Final Mods

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

In line with my modification philosophy of "keep it as OEM / looking as OEM as possible" I have now gone as far as I'm going to go with P26 (famous last words!)

This entailed:

- Racing Brake 1 piece (NA2 OEM sized) slotted disks front and rear - these have curved internal vanes on the fronts for 'centrifugal' cooling - pics before and after fitting attached
- Stainless steel lines with ATE Racing Blue Fluid (DOT4)
- Type-R front anti roll (I already have the Zanardi on the rear)
- Type-R front chassis bars
- Dali rear stabilizer bar
- 2002 rear "lip" spoiler (not on yet but being painted) to complete my 2002 rear look

Have to say - the front anti-roll and chassis bars transform the front :-)

[simonprelude]

You weren't tempted to go for RB's 2 piece then, quite a weight saving and increased cooling benefit.

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

... was tempted - but at 2x the price and my non-tracking / daily use I decided to put the money into the other mods!

I was looking at the Type-R disks - but then saw the price - and not even sure if they have curved vanes!?

[kowalski]

Hi Paul,

Saw your Car yesterday at Plans, didnt click at the time that P26 was yours, Brakes looked good. Have sent pics of the Bar installation.

leigh

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

Thanks Leigh,

I actually copped out and gave everything to Plans to do! Brakes - bars -anti roll - the lot!

Car felt great today - those bars are magic!

[Senninha]

Thanks Leigh,

Car felt great today - those bars are magic!
Hi Paul,

Very nice mods all of them. Could I ask you to descride 'magic' for the front chassis bars please? I have the front anti-roll bar already and I'm thinking about these too. Dont want to over stiffen the front. All other suspension is OEM.

Regards, Paul

[kowalski]

I have these bars installed on mine, it is one of the best mods. Does stiffen the front a bit, but its the improvement in steering response thats more noticeable. Worth doing.

Fancy a breakfast meet Senninha? Starts again next month

leigh

[Senninha]

Fancy a breakfast meet Senninha? Starts again next month leigh

Now that sounds like a plan, plus I could do with updating my avatar photo with the new wheels. Let me know when and hopefully all will work out fine.

regards, Paul

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

Hi Paul,

I can only echo what Leigh has said really ...

... to try to cut a very long story short - I have Bilstein shocks and I ran for a year or so with Zanardi springs (plus the Zanardi rear anti-roll) - that setup was the best performing set up I've had. Only downside of the Zanardis is they are - well - pretty damn stiff! Shaking around over bumps in the road on my daily commute was starting to get to me ... so I compromised on the Eibach progressive springs. Comfort back - but noticable loss of steering response with the progressive springs.

These bars have given me the steering response back - not as good as it felt with the Zanardi springs - but a hell of a lot better! So - the 'magic' for me and 'my kind of driving' is I'm feeling like I've almost gotten my cake and eaten it! i.e.my steering response is back - the progressive springs firm up nicely in the bend (stiffer than stock) - and I still have a comfy ride on the straight!

Obviously I'm wondering what it would feel like with these bars on and the Zanardi springs back on .... ;-)

I guess my question for you would be - if you already have the Type-R front anti-roll and are thinking of stiffening the chassis further at the front ... what are you doing with your rear? ... you could be T-ing yourself up for some understeer?

Cheers

[kowalski]

You should try mine sometime,

Have full Type R suspension, Type R rollbars, the Type R stiffening bars and a the carbing front strut bar, Also have 17 / 18 wheels to cut back on the tyre sidewall flex. Car is firm but incredible through corners, stays flat, no body roll. As for the rear went a bit industrial on the stiffening to match!

leigh

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

Now thats some serious 'strutting' ! :)

I've always wondered what rear anti-roll the Type-R has ... no-one seems to list it as a distinct 'Type-R' part ... is it standard coupe one - or the Zanardi one - or a completely different one?

