NJGreenBudd

iTrader: (1)

I have a BRAND NEW set of Tanabe GF210's that I need to get rid of , $175 shipped:





PM if your interested.

Black91n/a

Cutting springs actually raises the spring rate, but it's not enough to counteract the lower rate.

A strut doesn't necessarily have tapered springs, but ours do. Coilovers have constant diameter springs.

Remember, Tanabe and Tein springs give less room than stock in front, so you may have problems fitting your wheel and tire combo with those.

blackball7

iTrader: (1)

cutting springs should NEVER be an option! only little honda ricer pieces of **** do that cause they are poor and think its cool to have rigged up ****.

MmSadda

iTrader: (2)

...because he's a douchebag to everyone, and we loves him for it!

Risky Devil

iTrader: (1)

Cutting springs is stupid.
But hey you learn. Invest in anything you can afford at the moment.

Spring/Shock combo if your modest, and coilovers and adjustable links if your serious, willing to sacrifice some
more work and comfort.

Don't mind RETEDs comments,
The only thing to cure the hernia on his *** while hes typing .
is e-bullying on the keyboard.

How can someone such a jerk living in Hawaii, ******* paradise.
You wonder how big of a reject he is in real life

sp00led

haha well its cool, not sure where everyone is saying that about cuttin the spring, that was never the plan at all. I guess im not gonna have money for that since my throwout bearing in my clutch went out and id rather buy a TII swap now and not pay any for that new bearing. off to the bank for the loan! good times...

blackball7

iTrader: (1)

it was mentioned many times by some dumb ***** on here. you cant listen to everyone on here cause most of theme are just dumbasses that have never even had any experience with ****.

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

^Relax. That was the vaguest post I've ever read.

blackball7

iTrader: (1)

lol. i try.

aznpoopy

throwout bearing costs like nothing and is incredibly easy to fix on most cars.

you only have to drop the transmission. you don't even need to touch the pressure plate or clutch.

sp00led

Yeah, but the cars had other problems and im not sure of the condition of the engine, the guy before me said it had been swapped, but the body has 215k. A TII swap would give me more pep, and i get my taxes back soon anyway plus graduation money.

pengarufoo

Nothing wrong with cutting springs, just make sure you have damping to go with the spring rate you run.

Cutting the spring raises the spring rate while shortening them.

If you don't want to shorten them but just want to increase the spring rate, shove rubber blocks between the coils and zip tie them in place. This will negate a coil and increase the spring rate without changing the length of the spring. Some people prefer this because they can throw on some rubber blocks for autox day and rip them off when they are done, so they can have a low spring rate for the daily driving. Combine this with adjustable shocks and it's a fair compromise.

Lots of people are complete douche bags who criticize every DIY approach to anything, if you're not spending big baller money on parts you're not doing it right in their opinion. Ignore them, for they are ignorant.

Both cutting springs and using rubber blocks are documented techniques for improving the handling of a street car... this information is widely available in things called _books_.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

.....

This is why I laugh at "free mods".

Healing

Roen: Do you run STS2 or stock class? I was thinking of running my FC in stock class upcoming season so your build should be quite similar to mine.
Also, are you NA or Turbo? The turbo FCs have a rough matchup but NAs seem like they should be somewhat competitive...

Roen

iTrader: (2)

STS2 actually, last year I ran with stock springs, but this year, I plan to change that.

That's not my setup actually, that's just a budget list I came up with.

For D-stock, since you can't update/backdate, you should probably set up with either an 86/87 Sport, 88 GTU or 89/90 GTUs., Those particular years and trim level combination are the most competitive for stock class AutoX. If you have another model, you'll have to make up the difference with driver skill. Hopefully, your S4 NA came with an aluminum hood, but I don't know if they officially came with aluminum hoods. If they didn't, and you have an aluminum hood on your S4 NA from the factory, you might be SOL, since to the best of my knowledge, the only cars the came officially with aluminum hoods were the S5 GTUs, Verts and TIIs. Then again, I don't know S4's well so I could be wrong. If they don't officially come with aluminum hoods, you might have to locate a steel hood to put on your S4, which would be heavier. It's stupid, but those are the rules. On the other hand, it's probably really cheap to find a steel hood.

Here's how I would mod it looking at the 2008 rules to make it as competitive as possible:

Aftermarket "D-type" Steering Wheel
4-point bolt-in roll bar
If running the GTUs, 16x7, +40 Aftermarket Lightweight Wheels with a 0.25 inch spacer (make sure the wheels are torqued to maximum of the wheel specs. (84 ft-lbs)
If running the Sport/GTU, 15x6, +34 Aftermarket Lightweight Wheels with a 0.25 inch spacer (make sure the wheels are torqued to maximum of the wheel specs. (84 ft-lbs)
I didn't notice it, but if longer aftermarket lug studs are allowed, use them and torque your wheels normally.
Hoosier A6 (205/54/16 or 225/50/16 for the GTUs, 205/50/15 for the GTU/Sport)

I would run the 205/45/16 on the GTUs for the following reasons: Gearing advantage and better transitional response. However, if your region places a smaller emphasis on straights and slaloms, I would go with the 225/50/16.

