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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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If that doesn't work, what happened was I downshifted and missed and then the clutch pedal got really hard, and I couldn't get it into gear, but I shifted without the clutch and got home fine. Any ideas?
You'll have plenty of friction material left on the clutch itself, but will need to replace the entire unit. I'd suggest you investigate a higher-friction/aftermarket clutch and also a lightened flywheel (if SCCA rules allow). A lighter flywheel lets your car rev more easily, and gains you horsepower.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
So, if (worse case) everything is fubar, what kind of clutch, pp, and flywheel should I get? I guess that Harry recommends the ACT clutch. I was thinking of getting everything (new, of cours) from a type r. Would that be a good idea? or no? Also, how much are clutches, pp's, and bearings from pepboys and autozone or equivilent? the local pepboys wanted 380 bucks =O and autozone wanted 300 without bearings. As for the flywheel, what kind of weight should I look at? 10 lbs? I still want the car to be fairly easy to drive on teh street, so that's why I ask. Thanks for the help/comments.
As far as flywheels are concerned, the ITR would do fine but that is about 14-15lbs. There are many good 9-10lb flywheels out there for about the same $$. Comptech has a new one on the market that is 8.x lbs and an aluminum one that is 6.x lbs but I don't know if I 'd buy an aluminum one. Exedy is one of the most popular flywheels (9lbs I believe) that many use. I 'm not sure why the ACT flywheel is not as popular but they 're all usually chromoly steel which is a lighter and pretty strong type of steel. If you can get an ITR one for a good deal go for it. It's still 2.5lbs lighter than GSR's. Any way you look at it it's going to cost you over $1K with labor.
Bearings: I 've heard many people say that any time you drop the tranny you have to replace them. Don't know how true that is but I do know it's absolutely necessary when replacing the differential.
Again the flywheel will kick you out of STS and into DSP if you care about SCCA classifications. Your car will be very streetable though. Don't worry about that, as long as you don't get the racing versions of aftermarket clutches. Have you had your 2nd auto-x yet? How did it go?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
For the ACT clutch, where's a good place to get them?
Also, I'm doing all of the work with my dad, so labor costs are no prob, but we can't get the driver side axle out of the hub or disconnected from the intermediate shaft. It's really frustrating. Also, in the process, we practically flattened out the nut on the end of the axle. Oh well. Less than a few hours left, and the tranny will be dropped, if the axle comes out.
Thanks for the advice and help Harry, Casey, and himiler, it's appreciated greatly ^_^
Places to check on clutches/flywheels:
http://coximport.com
http://lightningmotorsports.com
There are other places that specialize in the parts you need, but I can't remember their web addresses. You might ask the guys on H-T where they've shopped.
$295 is the lowest I 've seen but some vendors will advertise a very low price but make it up on shipping & "handling" where they add an extra $10-15 for their pocket on top of the real shipping cost. Also always be apprehensive with extremely low prices. Make sure you get what you 're paying for and ask a lot of questions.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
As Harry said, don't go too light with a flywheel. Aluminum fw's aren't as durable as slightly heavier chromoly or steel pieces.
Talking about breaking things in, is there a special prepping procedure for the rotors? or just put the pads on and do the proper breaking procedure? Also, what is the right way for the clutch? Just do city driving without going over 4000 rpm for a few hundred miles? Thanks ^_^
I know a couple of people that have the Clutchmaster clutch but not sure about the flywheel. It should make a good combo though since they 're both manufactured by the same company. ACT is pretty much the leader in Clutches but Clutchmaster makes ok clutches.
