Improving 1989 Honda Civic Handling - Civic Class

The next components in the integrated suspension system are the suspension bushings. All of the precise control needed for the tires to do their job goes right out the window when soft bushings are used in the suspension control arms and linkages. The bushings must be stiff to allow perfect control, but must not be too noisy for street driving. Metal bushings are very noisy, which is fine for racing applications, but undesirable for the road. Progress selected the Energy Suspension Master Kit for the '88-'91 Honda Civic. The urethane bushings used by Energy provide the precise control needed in a 1.0 G car but keep the noise level low for a more enjoyable cruise to the local hot spot. The Energy Suspension bushings work extremely well. When bushings are soft and compliant, you can feel the slop in the steering wheel. Not so with the Energy bushings.

Rounding out the handling part of the package are the wheels. A performance wheel must be light and very rigid to extract the most out of the tires and suspension. Progress selected the Axis Racing Spec wheels for both tire selections. The 15x7-inch wheels were used with the Toyo Proxes RA-1 tires, while the T1 Plus tires went on the 17x7-inch rims. All wheels were 38mm offset for the Civic application.

An integral part of a handling package should include performance brake components. A car that is capable of 1.0 G cornering can decelerate at the same rate, and the brake system needs to be able to handle the increased forces and heat. Progress added Power Stop cross-drilled rotors to the Civic to improve speed reduction over many stops. Axxis brake pads were used to provide the needed friction to take advantage of the tire traction available. To assure consistent stops at the limit, Castrol DOT 4 brake fluid was used. And to improve pedal feel and reduce pedal travel, Goodridge steel braided brake lines were added to the system. Over the course of the test, with repeated stops from 70 to 80 mph, the brakes performed flawlessly. The pedal felt precise with solid feedback. There was no sign of brake fade, and stopping power was exceptional.

When this car was first tested during product development, I was able to flat-foot it around the 200-ft-diameter skidpad at the test track. While this was very much due to the exceptional handling of the Progress Civic, it was also due to a lack of ponies. More horsepower would actually make the car slightly faster on the skidpad. Four items were added to allow the little Civic engine to make more grunt. Moroso Blue Max ignition wires assured that adequate juice arrived at the spark plugs. An AEM air intake improved airflow to the intake system and a Hooker Headers after-cat system with the Tuned Flow Meg Muffler allowed that extra intake flow to exhaust smoothly. The Hooker Tuned Flow Meg Muffler features an adjustable flow that can be changed up to 40 percent (which means sound is also altered by as much as 40 percent) with the 2-inch system. And an AEM cam timing gear was installed to allow optimum camshaft timing. These changes added enough extra power to make the car more responsive to throttle inputs, and the car could no longer be driven around the skidpad flat out.

Cone-Killer Romans Strikes Again The Progress Group invited me up to Camarillo Airport to partake in the test of Jeffie the Civic. I don't know why. My reputation for running over orange cones is known throughout the galaxy.

Don Alexander, the author of this story, told me that a skidpad is like a dyno for tires and suspension. If that's true, then getting 1.0G out of a Civic seems as crazy to me as getting 350hp out of its engine.