Which upgrade route...

[Renegade_]

Well, there are 2 ways for me to upgrade my car right now, but I gotta decide which path to take. Originally I wanted an engine swap... I prefer to NOT do that first as if I got a swap done...what else have I done that will let the car handle the power it is now putting down? So I have decided to go one of 2 routes for now. My budget is around 950-1000 dollars to put into something

RS upgrade package...

Cobb Impreza Drivetrain Stage 1
Short Shifter, Bushings, Cobb Tranny Mount - 225$ not shipped
or
Kartboy Short Shifter w/Bushings and GroupN Tranny Mount - 200$ not shipped

with

JDM STi 4 pots (front) - shims, pins, clips included, no pads - 500$ shipped
and
Cusco Adjustable RSB with bushings, 20-24mm adjustment - 170$

Now, that is one way to go...

The other way I wish to go is getting coilovers. The RS drivers have been giving rave reviews about Megan Coilovers. I can get them for 850 + shipping and the users which have used things such as Tein or H&R coilovers before them said the megans are as good if not better than them.

What do you guys think...I am kinda torn. I am putting off the engine swap until either the motor dies (long while off) or I get the car fully prepped to recieve the engine I am planning on getting. I do plan on doing autox in my car and I have no problem with the stiff ride the coilovers will give me. That is not a concern of mine...

Reccomendations?

[Mac @ R/T Tuning]

I would go with the coilovers... Megan are the best bang for the buck without going to a whole new level of money and nothing is hotter than a lowered car. If you end up going with the Megan's let me know, I can give you a good deal on them.

[PotenzaSub]

My brother installed the cobb short shifter on my car (which used to be his), but he took it off b/c he said he had trouble shifting gears. If you go through with it, tell me how it went.

PS what exactly does a coil over do. I know its for suspension though.

[Renegade_]

It pretty much makes ride height, camber, toe angle, etc all adjustable. It severely stiffens the ride (moreso than struts/springs), and allows you to pretty much fully adjust anything of your suspension.

[Wiisass]

No they don't.

Coilovers are just a spring and damper setup. Usually they come with a stiffer spring rate and an adjustable damper. They are height adjustable usually seperately from the preload adjustment. If you have a macpherson strut car, and the coilovers come with camber plates you can adjust camber with them. You can not adjust toe with them.

[PotenzaSub]

Isn't it better for handling to have looser spings, instead of stiffer ones, so you can corner better.

[thewake]

Isn't it better for handling to have looser spings, instead of stiffer ones, so you can corner better.

Generally lighter springs means more body roll. More body roll means more weight transfer to the outside. More weight transfer can lead to overloading the outside tires, and underloading the inside tires at which point as a group they lose overall grip.

[Wiisass]

Close, but more body roll does not mean more weight transfer. Weight transfer will happen based only on acceleration, cg height, track/wheelbase and weight. Think about it this way, you can decrease body roll with sway bars, but they will also increase lateral load transfer.

But in terms of determining what spring rate will be best, is a function of suspension natural frequencies whose range should be based on what type of racing the car will be doing. Spring rates are a compromise, a "softer" spring can have greater overall grip, but softer doesn't necessarily mean stock soft. But you also have to consider your roll rates which are a function of spring stiffness, camber control can be better with stiffer spring as well and produce more grip. With stiffer springs and coilovers you have the ability to lower a car which will reduce the cg height and decrease lateral load transfer. You can also go lower with stiffer springs because the amount of wheel travel will be less if the spring rate is increased. This may also alter suspension geometry in a negative way, but that's something to discuss later. Stiffer spring can also be more responsive contributing to a more controllable car.

Just keep in mind that the terms stiffer and softer here are pretty arbitrary at this point. Without knowing what the suspension geometry is like and what the weights of the car are and a bunch of other factors. Once those are known and the intent of the car, a nominal spring rate car be determined. This can be based off of some calculations and desired behavior of the car, it is also good to know what the people who really race are using. Usually, if someone is doing good with a certain setup at a higher level of racing, they have an idea of what works and can be used as a good baseline.

[cravej]

I would go with the brakes/shifter/swaybar route. Coilovers are great for competing at the autox, but not so great on all of PA's pot-hole covered roads. The real benefit of coilovers that you can't get with a good spring/strut is the ability to cornerweight and the fact that you can go much stiffer. Cornerbalancing is expensive and going that much stiffer on a mostly street driven car doesn't make it that much more fun. I enjoyed my car on the street much more with just the swaybars, and the coilovers are only staying on the car, because it only comes out for the autocross.