Hello guys!
Saw the autoX FAQ thread but would like to invite here all active, former or wanna be autocrossers to share some valuable info and talk about our hobby.

I have I '98 Civic LX which has not seen autoX-ing yet. Before that I had '94 LX and raced it twice on autoX events.
I am from North Chicagoland and go most to the Mazda Miata events couse they are one of the most active clubs around here. BMW and VAG also have some events, though Honda and Toyota do not have local clubs yet or they have but do not organize autoX events.

First major question:
How to start dealing with the understeer of the Civic? :-)

 

What's your budget? First and foremost - good tires. Than rear sway bar, shocks, springs, all sorts of BS ties and braces... what class are you aiming for?

 

I'm going to be autoxing this year, service writer at the dealership I work at is an extremely good autoxer, has won nationals a few times. He bought an S2k and is racing it in the new STR class, he's got the best of everything like $4500 Moton shocks... defintely one of the, if not the best set up car for the class. Hoepfully it is a good year for him, he was really successful with his old ef hatch and his last car, sti.

 

See my sig to answer your threads title question ;-)

To answer your other question, the absolute best answer is driver. Learn to drive first, then modify your car. I know understeer is a b*tch, but if you're a patient and good driver, you can deal with it and still be fast.

BUT, as far as mods go, there are a few to help. Tires are the single best modification you can do for AutoX. It's kinda funny, and sad, when you see "Stock" class cars on r-compound tires that are just as fast, or faster, as heavily modded cars with similar driver skill level.

Shocks and springs(preferrably coilovers) would be the next best. To reduce understeer and/or induce oversteer, you would want stiffer springs in the rear than in the front.

Swaybars are also important. With our cars, the rear swaybar is much more important to focus on. A lot of people leave the front bars stock and get a big fat rear bar to gain oversteer.

Have to be careful though. Going with very stiff rear springs AND having a big rear swaybar can create snap oversteer which is bad. Do your research, ask questions and more importantly get a lot of seat time before you mess with your suspension.

 

Thanx a lot civicexracer for the info and the broad answer.

Last Sat. (05/14) raced with the Civic as is - stock. Has 3 years old all season tires on it. I pumped the rear tires to the limit which for my tires is 35/36 psi (very low, but that is) and left the front tires at about 33/34. A small effort to minimize understeer.

I think I did very well last Sat. My best time was 59.60 for course that the best time of the day was about 48/49 sec. My buddy with S2000 did around 50 sec. with Dunlop Direzza ZR1 and fat swaybar in the front.

Would like to ask about values of negative camber?
I am planing to do alignment and would like to know what to tell the guys who will set it up for me.

Thanx in advance and good luck on the course!

 

Hello again!

I did a quick research on rear sway bars for my Civic.

I would like, for now, to keep my stock shocks and springs. I know it's may be not good idea, but want to leave them for now and just get a rear sway bar. I found out that most of the Civics (except IS, Del Sol) do not have rear sway bar.

So I am thinking to get either 15 mm or 19 mm rear sway bar?
Probably 22 mm will be too thick for street driving, I guess?

I found ST sway 19 mm sway bar on ebay for about $200.
Is there another place that I can shop, and is 19 mm will be O.K.?
Is necessary to get also subframe brace for the sway bar?

Thankx in advance!

Here a table about Honda and Acura sway bar sizes:

http://grabka.org/acura/hondaswaybars.php

Not sure how accurate it is.

 

Sorry I haven't gotten back sooner, been busy...

Are you sure the max pressure for the tires is 36psi? Don't go by what the door jamb or owners manual says, go by the tire. Most tires out there have a max psi around 45psi. If that's the case, try bumping the front to around 35 and the rear to the max psi(45 if that's it).

For your generation(and mine and older), you cannot change camber from stock suspension. Well, you can add positive camber in the rear using washers but that's not what you want unless you're pretty low. So since camber is not adjustable, don't worry about it. However toe IS adjustable and very important. Generally most people who AutoX these types of cars like to have a good amount of toe-out in the front and a good amount of toe-in for the rear. If this is a daily driven car, you might want to ask the person doing the alignment to set the front to the maximum toe-out while still being within spec. Same for the rear, maximum toe-in while still being within spec. This will help entry into turns by making the steering response quicker and giving a little more oversteer.

A 22mm rear swaybar would be fine for street driving. BUT, first you need to get a good subframe brace kit. ASR, Function7 and Beaks make excellent subframe braces and sell swaybars with them as a package. I will say though, a 22mm rear swaybar on a stock suspension civic will enduce quite a bit of oversteer if you are not careful. For normal street driving, it's fine. But taking an off ramp fast and having to hit the brakes hard for a car in front of you can end badly. So be careful.

A 19mm swaybar is still a good size, obviously better than nothing... You will still definitely need a subframe brace to use this bar. I do believe the ST swaybar comes with subframe bracing but since you are looking at ebay, you may want to make 100% sure of that.

Anything past around 14-15mm rear swaybar for your car you'll definitely want some sort of subframe bracing.



Your next big investment should be tires..

 

Thanks a lot for the info!

I'll keep in mind about the toe when go for alignment.

Now when I read about the sway bars, and you also said that everything above 14-15 mm should be set with subfame brace. I don't want to spend much money now, because I'm thinking about tires too, but subframe brace will need extra work too.

So I am thinking now if I can find somre where from the net or from junk yard a stock sway bar 15 mm, so in this case I will not need subframe brace + will be cheaper than aftermarket thicker sway bar. Form me 15 mm might be enough since I am not used to a lot oversteer now.

I am thinking about Del Sol, is its rear sway bar will fit my LX Civic?
Or which rear sway bar from Del SOl, Civic or Integra will fit on my car?

 

From what I've heard, the '99-'00 Civic's had added support on their subframes for a swaybar(because the Si model comes stock with a bar). So for those years a subframe brace for a 15mm bar or under isn't necessary. However for the '96-'98 models they don't have a added support so for bar around 15mm, you may need to add support. Funtion7 sells backing plates for like $15. They sit on the inside of your subframe and will prevent tearing for smaller bars. It'll be worth getting for peace of mind and it's cheap..

Yeah any bar from '92-'01 Civic, Del Sol, Integra will fit your car.

 

Here's a picture of the support brace that Funtion7 sells for cheap.

The silver looking block just behind the subframe. In this particular picture the car has a 15mm swaybar on it.