The Traccord - 2003 Honda Accord Coupe

We used Harry’s for 1 lap when we did it 2 years ago, just on my iPhone.  It worked really well.  So well in fact that we put it on an old iPad linked to an external GPS and mounted it in the real race car where it has been hugely helpful 

maybe it's an android vs. iOS UI thing?  Interface was definitely a large part of my issues with it, another part might be how I run my phone with data/location off until I need them.

Sonic, is that iPad a wifi only?

More autocross! The only changes from last time are brake pads and wheels/RS4's. I moved from almost 9 seconds out in STS to 1.8 seconds out. on a slightly sub 50 second course. STS is pretty soft in our region, but I'm still ok with the improvement and I think I could be in the trophy hunt locally as the car sits. Overall I went from 129/134 (I was that bad) to 84/142. I think the car is competent enough to have fun as it sits, but new shocks and camber in front are on my list. I still need to decide if I'm going to put the aluminum bits on and jump classes. The local guys who run STS would 100% protest me for those sorts of shenanigans. 

No pictures of the car because we've all seen plenty of static pictures of the Accord. I did take pictures of the car I got to ride in, the CP car of Todd Fariss. I love this car so much. 

Note the location of the exhaust on the passenger side. Getting in and out is dicey. 

There was also a really cool second gen turbo MR2 running. We talked to him after the event. His exhaust says it all. 

I'm basically 2-5 seconds out from being in contention of any of the "good" drivers locally. I'll have to see how much that bothers me. The car turns in well and as long as the corner is long enough I can adjust things mid corner through LFB. There is a significant dead spot in feel/driveability between turn in and when the car takes a proper set. I'm hoping shocks take care of most of that. There is also a situation where I think I'm flopping the tires over under LFB when I try to get the rear light and come around. I'm hoping camber helps this otherwise I'll mess with rear suspension settings to shift things forward a little. The car will never be a dedicated autocross car, but I think I can come up with autocross settings. It's fun. 

is there a "tl;dr" primer on allowed mods in STS?  for those of us allergic to reading four different rules documents

off the top of my head:

wheel width limited to...7 or 7.5"  wide tires limited to 205?

Coilovers, bolt on intake/exhaust/tune type stuff is allowed, minor weight saving via seats/exhaust/battery changes but bodywork must remain as delivered more or less.

Those are off the top of my head from a couple years ago, that may have changed since.

In reply to sleepyhead :

Super short version: be on the list, 7.5 inch wheel, 200tw tire, don't muck about with anything after the throttle body. Exhaust is open as long as you run a cat. Sane human suspension is all good, things like sphericals aren't. Interior mostly needs to stay. 

Locally: be on the list, don't run big tires, don't be clearly cheaty if you're also fast. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

only thing you missed was a 225 width tire. 

One of those very non-linear things where cloudy headlights lead to switching autocross classes. Weights to come and steel comes off the car. 

Pulled the front beam this morning, 18.5lbs on the bathroom scale. That means 11.5 lbs saved right at front and with the smallest of the three special pieces. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Good news! That's a pretty significant saving, especially way out front like that.

just because it's soo prominent in that picture, with the bumper off, butO reckon this thread might be another important one to peruse in the weight-loss game?

In reply to sleepyhead :

Nah...that'll weigh next to nothing if it's empty.

In reply to Woody :

Agreed. It may have to go someday to make room for brake ducting, but for now there is lower hanging fruit. 

Back bumper and crash structure came off. Only about four pounds saved. And the bolt holes don't match. And I might have to shorten the aluminum one, so a much less useful and easy modification. Keep in mind that no part of the bumper covers attach to the crash structure so if you wanted, or were building a strictly track car there probably isn't a good reason to run them, certainly the rear one. 

The front one slips right on. Looking at the horns makes me want to de-loom their wiring and move them away from the radiator. 

Do the airbag sensors mount to the crash bar?

Not on the 2003 either front or rear. There was something attached to the front crash structure on the Accord hybrid but I'm not sure what they were, small bracket on the bottom, I just pulled them off in the junkyard. I honestly have no idea where the airbag sensors are on my car. 

My guess is that the differences in the rear bumper is probably more of  a coupe/sedan thing rather than a hybrid/gas thing.

Just out of curiosity, did you check the size of the sway bars on that junkyard hybrid?

If you're going to shorten the aluminum rear bar, you might gain (lose) an extra pound or two if you chop it back to the outer edge of the bracket, rather than trying to match the length of the steel bar.

can we get ashot comparing cross-sections?

