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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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Anyone know about how much I should spend on an alignment? About $45? What about buying a "lifetime alignment" deal? I may not do this, though, because I am going to college next year and the contract may not be valid elsewhere.
Now front sway bar poly bushings are usually worth it, and result in quicker steering response. Forget about shock bushings. They too reduce ride comfort by a lot. Similar with poly motor mounts - noisy! A lot of these bushings are fine for drag racing and probably some road racing but you 'll have to be careful how you set up everything, especially the shocks when upgrading LCA & trailing arm bushings. Now this is what people have told me that I meet at the racing events. Maybe others might tell you differently but I think poly bushings affect your suspension according to the mods you have.
As far as wheel alignments go, NOT every shop wills set the toe they way you want it. Most shops will tell you that they 'll set it according to factory specs. Some see it as an opportunity to make more money and charge you more for a "custom" wheel alignment. So shop around and tell them that might ask them for some toe out settings once in a while. You also have a camber kit so I assume you 'd want them to adjust those too. They may charge more for that as well. Around here wheel alignments range from $39.95 when someone is running a special and up to $69.95.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Now I have heard quite a bit about the Z10 Radius Arms that supposedly give you no wheel hop, better cornering, and better braking. Do you recommend them?
Check out this track video of my friend in his GS-R at his last track event (he is the red teg that zooms in about 10 sec into the video). Worth watching, pretty good technique:
http://images.stagonline.org/media/dinan_m3_hq.wmv
Oh yeah, and an urgent question for you: do you know if a Neuspeed lower tie bar will fit on my ITR rear sway? I can get one for pretty cheap and would like to know if it is worth it as far as the gains in handling. Thanks a lot.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
www.ground-control.com
Definitely no problem with quality. Really good customer service. They will help you out with what you want to do with your car as far as handling and sell a durable, quality product. I plan to get them after I wear out my Tokicos.
Luckily for me Insurance decided to Total the car
and I was able to buy it back from the Insurance.
Insurance people were not so keen on selling back the Totaled car to me. I got it checked at the local dealership to make sure that everything except the whole interior is in place. You never know what these guys will do to your car in a couple of hours!!!
My previous insurance company ( American Express)will not insure Salvaged Restore cars so I had to change insurance. Insurance rates are based on the
model year of the car so I am paying the same premium as I would have paid to a "NORMAL" GSR sedan. One funny thing I realized lately is that if the car is stolen again they might decide the value of the car based on the Salvage title.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
increments but that might change the spring characteristics which are meant to compress, not the other way around. People have done it though, especially with race springs that lower the car an avg. of 2.5".
BTW, the Eibach Prokit for Integra has the following spring rates: 331F/126-194R. I got this from Eibach about 1-2yrs ago in an e-mail from their Tech Support. They also e-mailed me the Sportline spring rates which are 460F/174-257R which I was surprised to hear. The Sportlines have a bigger drop but it's not too popular especially by auto-xers because of the huge difference front & rear. This configuration will make an Integra understeer even more when pushed. It's not good at all to have 200lb stiffer springs in the front than the rear ones in a FWD car. This was part of the reason I didn't go with Eibach springs for my car. My H&R Sports only have a 20% difference between front and rear which is the lowest of all the "sports" springs out there and even some race springs. Mine are 276F/220R (I think 160-220 progressive in the rear). I wanted F&R to be as close as possible (look at ITR: 246lb/in. all around).
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Ground Control
(530) 677-8600
another question for you guys: Would a front camber kit or radius arms take me out of SP? Don't plan to put them on yet, but just curious. Thanks
BTW, there are many illegal auto-xers out there with camber kits. 1 club I race at found some people with camber kits and bumped them up. This was only after some drivers complained so in the next event they found 4 cars that made no mention of camber kits. I was surprised to see different classifications on these car because I was used to seeing them in SP classes. One of them used to be in a stock class and was doing really well! Another regional SCCA club I always go to doesn't seem to care and when I brought it up one time (because the owner of the "illegal" car had told me of the camber kit only after I asked) they said, if he doesn't take 1st or 2nd place all the time they won't make an issue of it. But if he only wins once in a while it's ok. I think that 's BS. Rules are rules. They do it a lot with cross drilled rotors too or aftermarket calipers. They let them slide almost every time. I don't associate with those drivers at all that are aware they should be in a higher class but make no mention to the tech inspectors of those "illegal" mods and sometimes ask the tech guys to let them go to a lower class because that's all the mods they have or they can't compete in higher class, etc. I 'm sure in Divisionals or National championship events this stuff doesn't slide. Most of the time these people go unoticed because they don't mention it and rarely does a tech inspector look at those things at regional events. They usually just do a safety inspection.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Also, some dumb questions about autox organizations: Where do I go to find out about Solo II events in my area? What is NASA about? What is the first organization I need to get into? How much does an SCCA membership cost? Can't I just borrow a helmet my first time?
