Just a few parts

[jfrolang]

I gotta keep my EF squad peoples up to date on what's going on with my car.


A couple weeks ago it came to my attention that I had a bad wheel bearing on the front right. After weighing my options, I decided that I would replace both front bearings, along with the lower ball joints to rebuild the knuckles. As is usually the case, I talked myself into more stuff "while I'm in there." So, Gator axles, extended wheel studs, and tie rod ends came into the picture. And that's just the beginning. Here's how it went down.


I started by spending a small fortune on Honda parts...


Next up was ARP extended wheel studs, and I decided I would get an HKS mega-flow air filter too.


An Explicit Speed rear strut bar showed up at my door, so in it went.


Next to arrive were the axles.


Once the axles were here, I had everything I needed to get my knuckles off and down to the machine shop for pressing. So, I started tearing stuff apart.



This is my garage, in the midst of wrenching.


Once the knuckles were out, I snapped a pic and took them to the dude with the press.


While I was waiting for the phone call saying I could come pick them up, I put the air filter in. My air filter requires far too much work to replace, but that's another story.


Fresh knuckles.


And back together it went.




Before anybody asks why I didn't install the tie rods, it's because I only want to go get aligned once. I have more parts on the way that will affect my alignment, so the plan is to put them in all at once and make one trip to the rack. Stay tuned for more.

[sakasaku]

nice i need to get another job 6.50 an hour aint cutting it!

[Scotsman]

outstanding jeff!

[Scotsman]

wish you were down here tonight to help me replace my clutch!

[AnTi-PooN]

are you getting new wheels? those studs look weird with those

[slow_hatch]

are you getting new wheels? those studs look weird with those

For the slicks. Jeff = Baller

[jfrolang]

I think they look freakin' sweet. Besides, function > form.

[bigdare23]

ARP extended studs FTW!

[N/A EK]

LOOKING GOOD

[Barefoot]

coolbeans

[LIKEG6]

nice work jeff

[green91]

I think im gonna go through and put in new wheel bearings and ball joints pretty soon but im gonna go aftermarket.

[jfrolang]

Time for an update to this frustrating little project, so here's what's been going on.


My Skunk2 upper arms recently arrived, after ~10 weeks of being back-ordered. I also picked up a set of Ingalls adjustable rear upper arms.


The Ingalls arms were quickly installed.


I finally got around to adding washers to my ST sway bar. Exciting stuff here.


SPC adjustable compensator arms were delivered by a man in a brown truck, and these gave me some trouble.


The passenger side went in smoothly...


...but the driver's side was not willing to go quietly into the night.


This bolt seized in its bushing, and before I realized what was going on, the nut on the other side was forcefully removed from the track it slides in. I had to operate.


I cut a hole in the bottom of the car so I could get in there with a new nut and bolt. This picture didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.


To add to the frustration, I ordered Konis and Ground Controls with GC upper mounts, and they took more than 2 months to ship. I am told that the GC upper mounts were the cause of the delay, because I wanted the grey ones. That wasn't enough though, as more setbacks follow.

Astute observers will realize that the springs in the below picture do not match.


Allow me to explain. When I ordered the Ground Controls, I based my choice on what I "thought" were the spring rates currently installed on my car. A long time ago, a fairy must have whispered in my ear that Skunk2 coilovers have spring rates of 400/300, because that's what I believed for quite a while. With this in mind, I asked for GC rates of 450/350.

However, the day after I ordered them, I got an idea in my head that I should go out to my car and see if I can verify anything from the markings on the Skunk2 springs. Turns out that S2 coilovers have spring rates of 8 and 6 kg/mm (448/336), and on top of that, the shop that installed them for me back in 2002 put them in reversed. I had been riding around with the higher rates in the back for almost 6 years and didn't even realize it.

With this new information, I decided that I wasn't going to be happy with 450/350, so I ordered up a pair of 550 lb springs that I would put on the rear, and I'd use the 450s on the front. ... But then GC sent me the standard rates of 350/250, which are completely useless. Kevin @ Panducky has spent the last two days trying to get it straightened out for me, but it seems that GC just doesn't care, and 450lb/in springs are in short supply. So in order to get the 450/550 combo I was looking for, I re-used the 8 kg/mm springs from the Skunk2 setup on the front. I tried to clean them up somewhat for the pic you see above.