In reply to sleepyhead :

Here you go. The styrofoam from the current car actually fits the aluminum beam. The Hybrid I took it off didn't have any foam front or rear. The front is different enough that the foam isn't close to fitting. 

Let's fix the headlights. 
They're bad enough that driving at night is borderline dangerous. I asked questions and was told to use 400 until the yellow is gone, then 800, then clear. This is one of those zen things where you need to ruin something to save it. After 400. 

Then 800. 

Then I decided that wasn't polished enough so I mucked about and tried super fine rock tumbling polish. That was ok. Then I used barkeepers friend which is my go to polish and ended up with this. I was happy. 

And then I painted the one that was polished. 

As you can see, I messed that up. Not sure why the paint cracked. Wrong paint? Too thick? 

I was well and truly frustrated, went on Amazon and ordered a new pair for $78. Berk it. Not a Challenge car and I have 400 other things to do, I can spend money to fix this. 
Deucekid#3 was on my behind this morning telling me I NEEDED to get the Accord done so we could put the Forester on the lift this weekend and get the rack rebuilt. The Accord isn't going to be done, but I rolled it out anyway. The other three kids are pretty sure kid#3 is running a scam where she works with me and gets me all excited about working with her so she can "suggest" the next project which she wants to be a Camaro of some sort so that she can have a Camaro as her first car. Her great grandmother had a 1968 Camaro. Her grandmother has a 30th anniversary Camaro that only comes out in the summer and even though it's a V6 automatic car deucekid#3 loves it. She wants to follow in those footsteps in the worst way. So that's why the Accord is outside.

I live in prime camaro country, and know some guys.

Just sayin'.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to sleepyhead :

Here you go. The styrofoam from the current car actually fits the aluminum beam. The Hybrid I took it off didn't have any foam front or rear. The front is different enough that the foam isn't close to fitting. 

So, I'm going to avoid the whole... "you must have learned a different form of technical drawing than I did" slant of this... and point out that it looks like one of the crash beams appears to be a "C" channel, while the other appears to be an "I" channel.  Can you take a picture from the "end-on", assuming that gives us an idea of the "beam alphanumeric shape representation"  KTHX

mazdeuce - Seth said:

I was well and truly frustrated, went on Amazon and ordered a new pair for $78. Berk it. Not a Challenge car and I have 400 other things to do, I can spend money to fix this. 
Deucekid#3 was on my behind this morning telling me I NEEDED to get the Accord done so we could put the Forester on the lift this weekend and get the rack rebuilt. The Accord isn't going to be done, but I rolled it out anyway. The other three kids are pretty sure kid#3 is running a scam where she works with me and gets me all excited about working with her so she can "suggest" the next project which she wants to be a Camaro of some sort so that she can have a Camaro as her first car. Her great grandmother had a 1968 Camaro. Her grandmother has a 30th anniversary Camaro that only comes out in the summer and even though it's a V6 automatic car deucekid#3 loves it. She wants to follow in those footsteps in the worst way. So that's why the Accord is outside.

Not that Deucekid#3 reads this thread, but if they were, they should totally remember to casually mention frequently how much tire the Camaro allows you to stuff under it, and how awesome that would be for Autocross, and as a backup car when the Accord finally gets its turn at OneLap. That, since it's designed for a V8, the V6 is totally under-stressed and could definitely handle any of the demands that a first driver would throw at it.

In reply to sleepyhead :

Happy? 

In an earlier picture you might have noticed the small suitcase sized airbox plumbing. I took it out. If I leave it like this I'm drawing air from about 10 inches away from where the upward pointing piece was. I think this would draw in more cold air. I could source a nice light intake trumpet? Just under 3 inches ID on the rubber joint. And people must smuggle stuff in these, right? 

As far as the Camaro, I'm shooting for a second gen. I get to be Bandit. 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to sleepyhead :

Happy? 

There are people that know me, that doubt that that emotion has resided within my person for any length of time.  But, yeah, that gives me a very nice amount of information... although, as a structure that's intended to crush from right-to-left in that photo, I'm surprised that the beam is oriented that way instead of being rotated 90deg?

The beam isn’t a crush structure it’s to spread the impact out across both sides of the car. The part it bolts to on the car is the crumple zone. That’s simplified of course!

sleepyhead said:

is there a "tl;dr" primer on allowed mods in STS?  for those of us allergic to reading four different rules documents

I've read them several times, still confused.