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October 15, 2005
Upgrading is not always simple
I have been corresponding with a fellow Honda CRX enthusiast about an upgrade to his car's suspension. He is very happy to have found a relatively rare set of front torsion bars to replace the stock items in his car, and he is looking forward to installing them for a stiffer ride. I am happy for him and I know that he will get plenty of enjoyment from the new parts, but I also told him that in order to get the maximum benefit from this set of front torsion bars, he is going to buy and install a whole host of other parts that are necessary to facilitate the new torsion bars working to their top potential.
Torsion bars are used rather than coil springs in some cars to provide a cushion for the car's suspension. The greatest difference between a torsion bar and coil spring is that the torsion bar is a straight piece of spring steel that gets twisted to provide the spring action rather than compresses as a coil. Air-cooled Volkswagens and Porsches, most Chrysler products from the 1950's until the 1980's and a variety of racing cars used torsion bars instead of coil springs for their compact size and unique packaging advantages that reduce unsprung weight in a car's suspension.
The 1984-1987 Honda Civic and its sporty brother the CRX all came with torsion bar front suspensions with a conventional spring suspension mounted over a solid beam axle located by trailing arms and a Panhard bar in the rear. Although not as sophisticated and adjustable as some other more complex suspension systems, the torsion bars served these cars well. The supply of stock replacement parts for these cars is very good, but the supply of performance parts sold by aftermarket manufacturers and retailers is slim and getting more scarce with each passing day. For my friend to score a set of 27.5mm thick torsion bars for his CRX is a real coup.
The CRX came with 19mm torsion bars and Mugen, the factory performance parts outlet, sold torsion bars as thick as 25mm so the 27.5mm variety made by torsion bar maker Swayaway are VERY stiff. Maybe too stiff for anything other than a racing application. I have a set of 23mm torsion bars on my hobby car, a 1987 Honda CRX Si, and I think that is plenty fine for street and track.
Nothing happens in a vacuum with automobile performance improvements. Even my thicker than stock torsion bars required a flock of other part improvements to fully realize their potential and so is the case with my friend's car. Stiffer springs (or torsion bars in this case) in front mean that stiffer rear springs are in order to balance the handling of the car. In my car I have upped the rear springs from a stock rating of about 200lbs. To 350lbs., the guy with 27.5mm torsion bars will need rear springs in the range of 500lbs to match the stiffness of his new torsion bars.
With all that stiffness in the springs, he will also need stiffer shocks and struts to manage that rigid ride; the stock dampers will be overwhelmed by the new ride dynamic. And if he has not replaced his suspension bushings (a series of rubber "donuts" that locate and insulate the various parts of the suspension) the new stiff ride will demand that they be replaced. And understeer, the basic flaw of nearly every street car as delivered from the factory, will need to be addressed by adding a rear sway bar to his car’s suspension.
It seems like every major sub-system of an automobile requires a group of new parts to make one new replacement upgrade part work to its best potential. In the engine, a new cam helps to make a ported and polished head breath at its best potential, new brake rotors will not be much better improvement until you upgrade the quality of the brake pads, and a car's stereo upgrade will require better speakers to get the full effect of the new system.
The bottom line is that if you budget for a single new part or set of parts, be prepared to also buy and install all of the supporting parts that will be necessary to make that first part work to its fullest potential.
Posted by Scott at 2:46 PM | Comments (132)
October 12, 2005
I (finally) respond to comments
I get comments,
Reader Robyn writes:
I am wanting to find out what make and model car that Ashley Judd drove in the movie the YAYA Sister Club?
Sorry Robyn, that movie falls under the general definition of a "Chick Flick," and as such falls out of the area of expertise of the At Home Mechanic.
Regular Reader Dave Darling writes in response to my fitting a Carbon Fiber hood to my hobby car, a 19987 Honda CRX Si:
CF hood? Sweet, man! How much weight does that save? Saves it from the front, too, which is where most of the weight is in that car.
I think few things look nicer than a well laid-up piece of carbon-fiber bodywork. Sadly, they don't stay that way if you leave them unpainted. :( At least, if what I have heard is true, the sun's UV rays will start to break down the carbon strands over time, which will mar the looks and the strength of the panel.
