Best setup for money?

[rjudgey]

Yo Guy's need some help here, i'm forever helping you out with engine questions so don't start flaming me for not searching too hard as you've got so much junk here about suspension.

As you all well know i'm sorted for engine's and gearbox's and i've alos finally found the perfect 3G aerodeck been looking for last 3 years seriously as replacement for one of two increasingly rusty 2nd Gen Ludes. I've found a Polar White 3G Aerodeck Auto (bummer) EXI all options too including working A/C and with only 38k miles and for only $1200 well he wanted $1300 but i'm a good haggler!!

Now i'm still in two minds wether to go all out race and have nothing left inside, or to just have it as a nice car with full interior good light weight stereo with a bit of oomph from B20A and some brake upgrades from my 2G lude with its 300mm disks and 4 pot calipers, i have some 15" wheels allready with new tyres two sets from the ludes and also some Factory Honda wheels 14" which are quite nice from again the 2G B20A lude.

But what i really really need to know is what is the best suspension setup i can get, i'm really looking forward to this as the 2G ludes suspension is really good upfront completely adjustable and the rears are okay but mcpherson strut unlke the 3G Accord which are double wishbone like the front.

Now i want something that i can take round the bends like a train on rails, i don't mind spending the money and if no cost were an option i would certainly be looking at Hot bits but at $3k it's not an optioon at the moment, so short of Hot bits what else is there? So far i can see potentially Bilstein, with H+R springs, Ingalls rear camber kit, Prelude 2G upper arms with camber adjustment have two of these allready, possibly some poly bush's from other Honda's fit?, Sway bar upgrades although not sure which ones are best? I know the DC posrts strut braces are like gold dust but i could probably get something made up if its a worth while mod front and rear maybe is it worth the time and money?

So basically i need people to pitch in and recommend suspenion mods with makes and part numbers of the best stuff thats worth buying. I know Koni's are rocking horse shit now but maybe i might stretch to just height adjustable Hot bits depending on cost, but failing that just recommend a good shock and lowering springs and modding the setup so that it's all adjustable and doesn't have any slack in it.

Thanks Guy's looking real forward to building up this little beauty, i'll try to post pics when i pic the car up next week.

[ZackieDarko]

:rockon: :eek: :omg: :jaw:

38K miles on the clock and you are gonna get it for $1200!? that alone is enough reason to buy it

[ZackieDarko]

if you cant go hot bits or koni get tokico blues for the struts

i my self have Sprint springs and tokico's siting in teh garage waiting to go on with some other stuff

[2drSE-i]

Tokico struts should (in theory and numbers) work well with H&R springs. before i found my konis i did the math over and over, and they are supposedly a perfect match. As for sway bars, ST is the only way to go. Justin86 can sell you strut bars, and tie rods for the rear (front wont work on auto trans). other than that man you should be good to go. glad i can finally give something back to you :D

[Vanilla Sky]

Take a look at having a set of the Bilstien HDs revalved and get a set of GC coilovers. Currently, that's the best setup that's readily available, though I've not looked at the Hot Bits much yet. Get a set of upper control arms from a second gen Lude and you'll have a fully adjustable front end.

I personally would take out the back seat and put in custom carpeting. Make the car look like a 2 seater fresh from the factory, like the back seat was never there. I'd keep the rest of the car pretty much stock, appearance wise.

[MessyHonda]

can you post some pics of your car?


anyways....i have the tokico/neuspeed spring set up...it rides fine...but i think it would be better to get aftermarket sway bars

[frantik]

I really like my konis with eibach sportlines.. very few people have the sportlines but i like em. eibach springs are some of the only progressive springs made for the 3gee. match them with some revalved bilsteins, ST sways, any strut tower bars you can find and you should be pretty happy :) now when i take turns hard and fast i have to worry more about losing traction due to shitty tires rather than losing control of the car due to shitty suspension

[teck]

Tokico blues is what i have on my 3gee with ebay coilovers Bomz... rides nice

[epic1400cs]

can you post some pics of your car?


