Honda track rat build.

[Lurch]

So back in late 2015, I bought a Miata.

 

A 90 bare bones base car with the AC removed that had some body damage here or there but was straight enough to have fun with. Threw some nice suspension and brakes on. Put 15x9's and sticky tires on. Did all the big person mods so that 6'4" of me could comfortably drive it. Autocrossed it a few times. Went to the dragon a lot.

 

 

Fun car but the engine in it is weak. Has to be low on compression. Burns a lot of oil. I really don't trust it to really get beat on. That combined with the fact that I just didn't have enough room to wear a helmet with my hardtop on meant that it was never going to be an actual track car with me. It's a fun daily, though.

 

So sometime in 2016, I started dreaming about CRX's. I really like small, lowish-power 4 cylinder cars as they're cheap to run and race. There were a few nice ones in our club. All Si's and decently prepped. One member that had one of those died from cancer early last year and his car finally went up for sale last summer. A 91 Si. Competitive SCCA SOLO STS autocross and NASA TTE time trial car.

 

 

At first I held off on it because it was way out of my budget and I didn't want to travel out of state just to look at it. Eventually in the fall, I started talking to people asking them what they thought I could realistically get the car for. So at some point, negotiations were made to go look at it and I eventually struck a deal for it and all of the various race parts with it for a steal. Ended up with more wheels/tires, and spares than I could count.

 

 

The car was fairly nice when I got it. Engined is dyno tuned and made 118 whp on a Dynocom. Has Koni Sports, GC sleeves, 450/400 springs, HF 17mm hollow front sway with poly end links. ST solid 22 mm rear sway with spherical end links. Skunk2 Pro upper control arms, Poly bushings in the control arms. Hawk DTC60 front pads, some kind of SS rear brake lines, AEM cold air intake, DC sports 4-2-1 header, Mishimoto oil cooler, Canton 5 quart baffled oil pan, Autopower bolt in roll bar, Autometer gauges, HF radio blockoff plate. Recaro Profi SPG XL driver seat, Kirkey 47 passenger seat. Racequip 6 point camlock harnesses. Odyssey PC680 battery, 15x7.5 Rota Slipstreams with 205/50/15 Bridgestone RE71R's. Luckily, he was tall so it was setup fairly well for me. I autocrossed it like this late last year and had a blast.

 

And Took it to the dragon once as well before it got cold.

 

Threw some winter rubber on a spare set of 15x7 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2's I had. It's crazy how many spare wheels I have with this thing.

 

Ended up doing some small things here and there. Relocated the battery to inside the car.

 

All that being said, I had nicer suspension on the Miata and wanted the CRX at least up to par with it or better. The Konis were old and even though I had a newer set to replace them, I really wanted something better with the car. After looking at what competitive Honda Challenge cars were running and what I could actually afford, I ended up grabbing a set of Eibach Multirpro R2's. Double adjustable remote res in the front and piggyback reservoir in the back.

Also decided to replace bushings with sphericals in various spots to get rid of most suspension binding and poly a few other small things that were still rubber. PCI's in the control arms. Innovative traction bar, BWR camber and toe arms, ASR revoler trailing arm bushings. ASR Billet aluminum control arms. Also replaced balljoints and tie rod ends. Decided to throw some nice Stoptech SS lines, a new pair of DTC60 front pads, and DTC30 rear pads on while I was at it.

 

For some reason, while I was at it, I decided I wanted new wheels and tires too. Wider, lighter wheels. So I ordered up some gen IV 6ul's in reverse stagger 15x9/15x8 fitment as well as a new set of BFG Rival S 1.5's in a 225/45r15 front and 205/50r15 rear.

 

 

Finally got to autocross it last month and, unfortunately, found a major flaw in the setup. I seemed to have gone way too stiff with the spring rates and, as a result, couldn't put power down at all on right turns.

 

 

I have an autocross in a few weeks and a track day at CMP in the beginning of May. The plan now is to pull the trans next week and do an Mfactory Helical LSD. Then in a week or so, go down 150# per corner in springs (700/650 now and think I'll go down to 550/500).

Also bought a set of track tires. The previous owner was running 13's on the track and I think I'll continue that trend as the gearing on these things is a lot better for a car with low power. Picked up some Toyo R888's stupid cheap. 225/45r13's on 13x8.5 Panasport C8's.

 

 

That's about it for now. I'll try to continually update this with photos and stories as I buy/install parts and participate in events. Should be fun.

Edited April 1, 2017 by Lurch

[HeavyDuke]

So back in late 2015, I bought a Miata.

Fun car but the engine in it is weak. Has to be low on compression. Burns a lot of oil. I really don't trust it to really get beat on. That combined with the fact that I just didn't have enough room to wear a helmet with my hardtop on meant that it was never going to be an actual track car with me. It's a fun daily, though.

 

Why not make a bulge in the roof?

 

You wouldn't be the first one.

[Lurch]

Did a track day a couple of weeks ago. Drove the car 5 hours to Carolina Motorsports Park.

 

Made the trip fine.

 

Threw the Panasports on. Loosing 5 lbs per wheel and 2" of diameter is really noticeable in a low power car. The R888's in this size seemed to be very soft and sticky. They were pretty fun.

 

 

 

Did really well the first day and advanced up to the next group. 2nd day started out well with my fastest lap of the weekend in the early morning session. A 2.00.88. 2nd session of the day, I went off track, yanked the wheel too hard back in, started to spin, and hit a tire wall. Destroyed a fender, and the radiator developed a slight leak.

 

 

Knocked it out of alignment some but half assed fixed toe, threw the 6ul's back on, and did 2 more sessions with it.

 

I think 2.02.33 was my best time on the 15's The Rival S 1.5's did great and conditions probably weren't as good as the early morning. Under the same conditions they could probably match the R888's. Car ended up making the 5 hour drive home with no more issues.

 

Overall, I had a blast and found a few things I want to change with the car. I boiled the ATE 200 fluid at this track and plan to upgrade to Motul RBF660. Gonna replace my calipers too since the seals on them have probably all seen better days. My oil temps also crept up past 240 a couple times and since my oil cooler isn't looking too great now, I decided to get a Setrab 619 off ebay that came off of a Nascar (probably trans or diff cooler).

 

 

Probably going to ditch the screen. Other than that, I think I need a wideband to start monitoring A/F ratio. Power seemed off a couple laps so having that info is probably good to have on a tuned car.