Which flywheel did you get? The Fidanza? I think that's 6-7lbs. Not sure about the durability. I know Motorolla cup, ie: Challenge series cars use them sometimes but they put a new one in for the next race. They spare no expense. It should last a while on the street through. They 're meant to take a lot of abuse but aluminum flywheels have more maintenance unlike the chromoly ones. They sell replacement parts that you need to replace more often. I would 've went with a chomoly-steel 9lb one because they 're pretty much maintenance free. The Aluminum ones use lightweight parts that don't last as long and need frequent replacement. Did you read everything on the manufacturer's web site? They usually try to hide the info about the flywheel replacement parts because that deters people from buying their flywheels. It all depends on how long you 'll be keeping the car. I 'm sure you 'll be fine for a couple of years with the aluminum flywheel before you have to replace anything. It all depends on your driving style and how much racing you 'll be doing. You should notice the faster revving and power increase immediately though. If I ordered those parts I 'd be excited to.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Did you know that Matt is on his 3d set of Hoosiers this season? That's almost $2,000 in just tires! I 'm on my 2nd set of Kumhos ($900+) too. Got almost 30 events in this year and have at least 2 more to go (shooting for the NY Region SCCA DSP championship which Matt hasn't invaded yet probably because it's about a 2hr drive for him although in his last post he stated he drove down to Maryland, or was it DC? to compete with Neary). I do compete against him though in my local SCCA club which is within his reach and is part of NY Region (have to do at least 4 events though at the other NYR SCCA club in Long Island to qualify for points & regional championship - messed up rules), NASA, Mclub and North NJ Region SCCA are places we race together too. He also races at the Philly/PA Region and sometimes at the Southern NJ Region. So anyway, since I saw his last post comparing DSP cars, his & Mike Neary's, and reading all his posts, I see someone who is really obsessed with the sport and obsessed with winning and I 'm thinking to myself "gee I hope I don't ever become like that", mainly because it can get pretty expensive and the obsession can mess with your head like I think it's beginning to do with his. Did you see his comment about me buying my brother's ITR? He always tells me this at the auto-x events when we meet. Why would I want a Type-R when my GSR can be (and is in many cases, or on a good day) faster (in auto-x) than all the stock Type-Rs? I try to explain to him that I 'd be racing DS and wouldn't be throwing money into the car, nor would I be competing with GSRs, but to him it's all about getting really fast times and not just beating the cars in DSP, but all the other cars there. Last year when he just had the GC street kit on, at one event he told me that he and I could get FTD that day because we were doing pretty well in the morning runs and only about 3/4sec behind FTD. I told him it was impossible and in the afternoon that gap will get much bigger as it warms up and the "Hoosier boys" get some more grip, as did happen.. This shows you the ambition he had from back then. I don't know. I think he 's a very interesting person but takes things to the extreme and I doubt he 's having fun racing when he doesn't come in 1st. It's one thing to want to be competitive but to obsess over every little detail of your suspension and winning all the time, has got to be somewhat depressing and mentally painful I would think when he doesn't come in 1st or doesn't do as well as he thought he should 've done.
Oh well, look who is talking. I 'm getting an LSD and some stiffer rear springs for next season but I will not obsess over it if I don't come in 1st all the time. Me I 'm satisfied if I get a couple of good runs with no mistakes and drive the hek out of the car where I think it was at its absolute limits. That makes me feel good.
Anyway how has the season been for you in the Atlanta region?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I'm gonna have a good day tomorrow -- installing my new GCs (400/450) on the car with the help of a friend. I'm dying to find out how big a difference this will make, going from 330/210 progressive to 400/450 linear. No doubt I'll have to learn how to autocross my car all over again. =:o) I'm really glad I decided to wait and do this after our season already ended. This way, I can race at a few events during the winter season to work out the kinks (shock settings, tire pressure) and hopefully be more prepared when the season starts up in March/April.
Overall, I finished 3rd in STS this year -- not too bad for my first full season. I had a couple of first place finishes, with the others being any where from 2nd to 6th. STS in my region is very competitive (I believe we had about 4 or 5 different guys taking 1st place honors this year), and I still have to improve on my consistency... It was all worth it because I saved my best (i.e., most error free) run ever for my fourth and final run on the final points event of the season. At this event and on this run, I improved my time by over 1 sec. and edged out this year's class champion (that guy who drives that pesky Impreza 2.5 RS) by around 0.04 seconds for the win! First time I ever beat him head to head, and boy did it feel good!
CONGRATS on 3d place in your Region! STS is a very competitive class but Integras can definitely be at the top in that class. 3d place with 1.5 season under your belt is pretty good.
The new springs you 're getting will make a small difference but nothing huge (unfortunately). Your car may handle better than mine because you went with higher rates in the rear so I can't really tell how much better it will be. I didn't see a big improvement probably because I kept the same front/rear ratio as before (I really wanted 425/450 but they were out of stock). Where I noticed the biggest difference is in faster courses and the sweepers because of the higher spring rates. In the slalom I hardly notice an improvement and sometimes I think the springs have a slightly adverse effect, unless it's big & fast slalom. In the small slaloms, the heavier springs don't seem to help much, at least in my car. I also think my car handled better when I had the GCs set higher for 3 finger wheel well gap. Now I 'm at 1.5 finger gap and I don't think the car handles as good. So you 'll have to play with the ride height.
