Let me preface by stating, I always autox'd Hondas, Been doing this for 15 years and only ran Honda/Acura products because I worked for a Honda/Acura dealer. Bought a Miata a few years back and ran ES, but shrunk to a 2 car family again after I left Honda and started commuting. I'm dropping the "If I just put this on the Civic I think I can do it" and go with "If you can't beat em, join em"..Have seen both the R53 and R56 cars run head to head and seemed like a dead heat..Needless to say I'm very excited about giving the Civic back and moving into one of these quirky little cars.

There's been some discussion, but no detail I can find over which gen car is "better".. Both seem to have there pluses and mechanical gremlins..

Specific questions I have, and I've used the search key several hundred times before posting this, if there's a thread already on a topic and you know of it, a link would be great..

looking to buy early next year after the dust settles from 2010 and the lease comes up on the Honda. (Mid Feb 2011).

1) How ultimately reliable are the R53 cars? I've seen a lot over 50,000 miles, but whenever I see one for sale, it has a "new parts recently installed" caption that comes with it. I know nothings guaranteed, but a catastrophic failure will ultimately lead to multiple life problems for me, especially after the 2009-2010 I've had..(like so many out there). Do I have to get the newest lowest mileage car to get long term reliability or is this car a "maintained from day one leads to a long life" kind of vehicle?
As I stated above I have had Honda's only, they practically fix themselves most of time. I had a customer of mine come in with the oil light glowing and 32k on the clock..I asked her why she drove with the oil light on, she said "The salesman said the oil light would come on when it was time for the 1ST OIL SERVICE". Motor ran fine after that..

Being a "former" mechanic, I'm not afraid to change parts, (I owned a MGB back in the late 80's and changed a fair share of everything on that), but yanking a trans on a Sunday night to make Monday's commute would not be fun..

2) How hard is the SS+ option package to obtain, is it as simple as getting a MCS from same year and swapping parts? (Read somewhere the spring rates are identical?)

3) I am a left foot braker, heard that on the R56 cars, when the brake pedal is depressed, there is a throttle cut, Is this on all models or just with some fitted options?

4) What options on the R56 models are "needed"? and which ones are fluff? (sport, sport plus, DSC, E diff etc)

5) Need to build/buy a regional car that will see a few national events (If my wishes come true, ALOT of National events, but doubt that's in the family plans)...are FSD's that good or are singles required?

5a) Heard something that singles had no upper adjustment and had to be removed on the "early models"..is this an early model Single or Early model Cooper..Or is this false (could not find any info but Koni's site says they are upper adjustable)..

5b) How much cutting is needed to gain access to the upper adjuster?

Thanks again for the info and welcoming in a convert.

 

There were transmission issues with the midlands trans in the 02-04 cars, after that they switched to getrag, and no more problems, but the gearing is different, the early cars had a few miles an hour higher speed in second.

I had an 02 and after the trans issues were sorted the car was fine through 100k, swapped clutch at 85k but car had LOTS of prosolos and a wife that would forget to get her foot all the way off the clutch until after the shift to second.[/quote]


You need the exact springs, they are different based on options. a dealer can get the correct ones.

All R56 have throttle cut

SS+, sport seats, I don't know enough about e-diff

FSD's are ok, but you really want single fronts, and double rears.

The rebound adjuster is on the top. the fronts are accessible, the rears are in the frame rail and are not accessible, period. Several folks have looked at junkyard cars, and there is no legal way to get to the adjuster.

most folks get the doubles and adjust balance with compression, which is at the bottom


Welcome

 

The R56 is no longer available with a mechanical diff. I can't imagine an "S" being competitive without one, but I don't know if anyone has actually tried. The e-diff comes with the DTC option. I have had no problems with it on my HStock MINI. You can not turn it off. The sport suspension gets you stiffer springs, shocks, and sway bars. You can't change the rear bar or springs in the stock classes. Custom-valved shocks seem to be common at the national level.

 

Can't understand why an access hole can't be drilled and a longer Koni **** manufactured or engineered to adjust them. If you are allowed drilling for remote shock mounting and routing, why not these?

Case in point, on the 8th gen Honda's with the Redhsift Koni's, the strut sits about 1/8" below the windshield cowling. We were permited to drill a single hole in the cowling and I manufactured a Koni **** that was approx 6" long to facilitate adjustment. Has this been looked into also? Or is it that buried ?
Worth it to get the singles and remove them to adjust (still not sure of how they mount or time needed to install/remove, once again several searches resulted in a wide array of time needed)

Thanks again for all the great info, looks like an earlier car is the one I want as a throttle cut with left foot braking sounds a bit of a hinderance..Hated it on the 3 series I co drove a few events, couldn't get used to it and always seemed to over-slow..

 

The rear strut mounts into the frame rail, and the adjuster is up inside. the rules allow an access hole for adjustment in an interior panel, but prohibit access holes through structural panels. I think the frame rail very clearly constitutes a structural member.

 

--Techinically on a unibody car, the entire BODY is the structure, The rails help stiffen the structure, but there is no "frame" so would leave a question of what is or isn't a "frame" on a unit body car.. Unless of course it's been asked and challenged, but I don't remember seeing it (recently).

Besides access through the wheel well on a UNI-body car, would mean any part of the well could be drilled to facilite installation as long as it serves no other purpose. (As I interpret the rule) and the rail (which is there to stiffen the strut mounting area) is subsequently under the same "to gain access" wording..

Not arguing but just asking out loud..

 

this part is quoted from the rulebook.

F. A hole may be added to an interior body panel to provide access
to the adjustment mechanism on an allowed adjustable shock absorber.
The hole may serve no other purpose, and may not be added
through either the exterior bodywork or a strut bar. Interior panels
are defined to be those pieces which cover the interior of the vehicle
(including the trunk area) and are accessible from inside the vehicle. They do not include structural panels, such as wheel wells or inner
fenders, which may also be accessible from inside the car but which
actually form part of the body of the vehicle.

I think the answer is no

 

OK then....

Was just thinking back to a certain B stock car I saw at a tour a year or so back with Ohlins on it and the remote hole went up into the trunk via the inner rear wheel arch..through the body structure...

I just figured it would be a similiar type of access hole..

BUT...when you read word for word, specifically it is a no..

SO...doubles in the rear it is, using compression for balance..

Thanks for the info, and the clarification..