Just purchased ITA/H4 Civic Si

[arpenn]

While the dash is out, if I were you I would seriously consider adding the two allowed braces between the A-Pillar down bar and the firewall as your 7th and 8th points. Extra foot protection is a good thing, and any competent cage guy can knock that job out in no time, so it shouldn't cost much.
[/b]

Well we are the cage guys, I am a J.H. shop teacher and so is my dad, so we will be making the modifications ourselves. A friend of mine ownes a limo shop and has a hydraulic tubing/exhaust bender that we can use.

So where exactly would you connect to the firewall?

I also have been looking at the pictures in the Tech Center of the CRX build. Is everything in those pictures ITA legal as far a cage mounting/attachment points, the welded in front strut tower brace, etc? These are great pictures and give me a lot of ideas for our car, I just want to know if they are legal before we copy.

[spnkzss]

If I am not mistaken I believe my car has drums, but I will double check tonight. I will also try to post some pictures this weekend if I get a chance. How difficult is it to remove the dash in a civic? We are going to be rebuilding part of the roll cage and adding a bar inside the dash that will connect both front down tubes on the cage, so the dash will have to come out. On the roll cage there are some stickers, I assume inspection stickers, do these have to stay on the cage? I will also be adding some additional bracing on the cage. One area that needs a reinforcing bar is from the roof halo to the main roll bar and it will attach where the stickers are located. We will also be repainting the interior and cage so I need to remove them for that as well. Can someone help me out here?
[/b]

Dash is not that difficult. Remove all the little panels and glove box and you'll find the bolts you need.

I can't answer for NASA, all myk experience is SCCA. SCCA doesn't have any stickers. Your cage should be stamped with a number that matches the log book. So you shouldn't have to worry about the stickers. In theory though if the stickers are some certificate then you may need to get it re-certified since you are making changes.

Well I am the cage guy, I am a J.H. shop teacher so I will be making the modifications myself. A friend of mine ownes a limo shop and has a hydraulic tubing/exhaust bender that I can use.

So where exactly would you connect to the firewall?

I also have been looking at the pictures in the Tech Center of the CRX build. Is everything in those pictures ITA legal as far a cage mounting/attachment points, the welded in front strut tower brace, etc? These are great pictures and give me a lot of ideas for my car, I just want to know if they are legal before I copy.
[/b]

Read the section on cages in teh GCR first. THings may have changed since that build, but teh good book will save you.

[BRAD BARNHOUSE]

Aaron,
I've raced my Civic since 99 when I did my driver school. I've had alot of fun with it and some shining moments when I was able to win a few races. The drum brakes haven't been an issue at all especially with Hawk Blues on the front, no rear lock up at all not even in SP turn 5. Maybe I'm not going fast enough. Your car is prepped way better than mine. You'll have fun, they're easy to drive. Keep it simple and enjoy.
Brad

[RacerBowie]

Well I am the cage guy, I am a J.H. shop teacher so I will be making the modifications myself. A friend of mine ownes a limo shop and has a hydraulic tubing/exhaust bender that I can use.

So where exactly would you connect to the firewall?

I also have been looking at the pictures in the Tech Center of the CRX build. Is everything in those pictures ITA legal as far a cage mounting/attachment points, the welded in front strut tower brace, etc? These are great pictures and give me a lot of ideas for my car, I just want to know if they are legal before I copy.
[/b]

If you aren't planning to do it this weekend, I will take some pictures of a CRX we have in the shop that has a pretty nice cage and post them up next week.

The key is to find a spot where you can go from the A bar to the firewall (NOT through the firewall however) that both allows you to run a straight bar and is out of the way enough to not crowd the footwell and get in the way of your feet while driving.

[arpenn]

No we won't be doing the cage work this weekend. Pictures would be great, and if anyone else has some good honda cage pictures please post them as well!

Thanks guys!

[spnkzss]

No I won't be doing the cage work this weekend. Pictures would be great, and if anyone else has some good honda cage pictures please post them as well!

Thanks guys!
[/b]

I have been updating pictures of my build, but don't have cage pictures yet. It just showed up via FedEx Freight Last night. I will keep it updated as I go though so check back.

http://spnkzss.shutterfly.com

I also have a build thread on "another" site if interested.

http://www.rr-ax.com/bbs/forums/thread-vie...tmode=1#M147568

[arpenn]

Spnkzss,
I have been following your build, I found the pictures on both sites. You are doing a nice job. I really like the equipment gray for the interior and engine compartment. I was thinking of going with the same color in those areas, we just haven't decided if we want to pull the engine and trans. Keep the pictures coming. I will try do document our progress on here with pictures as well.