I believe this is the ad of the car.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330098103958&fromMakeTrack=true

[rjudgey]

Okay so definately liking the H+R springs they are reasonably priced and have a drop of -40mm have a good rep in U.K. so getting them is easy. Shocks Tokico little harder to get but not impossible, Epic mentioned something about an adjustable KYB from Japan anyone know anythign about these? Interested in adjustable but not like the Red Konis got a set of those on my Lude and what a PIA to setup or change!!
Whats a good rear Camber kit from what i've seen theres two types but the ingalls one offers more rear - camber upto -2 the other kit which looks better made is only -.75 degree?
Also am i right in saying that -40mm drop in ride height should give me about -1.5-2 degrees cmaber upfront anyway? i run with -2 on the Lude and never got much tyre wear in the inside probably because it spent most the time going round bends ;0)

Found out some bad news well kind off!! It looks like a non ABS model so has the smaller brake disks and pads. I'm a bit relucutant to pull the steering knuckles and brakes of my lude at present I knida like having no ABS as the pump is nightmare to bleed and it's extra weight is ridicoulous!! So happy about that but was hoping for some half descent brakes to begine with as i found loads of U.K. make of disks and pads that are half good adn pretty cheap Black diamond, Ferrod, Brembo and EBC all have brake disks and pads which for my B20A Lude has next to nothing!!

Might have to see if Calipers from B20A Lude fit as they are humongous as big as the Legend ones. But Pads are limited Ferrod stock oem only or EBC oem.

If any one has some good feedback on swapping over other Honda Calipers that have good disk and pad configuration would be much appreciated, i believe maybe certain integras and legend calipers are very similar in fitment? Either that and i need to start lookoing very hard for a U.K. B20A Sedan like rocking horse shit worse than B20A preludes which were a lot more popular!! Not fussed about converting the ECU probably use the stock A20 one or worse just bolt on my Webers as i have the inlet manifold finally finished!!!! Only downside is doens't look like i'm going to be able to get any sort of exhaust, Pacesetter system i think won't fit as U.S. never had Aerodeck?

[rjudgey]

I found some wheels that i think will look really hot called Ronal Turbo come in 15" X 7 get some Goodyear F1 Eagles 195X55x15 or maybe some 205x50x15 in another make of tyre probably yokohamas we'll see.

http://www.gwentvw.co.uk/images/R10_Turbo.jpg

What do you think i think they'll look Fing great with 40mm drop!!!

[rjudgey]

I have a spare set of Prelude 1.8 carbed knuckles does anyone know if they will fit the Accord? I forgot that i have a spare set of 4 pot calipers could possibly get a another set of brakcets machined cheapish from the guy who made them, and then just buy another set of disks, calipers need a bit of TLC but they still work and allow fitment of 300mm disk inside a 15" wheel. Anyone ever tried?

[rjudgey]

Don't worry looks like i'll be looking for another car, had a look at this one in the flesh had agreed with the guy on the phone to buy at £650 if it was as good as he said it was as he's been too busy to show me the car for over a week till now. Had a look in the daylight today and although it's pretty good shape for 21 year old it's had its bonnet dented, the front of the bonnet has been pushed back by about 1cm big gap between headlights and front panel. The rear right light is smashed outer cover, bad repair job to rear right quarter, also the back has had a accident as well with the rear panel pushed in a few mm as it doesn't line up with the boot lid or the quarter panels, also exhaust is completely shot, the brakes were very soft and didn't stop too great, the rear right jack stand was starting to collapse as well. As far as rust though was really clean, only nibbling away at the edges of the sills and little bit on the inside of the edges of the rear arches. Petrol cap area was like new, and around the sunroof too. But seeing as i'd have to sort out the bonnet, boot, sort out the bodged repair to the quarter panel, and convert to manual and find all teh parts, buy new rear light and just can't be asked witht he aggrovation was hoping somehting i could just moddify not fix up for a change!!!! I'm after one thats like Epic1400's conidition which in my eyes is mint, some peoples idea of mint is extremely poor!! Could have bought this one the guy wanted £600 but i only felt it was worth £500 ($1000) at the most even with just 38k miles. Don't know going to think about it for a bit with all the work that needs doing i might as well fix up my two ludes and not have the agro of converting to a manual. Really wanted the Aerodeck badly but had my sensible head on today!! Also he lied about the A/C didn't have any no ABS as well so has the crappy small calipers and disks.