Thanks guys!
I think SCCA-Solo II annual dues are something like $45, but given your age they might have a discounted rate. It's all on their website: www.scca.org
NASA = the North American Sportscar Association (if I've got that right?) and they are a sanctioning body for road racing, HPDE (high performance drivers education, i.e., driving schools) and competition licensing. Whether or not you have high aspirations to become a roadracer, I'd start with the SCCA solo program. It's a reasonably priced membership, and solo II is the most "affordable" racing you can get into. Any and all experience you gain in Solo II will serve you well if your dreams and wallet take you into the world of wheel-to-wheel racing.
Ok some corrections:
1. NASA = National Auto Sports Association
2. Spring rates are measured in pounds/inch! (lb/in.) You were probably thinking ft/lbs as in torque and got it confused with that? Think about it. Each corner of our GSRs weighs between 600-700lbs depending whether it's front or rear. On a 200lb/in. spring (which is actually the GSR's stock rate in the front, 212lbs-in.) the compression of the spring will be about 3-3.5".
This is actually a very good question by Garados. My 3-3.5" estimate is close but not the actual distance the springs will compress because of the shocks. When the springs are compressing the shocks privede some but not very significant, resistance. The shocks main job is to control the rebound more than the compression. So the actual spring compression (lowering) when cornering hard would probably be around 2.5" or so depending on the speed and angle (forces) of the turn. When I first auto-x'd my GSR it was totally stock and I 've seen a picture my friend took of me on a turn, where part of the top of the tire was hidden inside the wheel well. I 'd say it was a good 3" spring compression. Even after I got the H&R OE springs (with stock shocks) I have pics where the tire is inside the wheel well. It wasn't till I got the Konis where I could control that, but if the tire doesn't go in the wheel well when auto-xing, or if you don't have enough suspension travel in other words, the car doesn't handle as well, like Casey said.
So Garados don't be too concerned with that. There are many people out there with H&R Sports (not OEs) & Neuspeed Sports that have a drop of 1.7-2". They race their cars with no rubbing, scraping or anything. The wheel well is pretty deep plus aftermarket springs are stiffer than OEM ones so they 'll be less spring travel/compression.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
SCCA dues are $60 this year! I remember paying $45 back in '99. They 've gone up because motorsports have become much more popular the last couple of years. NASA is about the same but NASA's events are almost twice what SCCA events cost. The 2 SCCA clubs I go to are $15/event if you 're an SCCA member and $25 for non-members. Other non-SCCA clubs are the same. NASA NorthEast where I go to a few times a year, are $35 per event for members and $40 for non! I pay $40 and don't like it too much but the good thing about this particular NASA club is that you get 8 guaranteed runs plus 1 practice run. So that's 9 total. At the SCCA clubs I 'm lucky if I get more than 5 runs. That is because the SCCA clubs are more popular (and cheaper) and usually attract 120-160 people. The most we 've had was 167! That's a lot and we only got 3 runs that day. The NASA club usually gets 60-80 people so they have time for more runs. Our NASA club also claims to have a 90 driver limit (fist come first serve) where they won't allow more than 90 people to enter so they can meet the 9 run quota. That 's bs though because I went to a May event last year and there were over 90 people there. The event ran really late till like 5:30pm. I don't think they ever turn people away because NASA is very money hungry and always looking to make a profit. NASA usually designs their courses to be faster than SCCA's and they 're pretty good about having a couple of road racing events every year and they can also issue racing licences like Casey said. You can go to any club and race. I 've auto-xed at BMW club of NJ (for the hek of it and because I was highly addicted more than ever in '00 and wanted to get better), PCA club - Porsche club of America (a lot of snobs with their nose up high but the Type-Rs kicked all their butts), M-Club - an independent club ran mostly by BMW & Porsche owners who design nice fast auto-x courses like NASA, Westchester Club (independent non-SCCA club but goes by all the SCCA rules), etc. So you can go auto-x anywhere you want without being a member or having to pay membership dues. Being a member though can save you a lot of money if you plan on going often or for the whole season to the same club. Like I said most clubs charge $10 more per event for being a non-member. But that's the beauty of it. You don't have to belong anywhere. You just drive in, pay, borrow a helmet from the loaners they give out and you 're all set! I didn't belong to any club in '99. I just went to a few auto clubs and tried them out. I was just experimenting with auto-x then because my brother was doing it and got hooked. I did go with him to a few events though in '98 and liked watching. It takes guts sometimes to participate. I know people and friends of mine that have been coming to watch me and the races for 2yrs now and they 're still afraid to try it. Many people think it's a lot of wear & tear on your car. So what if it is (which is really not except for brakes and maybe clutch a little depending how you launch)? It's worth it because you have a hek of a time doing something you like.
