Beretta.net

Tell me if it makes any changes. If I can get some things ordered and some work done I'll check to see what it's like with just the MRZ bar. Got some Eibachs and GR2 in teh mail this week.

Tell me if it makes any changes. If I can get some things ordered and some work done I'll check to see what it's like with just the MRZ bar. Got some Eibachs and GR2 in teh mail this week.

^^^^Can do!

I just got back from autocrossing today. Competition was fierce this go around with the Chicago and Milwaukee regions mixed together.



Finished 2nd to last yet still managed to be 1.2 seconds off of an RSX type S!
I just couldn't beat him, I tried powering more through turns which subsequently caused me to lose time with lost traction coming out. I tried easing off the throttle through turns and punching it at the apex, that didn't work out. This course was a fast one, so what ended up working was keeping my speed up while tapping the brakes and feathering the throttle simultaneously to induce mild oversteer coming out of a turn and then going wide open throttle. It was really taxing so I'm wiped out. The ONLY reason I was able to do this technique was because of the addco....without it, it would have been understeer galore!

I saw the FR-S and BRZ in action out there.....so sweet! It's like they waltz out there and make it look so easy with such a balanced chassis and drivetrain.

That's odd to see Focus' out competing like that, but they can be fierce with the right setup, I would have expected more out of the SVT version though...but I guess it's all in the driver.

You pulled off an awesome showing though!

Those K20's in the Acura's are no joke, even in stock form and only get crazier the more air/fuel you feed it. The Type-S has 70HP on you from the factory, so you obviously got skill and handling down.

You need some 1.6 roller rockers to give you a little more edge (If there are rules against it, don't). I've got everything ready for my 1.6 full roller swap, except the actual rockers themselves. All it takes is the right set of rockers (Chevy V6 and centerbolt V8 will work, or any SBC narrowbody 3/8" stud rocker), a new set of stock pushrods, adjustable 3/8" rocker studs, the rockers and all associated hardware.

I'm gonna buy these, as they sound like they should work well for a DD:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-CHEVY-ALUMI ... v4exp=true

These were the best deal for me including shipping to my remote area of Canada, but you might find a better deal.

^^yeah, those focuses are weird. They're so tall and lanky but can really move out there...maybe we all just suck and that's why they look so good lol!

You bring up an interesting proposition with these rockers. They wouldn't be legal for my class BUT...my goal is to ride out this racing season this year in my street touring class. After that, it's free game! I'm going to bump up next year anyways with the flywheel, lsd, brakes/ mods galore I have planned; might as well put these roller rockers on the list.

I was thinking about a turbo package for the car, but decided to keep it naturally aspirated...I'm honestly going to say i LOVE this engine as is. I like how raspy and harsh it is in the upper RPM's, i don't know why but I do.
Mine has 170K on the original engine and has yet to give me one problem, that's with me abusing the living crap out of it in AutoX.
A simple calculation to figure out how old your car is in "car years" is by taking the mileage on the odometer and dividing it by the full year of the car

mine is (170000/1995)=85.2 years old!

Amateur wrote:^^yeah, those focuses are weird. They're so tall and lanky but can really move out there...maybe we all just suck and that's why they look so good lol!

My ex had a sedan that was very well planted in the turns. I drove a few more too, but never got as much seat time as I wanted. It would be hard to believe they were any good if I didn't drive it myself.

Amateur wrote:You bring up an interesting proposition with these rockers. They wouldn't be legal for my class BUT...my goal is to ride out this racing season this year in my street touring class. After that, it's free game! I'm going to bump up next year anyways with the flywheel, lsd, brakes/ mods galore I have planned; might as well put these roller rockers on the list.

I was afraid that it was not legal and if it was, they wouldn't pull your valve cover to check.

Most say that they help make up for the lack of high RPM power, without much of a trade off in the low end.

Amateur wrote:I was thinking about a turbo package for the car, but decided to keep it naturally aspirated...I'm honestly going to say i LOVE this engine as is. I like how raspy and harsh it is in the upper RPM's, i don't know why but I do.

I plan on running a turbo at some point. I liked the OEM like power of the DSM turbo I had on my Civic and the same size turbos should work awesome for our engines.

Amateur wrote:A simple calculation to figure out how old your car is in "car years" is by taking the mileage on the odometer and dividing it by the full year of the car

mine is (170000/1995)=85.2 years old!