Once I decided that I would use the S2 springs, I set out putting the new stuff in. I worked on the rear suspension first, this is a 'before' shot.


The rear was disassembled in short order. One of the rear shocks is clearly blown, no surprise really. Don't buy Tokico blues. These are the springs that I ended up using on the front Koni shocks, I think they cleaned up pretty good.


Here's the rear finished.


The front was next, though I forgot to take a before picture.



The GC upper mounts are a nice addition to the engine bay.


This weekend I am planning on installing the Si steering rack I got from a friend in Rhode Island, along with the new tie rod ends, then it's off to the alignment shop.

[JDMJAYDC2]

looking good jeff this really makes me want to step my game up on the dc so i guess by your purchases that GC>S2 i have S2 now on the hatch

[slow_hatch]

When you ordered the top hats, did they come as a set of 4 or did you have to order two pairs?? Everything looks good Jeff, i'm running 500f/600r

[KevinT707]

You're a baller Jeff, keep it up

I'm running 500f/600r

I was looking at spring rates on H-T and noticed the spring rates in the front were always higher & rear were softer and that yours is opposite of that. What would be the affects of it one way compared to the other?

[jfrolang]

The upper mounts are sold in pairs.

And yeah Jay, Ground Controls > Skunk2 coilovers.

[jfrolang]

I got the steering rack swapped in with the new tie rod ends tonight, and then did a quick informal alignment so I can drive to the alignment shop on Monday. I didn't take a ton of pics but here's a couple.

[bigdare23]

I'm going to change out my rack real soon. I just got my inner and outer tie rods and bushing last week.

[jfrolang]

Using higher rates in the back will move the handling balance toward oversteer. The natural tendency of a FF vehicle is to understeer. The other side of that coin is that you have to be careful when driving near the limit on the streets; you'll spin out if you push the car too hard.

[KevinT707]

Using higher rates in the back will move the handling balance toward oversteer. The natural tendency of a FF vehicle is to understeer. The other side of that coin is that you have to be careful when driving near the limit on the streets; you'll spin out if you push the car too hard.

Hrmm, I see. Yes, that does make a lot of sense. So would having a/the ST rear sway bar (on stiffest) + having stiffer rear than front springs be enough to make it 'spin out' though, easily? Or would it still be pretty hard to spin out ..

[jfrolang]

The greater the difference in the spring rates front to rear, the easier it will be to induce oversteer. An upgraded rear sway bar moves the effective rear spring rates upward while in a body-lean situation such as cornering. I spun out once on an on-ramp because I was driving like an idiot, but thankfully there was a grassy run-off area to slide into. So I didn't mess anything up except my ego.

I do want to point out, that tire pressures and driving skill come into play too. Since I've started autocrossing, I spun out once while doing a run. After messing with tire pressures and getting more seat time (along with approaching the limits less recklessly), I was able to control the car at the limit and rotate the car just the way I want to. Ideally, you set the car up to be neutral, almost so that when you lose traction you'll go into a 4-wheel drift, and then you can force the car to do what you want through driver input. The best way to learn is to get to an autocross of course, and you'll learn techniques like lift-throttle oversteer, trail braking, etc. that will upset the car. Once you have the knowledge of what your car will drive like at the limit of adhesion, you can manipulate the inputs to get the car to rotate precisely.

RWD cars are easy, the throttle acts as an oversteer lever, but a FF vehicle is a whole different animal in an oversteer situation. Where in a FR car you would let off the throttle to get the car to come back in line, in a FF car when the rear steps out too much you have to get back on the gas to pull out of it.

Here's a pic somebody got of me as I spun out on course.



I will have new tires this week to go along with my new suspension setup, so this weekend's autocross I'll probably be learning my car all over again.

[jfrolang]

Normally I would frown on buying used tires, but for these I made an exception.

[KevinT707]

Thanks for the good write up, and wow those discontinued Azenis still have a lot of meat on them!