[Senninha]

I've always wondered what rear anti-roll the Type-R has ... no-one seems to list it as a distinct 'Type-R' part ... is it standard coupe one - or the Zanardi one - or a completely different one?
Hi Paul, I asked the same question when buying front and was told rear used std bar, however, it appears that the Zinardi or Dali rears are thicker options so I may look into this further.

I'm concerned as you point out, that I need to do something at the rear to keep the balance.

At speed Liegh's car is unbeleiveably flat through the corners (I followed him to Goodwood last year), which is what started me on the suspension mods. However, there is a price to pay .. it looked very uncomprimising and fidgety at town speeds, probably not unlike what you desribe for your earlier set-up.

regards, Paul

[kowalski]

Yep mine has the Zanardi (type S) rear anti roll bar. At speed the car is fantastic, but slow speed there is no give, especially noticeable on the yellow stripes you get going into roundabouts! best taken fast or you break your spine! Its because of that i never bothered with the type R interior, prefer a bit of comfort. Every other type R mod has been done now.

leigh

[Senninha]

Hi Paul,

I hope you are planning on joining the JamesFest to show of all your new mods??

regards, Paul

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

JamesFest?!

[Senninha]

JamesFest?!

http://nsxcb.co.uk/testvb/showthread.php?t=2015

Renamed in recognition of the all the hard work James has done to co-ordinate the largest gathering of UK NSXers.

regards, Paul

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

Signed up - hopefully see you there.

Little bit more info re: Racing Brake 1 piece disks ... turns out even these are still a tiny bit lighter than OEM ... I worked out you save a whopping 0.8 kg all 4 combined!

The 2 piece ones save you about 5kg ... so you need to weigh up whether the extra 4.2 kg is worth 2x the price for your type of driving ... for me it wasn't - for a tracker I guess it would be as every kg counts.

[simonprelude]

Indeed, especially as rotating weight counts for 10 x any other weight ??
The replacement rotors for the 2 piece bring the 2nd set price down a little, but still more $$'s than the 1 piece, trade off indeed, but a lot less than the Honda price of the type R discs, £1600 IIRC.


Little bit more info re: Racing Brake 1 piece disks ... turns out even these are still a tiny bit lighter than OEM ... I worked out you save a whopping 0.8 kg all 4 combined!

The 2 piece ones save you about 5kg ... so you need to weigh up whether the extra 4.2 kg is worth 2x the price for your type of driving ... for me it wasn't - for a tracker I guess it would be as every kg counts.

[Senninha]

Hi Paul,

... to try to cut a very long story short - I have Bilstein shocks and I ran for a year or so with Zanardi springs (plus the Zanardi rear anti-roll) - that setup was the best performing set up I've had. Only downside of the Zanardis is they are - well - pretty damn stiff! Shaking around over bumps in the road on my daily commute was starting to get to me ... so I compromised on the Eibach progressive springs. Comfort back - but noticable loss of steering response with the progressive springs.

Cheers
Paul, are the Zinardis progressive buta lot stiffer? Would the Zinardis work ok with standard shocks?

Like you, I want to retain the 'comfort' element but reduce the bounce, particularly on quick B roads.

Appreciate your thoughts

regards, Paul

[CrazyMixedUpKid]

Zanardis are not progressive - they are linear.

Yes - much stiffer than stock I'd say ... check out ...

http://www.daliracing.com/v666-5/catalog/suspension/more_springs_matrix.cfm

I'm no expert but I don't believe the standard shocks are up to them - Dali recommended the Bilsteins - but these are not 'valved' to match the springs exactly (but hey - I'd never know!). You'll see on Prime that some people sent the Bilstein shocks back to Bilstein to get them matched to the Zanardi springs! If you're even considering that - then I'd say just buy the Zanardi shocks and be done with it and get the genuine Honda experience!

The progressive springs lose you steering response - you can claim that back a bit with the Type-R front bars - thats what I have. Still not as good as with the Zanardis - time to bite the bullet and decide whats most important to you ;-)