll bet that Sears has it. If you can get access to an impact screwdriver, it'll be easy.

Beyond those two screws, it'll be a handtool job. If you want the rundown, here it is.

Tool list: Jack, jack stands, metric combination wrenches, metric socket set, 3/8" ratchet, 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar with a 3/8" reducer for stubborn bolts, PB blaster for stuck bolts, channel locks or big pliers, large phillips head and blade screwdriver, a towel or shop rags, and a drink of somesort: I'd recommend something cold...

1) wheel off
2) take the caliper bracket off. I believe they are 17mm bolts. If you can't get to them, take the caliper off. There are 2 12mm bolts, one top and one bottom. In the rear, it'll be a little different. You'll need to take off the e-brake shield (10 mm bolts), then it'll have the same procedure as the front.
3) Take the bracket off if you haven't.
4) There are two phillips-head screws that hold the rotor to the hub. Take them off via the methods I described earlier.
5) pull the rotor off. If it is stuck, there are some threaded holes in the rotor, but nowhere beyond that. Stick a bolt in there and tighten down and it'll pry the rotor off of the hub. I believe that you can take a random 10mm bolt out of the engine bay (I used one off of the radiator support, if I recall correctly) and it worked fine.
6) Put the new rotor on, leave the screws out, mount the caliper bracket, mount the top of the caliper.
7) Take some channel locks or big-[non-permissible content removed] pliers and force the piston back into the caliper. For the back, use a large blade screwdriver or a pair of pliers and screw the piston back into the caliper. Turn it clockwise (tighten) and it'll go in.
8) Put your pads in, put the lower caliper bolt on (don't forget the shield in the rear)
9) mount the wheel
10) pull the e-brake up a couple of times, or until the motion of the handle gets to normal. Press the brake pedal until it's firm. This makes sure the pads are in position to work when you step on the brakes.
11) Break in the rotors. This involves 2 steps. Go out and do 20 to 5 mph stops gently about 5-10 times. Then 5 gentle followed by 5 hard 40-10 mph stops. This will bed the pads into the rotors. You then park the car overnight without the parking brake on. The next day, use them however you like.

only1harry

Isn't there an air temp sensor on our cars too? That could be the problem. I think it goes in the throttle body or to the side of the TB.

Good job on the DIY brake replacement. I have a tool my friend gave me that looks like a screwdriver but it's just pointy at the end. You put that in the screw of the rotor and hit it with a hammer. That loosens it up and I can then use a phillips to get it out. The rotors almost never come off (once you have the screws out) easily. I usually just bang them with the hammer a couple of times (from the inside out) and they fall off. I 'm not as patient as you are

90gs

Well, thanks to you guys it looks like I've begun the motor building process. Garados has given me the confidence and Harry has given me the knowledge, plus I met this guy on SAT that has been building B-series motors since he was nine and he has agreed to help me build up my motor/install parts and I'm gonna be making the runs to the machine shop and ordering all the parts. He's also gonna replace my speedo cable for me! :P so I just bought my B18b head ($80) from him and I'm gonna get it decked and hot-tanked, meanwhile I'm sanding down the valve cover so I can paint it the same color as my car w/ a combination of engine safe paint and autopaint (I hope the auto paint doesn't peel, I'm having it done at my friends auto-body shop and he told me that his paint is less sensitive to heat than others.. still not too sure). Now I'm looking at titanium valve retainers and depending on what condition LS block I can find I'll either get bullit rods and maybe pistons or just use the stock ones and have them shot peened and either way I'm gonna get it balanced or blueprinted and follow Garados' outline on the previous thread about "things to do when rebuilding" before I start pushing 6p.s.i. -speaking of which, my friend suggested we go with a 9:2:1 compression rating which I though might be a little low for only 6p.s.i's what to you guys think? Wither way I'm reall excitedand kind of nervous. I just burnt the crap out of some guy in a 92-93 GSR that couldn't hang with me on those same turns I smoked the Prelude SH on. He must have felt kinda silly with his $400 greddy exhaust and fading tinted windows cuz once he finally caught up he wouldn't stop tailing me!... so I dunno if a 160+hp motor with 20-30 more lbs/ft torque is really the best thing for me right now!??! :surprise: But I'm sure it will take at least another couple of months to get the rest of the parts together and to save up to buy the blower (which I think may end up costing me the same as the motor itself!) Anyway, thank you guys again...and if you're interested here's a few pictures of my car, just go to: http://www.geocities.com/everytimeda9/ and than click on the car photos link. NOTE: I don't know how to re-size the images so they're huge but if you right click on one of the images and click "view image" than you can see a normal picture of it. I'd love to see your cars Harry and Gar-E!

garados

alright, it's an imagestation album, so you have to be a member to view it.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2122529755

If you don't want to join but still want to see the pics, e-mail me. Just click on my name and it'll come up with the e-mail addresses.

only1harry

Looks good. The body and paint look like they 're in good shape for a ~16yr old car. It must 've been garaged for a few years.

Well you don't have to get the blower right away. If you build up the the B18B head and do a basic rebuild the B18B bottom end then you 'll have a pretty strong motor. I 'm glad you realize how important a good suspension is. A good handling car can be "quicker" than faster cars, unless drag racing in a straight line is your thing which I know is not. There should be ton of B18B motors from '94-01 LS/GS models. Have you also searched the web? There are a few companies on line that sell Honda motors. I was looking at one a couple of months ago and I think a B18Bs were under $2K (I think that was with the head) like $1850 or something close to that. You can also look at junk yards in your state or neighboring states to see what they have but definitely do a search online.

