Street Touring Hatchback (STH) discussion/setup

[bfury5]

Had dinner with another GS guy in Lincoln, he and Ron Williams run 40 psi up front on their GS Civics.

BOOM!

As expected, that makes sense for a GS car with limited camber and a likely aggressive tire pinch.

 

[GTIfan99]

In fact 40 might be low for low camber, pinched, on concrete running an RT660 or A052.

There is no magic tire pressure, high or low.

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Nice job! I think it's time to upgrade your camera/mic setup though.

Here is better video of the same run.

Better audio recording on it's way.

 

[GTIfan99]

Theoretically, if I installed hood louvers, but blocked them off, would they get protested?

 

[scrllock]

I had the car out on track in 2019 fairly stock, and would love to start going to more trackdays, but am not sure how to begin. Should I sign up for the local SCCA region? I assume my car is too built to fit into the GS or STH classes mentioned earlier. I've been enjoying it in the canyons for now.

The Vortex and Verkline subframe would put you in Prepared. I think there's also Xtreme Street now which allows subframes but sticks to 200tw.

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Theoretically, if I installed hood louvers, but blocked them off, would they get protested?

Technically not legal, but I would not protest you blocked or unblocked because I know it won't help you on course.

Ask your local region STH drivers what they think.

 

[the]

Video is up from my fast run from Sunday.

How does this work if you have never done it before? Do they let you do a slow pass or something?

 

[GTIfan99]

Technically not legal, but I would not protest you blocked or unblocked because I know it won't help you on course.

Ask your local region STH drivers what they think.

Out of 7 cars locally, 3 are legal, 4 are clearly not, but no one cares. None of the mods would make any difference
on course.

I would think nonfunctional, i.e. blocked off vents, would be ok.

 

[theDoktor]

How does this work if you have never done it before? Do they let you do a slow pass or something?

My current SCCA region, WNY, has a Novice class that, pre-Covid, would allow a designated instructor ride shotgun with you and coach you during your run, My previous region, Texas, had a similar program. I suspect there are many other regions that have or did have similiar programs. Covid has put a damper on this for now, at least locally.
Otherwise, everyone gets to walk the course after it's set up early in the day up to just before the Drivers Meeting and learn it from observation. My current region typically has a Novice group walkthru with a designated instructor.
Forget about trying to check out the course on anything with wheels though- that's definitely verbotten.

 

[GTIfan99]

My current SCCA region, WNY, has a Novice class that, pre-Covid, would allow a designated instructor ride shotgun with you and coach you during your run, My previous region, Texas, had a similar program. I suspect there are many other regions that have or did have similiar programs. Covid has put a damper on this for now, at least locally.
Otherwise, everyone gets to walk the course after it's set up early in the day up to just before the Drivers Meeting and learn it from observation. My current region typically has a Novice group walkthru with a designated instructor.
Forget about trying to check out the course on anything with wheels though- that's definitely verbotten.

We do a mandatory novice walk through, where an experienced member walks the novices through the course. We just started to allow instructors to ride again.

 

[GTIfan99]

Ok, guys, in my quest to not ruin another street car, and with the cars recent pace against a fully prepped and competitive WRX, I'm going to keep the APR springs, install the konis, but a want to increase the ride height in the front just a little. I know some camber plates will cause a slight increase in front ride height, anyone know which those would be?

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Ok, guys, in my quest to not ruin another street car, and with the cars recent pace against a fully prepped and competitive WRX, I'm going to keep the APR springs, install the konis, but a want to increase the ride height in the front just a little. I know some camber plates will cause a slight increase in front ride height, anyone know which those would be?

It's not quite that simple.

It depends on getting your shock shaft with the correct spacer/nut and spring adapters. You could start with Ground Control, tell them you have Koni shocks when ordering. You will get more negative camber, probably more than your euro sport kit.

Here's the next rub, if you adjust for max camber, with the ground control kit and spring adapters as designed, the shock adjuster will be too high, and underneath the shock tower, it will be hard to adjust.

You could move to a coil-over setup with the konis, probably. Then you could run 2.5 id springs and then you can try a spring top hat, and some spacers to move the shaft lower, and the car up, like you want.

So yeah, there's a way, but it's not straight forward.

Here's how it all looks on my ohlins.

This is the preferred way to mount springs to a shock. If you mount the springs to the GC top mount the springs bend when you turn the wheel, and do weird things to spring rates, so I hear.

At the top of the GC plate, my shaft stick out of the nut about 3mm.

 

[MrFabulous]

Question for the DSG folks. I had an off-throttle upshift happen to me a couple times today. I have the IE TCU tune and I was under the impression that it would hold gear regardless, so I was caught off guard by the automatic upshift. Is this a normal thing and I need to adjust my driving style?

 

[jimlloyd40]

Question for the DSG folks. I had an off-throttle upshift happen to me a couple times today. I have the IE TCU tune and I was under the impression that it would hold gear regardless, so I was caught off guard by the automatic upshift. Is this a normal thing and I need to adjust my driving style?

Not normal if you were off throttle.

 

[GTIfan99]

It's not quite that simple.

It depends on getting your shock shaft with the correct spacer/nut and spring adapters. You could start with Ground Control, tell them you have Koni shocks when ordering. You will get more negative camber, probably more than your euro sport kit.

Here's the next rub, if you adjust for max camber, with the ground control kit and spring adapters as designed, the shock adjuster will be too high, and underneath the shock tower, it will be hard to adjust.

You could move to a coil-over setup with the konis, probably. Then you could run 2.5 id springs and then you can try a spring top hat, and some spacers to move the shaft lower, and the car up, like you want.

So yeah, there's a way, but it's not straight forward.

Here's how it all looks on my ohlins.

View attachment 210827

This is the preferred way to mount springs to a shock. If you mount the springs to the GC top mount the springs bend when you turn the wheel, and do weird things to spring rates, so I hear.

At the top of the GC plate, my shaft stick out of the nut about 3mm.

Not worried about getting to front koni adjuster, as you're allowed to drill a hole to access it. Problem solved.

I'm considering the GC, but have heard numerous complaints about clunking.

I'd assume with stock diameter springs I'd use stock strut bearings, that should resolve any issue with springs twisting, yes?