1999 Acura Integra

[.RJ]

Add to the fact that its common knowledge that a lot of those adjusters do nothing

Not true at all, not even close.

[Goodspeed]

Add to the fact that its common knowledge that a lot of those adjusters do nothing

Not true at all, not even close.

Add to the fact that its common knowledge that a lot of those adjusters do nothing or don't serve to match your shocks nearly as much as most think

Nothing was geared towards some of the (admittedly) off-brand stuff where they literally do nothing. In my research for my own car I've seen and read many graphs and accounts of lack of parity between shocks as well. Still makes less sense to me.

[Steve85]

Looking at his needs, and thinking objectively about suspensions (however, I'm no expert), I just don't see how clicking from 1 to 5 or vice versa for both compression/rebound is an "optimal" setup when you're running the same spring all the time. Add to the fact that its common knowledge that a lot of those adjusters do nothing or don't serve to match your shocks nearly as much as most think and setups like that don't make a lot of sense to me. Now, I know Konis are high quality, but still :dunno: .

From my research (and my needs, which are close to his), I find more sense in a properly valved/matched setup that you don't dick with. A custom-valved shock and matched spring will have an actual force curve closely matched to the ideal curve for your setup/speed range, you can get a *very* compliant ride for your chosen spring rate, and you can still haul ass and bring national Solo titles home like the Fat Cat setups. And when its your thousand dollars all the same, wouldn't you rather have something designed and built to your specs rather than relying on the fiddly little plastic knob to do something? Fixed setups like that of course won't be ideal in all situations, but I'm convinced that for what he is using the car for, it would be more ideal than messing with knobs and hoping that they're doing something.

I think what you're missing is that my setup will be a moving target for awhile. Like I said to Scott, I won't be changing springs every weekend, but it may take me 3-4 trys over a couple years to get the right rate. THEN, I'll have a fixed setup with a chosen spring rate and other specs where a custom valved shock might be better.

Until then, I need something that can adjust that also just happens to be quite good as a finished setup. In this thread we have Andrew running 450# and RJ saying 800 can be streetable. I will fall in between there somewhere. If I call Stewart today and say build me a shock that will work with all the different spring rates I might try from 450-800, the worst thing that could happen is they take my money, the best is they hang up on me.

[.RJ]

Steve, anything over 400-450 for a car driven regularly on the street is going to be a bit harsh - at the rates I was using the only time I drove it was to the track. Stock Konis will handle anything between 500# and a stock spring just fine. Follow the link that Mikey posted for some dyno graphs - the problem is not that the cheaper hardware does "nothing" when you turn the knobs, its just not adjusting the things that you need. If you want to go higher in the future, you can have the shocks revalved to handle it.

[ScottyB]

i'll let Jay respond but he had konis/500's all around on his RS integra. from what i recall he said they were pretty rough, and considering he lived for a long time with his Si which i though rode hard, that should say something.

[Steve85]

Thanks RJ, that's good to hear. I went back through the thread and turns out Andrew was running 350 and felt it was a bit soft. I was hoping 400-450 would be a good start.

Yeah, I was looking at that link a few weeks ago when I first started looking into my options. I do need to go back and give it another read.

edit for Scott's response: I definitely wouldn't mind hearing more impressions of different rates in the range I'd be looking. :thumbup:

In the meantime I'll work on getting the front bumper fixed by the jackass that cut me off and then brake checked the shit out of me. I have witnesses that stopped and also gave the guy a bunch of shit for the way he was driving over the previous 35 miles. I thought he was just jammin the brakes to not hit the car in front of him after he jumped over but he let off the brake only for a second and then went hard on again. We were doing about 70 when he cut me off and about 10 when I hit him. I have no f-ing idea what he was thinking. He actually asked me why I was so close :twisted:

[Goodspeed]

^Lol wtf bbq. Cocaine is a helluva drug?

Sounds like you've made up your mind, but one last thing (I obviously have no vested interest in what setup you choose, just trying to highlight an option that is otherwise not mentioned)

I think what you're missing is that my setup will be a moving target for awhile. Like I said to Scott, I won't be changing springs every weekend, but it may take me 3-4 trys over a couple years to get the right rate. THEN, I'll have a fixed setup with a chosen spring rate and other specs where a custom valved shock might be better.

The guys like Shaikh at Fat Cat and Bernie at Stewart are very good at what they do - at least for Miatas, you tell them what kind of events you do, what your balance is between street/track, and what you're willing to live with in terms of NVH (obviously more input as well, just a summary), and they build that exact coilover. I've ridden in both a 16-way Tein Flex car w/EDFC and a Fat Cat (fixed) car and gave the edge to the latter - though, the Tein car was putzing around, the FC car at an auto-x. The FC car did ride better however. Just sayin'.

[.RJ]

I've ridden in both a 16-way Tein Flex car w/EDFC and a Fat Cat (fixed) car and gave the edge to the latter - though, the Tein car was putzing around, the FC car at an auto-x. The FC car did ride better however. Just sayin'.