Koni 86xx or 28xx series double adjustable struts fitted to stock FC dimensions or Koni Yellows converted to double adjustable, revalved to stock FC spring rates.
(Valve the shocks to 65% of the critical value, make sure the shock leaves Koni's workshop dyno-matched, and mark the compression adjuster position. Then, max out the compression adjuster)
DOT-compliant stainless steel brake lines
Stainless steel clutch lines
Hawk HP+ brake pads
New OEM rotors, if your rotors need replacement.
Speedbleeders
AWR Speedway style adjustable front-sway bar
Mazda Competition Front Control Arm Bushings
Fresh Stock Rear Control Arm Bushings
DTSS Eliminators if your bushings are shot, which they most likely are. You could also order a stock replacement triaxial hub which contains new DTSS bushings. ($1200)
Racing Beat Street Spark Plug Wires (If you're running this car on the street, Race Wires if you're not)
K&N Drop-In Filter (I think the rule is no cone filter)
Replacement OE catalytic converter (This is expensive)
Replacement of exhaust manifold if needed
2.5" OD Single-exit lightweight 3" tip exhaust (whichever side is the shortest piping from the catalytic converter)

Make sure all fluids are in good shape, use a good synthetic engine oil (RP, Redline, Amsoil, Mobil 1, Idemitsu) or if you're cheap, Castrol GTX works. Make sure your tranny and diff fluid is changed to something better (Redline MT-90 for the tranny, Redline 75w90 for the sport/GTU diff, Redline 75w90NS for the GTUs diff, RP 75w90 for tranny and diff, Neo 75w90 for tranny and diff). Run a 70% Water/30% coolant mix. Run fresh Motul RBF600 or Wilwood EXP600 Plus at every event. Arrive early (3 hours should probably be enough prep) and throughly flush the system the morning of the autocross on-site.

Make sure you adjust the suspension to have as much camber in the front as possible by rotating the strut mount to the maximum camber position. Set the front toe to 1/4" total toe-out, set the rear to 0 toe with DTSS, 1/8" total toe-in without DTSS.

That's what I thought of taking a quick look at the rules.

Black91n/a

Here's some of my advice and some corrections

4-point bolt-in roll bar Absolutely NOT, it only adds weight

If running the Sport/GTU, 15x6, +34 Aftermarket Lightweight Wheels with a 0.25 inch spacer (make sure the wheels are torqued to maximum of the wheel specs. (84 ft-lbs) That should be a +40 with 0.25" spacer, or +34 w/o a spacer.

Hoosier A6 (205/50/15 for the GTU/Sport) You can use a 225/45/15 on a 15x6, other autocrossers do it all the time, but clearance in front might not allow it.

Koni 86xx or 28xx series double adjustable struts fitted to stock FC dimensions or Koni Yellows converted to double adjustable, revalved to stock FC spring rates. Be very careful if going with 28xx series, be absolutely sure that they are legal before ordering (Valve the shocks to 65% of the critical value up to about 3in/s then digressive as much as possible

Hawk HP+ brake pads maybe not necessary, I'd try something more streetable first, like the HPS, especially if it's a 5 lug

Mazda Competition Front Control Arm Bushings not permitted, only stock replacement, these are harder and illegal

DTSS Eliminators if your bushings are shot, which they most likely are not permitted, only stock replacement. You could also order a stock replacement triaxial hub which contains new DTSS bushings. ($1200)

Run fresh Motul RBF600 or Wilwood EXP600 Plus at every event. Total overkill, if you're fading brakes at the autocross then something's wrong. Normal fresh fluid should do the trick

Make sure you adjust the suspension to have as much camber in the front as possible by rotating the strut mount to the maximum camber position You can also use "crash bolts", but these eat away at the minimal tire to strut clearance.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

Fair enough, I had thought that it may potentially improve structural integrity.

That's what I meant, sorry.

You could try to see if it fits.

Agreed.

In my experience, the pads are streetable, and have a better initial bite. The noise and dust could put off some people, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is a better autox pad.

The rules state that the material must be the same, but they make no provision on stiffness level. That's the only reason why I suggested it. To the best of my knowledge, the material is the same.

Nothing wrong with ensuring that the brakes will never develop fluid fade. Limit it to changing the fluid on occasion then.

Ah yes, you could fashion DTSS eliminators out of rubber......but that's custom work.

Can you use eccentric camber bolts? I don't remember reading that in the 2008 rules, but I did skim over it.

Healing

I see, I saw you were running stock TII springs and I assumed that you ran in stock class.

How have you been matching up with others in STS2? Its seems like the NA FC has real tough competition in its classing.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

The NA FC does have tough competition in most of its classes.

I've ran a couple of regional SCCA events, but they were after points season; I usually run in a club that has it's own classing rules that give a preference to horsepower and tires. My car runs street tires and I usually am less than 2 seconds away from 1st place, whether it be from a road course or an AutoX. The first SCCA AutoX I went to, I was the only one in STS2, the second one, I finished 1st out of 3, beating 2 Miatas. I like STS2 since the tire restrictions are favorable to me.

I picked the stock TII springs because it provides less body roll than a lot of the street replacement springs out there, due to it being a stock length spring.

KhanArtisT

iTrader: (2)

Wow you guys are awesome.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

awesome good, or awesome sarcasm? You never know on this forum.

niburu

iTrader: (1)

This sunday will start my 3rd season running my 90 NA FC in some regional autocross and pretty much any class i'm in I wind up competing against Miatas.
Its usually either a toss up between CSP or STS2, or if t's a NASA event I'll be in there E class.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

I'll post an STS2 mod list later on in the day. CSP is when it starts to get expensive, and I feel that in that class, the Miatas have the biggest advantage.

niburu

iTrader: (1)

tell me about it, I hate competing against the lil' bastards, I do enjoy owning one however

I may be switching to some Azenis this year instead of Hoosiers
(my AS04's are pretty much dead anyway)

Roen

iTrader: (2)

Go back to STS2 if you go with the Azenis. Even better, the tire to beat in STS2 is the RE-01R.