That's great you found someone who 's rebuilt these engines before. Just make sure he 's not full of hot air and knows what he 's doing.

garados

new suspension possibilities for the miata ... what would you do?

1) tokiko illuminas + flyin miata springs (progressive 332/228 lb/in) $120x4 + 240 + s/h ~ 740-750 shipped and I'll need to source new upper shock mounts
2) koni yellows + flyin miata springs 125x4 + 240 + s/h ~ 760-770 shipped and I can keep the shock mounts I have now
3) Tein type basic coilovers (15mm shorter shock body, matched spring/shock, 396/336 lb/in) 765 shipped + new shock mounts

I'm leaning more towards the Basics as they're a matched set and has the shortened shock which is great for a lowered miata as suspension travel is basically non-existant already, but I want your opinions.

Also, in regards to streetable, high performance brake pads, how would you rank Axxis Ultimates and Porterfield r4s pads for street, auto-x, and light track use? Also, what kind of fluid do you use? I used valvoline synpower dot3/4 fluid in the integra and I like it, but I want to see what else is out there.

Thanks,
Phoy

garados

Alright, I read some discussions on a miata board and found out that Cobalt's GT sport compound was very nice in a dual-purpose sense. It has good cold initial bite as well as high fade resistance (I'll believe it when I see it), so hopefully they do as well as the hawk hp+'s I had on the integra. I also got new rotors all around, so it'll be a long day in the garage when they come in.

So, the question still stands, which suspension kit do I get?

90gs

I'd go with the KONI's b/c they are a superir shock (or so everyone claims) and b/c no modification is needed.

Brakes: I just ordered Front Power slot rotors and Axxis Ultimates two days ago so if you wanna hang on like a week I can tell you how they roll.

garados

I found out the other day that I already have the ultimates on my car. Thing is, they don't work well at all :confuse: I bet it's because of worn and warped rotors, old brake lines, and old brake fluid. But hey, I'll find out in a little while.

90gs

That could very well be the culprit also maybe the fact that you've been driving the car w/ the Ultimates you don't even notice it. Some of the guys on Honda-Tech claim their like night and day from regular or "Raybestos" is what we have here, plus I know a guy that has them and his story matches up with theirs..... Axxis Ultimates = heavy dust + reall QUICK stops which I'm gonna need with this new motor.... my plan: bleed brakes and install the power slot rotors: persuant to your instructions of course! It's been over 30,000 sionce I got the MBC replaced and he said you should do it at least every 30,000k, ooops!!! My plan is to eat up whats left on my current pads (which wont be hard with slotted rotors) and than try on the Ult's and the rotors have had enough time to get broken in.

HARRY: I trust this guy a lot (motor building guy), I just got a really good feeling about it, and I'm learning to trust my instinct. Everything he tells me I go look up on forums and I'll see a very similar interertation so I know he's not just fillin' me.... plus he's barely charging me!!!! I've got to pay him extra b/c he sells himself short!! He's a cool guy though, very knowledgable. :shades:

only1harry

From what I 've seen most Miatas with the Konis and some sport springs (don't know which brand) are usually faster than both guys I know that have the cheap Tein coilovers on their Miatas. One guy is kind of fast with the Teins ('99 Miata) because he has 13" wheels and 225-45-13" Hoosiers or 235-45-13" Kumho Ecsta 700 (he 's used both) but I 'm faster than him 95% of the time and he is in CSP. I 'm DSP. He should be like almost 1sec. faster than me but he 's not. He is also in my class in one of the non-SCCA clubs I race at and a few weeks ago was the first time he beat me in a very long time (2+yrs?) because my Victoracers were shot and he had brand new Hoosiers. I got the Kumho 710's now and they 're better compared to the Victoracers (more $$ of course). I also got the new Falken 615's and see no difference from the 215's. I raced on the new Falkens (in STX) last wknd and PAX'd third (3d)!! So they 're pretty good but they don't seem as responsive or "quick" as the 215's and others seem to agree with me when I mentioned it. I 'm hoping it's because they 're still new but I don't have my hopes up that they 'll get better as they wear.

Do the Teins come with adjustable shocks? I don't know what to tell you really. All 3 options are about the same price except in 1 or 2 cases you have to buy new shock mounts and they can cost $200 or more for a set. My Ground Control shock upper mounts cost me $130 ($65/pair) but 2 weeks after I bought them they raised the price to $99/pair (thieves). They 're pretty nice though and come with poly bushings. I think you need to do a lot of research on this and talk to Miata auto-xers. I 'm sure the Teins won't have as nice a ride as the spring/shock combo because they 're lower and they have higher spring rates but I know the Konis will be better shocks than the Basic Teins and they last several years with no problems. I don't know how much suspension travel you will have with those other springs and the Konis. How much will the car be lowered with those flying springs? Don't know anything about them. Are you going to be in STS2? You 've upgraded the front sway bar already right? I also know a guy that has Bilsteins on his Miata and some sports springs (and sways) and he 's very fast. It's probably the driver though because he races in the PRO class. If you get the coilovers though, you may have rubbing issues with 14 or 15" wheels. You may have to get 13" that are much lower. 13's make you very competitive in CSP but they 're not allowed in STS2 because they go beyond the fenders, plus they cost a small fortune (like Panasports) unless you get some cheap heavier immitation wheels.