Yoooooo! Started putting in my time and money into my Da9 and I’ve decided to start a build thread! I am still a noob to this website so bare with me. :loser:
Here it is, my 1990 RS. I recently picked this up last summer as my first car, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to express my enthusiasm for the racing scene! I picked her up with a b20b and tokico illuminas/ Skunk 2 springs and other little goodies. Since then, the only upgrade ive bolted is the HKS hi power exhaust. GREAT setup for a beginner, i am currently rocking the same setup but i do plan on switching to a more advanced setup for the upcoming track days.
Unfortunately i was struck with a MAJOR set back after purchasing the teg. Cylinder 2 Spun a nasty bearing! After all my plans for a complete suspension overhaul, the b20 just had to fail! Oh well, its just a b20 right? Anyways, months after i finally got the spare cash to order a Hi Comp B20B from HMO. The motor came in about a week and was ready to drop in shortly after. Here it is!! :rockon:
After the swap, i can now focus my time and effort toward my suspension. Im starting my suspension overhaul with a hyperflex bushing kit by Energy Suspension. After that i plan to replace my illuminas with a fresh set and slap some ground controls on them. I contemplated getting koni yellows untill i researched on how to adjust them and correct me if im wrong, from all that i read it seems that with the koni yellows i would have to remove the whole strut to do adjustments. On my current illuminas i can feel the difference in response just by turning the key on the tip of the strut. This makes it WAY easier for me to do adjustments and to soften it up for my daily and stiffen it up right before a pass through the mountains. Like i said, correct me if im wrong but i just dont have the time to take each strut out and adjust accordingly. Ive heard many imputs comparing the illuminas to the koni yellows and the illuminas seem to be par with the koni yellows. Never experienced a set of Koni Yellows so i cant say for myself. Anyways, here is my latest and greatest addition to the teg, i will keep this thread going as i continue the build. I would appreciate ANY feedback and tips that this community can offer!! Stay tuned my friends :rockon:
The HKS is great! It has 2 resonators and it makes the tone very deep and unique compared to others. If you don’t want to sound like the average honda, I definitely recommend the HKS. Power wise I’m unsure since I haven’t been on a dyno, but it feels like I gained a bit more top end after installing.
The info you received is incorrect regarding how to adjust the Koni Yellows. They adjust on the top in a similar fashion to the Illuminas. There are some Koni’s (I believe the red ones) for some cars which do require that you remove the shock, but that is not the case for the Yellows. Plus, you won’t be doing much adjusting anyway. Here’s a little pic I found which shows how you use the supplied knob to adjust the yellows:
Get the yellows. The Illuminas are great shocks and I think from a performance standpoint they’re probably almost as good as the yellows. But I can’t think of any area where the Illuminas will be better than the Koni’s. The real advantage to the yellows over the Koni’s:
They are rebuildable. To me this is the big benefit. After a few years if you feel like you’re ready to step it up a bit with new, more aggressive, suspension you would have to buy all new shocks or coilovers if you have the Illuminas. With the yellows you can simply send them to Koni and have them rebuilt. For about the same cost as a new set of Illuminas or Yellows you can have your old yellows rebuilt with RACE spec valving instead of Sport valving. This will allow you to run springs higher than 500lbs/in. You can also have the shocks shortened or have droop limiters installed. When you’re done you’ll have a $900 set of shocks that only cost you $500. Plus, they don’t make a RACE shock for the DA anyway, so in order to have that valving on a DA you’d need to have them custom made anyway.
Looks/fitment. With the Koni shocks you can get the special Koni GC’s which are made only for the Koni shocks and allows for the threaded collar to fit directly on the circlips. With the Illuminas you have to keep the stock style bottom spring perch. The downside here to the Koni’s is that they do not have a bracket for your brake lines. You can use the bracket off of an old set of shocks (you have to cut it off) or just not bother and use a zip tie to hold the brake line. I do the later since I did not have a set of stock shocks to pull the bracket off of, plus it’s more weight reduction, right?
All the info Colin gave is true. I’ll just add something for food for thought. The konis are designed to use a different version of the ground controls so unlike the illuminas you can’t use the ground controls you currently have without an adapter for the regular OEM spring/sleeve type. You can use your coilovers just not safely without that adapter. I believe koni sells it though.
Ah ok, for some reason I thought you had said you had some. If you had the OEM type already then that could have caused some confusion but apparently its just me who’s confused… Don’t mind me sir.