Thanks Dave for returning the discussion on this site back to stuff I can respond to. The stock hood on the lightweight CRX model only weighs 20 pounds so there is not a lot of weight savings to found with a CF hood on that car. But as you said, any weight you can take off of the front of nose heavy Hondas is a good thing. And this hood is the "One Piece" design which means that the early CRX's plastic body panel between the headlights (called the header piece) which is prone to unsightly cracking can be eliminated. The new hood leaves a slight gap between the hood and the bumper cover so I have cut the plastic "grill" from the header piece and put that back on the car which nicely fills the gap that the new hood leaves.
I do not know much about Carbon Fiber's long term endurance in the sun, but I have also heard that it is best to keep it out of direct sunlight. Fortunately, my hobby car is always garaged and sun damage in not going to be a factor for me. But it seems to me that many cars are coming from the factory with Carbon Fiber pieces and maybe the CF parts they sue will survive sun exposure pretty well.
Painting a CF part would help to protect it from sun damage, but then no one will know that you have a CF body part if it is covered in paint. The best solution to this problem is something I have seen on a few street cars. The owner would paint all of the CF hood except for one corner that would be left exposed in its raw state, so he got the credit for the Carbon Fiber hood with the clean look of a painted part.
Keep those comments coming, I love to respond.
Posted by Scott at 7:09 PM | Comments (3)
I mourn the passing of the Honda Civic
The Honda Civic is dead as we know it. Honda has killed off their leading volume leader in the Untied States and no one is here to mourn its passing except me. The Civic nameplate lives on and the new for 2006 car that carries the Civic name is a fine car, but the Civic spirit is dead and gone. The Civic has morphed through innumerable changes since it was introduced in 1973 just in time to win the hearts and minds of the American automobile public as the first Gas Crisis struck in the Fall of '73. The original intent of the first Honda Civic has prevailed through all the model changes until the latest and largest version of the Honda Civic hit the US dealerships. The newest Civic has grown in size just as the girth of the Average American has grown over the decades and the larger, pudgier Civic is tailored to fit an audience that needs a skoosch more room to fit into its jeans.
It is not necessarily a bad thing that Honda has moved the Civic product line up a notch in the greater automotive food chain; the new car is well built, fuel efficient and handsome in an econo-box sort of way. In size and features, the new Civic is moving into territory that the Honda Accord has occupied since that nameplate debuted in the US in the late 1970's. The taller, wider cabin of the new Civic will hold four American-sized adults comfortably while the trunk will happily swallow their luggage. The fit and finish of the body and interior is Honda traditional: outstanding. The Honda drive train is Swiss watch smooth and quiet while delivering a jump in horsepower and squeezing even more mileage out of each gallon of gas than year's outstanding gas economy performance. So what is not to like about the new Civic?
Size and weight, to start with. The new Civic now tips the scales on the hefty side of 2900 pounds. What once was delivered at 2400 pounds now hauls a quarter of a ton of extra poundage. The extra weight delivers greater rigidity, a quieter and more comfortable ride and greater comfort features that were only available on top line luxury vehicles only a few years ago. Again, getting all these improvements is not a bad thing for the majority of car consumers who seek the Civic's legendary reliability and fuel economy in such an affordable package.
It is the car enthusiast market that is being shortchanged by the new Honda Civic. The Honda Civic, until outed by The Fast and the Furious movies, was the stealth performance car of choice for the new age gear head. Until the general public was woken from its ignorance of Honda's engineering and performance potential from such small packages by the laughably bad street racer movies, the Honda Civic was the car of choice for the modern Hot Rodder because it combined a small package with a high performance potential. Light weight, simple design and easily accessible mechanical bits (meaning that the average Home Mechanic could easily repair or improve his car) spawned the Sport Compact Car movement.
The new Civic in not light as we have covered, nor will it be easy for the average Home Mechanic to work on. Serious racing teams with not-for-the-street lightweight body materials can address the weight issue. But the At Home Mechanic will be stymied in his attempt to add power increasing aftermarket parts onto the new Civic due the compact design of the new car's engine compartment packaging. The engine every Civic up to the 2005 model year left the entire engine exposed when the hood was opened, the New Civic's steeply sloping windshield caused the underlying dashboard to project far forward and cover most of the engine compartment. While routine service points are still easily accessible in the new car, the tight spaces left by the new design dictates that the engine will need to be removed from below the vehicle for major service and improvement. This will definitely make an impact on the casual home hobbyist who would like do his own major work on the car.