My Corsica is the same year with equivalent mileage LOL

Koots I'd go with the Comp Cams magnum rockers.
http://www.compcams.com/information/Pro ... Roller.asp
At one time they had self aligning ones too if that is what you need. My point really is that they last much longer than alumnium rockers(which are said to last 30K).

Good job again Amateur.

Money pit Beretta wrote:Koots I'd go with the Comp Cams magnum rockers.
http://www.compcams.com/information/Pro ... Roller.asp
At one time they had self aligning ones too if that is what you need. My point really is that they last much longer than alumnium rockers(which are said to last 30K).

Good job again Amateur.

Those are probably the most sensible choice, but I want the benefits of a roller fulcrum as opposed to just a roller tip (which helps but it doesn't do much). The only benefit from these are the stronger stamped steel, which keeps it's ratio better than the stock arms, is the additional lift gained from the increased ratio.

When I get around to buying RR's, I'll run them for a while and If I like em, I'll upgrade to a real name brand for longevity. I was hoping to get more out of them than 30k though

The price is good considering the benefits, I can buy 3 or more sets of roller rockers for the price of ONE tire for my K5...Even my stock height Silverado 2500HD costs about $250/each for a decent tire.

So I'm used to spending a lot of money

Ah yes a roller fulcrum, much better. Well Koots from what I read all aluminum rockers have about the same lifespan.

Money pit Beretta wrote:Ah yes a roller fulcrum, much better. Well Koots from what I read all aluminum rockers have about the same lifespan.

That sucks, but then I don't mind spending $200 every year or so (I do a lot of driving).

If I get sick of doing this or the benefit isn't as large, then I'll stick with 1.6 ratio stamped roller tip rockers.

Sounds good man, just wanted to give you a heads up.

Money pit Beretta wrote:Sounds good man, just wanted to give you a heads up.

Much appreciated

I'm kinda jumping into the whole rocker arm thing kinda blindly, I know about the theory but have zero experience with it.

Truth is I just read that they last that long. I have never had the money for a big build, so I have to check things out on paper before I buy. For me it's a one shot deal and has to be done right first(also it has to last a long time).

Money pit Beretta wrote:Truth is I just read that they last that long. I have never had the money for a big build, so I have to check things out on paper before I buy. For me it's a one shot deal and has to be done right first(also it has to last a long time).

I have noticed that most of my vehicles have all turned into high maintenance machines, but only because i've made them that way LOL I like working, tinkering and tuning with all my vehicles so it's not a big deal.

I just gotta hide the expense from the wife

Back on topic LOL, When's your next event Mr.Lopez?

I'm eager to see how you do next time, now that i'm sure you are pretty much used to your current setup. It took me a few solid runs in auto-x (only went to a few) to get a good feel for my Civic, once I changed the front sway bar and went with a Eibach rear sway (discontinued now). I really liked having some oversteer to work with, it really makes a FWD almost fun

^^^Next go around will be September 30th. Yeah, pretty excited to see what the car can do.

it's crazy because at the last event, I went in with this new setup and had to learn from scratch how to race again.
I mean I learned AutoX from a base beretta setup with stock tires; So I was used to having my car slide everywhere from the lack of grip plus bodyroll inducing understeer...that was a handful to control.

then I got the grippy tires that let me go faster, but understeer was still there if I tried to push it.

Now understeer is gone...it literally doesn't exist with the rear sway and hollow front. That means I can really push this machine to its limits without worrying about plow. It's so predictable back there and I can feel when it's about to break traction and the best part is, the front bites hard thanks to FWD, so i can pull through it and not worry about spinning out. I literally think if i can stick a corner fast enough, i'll be able to plop the car on 3 wheels, lifting the inside rear one.

I've seen it happen all the time with this one white mazda 3 that AutoX's (he drives like he has a death wish in my opinion!). Then again, I don't know if he has R compound tires when he runs, I'll have to take a close look next time to see his setup.

FWD is fun. It's inferior in sports performance, but is challenging to drive it to it's full potential, no doubt seeing you have steering, accelerating, and braking all on the front tires.

I'd imagine your civic drove like a go kart though...go karts are fun. so putting 2 and 2 together...what ever happened to that civic anyways? mauled by bears?

My Civic was my DD, It got neglected and eventually too many things started to fail on it and I couldn't fix it anymore. I ended up selling it for dirt cheap, even though I had over a grand in the suspension LOL

I had a 2" drop, lightweight BMW 14" wheels, front and rear sway bars, custom set alignment and a bunch of other stuff...mostly things that got me put into the higher classes of competition...definitely not the place for a 1.6L SOHC Civic with a 4spd automatic