What began in the July issue as experimentation has encouraged us to tinker further with our street RSX Type-S. After last time, we still needed to swap the stabilizer bars with the ones that come in the Progress lowering kit, but in the interim we learned that for more aggressive driving, the stock Acura shocks don't provide the stability and adjustability we're looking for.
With this revelation, our project goals became clearer. Yes, we like the lowered stance, but we really wanted the flexibility to dial in something more capable of handling those few days at the track, or even for those more common canyon outings or freeway floggings.
 We begin this installment...  We begin this installment by looking at how the revised DC5 Type-S chassis counteracts body roll and under-/oversteer. The way most domestic vehicles are engineered to limit turn-induced roll is with anti-roll or stabilizer bars, essentially torsion bars that connect both sides of a suspension system. Additionally, the bars have a direct effect on under-/oversteer; installing or enlarging a front bar tends to increase understeer, and installing or enlarging a rear bar tends to increase oversteer. |  The front Progress bar uses...  The front Progress bar uses the same linkages, but otherwise all bushings, holders, and hardware come with the drop kit and reuse the stock mounting points. To pull off the O.E. forward bar, we unscrew the self-locking nut while holding the joint pin with an Allen wrench. |  If possible, the suspension...  If possible, the suspension should be compressed before the links and rest of the mounting hardware for the bars are finally secured. Here, Flores uses a high jack stand under the rear trailing arm and slightly lowers the lift to create load on the left rear suspension. |
 Since camber is not adjustable...  Since camber is not adjustable on the RSX-S, or on most street cars for that matter, we get Progress' front camber bolts and rear upper control arms. Why do we want to mess with camber? Well, for one, the car's alignment is already probably jacked because it's been dropped, so we need to be able to correct that. But in addition, negative camber is one of the best ways to get the most traction possible in corners. Adding just enough negative camber keeps the tread flat and creates a solid footprint, but be warned: adding too much negative camber can hurt (mostly through the effects of poor traction on less challenging straight roads). |  Flores replaces the upper...  Flores replaces the upper strut bolts for us and points out the arrow indicator on the cam bolt head, which should be useful if we ever want to experiment with camber. |  The Progress front camber...  The Progress front camber kit allows positive and negative camber changes up to 1.75 degrees. It replaces the upper strut mounting bolt at the knuckle and by turning the bolt, the eccentric cam just under the head moves the knuckle in and out to alter camber. |
The paragon of handling is a neutral vehicle, and to make a vehicle neutral you need to adjust, among other things, the vehicle's slip angle. Tweaking spring rates, anti-roll bar rates, ride height, and tire sizing and pressures all affect weight transfer, tire loading and slip angle. For the S, we have a slew of mods that will address these elements and more.
Finally, if you've skipped ahead, you probably noticed the Progress springs are now gone, as well as the stock shock absorbers, and in their place is a set of Tein Super Street coil-overs, recommended by Tein for our purposes.
We also faced some challenges in making the mishmash of equipment work together. For the record, Progress also now has a set of coil-overs, but when we wrote the story, they weren't ready for production.
 As far as how much negative...  As far as how much negative camber a vehicle needs, that's pretty much up to the driver. People who drive their cars hard on a regular basis should use more negative camber. We're looking to make our tires last though, so we're advised to use less. |  The rear camber kit replaces...  The rear camber kit replaces the factory upper arms on each side, which means removing the ABS speed sensor line from its mount on each arm, unbolting the arms from the knuckles, and unbolting the other ends of the arms from the chassis. |  Flores puts the car back together...  Flores puts the car back together and gets it off the lift to check toe with a set of toe plates by Longacre, one on the outside of each wheel, and a pair of tape measures. Toe is an often-overlooked influence on vehicle handling, but can have a serious effect on how a car reacts in a turn, particularly during turn-in. Like every mod, though, toe tweaks must be done in moderation; too much toe-in or -out will do funny things to tread wear and wear out tires prematurely. |
 If you're looking at these...  If you're looking at these next images and scratching your head, go back and reread the intro. For the rest, this is what Tein sent us-its Super Street damper coil-over kit. Our problem was that Honda's progressive-valve gas-pressurized shocks weren't dealing well with the Progress lowering kit; we were getting a troubling bounce, and the car didn't feel right ducking into turns. We hope Tein's 16-way adjustable shock absorbers-dialed in with the damping force knob on the right-will solve the problem. |  The Progress rear camber kit...  The Progress rear camber kit is adjustable from a whopping negative four to positive six degrees via an adjustable center section that lengthens and shortens the arm and mounts the same as the O.E. arm. It even has holes to for the ABS line bracket. |  As expected, the front wheels...  As expected, the front wheels are toed-out after the drop. This is remedied easily (although without precise measuring equipment, e.g. an alignment rack, we wouldn't try it); like most cars, forward toe can be adjusted with tie rod length. On the RSX that entails holding the tie-rod end and loosening the locknut, turning the tie-rod until toe is corrected, and then resecuring the locknut. |