i'm wondering what all do i need to do to be competitive in an autocross. i am on a very, very tight budget since i am in college, but want to at least be competitive and not get blown away. any ideas??

 

You need to give us more information... what class do you intend to run in, what level of mods you have, etc. This is a VERY broad question.

It sounds like you haven't done much autocrossing before. If this is the case, I can tell you one thing... the main thing that will make you competitive is PRACTICE. Being competitive has relatively little to do with the car and a LOT to do with the driver. When you are starting out, you should EXPECT to be blown away. You should autocross to have fun, NOT to win, because when you are starting out, chances are that you will NOT win.

BTW I'm not trying to discourage you. I just want you to be aware that autocrossing is NOT easy.

 

The best thing to put money into is driving schools and training so you can get as much experience and seat-time as possible.

Also, tires are pretty important in the overall scheme of things. Even relatively un-experienced drivers can turn fast times if their tires will hold up to the abuse. When on a budget, check with local competitors or racing clubs in your area to see if anyone has some used Solo I or track tires they are getting rid of. Many times tires that are no longer suitable for the track have a lot of autocross life left in them.

 

I'd have to agree on rjakobs's statement concerning tires. It's my opinion that good R (or Hoosier A) tires should be your first investment if you are serious about autocrossing. You don't need to buy them new. Alot of people, especially road racers, will be selling highly discounted, used tires, that still have a lot of life left in them for the auto-x track.

What I would do is go to a junk yard and get a set of wheels, steel or alloy, that closely match the size of your stock wheels (they don't need to be pretty) just to mount a set of race tires to. Therefore you'll have to sets of wheels, street and race.

 

If you can find a cheap way of getting more power, like an intake and/or exhaust, then do that first. If not, go for the suspension - springs, struts, strut bars, sway bars, etc.

 

so far i just have an intake. i am looking at getting an exhaust, short shifter, and strut brace when i get my tax money back in a about a month. is the pacesetter exhaust anygood? i've heard it's not the best, but i found it for only $158 and thought i couldn't go wrong for that cheap.

as for the class i want to run in, i have no idea what i could run in. i am just wondering more about mods i have to do right now. whatever the basic class for beginners is i will probably run that one.

p.s. i do know that i am in the land o' lakes region of scca if that helps at all

 

I do not know if $158 you are going to pay for a cat-back or just a muffler. But on ebay, you can get a good high-flow muffler for $50-60.

 

i found the pacesetter full catback on importperformanceparts.net for only $158

 

I would personally recommend Street Touring (STS) if you want to hot-rod your car. This is a class for lightly modified, small sedans on street tires. Read more about it here:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Rule...t_touring.html

You can ask some G1 Protege owners for some good setup hints, I'm not too familiar with these cars. However, I know that you can get some really nice, inexpensive parts- like the Ford Racing ZX2 Tokico strut kit for ~$160. Pseudo?

You could also take the intake off, get race tires and run in H Stock. Your car would make a decent, inexpensive choice for either class.

 

I strongly disagree with this. Horsepower has very little impact on an autocross course, particularly on a novice-driven car. A good autocross car is 70% chassis, 20% brakes and 10% power IMHO. If you're on a tight budget, your money is MUCH better spent on tires and suspension, usually in that order. Sticky tires, good shocks and a big rear bar will improve a stock Protege's times more than 100 extra horsepower will.

There is one exception to this: I like a louder-than-stock exhaust system on an autox car, mostly because it makes it easier to hear the engine while wearing a helmet. If you're looking at low-budget systems, don't waste your money on a Pacesetter system; you're better off buying a 2" Dynomax Super Turbo muffler ($35 from Jeg's), going to a local muffler shop and getting a custom 2" cat-back system built (should cost $50-$100). It won't be mandrel-bent and won't look pretty, but it will give you ~80% of the horsepower gain of an expensive bolt-on system for 30-40% of the cost.

Good luck!

 

Chris, I can agree with you too. I was reffering to the first time I went autocrossing, and it was a very tight and twisty course, and my 92 bhp 1.5L with only a front strut bar did not fare well against Neons, Focuses, Civics, and etc. My car had stock 13" tires, and a strut bar that dropped me from stock into STS class. Though I do agree, with a set of lowered springs, firmer struts, strut bars, and grippy tires, you are good to go.

 

in the h-stock class can i still use an exhaust? i'd like to get one, mainly because i like the sound of a good exhaust, but because i thought it would help when racing.

 

is the custom piping with the dynomax going to sound nice, or just loud. i really don't like it when i see a honda with some loud exhaust and they think it's cool and just cuz it's loud it's gotta be fast. i want something with a nice deep tone to it. and what size do i get? 2 or 2 1/4 in? the pacesetter is 2 1/4 and i know that darryl used the piping from that just with a different muffler.

i just called a couple different muffler shops in my area and they said for 2 1/4 in cat back piping only it would be from 300-700bucks. i thought only the muffler on the pacesetter was bad for rusting, but is the piping still good?

 

$300-$700 for a custom-bent system?!? Holy overpriced piping, Batman!! That price is OUTRAGEOUS. You obviously have not called the right muffler shop. The ones you called are trying to you. I've had several custom-bent systems built for me; the most I've paid is $120, and most of them have been in the $60-$80 range.

BTW I have a hint... muffler shops tend to come in two varieties- the glossy, nice-looking chain stores like Midas, or corrugated-metal shacks in bad parts of town, staffed by scruffy-looking guys wearing dirty brown jumpsuits with "Billy Ray" stiched on the front pocket. The ones that do the best custom work, believe it or not, are usually the SECOND kind. The national chains' main business is bolting on prefab stock replacements, and they usually charge too much for custom work and often do a crappy job. Ask around and find out who the racers in your area use.

To address the noise question, Dynomax Super Turbos are not the best-sounding mufflers in the world- they sound kind of blatty and they tend to resonate a bit at highway speed- but they aren't excessively loud IMHO, as long as you keep the diameter reasonably small, and they will not give you the high-pitched, loud-*** "ricer" wail of the Ebay-special, oversized, straight-through mufflers that the Honda crowd seems to like so much (most of which are actually glorified louvered-core glasspacks, but I digress). However, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. It will NOT sound as good as a $400 Racing Beat system, but the Pacesetter system will not be any better.

 

Do you think the Dynomax muffler will give you a headache after driving for a long time? I rode in a crappy Honda that had some kind of funky exhaust, it got really annoying really fast...