So I would suggest that when you first install them, try and set them at the same ride height that have now, so you can compare your car to what it was before at the same ride height. Then you can start lowering a little at a time to see if the car gets better or worse. Also, the more I lower, the less adjustability I have with the Konis. Meaning the more I lower the higher I have to set the shocks to get the same dampening as before when the car was higher. Hmm.. I think this tells me that I should raise the car back up a little.. Don't know and I 'm not going to stress over it like some "other" people we know :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Anyway, Casey: did you install the new GC coilovers and what are your impressions?
I had a good wknd. Came in 5th overall raw time, and PAXed 7th. Noone in my class to compete with though but in my head I compete with ESP & CSP cars and try to beat them (I beat all the cars in CSP but they were mostly MR2s, no CRXs) Only cars that were faster were PRO class (SM cars) and Super Stock - SS.
Oh Casey I just discovered something during this auto-x event. I was cleaning my R tires after I came back from a run and all of a sudden I noticed scrape marks inside the wheel well on the other side where the engine is or the frame is I should say.
Called my friend Chris Travis over (Rodney - he 's on H-T, owns an SM Civic with ITR motor, 194whp!) who usually gets FTD and does all the work on his car himself, and a couple of other PROs to check it out and they all said that I was lowered too much for the compression, & spring rate for that ride height, so my tires were rubbing on the inside! Meaning either the shock compression was not enough, so the 475lb/in. springs were compressing too much, or the spring compressoin travel was too much for my ride height. Luckily I discovered I was running the front shocks a little softer than usual (I get better turn-in that way), almost 1.25 turns. Went up to 1.5 turns and they didn't rub anymore, but I 'm going to raise the car almost 1/2" this weekend because driving the Konis on the street at 1.5 turns kind of sucks. The rears are not a problem and being that they are only 400lbs, the shocks don't seem to have any difficulty at all with damping or compression. I believe there 's also more wheel well room in the rear, and having it slightly higher than the front also helps. I was told a while ago by a few people to set the rear height higher than the front so there 's more weight on the front "drive" wheels to get more traction. When I set the ride height the same front & rear, I can tell I lose traction in the front wheels and they spin too easily.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
The manual also says to replace the timing belt every seven years or 100K miles under normal service. Is that an appropriate interval? What special tools are needed to pull the crankshaft pulley?
Hehe, only 1-2 more days until the clutch and flywheel come in and the car will be back together by next monday with a new clutch, flywheel, Hawk HP+ pads, and an OEM water pump ^_^ I'm so excited
garados: How many mi. does your car have? Just wanted to know how many mi. your clutch lasted.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
The GCs were installed last Saturday without incident, I'm happy to report. The hardest part was cutting the dust boots/covers with the hack saw because I don't yet have a workbench with a vice at home. Other than that, it was a piece of cake.
Impressions: overall, I'm very pleased. I must say though that they didn't change the "feel" of the car as much as I thought they would... I guess I was expecting things to be real stiff and harsh, but they are not. With the 400/450 spring rates, the car feels firmer and better "planted" than it did before. But, as I said, I wouldn't say it's too firm, harsh, back breaking, etc. The biggest change I've noticed is that the car takes much less time to "set" itself when entering a turn at any kind of speed. By my way of thinking, this is less due to increased spring rates and more due to the fact that the springs are linear and not progressive. With the old springs, the car used to roll a bit before it felt set in a turn. Now, it's pretty much turn, set, and go! Now all I need to do is to get my [non-permissible content removed] to an autocross...
In auto-x you should be able to see around 1/3s improvement depending on the course. I seem to see the improvement more on faster courses due to the higher spring rate. But I believe that's because I 've learned to drive the car better with the GCs on (and the 22mm bar which threw me off at first), plus 30 events so far this year has probably made me a better driver (I hope!) and I think I 've gained an extra couple of 1/10ths just from skill and seat time.
