I just thought I'd share my impressions of some of my recent modifications in case anyone was interested.

Extended upper spring perches
04-18-03
I passed by Benen Industries earlier this week to have my OEM spring perches extended. For more info, check out this thread on HT.


They spray painted them with some shade of green by American Accents.


1" spacer added.


Fortunately I didn't have any hood clearance issues.


Travel with unmodified caps and suspension compressed. Bumpstop is cut.


Travel with modified caps and suspension compressed. The bumpstop is flipped over.


Original rear at full droop.


Modified rear at full droop.


Modified rear compressed.


I just installed them late last night by myself (3am -7am!) so I needed this to stay awake!

Initial impressions:
I haven't driven with them in a lot or autocrossed on them yet so I really can't say much but so far I'm sure they've helped. My car is usually set up with a relatively high ride height (I have a Ground Control sleeve setup and Tokico HP shocks and I keep the car high enough so that both upper and lower perches touch) but I recently lowered it a bit for an up-coming local meet. The lower ride height didn't make the ride especially uncomfortable but I could tell that the front shocks would bottom out on some bumps. It is also possible that the bumpstops made contact on hard turns. I should have measured it but from the looks of it, I only had about 1" of travel before contact with the bumpstop was made. The rear had a good amount more travel but I didn't think it would hurt to have those done as well.

After they were installed, the "squishiness" (for lack of a better word) of my normally higher setup returned and the jarring from larger bumps was pretty much eliminated.

One concern that I've seen is whether or not this modification is legal for certain classes (like SCCA autocross class STS). Others may be able to shed more light on that subject though since there are a good number of posts about this on HT.

But as far as this mod goes, in my opinion it gets a :thumbup:



Prothane polyurethane shift stabilizer bushings
added 04-19-03
Yeah, yeah, I realize that this mod is probably not worth posting about in many peoples' eyes but there really aren't too many posts about them.


The prothane bushings and left over ES lube from my Ingalls install write-up. I'll just keep the tube of Prothane grease for the future.


Comparison of stock rubber bushings and Prothane poly bushings.


Installed, "tranny side".


Installed, "shifter side".

Impressions and notes:
This mod is super easy to do. I'm using the bushings with the stock shifter and shifts definitely feel more solid and movement feels more precise. Definitely a worthwhile mod for it's relatively inexpensive price. Some minor things to note: the OEM round rubber "tranny side" bushing is one piece and takes a little bit of pressure to remove. I just used a socket and the palm of my hand to push it out. Also, the flared end of the shift stabilizer makes it a little annoying to put the "shifter side" bushing in but it's definitely doable.

IMO, :thumbup:

Prothane polyurethane sway bar bushings
installed 04-22-03
I installed some swaybar bushings in an attempt to make the stock swaybars more responsive...


Stock rubber front endlink bushings were deformed and showed some cracks but I think they were still doing their job just fine.


Comparison of OEM front enlinks compared to Prothane units.


A different angle to show the frame (D-bracket) bushings and endlinks installed.


Prothane endlinks installed. They squish down quite a bit after 16 ft-lbs of torque. Notice how much excess bolt threading protrudes underneath. Hopefully it won't be a problem but I suppose one could always install them facing the other direction.


Prothane rear frame (D-bracket) bushings installed.

Initial impressions:
I'd be lying if I were to say that these bushings made a night and day difference. To be honest, I really haven't felt much of a difference at all. Then again, I'm not used to my car in it's current "slammed" stance. Also, I haven't driven the car hard enough to make any differences apparent. I'll update this if I ever do notice that any differences are felt (probably after I raise the car again).

So overall, I'm happy that these bushings were pretty inexpensive and they couldn't have done anything to hurt handling performance. Oh well, at least they're just pretty to look at.



So I guess that wraps up my list and review of minor mods for now. Any questions or comments are welcome.

 

paint them black y0! no one will know :sneaky:

but wow.. thats a really interesting way to reduce shock travel. are they mig welded? there's a welder at school... maybe i can have one of the shop techs make 'em for me

 

multicolored JDM suspension y0! hahaha..j/k mang. looks good...im interested in taking a ride in the car soon


i still gotta pick up my ugly paperweight stuff from you h:

 

But pasty green is tiiite! I actually didn't even expect them to paint them for me. Since they chose the color for me, I feel like it's part of the package! And regarding shock travel, it's actually increased, not reduced...but I know what you mean.

:rofl: The more colors, the better! And if you don't pick up yo' stuff, I'm going to chop it up and install it on my car!

 

Hey....thats not a bad idea... :naughty:


...unlesss u like your world sport :exnbp:

 

That's "world import"... If you're going to clown on my crappy Midas muffler and rusty piping, at least get the name right. h:

 

Pics are down :wtc:.

 

all red x's... i wanna see! :wtc:

 

You know, Ground control makes shock upper mount extenders that have the same effect, increasing travel without changing damping characteristics. they cost like $75, if I have any money at the end of the summer I'll buy the shit out of 'em.

BTW pics don't work

 

fix your shit!

if you need webspace let me know i can host some shit for you