ZeroGravity's Mellow Build

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Just like most of you, we start our builds pretty with lowing our cars then the performance stuff come after. I will be doing very mellow mods just to keep the car civil...i mean..it IS my wife's car after all. As soon as i get an appointment with my alignment place, I ill start my journal. I will be going to West End Alignment in Gardena. Darren and Chris have been setting up my cars for many years. THis will be no different. Anyway, Stay tuned for my Mellow Build. =)

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build Civic Lowered HeightWEB
Sponsored

 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
So i wasn't able to get my alignment this weekend. Im gonna try again for this week. Ill keep you all posted.
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Here are some of it's early pics.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20294041_10155539266673491_5604127574479796887_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 17796811_10155539266753491_1391109554377601899_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20476037_10155539266813491_7036225536912993163_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20431197_10155539267283491_7243155832296189462_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20293118_10155539267458491_4887460310653756112_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20292811_10155539267743491_8319434985377077972_n
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20292990_10155539267788491_8728546786633422454_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20376198_10155539268093491_4337924447140080802_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20292710_10155539267878491_3204475452945812066_n
 


OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Some pics with the springs, spacers, and rear arms from Johhny.

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20374580_10155539253538491_5078084415542821343_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20292915_10155539253068491_9174300672972534845_n



With no spacers.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20293105_10155539260048491_3114684638562249290_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20476169_10155539266228491_8462907076879756557_n

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20294373_10155539266608491_2018303046695113744_n


There definitely is a big difference between having spacers and none. Glad i got them.
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
So after i get my alignment im heading over to Scott Robinson Honda to hopefully meet up with the Hondata peeps to check out their car in the 6lb set up. My ultimate goal for this car is just bolt on's...can't have too many project cars going at once.
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Having Alignment done after Lowering at West End Alignment.

West End alignment has done my alignments on my Sentra SER for years. (original owner Dec. 1991) They are located right in the corner of the lot sharing with a carpet store and auto glass store. Chris is the son of Darrin, owner of West End Alignment. He asked me a few simple questions on what kind of set up i needed, how i like the car, and if i was going to track it. Options like Street Set up, Aggressive Street, to Full Track are one of many options you can have him do. Since this car is a commuter and i will probably NEVER track this car, i opted for the very mild Street Setup with less aggressive camber and toe.

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20622302_10155561749883491_2866245452091683844_n


My Civic is brought onto the lifts. Notice the really low ramps? Perfect for lowered cars and no clearance issues. I would have just gone to the local alignment shop in OC but their computerized sensors would not even accommodate a lowered car. Check out the scales in front of the lift. West End even does Corner Balancing with you in the car!
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20604592_10155561749978491_646956307107919521_n



Chris is Darrin's son. Back in the day it was Always Darrin who did my alignments. Now Chris is also carrying the tradition now.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20604358_10155561750043491_1353389074058364419_n


What makes WestEnd Aleignment special is that they do not only specialize in lowered and race cars, they do all their alignments with out the use of computers!
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20526022_10155561750093491_5640172460608615547_n


The way Chris keeps track of what your wheels are doing, he spray paints a white line on your tires to make sure they spin straight and uses the line as a guide to gauge his adjustments.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20526229_10155561750343491_1651080041517836743_n


No Computers here! Using a long bar to keep track of tow, he makes sure the toe in the rear has a little bit of toe in for rear stability. Most factory settings are this way. For a FWD race car, the toe is at zero or even toe out a few degrees for more oversteer.
The tool Chris is using is for measuring Camber. Before me and my buddy Dayton Lowe installed the rear camber arms, we adjusted the turn buckles from center of eyelet to eyelet at 12.25". This we predicted would be a good start for rear camber. The Civic's suspension had natural negative camber change as it compresses so it naturally has more negative camber when it was lowered. I predicted it to be about negative 3.5 degrees. With the new rear camber arm install, we have it at about negative 1.7 degrees.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20597497_10155561750538491_8831094024955684515_n


View with a window. This was my view in the Civic on the lift. Like Corner Balancing, Chris had me sit in the car while he adjusted the camber so the camber was TRUE when i was in the car. Just like RC Cars, you adjust your Ride Height, Camber, Toe, and sometimes Caster WITH your Battery in the car. This is the same in real cars. YOU want to adjust with you in the car as you would be setting it up when being driven. If you set the camber up with out you in the car, then when your weight compresses the suspension, your settings would naturally change.
Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20604744_10155561750578491_5217304659938298633_n



For the final setting, Front Toe was 0 degrees. The rear was .15 degrees toed in. Camber in front is -.23. In the rear was interesting, The Left Rear wheel was at -2.1 degrees and -1.6 degrees on the Right. I also want to add that i added 20mm hub centric wheels spacers to make the wheels "FLUSH" with the fenders making the overall offset of the wheels +30.(Stock is +50mm offset). Chris and i discussed my needs again and decided on -1.4 degrees left and right. He knew the tires would rub at that setting. If i had left the settings at 2 degrees, i wouldn't have any rubbage. Keeping my intentions true to the Civic being a street car only, i kept the camber -1.4 degrees. I am now going to have the fenders rolled and would take care of the problem. Also, with less camber, you also get less wear on the inside of your tires. That was worth the investment to me. West End never disappoints and will continue to go back to them for all my alignment needs.