Plus you can go home once in a while with a nice little cheap trophy. Speaking of trophies NASA probably has the best trophies. It's an oval plexi-glass-like trophy about 4.5" in diameter and 1" thick with your class and standing written inside the glass that looks 3-dimensional. Most other clubs give out beer mugs and glasses, some with a gold rim, and the clubs name prescribed on the glass with your standing 1st 2nd or 3d place.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
BTW, the coming and going squeaking clutch sound has mysteriously died away again...
Why does this page show me as being in CSP? Is this an error?
http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Lists/2002/stprepm.html#Honda
Try e-mailing your local SCCA club president, chairman or committee member that might be listed on their website and ask them about your class. I think the camber kit may kick you out Street Prepared classes all together. I wouldn't tell anyone about those because you 're a novice and no threat to anyone. Just show up in March and have fun. You 'll be in the Novice class anyway and whether you 're in FSP or CSP it doesn't matter. You 'll get indexed. Make sure they look at the '02 SCCA rule book to get your classification and don't let them guess your class. Sometimes they classify people wrong because they think they have all the classes memorized. If you found your local SCCA club Web page take a look at last year's auto-x results and look at the cars that competed in FSP & CSP. That might give you an idea of you might be as well. You might get lucky and find a '96-'00 HB in there. All of the late HBs around here are SM because they 've done engine swaps or they have too much stuff on them to be in SP like rotors, calipers, etc.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Civic 1500 (84-87)
Civic Si (89-91)
Civic non-Si & CRX (88-91)
Civic SOHC VTEC (92-95)
Civic VTEC, SOHC, & DOHC (96+) - Chem, this is where you fit in
CRX 1500 (84-87)
Just for kicks, here are the Honda listings for FSP:
Accord (76-81)
Accord (82+)
Civic (73-79)
Civic (80-83)
Civic (92-95) NOC
Civic (95+) NOC
CRX 1300 & Civic 1300 (84-87)
Prelude (79-82)
Anywho, you'll be competing as a novice for a while, so enjoy that while it lasts. Keep track of what kind of times the CSP cars are running while you're in the novice class and that'll let you know what you you're up against.
The reason you 're in CSP has a LOT to do with weight. A heavy duty suspension with extra wide wheels that stick out of the fenders (wheels that are exposed out of the fender don't think are legal in STS), can make a 2300lb car handle almost like a gokart. With good I/H/E to get a few extra ponnies (I see a lot of Civic CSPs with Apexi N1s 2.5" exhausts) a light Civic can be a formiddable opponent because you don't have to slow down as much a heavier car if you have the right suspension. There is a problem with this class though. '99-00 Si I thought were in DSP, because of their HP & 2600lb weight. Now it looks like they 're in CSP and come to think of it I remember seeing new SIs in CSP. The problem is that their extra 40+ HP is too much for a car like yours BUT these late SIs are a good match for the older lighter CRX SIs ('88-91) that rule this class because of their ultralight body. I don't care what you do to a '96-00 Civic. It's still going to be 300lbs plus heavier than an old CRX Si with 108hp to begin with. If that CRX has the same mods and suspension as you, you 're dead meat. Unless he is a really bad driver or it's his first season and you 're experienced. The new SIs with DOHC & true VTEC rely more on HP & torque plus they can gain a lot more with I/H/E than any other Civic. Those are a much better match for the older CRX SIs but they 're still not as good weighing 600lbs more. Even RWD 2200lb 1.6L Miatas & MR2s have a tough time against the CRX SIs that are barely 2,000lbs (My friend's '90 CRX DX was 1950lbs so the SI should be around 2,000). It 's not that fair for the '96+ Civics IMO.