Honda has a reason for moving the Honda Civic upscale in size and appointments while making the car that much more difficult for non-factory mechanics to work on it. The dealerships make the majority of their profits from the service bays, so anything that forces the owners to return for service is a plus for them. And Honda plans to fill the vacuum left by the Civic's departure for the next step up on the automotive evolutionary chain with an entirely new-to-the-US model called the Honda Jazz overseas and to be called the Honda Fit in the American market. Smaller, lighter, cheaper and less powerful than the Civic, the Fit will fit nicely into the current Honda lineup when it is introduced into this market next spring (allowing plenty of time for Honda dealerships to empty their inventory of smaller 2005 civic models lingering on their lots).
The good news for enthusiasts is that the Fit will swallow the Civic's bigger and more powerful drive train into its engine compartment and the tradition of packing a powerful punch in a small Honda will be continued by enthusiasts looking for a small package to propel with Honda power.
Posted by Scott at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 6, 2005
Car show vs. Car meet
As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I entered my hobby car (a 1987 Honda CRX Si) in a car show for old Japanese cars. This was the first car show that I have entered as a participant although it was far from the first car show I have ever been to. From the carefully manicured lawns of Pebble Beach, to parking lot of the local mall, to the dazzling halls of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, I have been to many car shows. The settings may vary and the featured cars can range from manufacturer's concept cars to clapped out, but beloved clunkers, but all car shows share a few similarities.
A car "show" is different from a car "meet." A show is a formal, well-organized event with judged classes and prizes awarded for various achievements. A meet is a much less formal gathering of like-minded enthusiasts who just agree to park their cars in a selected spot at the same time and generally hang out with their buddies. I have taken various cars to car meets and had a great time swapping stories and occasionally swapping parts in a relaxed environment. Generally speaking, a meet differs from a show by the degree of familiarity of the car owners with the other people at the event.
A car meet is a gathering of friends, a car shows exists for the owners of the shown cars to get some love and attention from strangers. Nothing is better for the ego than to have a stranger tell you that he always wanted "a car just like yours," and that your car is "really cool." To be able to tell the story of acquiring and restoring your car (with a few embellishments as befitting any good fish story) to a receptive audience more than pays for the rolled eyes and stifled yawns that greet the same story to your long suffering friends and family who have heard the story so many times before.
There is also the chance to receive official recognition via the awarding of trophies at a car show. For the Automobile Company that needs the press attention of a major car show award to launch a new model to the neighborhood hobbyist who is starved for affection at home, the cheap and ugly trophies handed out at car shows go a long way to satisfying those needs.
But the best form of attention for a car owner is to have your car featured in a car magazine as a result of being at a car show or meet. A judged show is always a subjective evaluation by a jury of questionably qualified "experts." But a magazine editorial board can be relied upon to recognize the truly outstanding car from the masses of cars presented by enthusiasts. To have your car make the pages of a magazine, you can be assured that your car is an outstanding example of the ideal that all other car enthusiasts aspire to achieve.
At both a car show and a car meet it is possible for members of the car enthusiast press to cover the event for publication. All the major car magazines make a point of attending the important auto industry shows like SEMA, the Detroit Auto Show and the Frankfort Auto Show; the specialty magazines (dedicated to a particular make or model of car) will cover the more significant shows and meets for that interest group. When an entire show is dedicated to a particular car it takes a special or unusual version to get the attention of the jaded auto journalist professionals.
Being unique amongst a crowd of similar cars has gotten my CRX into Honda Tuning magazine. At a gathering of all models of CRX's, representing the three model variations of the car from the early 1980's to its last incarnation in the mid-1990's, the majority of the 50 or so cars there were the of the last two model variations and there was only two other early model cars like mine. The other two early cars were lovely examples of the model and worthy of inclusion in the magazine, but my car ended up in the pages of the July 2004 issue strictly because it was the most modified of the early cars and unique amongst the crowd.
At the car show that I recently attended as a participant, (my first entry in a car show) my car was not the necessarily the most modified, cleanest or the oldest. But the wheels on my car caught the eye of a correspondent to for Japan's Car Boy magazine. My wheels are a period correct set of Momo 13x6 "phone dial" style wheels from the 1980's that are different from the typical shiny wheels seen on show cars. That one detail was enough to have him pause, notice my car and learn more about it.
