THSCC Forums

Okay, this is to help all you piggy-car'd STSers become "Nationally Competitive". Not so much in response to this post but so that I can point to it later.

It's pretty simple really, you only need to do 3 things, ideally in this order:
Maximize handling
Minimize weight
Maximize power

Power, is easiest.
Get a cold air intake. If one is not available, fabricate one. Optimal tubing diameter and length will have to be determined on a dyno. Have lots of tubing, mandrel bends, time, and $ set aside for finding out.

Get a header. If one is not available, have somebody who knows what they're doing fabricate one. Hopefully emissions laws are not as strict there as they are in CA.

Get the lightest, simplest, best-flowing cat-back you can. Muffler optional. Think weight savings and minimal power loss, your hearing is tertiary.

Get lightweight crank and accessory pullies - if not available, have some made.

Have the whole package dyno tuned. If your ECU is not chippable, you may need a VAFC-type device to achieve optimal A/F across the rev range. Find out what a safe rev limit is for your motor and then go a bunch higher. Do what you can to make the curve autocross-friendly. Replace all fluids with synthetics.

If the motor is old or tired, have it rebuilt to stock-class rules by a reputable (i.e. $$$) engine builder.

Cost: $2-5k


Minimizing weight is easy too.
Pull the AC. Get the lightest battery you can - anything more than 15lbs. is excessive. Replace both front seats with 15lb. replacements. Empty washer fluid reservoir. Experiment with fuel level to see how low you can run without starvation. Spare tire, tools, floor mats, anything that's legally considered "loose" - take it out. Get the lightest steering wheel and shift knob you can. Get everything out of the glove box, map pockets, ash trays.

Find out what stock-class legal option changes you can do. Maybe remove some cosmetic spoilers? Stereo removal, smaller/lighter brakes? Is your same car available with a lighter (i.e., non-sunroof) chassis?

Anything more than 10lbs. for a 15" wheel is too much. In 205/50-15 Kumhos are 3lbs. lighter per tire than Falkens. If the car can be set up to handle without a swaybar at one end, there's more weight saved.

Cost: $1-4k


Maximize handling is the most important part of STS.
Find out the largest wheels/tires you can run on your car. The three options in Falken are 205/50-15, 215/45-16, and 225/45-17; Kumho has similar choices. You want a 7.5" wide wheel regardless. Find out what offset you need to make them fit. Rolled fender lips will likely be necessary, and 2" dia. springs on custom struts may also be.

Maximizing handling is an iterative process. You want to give yourself a lot of adjustability in every part - shocks, springs, swaybars, alignment. Strut cars will need camber plates to achieve the 3, 4, or 5+ degrees of negative camber needed to work properly. Unless you're trailering (not a bad idea at this point), learn how to adjust toe on-site as you go from a streetable camber setting to a race camber setting.

Work with a reputable shock builder (Pro Parts for Konis, Guy Ankeny for Penskes, King for Motons, etc.) to construct some custom shocks or struts tailor-made your application. Buy lots of different springs in varying rates as a tuning element. Examine what sway bars are on the market, and if nothing suitable exists for your application, fabricate one yourself or have somebody like Saner do it.

Find out how low you can run the car and what starts to hit/rub when those limits are reached. Find out how you can extend those limits with shorter strut bodies or other modification. If geometrical issues arise, see what you can do within the STS ruleset to remedy them.

Replace all floppy rubber in the suspension with hard rubber, poly, or delrin, making sure to be careful in places where such a thing could cause bind.

Once you have all the pieces, put 'em on the car and tune, tune, tune. Take as many runs as you can at as many events as you can get to, near and far. Record tire temperatures, examine tire wear patterns, compare your times to competitors, note subjective handling feel. Have others more experienced drive the car and offer feedback. Examine in what elements the car is better and worse, and how adjustments to your tire pressures, alignment, ride height, shocks, bars, and springs changes the car's behavior in say, slaloms vs. sweepers. When Mr. Ken Motonishi says "Alignment is critical", he isn't just whistlin' Dixie. Get to know your car inside and out, and learn how to set it up to different surfaces, conditions, and even courses. You can't expect to be able to properly set up a car with all the ST allowed mods without at least a basic understanding of handling dynamics, so books by Puhn, Adams, Smith, etc. need to be read and at least somewhat understood.

Keep trying new things, even if they are very small, but occasionally give yourself 1-2 events to "get used to" a setup, particularly before big events. If going up 50lbs. in rear rate makes the car better, try another 50, and so on, until it gets worse. Occasionally try oddball settings just to see how it feels, always watching the clock for objective feedback. Sometimes a setup can "feel" better but actually be slower. If at any point you think "gee, I really think going up to the xxxlb. rear springs would complete the car's handling, but it just won't be as comfy in back when I take grandma to Sunday bridge", then you're not willing to do what it takes to be "Nationally Competitive".

Cost: $3-10k


All of the above has been done to our Civic, and most of the other cars you see running at the top. Anybody who hasn't done at least this much and is whining "whaaa, my car is 'set up' but those Civics are just tooooo faaaaaast" is doing just that - whining - when they should be out working on further developing their car.

Fortunately for EF Civic owners, a "cookie cutter" nationally competitive package has already been published by Chris Shenefield:
http://www.redshiftmotorsports.com/ChrisTech.htm

This setup is the result years of STS-specific development work by Chris, Jason Tipple, and others.

For piggy cars without a racing pedigree, it's up to you to do all the development work to get to where the Civics are. Given the level of modification allowed in STS it is not at all unreasonable to expect it to take at least 2-3 years to get an unknown/unproven car "sorted", just as it would for an SP car.

Or you could just buy a Z-06 or S2000 or 330Ci or ITR or Mini, slap on some Hoosiers and whatever shocks the others in your class seem to have decided as best and go have fun in Stock class. You'll probably still not be competitive as there are some amazingly good drivers out there.

One of the things I've found surprising is that Stock class is actually relatively inexpensive. New cars are cheap to finance and the depreciation hit is a lot lower on a whole car than a bunch of aftermarket parts. A certain Boxster S driver claimed to have made a profit when he sold his M3 after autocrossing it for several years...

--Kevin H.

I think including the car, Ryan Thompson has about $4k into his car.

I think including the car, Ryan Thompson has about $4k into his car. I've got well over $4k just in parts for the Celica - AB