I wouldn't worry about some washers. That's no big deal.
Hey look at the earlier VW GTI 16V that 's in my class DSP. Some of them only have about 115-120hp but they 're only about 2300lbs compared to my 2670. With the same mods as me or better (some have Neuspeed 25mm rear sway bars!) and with R tires they 're still 2sec. behind me and I 've been racing against these guys for 2yrs now. These (usually the same 2-3 cars) guys have actually more experience than me. Last year when I was in DSP with STREET tires I was still beating them by almost 1sec. and they were on R tires. VW Cabriolets are also in my class and we usually get 1-2 of those in DSP at one club I go to. Probably because of their weight I would imagine. So yes, I think there are many classes that are unfair to some cars, but they usually go by Divisional & National stats (so they say) and that's how they classify cars. But then again show me a Dodge Cirrus, a Buick Regal or a Geo Metro that went to the Nationals and I 'll show you a pink elephant. They try and do their best and usually go by weight and HP. I think your Civic probably belongs in FSP but then they look at all the new 2700-2800lb Golfs in this class with 115hp, and assume that you 'd have the upper hand with a 2300lb car and 106hp. Afterall 0-60 the Civic HB (8.7-9.1 I 've seen in different roadtests) is at least 1sec. faster than any base Golf. It's hard sometimes to find a class that would make your car equally comparable and competitive with others. It's usually a balance of HP & weight that determines what car goes to what class. I think unless they had 20 more classes, the current structure will always be unfair to someone.
When I race at the NASA club I have to put up with only 6 classes! In my class I go up against modified Miatas and MR2s! These guys are top dogs in CS or CSP which is considered a very fast class. So I 'm usually right behind these guys and score 3d or 4th. If that wasn't bad enough, these guys in the MR2s and Miatas are all ex-champs. Ken Porteous was the '99 HS National Champ with his '95 Celica ST and Perry Aidelbaum (Miata) is the NE Divisional champ multiple times, Ken Fry a 2 time National Champ (MR2), etc. But on the other hand, many Subaru 2.5RS, Neons, and other cars can't compete with me in that class either, so this NASA club is even more unfair than any SCCA club. Actually I went up on the web and looked at other NASA regions and some of them follow the SCCA classes! My NASA region's excuse is that their trophies cost too much and they don't want to give out 20 of them. Like I 've said before, very $$ hungry. Everything is about costs, and profit with these guys.
Now because many people complained in the past, this year they created a POINTS system which I think is fair to a lot of stock cars or ones that are lightly modded. With this new system, for every mod you have you add 1,2,3, 5, etc. points and if you go over 15 points you move up 1 class. So I added up my points they had listed on their web site and this year guess what? I 'm up 1 class with Type-Rs, Porsche 944s and Boxters! And that's without even adding coilovers. Coilovers have the biggest penalty (besides FI) of any other mod and they 're 7 points! On top of that it said on their Web site that all GSRs among a few other cars start with a 5 point penalty! So I had to start adding from 5 on up. They guy e-mailed me and told me that because my GSR did so well last year (but I never came in 1st or 2nd? so what's this guy talking about, probably because I was in the top 4 usually out of 20-25 cars in that class) they had to give all GSRs an extra 5 pts! So I screwed all the other Integra owners
It will be very interesting this year at NASA to see how the Type-Rs will do against the Boxters. The Boxter was in a higher class before (and also is 3 classes higher in SCCA too) but they dropped it down 1 class because th
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Thanx, Dinu
I love this car, I looked for more than 3 months until I found one. This car has a lot of power, and the V-tech engine is amazing. I haven't had the chance to feel the V-tech since I bought it, but I did when I test drove the car. Thanks again and let's try to stay away from the cops now!
