'92 Civic newbie questions

Being new to Hondas, front drive and left-turn-only racing, I thought I'd come over here for some informed answers. I will be asphalt circle-tracking a stock/gutted 92 1500 civic (long story) and am wondering the following:

- Can I/should I overfill the crankcase oil at all? Race time will be short for now, but eventually will do 30-45 min sessions, all left turns (snore).

- With a totally stock (230k) suspension, 195/70 tires (min tread) should I be worried about the ability to rotate the car through the corners (at utmost throttle of course!)?

- If it is understeering, is a slight throttle-lift at entry then back on it the way to get it around?

- Would any sway bar removal or loosening be of help?

Thanks in advance!

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Steve
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<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/jake7140" TARGET=_blank>My racing page
</A><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/elrss" TARGET=_blank>Elkhart Lake Racing_&_Sipping Society
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Be careful...

Most Honda's have the oil pickup on the left side of the motor. Constant left hand sweepers on a 'short track' might cause problems with pulling oil away from the pick-up. I would suggest a baffled oil pan and/or an accumsump. Overfilling by 1/2 a quart might not help but won't hurt either.

Removing the front sway bar (just unhook one link) will reduce understeer a bit but has the biggest advantage of allowing you to get on the power earlier without spinning the inside wheel (assuming you are running with an open diff). You can throttle steer the car. With a stock suspension, lifting out of the throttle if done gently will cause the car to tighten it's line, but an abrupt lift can cause the car to rotate abruptly depending how heavily the car is loaded in the corner. Back when I raced showroom stock (no suspension mods) I found the Honda to be pretty forgiving in this regard compared to the VW's. Also if you are in 2nd gear, Honda's seem to be able to defy physics in getting into trouble but having enough power to get out of trouble. There isn't as much torque available in 3rd gear.

Run about 1/16th toe out in front to help turn-in. If you can get some toe out in the rear, that will help rotation as well. If you can run stiffer springs or a sway bar in the rear, that is your best bet.

One trick with stock suspension circle track cars is to mill brake pads so that one side has way less surface area than the other. This can allow you to trailbrake into a corner with a diagonal bias to motivate turn-in.

Sounds like fun!

K

Greg: Thanks, figures the pickup would be on the "wrong" side. I'll try qualifying pure stock, then go from there with the sway bar. Oh yeah.... it's an automatic! I found tho that if I keep it in 2, it'll shift to three at like 7k, then slam down into 2 again if you lett off and drop the speed. Might just work ok. Course I have no idea where the torque curve may lie.

K: Great idea. I'd heard of that and thought it might work. I think I'll hold off cuz they can run backward and road course thru the infield too. My only hope is that they run the road course!

Should be good for a couple laughs...until I roll it or it blows up. Somethin new anyway. Now if my bud would let me drive his new Cheetah, the year would be complete!

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Steve
[email protected]
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/jake7140" TARGET=_blank>My racing page
</A><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/elrss" TARGET=_blank>Elkhart Lake Racing_&_Sipping Society
</A>

I looked at the rules and like the fact that any FWD car built after 1926 is eligible. I think a late-'30s Citroen 11CV would be a good candidate.

Keep us updated on this project. It sounds like massive fun.

K

Quote:

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Originally posted by Knestis:
I looked at the rules and like the fact that any FWD car built after 1926 is eligible. I think a late-'30s Citroen 11CV would be a good candidate.

K

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Nah....think bigger is better....

Go with a FWD '73 Eldorado with a 8100cc monster V8. Put a set of straight pipes on that beast and scare the crap out of the rest of the field http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

Yeah, had me thinkin that there was probably a miller/offy-engined fwd at indy after '26.

Now the eldo, hmmmmm....

Hopefully some pics will be posted on my site. I'll be doing in-car vid, but only have geo cities bandwidth, so can't post anything big.

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Steve
[email protected]
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/jake7140" TARGET=_blank>My racing page
</A><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/elrss" TARGET=_blank>Elkhart Lake Racing_&_Sipping Society
</A>