[BRAD BARNHOUSE]

Spanky,
Make sure you paint green around the bottom. It's good for half a second.
Brad

[spnkzss]

Spanky,
Make sure you paint green around the bottom. It's good for half a second.
Brad
[/b]

Nah. All orange baby. worth 2 seconds. Forget that 1.5 sec BS.

Hope you and the wife will come hang out at some race in '08 jsut hang, even if you aren't going to grace our presence with a car

[Limey]

"Poster number 3" here Jake - Apologies for opening a can of worms, I was mis-informed about the rear disc - it wasn't my intention to stir things up.

Bowie, don't gouge you eyes out yet!

BTW - talking of civics, any one out there suffer fuel starvation in turns with like a 1/3 tank??

[spnkzss]

BTW - talking of civics, any one out there suffer fuel starvation in turns with like a 1/3 tank??
[/b]

All (almost, I'm not going to get into the trying to figure our whichs on'es don't and why) do. ITA, ITC, and I'm sure some ITB ones will too.

[Xian]

BTW - talking of civics, any one out there suffer fuel starvation in turns with like a 1/3 tank??
[/b]

Yep, most Civic/CRXen suffer from the fuel starve issue. I seem to remember that Scott Giles tried to make some sort of rhyme or reason out of it and damn near ended up with brain damage (maybe he did as that'd explain alot ). From what I remember the closest he came to an answer was that it appeared to be as much fuel pump related as it was fuel tank related. i.e. often times non-OE pumps were a little closer to the bottom of the tank and tended to fuel starve less.

Mark - most of the CRX guys I've talked to who made the drum to disk conversion couldn't tell me that they ever noticed much of a difference. The only plus they could really say they got was in maintaining them. So I don't think you're missing much.
[/b]

As Ruck and Jake said, "the consensus" seems to be that there's not much advantage to going to rear discs (sorry Tom B!) Not that I'm some sort of expert, but as much as I hate working on rear drum, they do work well and offer some level of adjustability as to how much drag they give on the straights and how quickly they come into play (especially in the wet). This is all in addition to them being lighter than the disc assembly. All in all drums aren't a bad problem to be saddled with...

Everything I have read and heard says the drums are indeed lighter, so you've got that going for you! I think the Civic is still a good car, and only off a tenth or two from a CRX, while being easier to get the last tenths out of.

Have you heard about the car we're building for Christian Shipp this spring? '90 Civic EX sedan FTW!
[/b]

That would be my CRX in the CMS shop and more importantly I'm the guy they're building the EX for. Can't wait to race the finished product!!!

Christian

[arpenn]

Here are some pictures of the car. We finally got all of the stickers and decals off. We removed the headlights and turn signals so we could remove the red duct tape that was on them. My brother took them so he can recover them with vinyl so they will look better, the duct tape was old and looked kind of tacky :-)
I will post some more on the next thread because I can only upload 5 at a time.

[arpenn]

Here are a few more. The last one is how we are going to paint the car. My brother has a degree in computer animation and graphic design.

[lateapex911]

Very nice. Why not carry the lower red band around the front airdam?

[arpenn]

My brother Brandon is the paint designer, I told him I didn't care as long as it looks cool. I will through that at him and see what he thinks.

[jumbojimbo]

I think the red on the airdam would fight with the red headlights. I'd have to consider something "lighter" on the headlights so it didn't overwhelm the front of the car.

But maybe I've just been watching too much Project Runway.

jim

[gran racing]

Don't make it too pretty or at least make it fairly easy to touch-up. My first dent in the car became woth at least 2 seconds.

But maybe I've just been watching too much Project Runway.

Damn that show AND What Not to Wear. My wife tells me that if I can record my racing and watch that from time to time I need to watch her shows. The worst part is I actually find myself interested in them from time to time. Doh!

[lateapex911]

Damn that show AND What Not to Wear. My wife tells me that if I can record my racing and watch that from time to time I need to watch her shows. The worst part is I actually find myself interested in them from time to time. Doh!

You're going to LOVE Sponge Bob Square Pants!

[JLawton]

You're going to LOVE Sponge Bob Square Pants!

Over and over and over and over again..................

To this day, I still get the shakes when ever I see Barney..........