Less than $6K
93 Nissan Sentra
93 Subaru Impreza
95-96 GEO Metro
93 GEO Prizm
$6K to $8K
97 Ford Escort
94-96 GEO Prizm
93 Honda Civic
93 Civic del Sol
93-94 Nissan Altima
94 Nissan Sentra
94 Subaru Impreza
93-94 Toyota Corolla
$8K to $10K
93 Acura Integra
97 Prizm
93-94 Accord
94-95 Civic
94-95 Civic del Sol
93-94 Infiniti G20
96-97 Protege
95-96 Altima
93-94 Maxima
96-97 Sentra
96 Saturn SL/SW
95 Impreza
93-94 Subaru Legacy
93 Camry
93 Celica
95-96 Corolla
I was unsure exactly how fun-to-drive the car must be so I was less-critical to play it safe. I was also unsure of your price range. Let me know if you need me to list another higher price range (10-12 or 12-15) or to check out another car you are considering. Good luck with your car search.
Now I know at least 3 people, 2 of them close friends that had a '90 & '91 Integra LS (same as '92). Although they both sold them when the cars had 110-120k mi., I know they did not have any problems with them except for a leaky valve cover gasket on one of them (probably because he redlined every gear every time, he drove it like a maniac). I used to enjoy riding in them. My friend shifted passed the redline, about 300RPM passed it! I remember one of the Acura techs had told him that the actual fuel cutoff was around 7200 and he 'd shift at 7100 when redline started at 6800. I loved those Integras. I think they were more comfortable than ours and even had more headroom.
The 3d Integra I also know up pretty well is a '92 GS a guy drives with to work every day. Have known him for 3yrs now. He garages it daily so it 's in very good shape and he goes through the car wash, it doesn't have a perfect shine, but close and it looks like a 2-3yr old car at the most. It's a 5-sp. and it has 130k mi. on it. He recently replaced the radiator. Radiators usually go with time, not mileage. 10yrs is most radiators' lifespan. As far as I know he 's very good with keeping up with the maintenance. '90-93 Integras also had some of the best braking still beat by very few still to this date. I remember a C&D or R&T road test of a '90 LS when they first came out, and 60-0 braking was 122ft. They said it was one of the fastest braking distances they had recorded next to some Porsches & Ferraris and it beat most BMWs they had recently tested. A '94-01 GSR stopped between 127-133ft (from several road tests in different mags over the years). Type-R is 118ft.
Anyway, any way you look at it the Integra is the better car. Better engine, shifter/tranny, brakes, etc. The consumer reports of a '92-93 Integra Chem mentioned is based on many components that are due to be replaced after 9-10yrs anyway. Not many people go 9 years without changing the exhaust. Most replace in less. Cooling: Radiator & hoses, same thing. A/C sometimes was a hit or miss with early Integras. Brakes, same thing. That's a maintenance item and you will need new brake pads every 3yrs or so plus if the brake fluid is not replaced every 3yrs (which most people don't do) your calipers will go prematurely. Rotors should also be replaced before the car is 9yrs old.. This stuff is minor as far as I 'm concerned as classified as regular maintenance. Another decent car would be a same year Celica too although they 'll both tend to be a little pricey. My brother had a '90 Celica GT. Nice car, smooth engine and peppy even though it was auto. Very good quality inside & out. Handled really well with just better 205-50-15" tires. Sold it with 101k mi. on it for a '95 Integra LS. He hated the fact that it was computer limited to 116mph! Let me tell you, that Celica handled 116mph like you were doing 60. Incredibly stable with stock suspension (but better wider tires). A '92 LS has a top speed of 124mph in case you 're interested. Only repair he had on the Celica was the A/C (compressor or condenser $400!). Shop around and negotiate! Go to www.kbb.com (kelley blue book) and look at the dealer trade-in prices of these cars as well as the "private party" sale #s. good luck. Integra & Celica would be the only cars I 'd look at if I were shopping for sporty coupes from the early '90s. I think the Celica at that time was a notch better as far as interior quality goes. That was the most popular Celica so a lot of them were sold. Just something else to keep in mind instead of the MX3. Both Celica & Integra should take you to 200k mi. without major problems if you get a 5-sp. Auto trannys tend to crap out around 150-160k mi. Good luck.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Anyway, the only Civic I could get at that price at the time was a stripped hatchback or CRX with nothing on it. As far as looks goes my wife (girlfriend at the time) liked it and I didn't mind it although I wasn't crazy about it. I only liked Porsches & Ferraris at that time and old Classic Camaros, Chevelles & Novas and V8s in general
