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I recently purchased a completely stock 1987 Civic Si and would like to be competitive in STS.  What kind of suspension setup would lead me to becoming competitive? What would one do to stiffen the front spring rate with torsion bars?  Anyone have a good website for afetrmarket Torsion bars (for Civics, not trucks), or 3rd gen Civic performance parts?

Thanks for all your opinions.

 

Welcome to the party.

www.upgrademotoring.com has torsion bars for your car. 

Lee Grimes at Koni can help you with shocks unless you can find some good used ones.  Koni officially quit building shocks for the cars years ago but Lee has something that will work, although they aren't really cheap.

Ground Control probably has a coil over kit for the rear.  I bought a used setup for my car that didn't work very well but I ended up piecing it together with some spare Ground Control parts I had laying around. 

You will want to find some camber plates since you will need a good bit of camber.  You might try Ground Control for those also. 

That should get you started.  Good luck, I think you will have a lot of fun with the car.

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Mark Pilson
owner of STS2 Honduh
co-driver of ES Miata (race tires rule)

I would try contacting Ron Conrad from Ft. Wayne (IN) region.  He runs an 86 and does pretty doggone good with it.

 You should be able to find his e-mail on this site:

 

http://www.fwscca.com/Contact/contact.htm

fastbackss:

I would try contacting Ron Conrad from Ft. Wayne (IN) region.  He runs an 86 and does pretty doggone good with it.

 

  i drove that car a couple of years ago, when Ron lived here in Las Vegas. 

wonderful car ! 

  i know of a fairly new, very low mileage set of Konis that are on a 85 CRX Si

that the engine does not run on...  i'll bet the owner can be convinced to part with

them, as the car is sitting useless right now. 

im assuming the mounts are the same on 85 CRX and 87 Civic... anyone know ? 

  if you are interested, i can let him know, and he can contact you. 

   dave

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89 STS Civic Si #50

Yes, the struts will interchange between the CRX and Civic.

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Mark Pilson
owner of STS2 Honduh
co-driver of ES Miata (race tires rule)

Yes, I would be interested, but not for a few months, money's kinda tight right now.  Tax returns may help fund the project this spring, but if he will part with them for a decent enough price, I might be able to come up with some kind of funding in the near future.

Thanks.

Bret Norgaard at Bilstein Motorsports in CA has also had a bit of experience with this chassis, I suggest tracking him down as well.  I had fun with my '86 Si in STS years ago, it weighed 1920lbs with stock seats, exhaust, and super-heavy wheels.  Headers, shifters, intakes, wheels, struts, bushings, seats, and all that fun stuff is still readily available for the car, still at very inexpensive prices.  I ran the Koni's, but after riding in Bret's Bilstein setup (custom, sorry, but he can easily duplicate it) it's a no-brainer that I would go with the Bilsteins.....adjustable monotubes.....hhhmmmmmmm.  Camber plates, new tie-rods, and urethane/delrin bushings are the first to go in.  The K&N FIPK2 intake for the '89-'91 Civics slip right on, and are CARB legal.  Hedman/Chikara makes decent and cheap headers (also CARB legal), but the DC Sports or Mugen are best (but $$).  Replace the injectors.  Make sure your vacuum-advance distributor is working correctly.  Buy a new cat.  Add structural bracing, as these cars are flimsy.  225-width tires fit all around, no problem.  My favorite driver mod was the Pacesetter adjustable shifter.....and new OEM engine/trans mounts.

 

Have fun! 

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*Banned Again* Permanently

fastbackss:

I would try contacting Ron Conrad from Ft. Wayne (IN) region.  He runs an 86 and does pretty doggone good with it.

 You should be able to find his e-mail on this site:

 

http://www.fwscca.com/Contact/contact.htm

Yep, Ron does well with the car. Of course, he is a very good driver. He also runs stock seats, a full stereo and 13in wheels with ancient Sumitomo tires. If he cut some weight and went with 16s with 205/40/16s I think that car could be much faster than it already is. .

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90 Miata - STS #90/190

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

Head over to http://www.redpepperracing.com check out the forums... the site is dedicated to the 84-87 Civic/CRX... A member is working with Tein and has a shock and strut package available, if you can't get the Konis. Also check http://www.opmautosports.com they have many performance bits for said chassis.

 GL!

How about the Tokico Illuminas? I've never heard of a setup with Tokico's that was competitive, but the shocks are readily available and inexpensive. I ran with Konis on my last STS car and I liked them. Anyone had any experience with Tokico?

I never liked the way they jacked the car's ride height way up, or their valving...car felt crashy and skittish on all settings but the softest.  Inexpensive yes, but I would rather get the Konis or just have the Bilsteins built.  Front travel and geometry limitations make front strut selection very important on your car, don't skimp out....the rear is a different story, but there is definitely an ideal setup.  Ask Bret, he might give you Shock Dyno's on his.

 

FWIW, I hate my KYB AGX struts on the Subaru, only got them because of budget limitations and the OEM struts were severely blown.  Way too much high speed rebound, problem is also rebound and compression are adjustable at the same time only.  I will definitely go with Tein's Gravel struts (OEM spring seat!) or have Bilstein adapt something off of the later model cars for me to be Stock legal. 

 

-JW 

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*Banned Again* Permanently

  i talked to the guy with the Konis the other night.  he said the fronts are externally adjustable, but the rears are the internally adjustable ones, where you have to take them off the car, bottom them out, and turn the body to adjust them.  ( did they make externally adjustable rears ? )

  but they work very well, as anyone that has ran Konis knows.  

  i believe that he wants like $275 shipped for the set, which is a very good deal, considering the low use these shocks have seen.   

  his SCCA Forum name is paules56, and i'll call him now and tell him to post here.

  my only experience with Illuminas is on a Mustang a long time ago. seemed to be never right.  but i have not used them on anything else.

  my tow vehicle came stock with Tokiko HP. ( Toyota Tacoma S-Runner ) and while they do fine for the street, i cant see them being used for anything other than that.  

  dave ( < who has had Konis on multiple vehicles )  

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89 STS Civic Si #50