In reply to FunkyCricket :
What I should have done is taken a picture of the Accord next to Andy Hollis's CRX. He came out to our practice event yesterday and that car is tiny and stock crash protection seems to be made of tinfoil and hope. I'm amazed when I get in economy cars from the 80's and mid 90's, there's just so little car there. The Accord isn't as safe as a truly modern car, but one of the reasons I picked it is because it's from the next generation of cars that all of a sudden got heavier and used actual computers to figure out how to make people not die in crashes. They rated pretty ok on the crash tests except for side impact for the front passengers. From what I can tell they actually crashed ok, but by then the test was really designed around cars that were either tall, or had side airbags (which the 2003 does not) and so the dummy's head got smushed on the crash aparatus. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to drive my kids around in.
Getting closer to being a decent looking car.
Where’d y’all place at on Saturday?
Norma66 said:
How serious do they get about tech for autocross? Could I do it with just lap belts?
As Seth commented, you should be good! You're in Muscatine, correct? You've got a few options on who to run with. www.sccagrr.com is the group that mainly hosts in the Quad Cities. www.iowaregionscca.org is Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Oskaloosa. There's also an independent group hosting ones events at the Wapello high school. Here's a link to their next event.
Sorry about the thread jack Seth! Loving the multiple duty Accord. I typically check in to see what the latest part your'e removing and weighing is. 
FooBag said:
Norma66 said:
How serious do they get about tech for autocross? Could I do it with just lap belts?
As Seth commented, you should be good! You're in Muscatine, correct? You've got a few options on who to run with. www.sccagrr.com is the group that mainly hosts in the Quad Cities. www.iowaregionscca.org is Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Oskaloosa. There's also an independent group hosting ones events at the Wapello high school. Here's a link to their next event.
Sorry about the thread jack Seth! Loving the multiple duty Accord. I typically check in to see what the latest part your'e removing and weighing is.
We're in Texas, But I like your enthusiasm.
FunkyCricket said:
That ST is a bit of a pig, I didn't know it was that heavy.
So...when you prep them for AutoX you can take 200 lbs off that number... between the heavy exhaust, lead weight stock 18" wheels, the full size spare tire and a 1/4 tank of gas you can get down to 3020-3050. And I PROMISE, if you've never driven one, it drives so well.. you forget it's that big..
That looks pretty darn nice lowered with the bigger wheels though. Never thought I say I like how an accord looks :P Your projects are always such a fun follow.
Space: A friend has a black one he has about stage 2.5 (exhaust, clutch, suspension) and it moves for sure. I haven't driven one yet. My wife's 2015 fiesta on summer tires tracks into corners like it's on rails through and with some lfb will break the rear around if you want. I think that weighs in the 2850 range with gas and my fat ass in it. (a quick google didn't find good numbers) They are pretty dynamic cars for just an A to B transport.
In reply to FunkyCricket :
Thanks man. Someone told me recently that my projects are "approachable". I think that means that I'm not doing anything hard. 
I'm liking how the car looks too. I took Mrs. Deuce to the movies today and we both agreed that it looked pretty OK sitting in the parking lot. She still doesn't want to drive it, but she's fine being seen in it. I'll call that success.
This is a video of the rallycross event from last weekend. The Accord doesn't feature because the camera man was in our run group. Just imagine these cars driving slower and looking more like an Accord.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHlxWn8a6pc
I told Mrs. Deuce that I was just going to go outside and look at the car for a minute this morning. I took my coffee and started contemplating this corner of the engine compartment.
First I pulled the battery, it weighed 24lbs on my crappy scale because it's too heavy for my stolen kitchen scale. All the mounting hardware came out as well and it weighs just under 2lbs 12oz so the whole thing is about 27 lbs.
Then I pulled the airbox and dragged the big snorkel resonator thing out of storage. This is the intake past the rubber elbow. It's an impressive bit of engineering.
Weighed in two pieces at 4lbs 6 oz and a blurry 5 lbs 3 ozs. A bit over 9 and a half pounds.
I've already pulled that 5 lbs piece and it's not going back in, but it you add up all of the intake and battery stuff you get something like 36-37 lbs in battery and intake. I think I could reduce that by 30 lbs or so with maybe a slight decrease in battery longevity. There is a mighty big hole where all of this went. Lots of room for activities. Changing the intake is the easy part since the factory rubber bit is 3" ID, just an elbow and a prelude filter, but the filter will end up where the battery goes which means I need to move the battery first. Since I haven't figured out exactly what I want to do with that (and since I just spent $$ on suspension bits for the Subaru) I'll put everything back it. I really want a set of car scales so I can see how much this who jalopy weighs as a whole.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
In reply to FunkyCricket :
Thanks man. Someone told me recently that my projects are "approachable". I think that means that I'm not doing anything hard.
I'm liking how the car looks too. I took Mrs. Deuce to the movies today and we both agreed that it looked pretty OK sitting in the parking lot. She still doesn't want to drive it, but she's fine being seen in it. I'll call that success.