Being a professional journalist (I am not just a blogger but a broadcast journalist for a major multi media corporation) I know the power of the prepared press release that frees the journalist of the rigors of actual research on a topic. When encountered by fellow professional journalists at the CRX meet and at the car show, I was prepared with a fact sheet about my car that makes the journalist's job so much easier. In clear, simple to read language I listed all of the modifications to my car, the specifications of critical components and the manufacturers of the many aftermarket parts on my car. With this in their hand, a writer/photographer on a deadline can more easily present an article with key details that will help insure your car's inclusion in his story.
Posted by Scott at 6:24 AM | Comments (0)
My classic car
It only took 30 plus years of car ownership, but I now officially own a car worthy of presentation at a car show. And wasting no time to exploit this opportunity, I entered my hobby car, a 1987 Honda CRX Si, in the first annual Japanese Classic Car Show this past weekend in Long Beach California. Open to Japanese cars from 1985 and earlier, my 1987 model qualified for entry by being a model that was first offered for sale in 1985 or earlier.
Normally my car and me are the antithesis of the Car Show car and owner. Car shows cars have been buffed and polished, chromed, meticulously detailed, and modified beyond all recognition of its original shape. On one extreme of the car show scale, these cars are gleaming examples of the art of applying plastic body filler, airbrush artwork and velvet upholstery. Or on the other extreme, a car show car is restored beyond mere restoration to the point that they have been prepared for judging to a point that they are in better condition on the show grounds than when they left the factory.
There are two special words to describe the owners of these types of show cars: Obsessive and compulsive. No surface, see or unseen, has escaped the attention on these head-cases. Cleaned, painted, polished and then polished again, these cars fairly glow in the dark from the attention lavished upon them by anal retentive types who would rather lose a kidney than allow the tires of their show cars to touch the common asphalt of public roads. Car show cars are not meant for actual use as "cars" and the owners have morphed beyond the definition of mere "enthusiasts."
I am of the belief that if it runs good, then it looks good. Performance is far more important to me than a slavish devotion to originality or flouncy frills. Form follows function best describes my attitude towards my hobby car. Clean is good, but a blemish or two will not ruin my day. Shaving another thousandth of a second from my lap time or increasing lateral grip is much more important than seeing my reflection in the paint's finish. So it would not seem likely that I would even care that my car would finally qualify for inclusion in a judged car show.
But the truth is that we all want love and by extension we want love for our hobby car. All it would take is one person at the car show to say, "Nice car man." I only ask for a little accreditation, a small amount of approval for what I have wrought in my garage. And where else will you find this kind of acceptance than at a car show for my car and it's contemporaries?
"Classic" may seem like a stretch when applied to old Japanese cars, but the late 1960's marked the emergence of the Datsun Fairlady/240Z, and the 510. Toyota shrugged off the Toyopet to give the world the GT2000 with the engine that would eventually power the Supra, and the Celica premiered in this period. Honda offered the 600 mini-car at motorcycle dealerships, but soon brought the first Civic to market and quickly set the standard for small car engineering. Mitsubishi was a captive import for Dodge carrying the Colt nameplate. And Mazda was making noise with a rotary engine that hummed. Perhaps none of these cars have the cache of a Ferrari or a Rolls, but to a certain segment of the auto enthusiast hobby they represent a nostalgic remembrance of a bygone era. And for the youthful sport compact crowd, a chance to connect with the roots of their sport.
Frankly I had no allusions that my car was going to win any kind of awards, I just wanted to see all the cool old cars and I might as well park my car amongst the show cars. A quick wash and wax was all the preparation I gave my car and off I headed for the grounds.
Just as a classic Japanese car is a relative term when compared to our usual concept of a classic car, the show cars at this event were generally well kept survivors rather than pampered trailer queens. There were a few cars at the show that could compete in the usual car show venues, but for the most part the old cars at this show were well loved hobby cars that are not strangers to the highway or racetrack. A few of the owners troubled to mount mirrors to showcase the chromed undercarriage, but most of the folks just brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed visiting with other owners and their cars. There was a pretence of judging and awarding prizes, but most folks were there to enjoy the day in the park with fellow enthusiasts.
I left the day with a souvenir tee shirt, a window sticker to commemorate my car's participation and an afternoon of good memories. But best of all, my car got its photo taken by a journalist from Japan's "Car Boy" magazine covering the event. Look for the red CRX in the December 2005 issue.
Posted by Scott at 6:23 AM | Comments (0)