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build 20526309_10155561750813491_1628002947986623496_n


Big thankyou to Chris for getting my Car up to par as always!
West End Alignment is by appointment only. No walk ins. If you do a NO SHOW with out 24 hour notice, they will actually BAN you from ever going there again...at least that is what it ways on Yelp...lol

Here is West End's Info

WEST END ALIGNMENT
18008 S Vermont Ave
90248 Gardena, California

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build iSZlEgxIssq

(310) 808-9233
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
I also met Doug From Hondata. He is a great guy and very knowledgeable when it comes to tuning as well as Honda in General. The car industry is so small. If you are involved in the car industry in any way, you know pretty much anyone you meet will know someone you know. That's how it always is. My old friend Darin Ishitani, Back in the early Battle Of the Import Days drove the Scott Robinson CRX and still works for Scott Robinson and had Doug come by his shop for me to meet. Doug even let me drive his Day 2016 Civic with i believe a 6+ Psi tune on it and was very impressed. It is civilized enough to not scare my wife if she drove it, but as soon as i stepped on it, the party started. Yes, it wasn't a higher Psi tune, but i dont need the car to be. Turning the eco button on and off activating and de-activating the tune was a dream feature i have always wanted in a car..which i never had with my SE-R. Now i can do both on the fly. Im going to do a few more bolt on mods until i get the Hondata, but im definitely sold on it. Not only that, I know i would receive Tremendous support from Doug, which to me is very important when it comes to purchasing high dollar items.
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Today I took my Civic to get the fenders rolled. Called 4 different places, but settled with Tony's Fender Rolling. He has no website, no shop FB page, or IG. His only advertising is word of mouth. And his word is pretty damn impressive. Out of the 4 reputable fender rollers, Tony is the only one who has been doing this 20+ years.
He recommended I get the fenders grinder, not cut. WHAT???? I wanted
 


OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Fenders done by Tony. No more rubbage and has done a fantastic job. No hack fender guy here. Not only was it the cleanest I have seen, he is also the best priced...like LESS THAN HALF of what I have been quoted/upsold to. Yeah..not even kidding about it. Fender Rolling by Tony does not have a website, IG, or FB for his business. All word of mouth! Doesn't even utilize his smartphone!

Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build IMAG0218


Honda Civic 10th gen ZeroGravity's Mellow Build IMAG0223
 

geolemon

Senior Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Threads
5
Messages
76
Reaction score
33
Location
Buffalo, NY
Vehicle(s)
'95 Honda Civic EX (original owner), '17 Civic Sport Hatchback
Country flag
...I would have just gone to the local alignment shop in OC but their computerized sensors would not even accommodate a lowered car.
Yes and no.
This is one of those reasons my ears start to smoke when I bring my car into a shop filled with uneducated lackeys, and they tell me their shop rate is $150/hr.

If they knew how to use their own fancy tools, or knew how to actually align a car without a computer being the actual brains of the shop...
...then they'd know they could simply ignore the frame height, ignore the camber number (unless like your car, you added adjustment for it) and manually bring the toe and caster into alignment.

I found a local shop - nothing special, a Monroe I believe - who'd align my slammed mini-trucks... using a computerized laser rig, operated by humans who actually knew things, and could function as mechanics beyond "oh... I don't know how to make the computer thing do that..."

It's what separates shops worth $150/hr from those hiring trade school kids and fleecing customers (LOTS of stealerships fall into that later category - buy fancy tools, hire minimum wage technicians - charge customers the big bucks!).
 
Last edited:

UHx0H

Senior Member
First Name
Allan
Joined
May 5, 2017
Threads
3
Messages
133
Reaction score
145
Location
SoCal
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatchback
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Fenders done by Tony. No more rubbage and has done a fantastic job. No hack fender guy here. Not only was it the cleanest I have seen, he is also the best priced...like LESS THAN HALF of what I have been quoted/upsold to. Yeah..not even kidding about it. Fender Rolling by Tony does not have a website, IG, or FB for his business. All word of mouth! Doesn't even utilize his smartphone!

IMAG0218.jpg


IMAG0223.jpg
did you roll your fenders simply because you wanted to or are you planning on going lower with wider wheels?
 
OP
OP
zerogravity

zerogravity

Just for fun.
Joined
Apr 17, 2017
Threads
13
Messages
166
Reaction score
144
Location
Anaheim, Ca
Website
www.calraceway.com
Vehicle(s)
2017 Civic Hatch Sport Touring, 1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
did you roll your fenders simply because you wanted to or are you planning on going lower with wider wheels?
I had the fenders grinded becaus with the 20mm spacers and -1.4 degree camber, I was rubbing. If I went more negative camber like -2 degrees or more, I wouldn't need the fenders grinder.
 

geolemon

Senior Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Threads
5
Messages
76
Reaction score
33
Location
Buffalo, NY
Vehicle(s)
'95 Honda Civic EX (original owner), '17 Civic Sport Hatchback
Country flag
Was it just rubbing in the rear?
To my eyeball, it looks like the rear are sliiiiiiightly out more than the front.
I wonder if 20mm spacers in the front and 10mm spacers in the rear would avoid the need to roll the fenders?

On a related note - I wonder why cars don't come this way from the factory? It's not as though there would be rubbing issues at stock height, even if you bottomed out the car, say, jumping a set of train tracks. (then you'd have other problems lol)

It looks so much cleaner, just simply looks more "correct", in a way real luxury cars look trim and athletic. Makes you say "That car looks RIGHT!" in a subconscious, can't-quite-place-it way... I'd think that would be good for sales!
Sponsored

 


 


Top