This is a video of the rallycross event from last weekend. The Accord doesn't feature because the camera man was in our run group. Just imagine these cars driving slower and looking more like an Accord.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHlxWn8a6pc
buick w/ a duckbill spoiler? Seems like a fun group!
bluej said:
mazdeuce - Seth said:
In reply to FunkyCricket :
Thanks man. Someone told me recently that my projects are "approachable". I think that means that I'm not doing anything hard.
I'm liking how the car looks too. I took Mrs. Deuce to the movies today and we both agreed that it looked pretty OK sitting in the parking lot. She still doesn't want to drive it, but she's fine being seen in it. I'll call that success.
This is a video of the rallycross event from last weekend. The Accord doesn't feature because the camera man was in our run group. Just imagine these cars driving slower and looking more like an Accord.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHlxWn8a6pc
buick w/ a duckbill spoiler? Seems like a fun group!
indeed, I wonder if that's an ex-gambler car.
then checks the results... hmm, maybe not?
also, at least you beat the Baja Bug!
That Buick was a master class in suspension compliance. Not only were all the wheels using full up and down travel over any imperfection larger than a golf ball, the front wheels were also moving back and forth in the wheel well multiple inches as the car struggled for traction on the imperfect surface. I didn't get a chance to talk to the guy, but I have to imagine that the car moved along in a very Buick like manner. It was cool.
Small battery is small. I used some terminals from an actual good battery. This battery is supposed to be the "good one" at Wal Mart. 130 CCA
Rummaged around for a piece of plywood to raise the battery up enough that I can use the J hooks in the car. Temporary but secure. I did five starts in a row with the brights on and it went fine. We'll see how it lasts.
It's a wee baby battery! ha!
if it's AGM... then you might-could lay it over on it's side for even lower profile install? (that's what the "TL Diet" guy did)
In reply to sleepyhead :
There are a couple of mounting locations quite low in the car once you pull the battery tray out. I'm going for super duper low COG of course.
probably best...
after all, you've lost enough weight with it, that trying to move it over to the pax, and nuzzling it up to the firewall's lower exterior is probably superfluous advancement
Data point with the wee little battery: In the morning I drop off one kid and then have to sit for about 35 minutes at the other school before I can let the next kid out. It's inconvenient, but it is what it is. I frequently have the headlights on in the morning though you can't see them by the time I park. The Accord gives you a warning that you left the lights on when you open the door, but if you just turn the car off and sit there......nothing. I've done this 2-3 times with the big battery with no problem and it's made me lazy. I did it this morning and it seems that you can't leave the lights on for half an hour if you want to start the car after. Hooray for lithium jump packs!
The wee battery came out. It works fine as long as it's got a full fresh charge, but let it sit overnight and it needs a jump 30% of the time. I'll consider plopping it in for track/AX days, but day to day I'm back with the big battery.
Next was moving the back down a bit. I took off 1/4 coil. Might need 1/4 more. Might need the front to come up. More on that in a minute.
Quick check of the rear toe and it's just about perfectly even. I thought to rig up some strings a second to check squareness before I give it a bit of toe out, but I can't find any string. I'll get some at the store tomorrow and make sure the car is square.
Also cut the rear bump stops. I don't think I'm hitting them, but if I'm not then no difference, and if I was, then bettter. Bread knife is ideal for this as long at you don't post pictures for your wife to see.
Then I moved onto the front. I suspected that I was hitting the front bump stops in the big sweeper at autocross practice. Turns out the car is sitting on the bumps. Oops. I cut an inch off them and I'm back to having 3/4 or so of travel at the shock before I hit the bumps. I think. I'm strongly debating moving the front up a bit to get more travel back.
And this is how it sits. Looks ok anyway. About 10 days until a PCA track weekend. Never run with them before even though I've been a PCA autocross instructor for years. Looking forward to it.
759NRNG
SuperDork
9/13/18 6:08 a.m.
Seeing 'FERD' in the background ,I'm compiling a list as far as I know, of rides the reside in the compound....
911
FJ
PU
Forest
Stang
trakcord
volt
airstrm
RX7?
and the soon new to yu 'answer'
R63
what did i miss?
759NRNG said:
Seeing 'FERD' in the background ,I'm compiling a list as far as I know, of rides the reside in the compound.... [ ] ...
RX7?
and the soon new to yu 'answer'
what did i miss?
I'm pretty sure the rexer is long-gone.
what did you miss? The Kitchen Cabinets (Hi Duece-wife!)
The RX-7 was actually offered back to me two weeks ago. If anyone is looking for a sketchy but running 12a powered FB with an autopower cage let me know, I know a guy. And yes, cabinets. Much planning on that front. Turns out store bought cabinets are expensive, but probably not enough of a difference to justify how long it would take me to build the cases.
In other news, I have to spend actual $ to get a track inspection before I run with the PCA. I'm grumpy about that.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
In other news, I have to spend actual $ to get a track inspection before I run with the PCA. I'm grumpy about that.
Do you hae to go to a P-shop, specifically? Time to LLC ELM/TTW?
In reply to sleepyhead :
No, but it has to be from their list of shops. Otherwise I'd go to the perpetually sweaty chain smoking ASCE mechanic in the back of my neighborhood.