The last race I had where Matt W. was there (early October), I was only .65 sec behind him (used to be 1+ sec. behind). I 'm pretty sure after watching him, that his shorter gearing with the 13" wheels and lighter flywheel, attributes to at least a .2s gain or more over me, because I could see his car revving faster and he was shifting earlier than me. So the other .4s are attributed to his 13x8.5" wide wheels with Hoosiers and the LSD (since we have very similar spring rates). So I don't think I lack in the skill dept., just in the setup dept. (Matt has told me several times in the past that he thinks I 'm a very good driver).
I 'm pretty sure if we get the shocks revalved we 'll see much greater gains. I 've been talking to a lot of auto-xers the last few weeks who had their Konis revalved and everyone said it's a must with 400lb springs and up. They all noticed handling improvements right away with the custom valving.
Back to the installation. I didn't put the dust boots back on the shocks and I also cut the bumpstops in half. Did you do that with yours like GC recommends in their instructions?
Did you have to dial up the Konis? I have to set them at least 1.25 turns up front on the street (I have 475 in the front), otherwise the ride is bouncy. With the 400s in the back I run the Konis anywhere from 1-1.25 turns on the street. 1 full turn in the back produces some understeer though but still not bad for the street. 1.25+ turns is what I usually run in the back too though. It makes the car more neutral and introduces a bit of oversteer. When auto-xing I set the rear for almost full stiff (go all the way to the end of the dial and then back 1/2-1 line or 1/8th).
I 'll be ordering 600lb rates for the rear, as soon as I revalve the Konis, but first I have to figure out how to take the shocks off the car and what to do with the car for 2-3 weeks, because I don't have the factory ones to put back on. I was thinking of buying a used set of Konis so I can have 2 sets.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Oh, after reading that, do you think that handling will improve with teh new shocks and new springs? Thanks.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Check it out. It's my review of the ACT HDSS clutch, Fidanza 7 pound flywheel, and Hawk HP+ pads. I am realy enjoying this setup ^_^ Thanks Harry for recommending the ACT clutch... it's really nice =D Oh yeah, about this squeaking from the HP+ pads that people talk about, I haven't noticed any...yet.
Can't go wrong with ACT. ACT also makes a pretty good LSD. It's expensive and it's a clutch type which why you don't hear much about it but a couple of people I race with that have it, say it grabs better than Quaife. Have fun!
'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)
'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)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I would appreciate hearing your opinions. Maybe I am just thinking wishfully. I have visions of our grand kids driving it in 10-15 years.
The Type-R was a limited procution car so I can see a remote chance of that gaining value in 5, 10,15 yrs, but from what I 've seen in the last 20yrs I 've had a licence, only old American & Europen cars are sought after or ever given the title "classic". Japanese cars have not managed to reach that stage yet, but you never know what might happen in another 10-15yrs!
American collectors are not ready yet to accept a non-American or European car in the "Hall of Collectibles".
You have grand kids? And I thought Casey was the oldest :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
By the way, my wife and I are aging baby boomers, but we try not to act our age all the time.
Although the average age of Integra owners I auto-x race against, is about 25. Some of them are 19 and some late 20's. I 'm the only Integra (non-Type-R) owner that 's over 30 in the many clubs I race at in the NY/NJ/CT (tristate) area. Type-R owners are a bit older but there are only 2 I know of in my area that are over 30, including my brother who just turned 38. Many of the BMW and Corvette racer crowd are much older though so I don't feel bad or different. It's just the cars we drive are attracted by, and within the financial reach of younger people.
My uncle (surgeon) who is now in his 70's, used to come to our house with a new Porsche every couple of years when he was in his 60's and would talk about it with the enthousiasm and manner of an 18yr old (he never let me drive any of them though!).
Thanks god for cars. If it weren't for them, what other toys would there be for grown-ups?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Also, if you want to get even better handling, get an upgraded rear sway bar. I would recommend the one from the integra type r with a proper mounting kit. There is a user on www.honda-tech.com by the name of BSQ. He makes a very nice mounting kit to keep the swaybar from tearing out of the subframe. Also, you might want to look at Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars. I have them and they're great ^_^
Hope that helps ^_^
Aftermarket shocks will definitely improve your car's handling. Don't go cheap on them. They 're the most important part of your car's suspension and ride feel. Get adjustables. You won't regret it.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)