Not trying to throw you under the bus here, but you're forming your opinion here over what you're reading on the internet and cars you've ridden in, not driven or lived with. I dont know anything about the shops that you mentioned, so they may be very good at what they do - but its a slippery slope when you start getting into custom shock work in terms of getting the right thing done. Its very hard to get a shock 'perfect' out of the box for the car, springs, conditions, a wide range of intended use (DD & Autox) and driver preferences so its a bit presumptuous to think it can be done over the phone. Can they get you in the ballpark? I'm sure they can, but I'd much rather have an adjustable shock, and even then its not always so simple as most of them are garbage.

[Evan]

I've ridden in both a 16-way Tein Flex car w/EDFC and a Fat Cat (fixed) car and gave the edge to the latter - though, the Tein car was putzing around, the FC car at an auto-x.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Little harsh from them but Goodspeed has a "point" but is lost at this level of motorsports. With the inability to change shocks and springs for changing tracks/conditions etc like the pro teams, some level of adjustability needs to be built in to "band-aid" handling. Yes technically adjustable shocks are a no-no (aside from maybe getting the shock curves to match up because two shcoks in mass manfacturing almost never match up). However in the real world where a massive amount of testing and ability to change shcoks springs at every changing condition means that that adjustability allows you to fine tune in the shock.

Example: I autocross and road race. Two weekends ago at Verona, the course is choppy, and my road course setup had too much in the rear, prompting a popping off the rumble strip of a particular part of the autox course. Bumping it down allowed me to get the rear end to more smoothly control the rear end. Technically, having two sets of shocks and springs, one for road racing and one for autox would be better. So would setups for rainy tracks and dry tracks. Determine your level of racing and you can forego a lot of "noise".

Again I get what your going with here, but in the real world and at this level of motorsports it comes down to more "what works in the real world" instead of what happens in the lab. At this level, matching shocks on a dyno would provide far more benefit than valving for a particular spring, giving you "consistent" handling and adjustability instead of crappy shocks like Tein that have shock forces between the same shocks being wildy out of whack.

[Goodspeed]

I've ridden in both a 16-way Tein Flex car w/EDFC and a Fat Cat (fixed) car and gave the edge to the latter - though, the Tein car was putzing around, the FC car at an auto-x.

Nah, more like



and I'm all like

[Steve85]

Today, I diagnose codes. A few miles into my commute this morning I got a blinking CEL. Turned around went to AZ and got the codes read:

P0420 - been off and on for some time now, no biggie
P0108 - MAP - hmm could be but I unplugged it a month ago when I developed a short term rough idle.
P0300 - P0304 - Cylinder misfires in 1-4
P1399 - Yo shit is fucked and we have no idea why

Did a quick diagnosis of the MAP circuit and the signal all the way to the ECM is accurate. So I cleared the codes to get a fresh start and went back AZ:
P0300 - P0304 - Cylinder misfires in 1-4
P1399 - Yo shit is fucked and we have no idea why

Doing research seems like it could be anything, plugs,wires, injectors, dizzy, head/ head gasket problem.

The plugs are relatively new as well as the cap and rotor. Injectors (and plugs) for that matter seem unlikely that all 4 would simultaneously go bad. I am going to focus on more global causes, dizzy, ignition module?, head gasket.

Could this be a timing belt issue? I'm not sure how it would happen but skip a tooth or some shit?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Dont know much about hondas but crank or cam position sensor, and also an ignition module (I thought the integra didnt have a distributor?).

[navin]

I'd start with pulling off the timing belt covers and seeing if the the belt is off a tooth, etc.. Also check into the valve clearances as well.

[.RJ]

How old is the distributor? They will shat the bed without too much warning. Could also be a bad ground.

[Steve85]

Pretty annoying to have to diagnose everything. Really fing annoying that you need some special banjo bolt with a valve to test fuel pressure - really dumb - it's a very basic test. Everything was looking OK, timing was good, consistent spark...

I hate to throw parts at a car but at some you have to do something so I got a fuel filter because I couldn't remember having ever done it before. For all I knew it had 190K on it, at least 120K.

So far everything seems good with the new filter! I have a lot of driving tomorrow so I'll know for sure.

Thanks for the suggestions, they really made sense and I was expecting a deeper dive...it really seemed like a timing belt jump or sensor issue. There was no gradual decline (which is why I'm still a little skeptical) that I would expect with maintenance items like a fuel filter or valve clearance.

[Steve85]

How old is the distributor? They will shat the bed without too much warning. Could also be a bad ground.

It's original and was very suspect, like you said, the sudden failure nature of the problem really screams these types of things.

[.RJ]

Buy a spare and put it in the glove box.

[Steve85]

Problem is still there. Driving it a lot more today I noticed it will come and go and change in severity. I'm leaning towards the distributor or ICM. I feel like if it was a physical problem like valve lash or timing belt it would be much more consistent.

[NTIman]

I'd guess it isn't the t-belt. Usually one tooth off will make an engine run like shit. Total shit. All the time. Could be bad wires, especially if it usually starts running bad after they get warm.