[rjudgey]

I still like the wheels though might buy a set for my 2G lude to make myself feel better ;0)

[thegreatdane]

I love those rims, they've been on my mind for a long time. such a shame they only come in one size. Cyra has them on his accord too: http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51170
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48069

too bad about that aerodeck!

[rjudgey]

Yeah bit upset really was really looking forward to having something good to work on. I know the rust is a big thing but having to get the bodywork sorted out was going to be toomuch for me at the moment. I'm really fussy too so i would have had to have had it done properly but i don't know i may change my mind again. Just needs a lot more work than i was expecting the time i'd have to put in would be considerable and i'd rather fix what i have to be honest. Trouble is i just could kick myself really hard because a few years back i turned down getting a Really mint Silver B20A 2G lude because i wouldn't budge on £50!! I really regret that now espcecially after fully stripping down my car and finding all the hidden rust i just hope one day another will turn up, i know where the car has gone and keep in touch with the guy but i'm pretty sure he's not looking after it and he lives up North of England and the roads get salted regular so i pray he's prepped it for that!!

[epic1400cs]

I didn't realise that it doesn't come with aircon either. May be £400 then? I dont think nobody will buy it till the seller drop the price quite substantially. For *normal* people, that paper work problem is intimidating enough I think.

The Ronal is great I love those rims, too.

I have seen polished version of OZ/Compomotive wheels on ebay.
http://i19.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/8e/de/1404_12.JPG
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Compomotive-th-mono-alloys-tyres-vw-ronal-bbs-azev_W0QQitemZ150100881207QQcategoryZ9888QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[epic1400cs]

As for the front brake, there is interesting thread

http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46033

the idea is to use Rover Sterling/827 front brake and 11" rotor with redrill the stud holes.
If the master cylinder is for ABS then, you can bolt on, if all the assumption is good.


For the exhaust, Pacesetter header should bolt on to our cars but need to close some holes for sensors. Aero is like 4 inch shorter than US hatch so the rear part of the exhaust might be either mod the US hatch type or, ask the exhaust specialist to make it. Mine was made by Powerflow with 2 inch stainless steel tube and cost around $600 (ouch!).

Also there is a amazing guys called Heyward and Scott in Essex they can make stainless header for our car - spoken to them before and they still have jigs for our engine. They make ex system for WRC rally subaru and that kind of level hence the price was £600 for the header. Obviously I couldn't afford it. Need to wait 2 months, too.

[rjudgey]

Yeah those rims are nice too!!
As for the exhaust i enquired about exhaust years ago with them, and i even new someone who used to know scotts nephew but they still wanted something like £1000 for header? Maybe they didn't realize they had a jig allready? Might give them another ring to make sure. They are good saw a 2G lude gold one with the style auto body kit he had a full exhaust system from cast header back done by Hayward adn scott as he knew the owner too? Unfortunately didn't want to sell. He aslo had a Janspeed header and system said it made 20bhp difference but binned it at scrapyard as it was too noisy!!! What a waste!!!!

[epic1400cs]

Yep they are nice, I am thinking to get set of these or refurbish my existing Renault alloys.

I assume £1000 is for full system. Compare to header, the catback is rather straight forward so should be cheaper than the header alone.
I felt that they are very nice people but they are very much like business.
I have told them I am a member of HR but they couldn't give me much discount.
If we ask together, may be they might be able to give us 2 for 1 kind of deal?
They seems to be really popular thats for sure.

There is another franchise company called Longlife who can also make sus system and header. The quote was slightly cheaper than H&S but I haven't seen the header from them, I wasn't sure.

[rjudgey]

£1000 was just for a header!!
Longlife are no better than powerflow had my Prelude exhaust done by them years ago it was terrible at the time i didn't know any better, had to get it fixed several times. I know a place in Ashford that can do anything he made my inlet manifold, he does special deal with me as he's after some heads being worked on for his race car. I think for the money might as wll just get pacesetter or S&S and then have system made from header back otherwise we end up paying way too much even this guy i know would still be about £3-400 deopending on whether it's mild steel or stainless.