This past weekend was our maiden outing with the newly built car.
Mostly everything was about what we expected but one thing stood out . Bushings. We need them. We purchased an ES kit months ago knowing this would be an eventual issue. But we have decided to go a little more extreme.
I really want to use PCI bearings in the RTA and at the very least Hardrace bushings everywhere else. But this is what lead me to this post.
Just to confirm, I CAN use the PCI rta bearings but the outer race must remain in place in the DA arm. Is that correct?
Secondly if I were to order the hardrace bushing kit for a DC/EG other than the RTA’s how much of it will work in the da?
I emailed KIWI at Special Projects and he wasnt sure. Hopefully someone here can fill me in.
And for posterity here is a pic of the car in action
Oh yeah and I almost forgot Its fully funded and driven by a girl
nice to see more track’d da’s, and driven by a girl, even more props. i’m sure some of the more hardcore track enthusiasts will chime in regarding ur questions. i think most of the dc bushings will work n fit… but i’m basing that off of the rear lca. i’m trying to think about all the other bushings, front lca i ain’t sure if they are the same diameter n stuff as the da ones, but if u look thru on like Energy suspension’s site or something u can compare part numbers. so look at ones for the dc/eg and see whats similar and u can go from there.
and regarding the pci bearings for the RTA, i’m believing that u are right and need to keep the da outer race in, and press into that.
Probably won’t get much help here, there may be a person or two who knows about fitment, but possibly not. I agree w/ Jeff, double check part numbers wherever you can find them. I’d look at the OEM part numbers on www.acuraautomotiveparts.org to see what you come up with. It may also be a good idea to post in the Road Race / AutoX forum on Honda-tech. There are more serious racers there than there are here.
For the RTA. I haven’t read up on that in years now, but the info should be there, we had a period of time where we figured all the exact sizes. But iirc the EG/DC bushings fit into the DA sleeves and then they work perfect. I went ahead and just got DC RTA’s so I could use the Mugens.
You may want to talk with Edomoto, he comes here every now and then, but should be more active on Honda-tech (I think).
Good luck w/ the project, I love seeing track prepped and race DA’s!
Thanks guys for the help. I think I just needed a kick start to get my search on.
After your suggestions I went on to acuraautomotiveparts.com found a little of what I was looking for, but I had some pretty good luck with energysuspensionparts.com I can confirm after comparing part numbers that the following bushings are the same on both Chassis
SAME (share with DA and DC/EG chassis)
Front shock mount bushings
Rear shock mount bushings
Rear compensator arm bushings
Rear upper control arm bushings
NOT THE SAME (until I have the actual parts in hand I cannot actually say if this 100% accurate)
Front Control arm. Both sites show different part numbers.
Rear Trailing arm. We know this. Use OEM/MUGEN, DC arms, retain the collar from the DA arms and use DC bushings but clock them if your car is lowered
Radius arms These are sold seperate from the master kits Our options are ES/prothane,Traction bars, OEM, or Progress will make you sphericals from their EF/CRX ones
I am a former Nissan and Toyota factory trained parts manager. I feel that while human I am pretty sure of my conclusions. If I have made an error please correct me so we can keep this updated and correct
The front control arm parts are different because the EF/DA use radius rods and the EG/DC use a different way to locate the LCA. I forget off the top of my head what it is called.
My ES master kits always came w/ the radius rod bushings. I’ve installed this kit on 2 cars so far and have zero complaints. But have seen pics of some people’s bushings which were quite deteriorated. My personal car has had the ES bushings for around 6-7yrs now and they are in pretty good condition. Although last time I looked I the front lca bushings did look a bit dry. Nice thing about the ES is they are cheap and easy to replace so putting a whole new set on my car isn’t an issue whatsoever.
You may also want to consider a traction bar / front crossmember setup such as Full Race. I’ve heard great reviews. Getting a bar like that gives you a full spherical radius rod setup. So if you were thinking of going that route anyway… I just installed the FR bar on my car but it won’t be in any state to be driven for sometime.
Additionally for our car, we are going to use a little of everything out there.
Progress Radius arm bearings custom assembled for the DA
Hardrace DC bushing kit and use what we can out of that…
Mfactory has provided us with toe links
Hardrace rear camber kit
PCI RTA spherical bearing keeping the race from the DA arm intact. Otherwise we will switch to DC arms.
Energy Suspension we will use their steering rack bushings, their front swaybar bushings and their shift arm bushings.
Skunk2 lower control arms. Only because one of ours is bent
ASR rear subframe brace
Colin. Thank you for adding to this thread. I haven’t posted here much but I have been doing lots of reading. Your name and a few others have been a common part of the better and more knowledgeable replys I see.Thanks for taking your time to help out.
We have DC spec 450f/550r Koni, Ground Controls. We swapped front forks with the DC ones and have the extended top mounts both on the front and rear. Right now the swaybars are stock. I wanted as neutral of a setup as possible as the major setup is still being done. This is all for a novice driver, who is already pulling lap times within a few seconds of the H4 lap records at Summit Point.
The future will bring koni 3011’s and probably 700/1000 with the big ASR bar.
I drove the car for one session ( my payment for the build is that I get to drive it from time to time) and while in my opinion it needs some tweeks, its going to be quick.
I would like to eventually have a thread posted up of the car, some build pics and a updates on her and the car as time goes on. Ive got a bunch of pictures on the camera I just need upload em and put something together
Sounds good. I’d definitely get a sway bar on that thing though. You can start small and work your way up to the ASR. A novice driver would probably benefit from a ramp up in aggressiveness of the suspension. The spring shock combo is a great starting place. Move to an ST or ITR bar, maybe a Progress. Put a front ST bar on there too. Then when they’re used to that step up to the ASR. It could be a BIG change moving from a 450/550 + stock sway bar to 700/1000 + ASR…
Thats a good thought. I may put the ITR bar on there. I feel that I can tune with alignments, ride heights and tire pressures and get fairly close. I am sure a bigger bar will come into play and the ASR might just be too big a jump at first.
I have to remember that this car is still driven to the track.
Yeah, you can tune w/o the sway bar and get different desired effects. But you gotta remember that sway bars do more than just change “under” or “over” steer. First and foremost you’re reducing body roll…
Definitely worth trying out as many setups as you can, but sway bar would be one of my first things not one of my last.