BTW, my GSR is starting to burn oil! I checked the oil and it was at least 1/2 Qt down! It might be the Mobil 1 oil, don't know. I changed it in September and I 've done about 2500 mi. since. It's black and low. I think ever since I started with the Mobil 1 (in June last year) it's been consuming more oil. Before it was very negligeable. This was the 2nd Mobil 1 oil change. I 'm thinking of going back to the Castrol GTX and see if it burns any. I hardly had any oil burning prior to switching to Mobil 1. Then again the engine went through another racing season so that might have something to do with it. I wonder if the valves need to be adjusted and checked. I should get an adjustment just in case and check the spark plugs. Probably time for a tune up too since the car is raced. We should do everything sooner than usual..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Well it's time for me to spend some money on maintenance besides just mods. I 'll be replacing the MTF, the radiator fluid and probably the spark plugs/wires/dist.cap (most of these I can do myself). It's almost 3yrs old approaching 30k and I have not done anything but mods to it. I think it's in need for some TLC right now..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Now as far as neutral characteristics go, yes, you should preferrably have less than 20% difference front/rear and equal spring rates are even better. But that's not enough. It's the adjustable shocks that you have to play with, to get as much to a neutral feel as you can. Springs alone don't do it. You NEED the sway bar, and the springs together with the shocks. Now my setup is, or will be different than yours. So to be fair to you or anyone else this might work for me with the Konis Sports, the H&R OE springs, the 19mm sway bar, and rear upper & lower tie bars, but may not work for someone else the same way. And when I say neutral it doesn't mean 100% neutral. No car has that. Otherwise I 'd be able to win major races and fly through the turns.. When I say neutral I pretty much mean very minimal understeer OR oversteer. The car or tires will always eventually lose traction and whether the front pushes first or the rear comes around a little or too much is up to you and how you set the adjustable shocks, and the rest of your setup. Every setup is obviously different. I have 276F/220R, Casey has 330F/~200R, you 're now talking about 400F/400R, etc. I cannot guarantee you certain things, only help you understand and guide you. The best advice I can give you is not to drop the car more than ~ 1.5" and do not get 400lb custom rates if you don't plan to formally compete or race the car off the street. For street use even my "modest" setup kicks butt and will outhandle 95% of all the stock cars out there (just look at all the trophies and wins I have auto-xing).
If you still insist on custom rates but won't race the car, then if I were you and wanted nothing to do with racing, knowing what I know now, I would most likely go with 350F/300R GC coilovers at the most. Actually I 'm very happy with the setup I have now as a street setup, and wouldn't think of upgrading if I weren't taking racing more serious. You don't want too much spring rate in the rear for street use. It's much safer for the car to understeer a little (but you can fix that with adj. shocks, trust me) when driving on the street otherwise it can get dangerous when letting off the gas after hard acceleration or if the car is not in a straigt line and you have some momentum.. 400lbs/in. in the rear will totally blow your comfort level away. If you try and set the shocks SOFT to compensate for the roughness and "thumping/pounding" noises coming from the rear (your lower back and spine will feel it more than anything else), then the car will bounce up & dn. or "bunny hop" as we call it, because your shocks will be too soft to dampen the 400lb/in. spring oscillations. It happens to me now and then with the H&Rs. Sometimes I set them too soft because I want to be comfortable. Then I go over some small bumps (or big) on the road and the car starts to bunny hop. I pull over sometimes and stiffen them up and put up with the harsher ride which is not that bad in my case. I 've learned to set them where the ride is almost as good as stock (but the handling is not optimum). It's a give & take thing you might say..
I don't know why I type 5 pages of stuff lately, but some of these questions warrant good & careful answers because when it comes to suspension and handling balance, there 's a lot to discuss and make people aware of. Why are you limited to 460lbs? Who is the manufacturer of these custom springs you 're considering? Oh and another thing, GC coilovers use the Eibach race springs (ERS) which are not progressive, meaning you 'll get the same high spring rate every time, unlike H&R Sports, Eibach Prokit, etc. which are progressive in the rear and use 2 spring rates.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Anyway, I have a 20mm rear sway bar with urethane bushings and new endlinks, and a 24mm front sway bar with urethane bushings and new endlinks also. I also have a front upper strut tie bar thing, the bar that ties the strut tops together in the front.
I consider myself to be a competent driver and I know how to get myself into and out of trouble going into, during, and exiting turns.
As for the GC's, I'm not going to drop the car that much, about .75 inches max.
So, I think, from what I hear from you guys, I'm going to go with 350 in front and 300 in rear.