DONE!

After 11.5 hours of solo non-stop action I have replaced the stock suspension, added a stiffer sway bar, and replaced the stock brake pads.

Funny, the thing that gave me the most grief was the left rear brake pads. For some reason, I just could not get the outer pad to compress the springs AND slip into the tab slots. (If you have ever done this, you know what I'm talking about.) After an hour of trying, I finally got it in then discovered that you have to put the inner pad in first. The right side pads took something around 45 seconds to switch out, apparently I had the technique down at that point.

And now for some random pictures with descriptions:

Front HFP

Note that nowhere does it say "HFP", and that it looks just like the stockers.

Rear HFP

Note the FG2's separation of the shock from the spring.

This seems to surprise DC5, EP3 and EG owners. Also note the trailing arm where it bolts to the frame in the right of the picture. These bolts are difficult to get to on the left hand side and require bending a piece of the plastic under the car. The holes are also rather sloppy and may contribute to alignment.

Rear shock top.
Note the extra long threaded stud. Not only is the nylon insert nut a pain to turn, but you have to sit in the trunk, use a hex key to keep the rod from spinning, and turn it 8000 times. If you do this install, buy a 14 mm ratchet wrench. After the first one, I almost went and bought one to do the second shock.

This is the back side of the front hub, with the brake caliper removed.

Me, furiously trying to finish torquing the wheels so I can go test my stuff out.

I'll have driving impressions and more picutres soon.

Last night I test fit one of my 17x8 Motegi's. I still have not received my centering rings from The Tire Rack, but I have faith that they will arrive today. If not, no biggie. I didn't want to drive around on my new tires without an alignment anyway.





The Tire Rack and I were worried about clearances, so I checked those. There is about a finger's width between the tire and the strut. Plenty of room for tire squirm! It still needs to be tested dynamically, but word on the street is that 17x8's with 235/40's fit just fine. After test fitting, I threw her up on stands in preparation for Saturday's happy fun time. The tires are about 6" off the ground.

To this point

So far, this is what I've got:

A 2006 Civic Si.
It got lots of awards, yada yada yada, it's fun to drive, yada yada yada. My take is: it's costing me a ton, let's screw it up.

This is not my car, but it looks just like it.

Five 17x8 +45mm Motegi Traklites, flat black.
Lightwieght, strong, cheap. Pick two. These are the first two. ZING!


Four Sumitomo HTR Z II's.
Quality, grippy, cheap. Pick two. These are not the first two. BEEeewwww. :(

Sumitomo's on Traklites. Mmmm - yummy

Why 5 rims and 4 tires? These aren't exactly in stock at the local NTW. Dent one and you are bumming rides for a month on backorder.

Also to arrive this week are:

Axxis ULT brake pads.
These come reccomended. Ceramic carbon high performance pads. Supposedly they don't fade when hot, but also are manageable when cold.

Honda HFP suspension.
There are already 4 or 5 3rd party suspension kits for the Si. Most of them are over $1k. Sure they are adjustable, and come in fancy colors, and are more likely to score you chicks than the plain black Honda stuff, but when it comes to reliability and compatibility I'll take OEM. I get the tighter ride without having to cough up another $600 in aftermarket camber products, and it will probably slip by the warranty harpies too. Less than $700 shipped.

Progress rear sway bar.
The Si understeers at limit. This is fine for 16 year olds looking to re-write the laws of physics, but at 31 years old it's time to start driving like a man and accept that misjudging a turn will cost 15-20 thousand dollars.

These parts combined with either make my car a cobbled-up undriveable mess, held together by hope and Loctite, or Satan's rail car, mysteriously held to the ground by unholy forces.

The begining of the end

Since 1998 I have wanted to dabble in "modding". "Modding" is the American tradition of taking a perfectly good vehicle, spending a metric crap-ton of cash on parts, and creating something that is less reliable, less valuable, more dangerous, and more uncomfortable for the sake of speed, style and uniqueness.

Until now I have had neither the time, money or facilities to undertake this noble task of Americana.

Through careful planning, frugal saving, and plain luck I have amassed a small fleet of cars, secured a house with a two car garage, and obtained some go-fast goodies of my own. In less than a week I will become a member of the ever growing community of idiots that think that a few parts off of EBay will make their lowly stock automobile into a real racecar.

This blog is to chronicle the catastrophic collapse of one man's idealism, and the frustration of insurmountable truth.

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