I definitely suggest going with blank rotors regardless of price. You end up with a larger contact patch and have to replace pads less often that way. Since you won’t run into brake fade on the road (if you are, you shouldn’t have your license), there wouldn’t even be a theoretical advantage to slotted/drilled rotors anyway!

On pads, just get something decently priced. Don’t get race pads, because they street driving won’t even warm them into operating temperature.

As far as the bushings go, they make more of a difference than you’d think. They help transfer weight directly to the steel of the car (body and suspension) and tighten up the ‘feel’ of it. I had an Energy Suspension kit that I mostly installed, and was very pleased with the results. Make sure you grease the bushings before putting them in, otherwise they’ll squeak like there’s no tomorrow!

On the shocks/springs, H&R has two levels that I’d recommend: Sport (about a 1″ drop or so) and Race (about a 2.5″ drop or so). If you’re driving on the street, DEFINITELY go with the Sport springs. Race springs will have you scraping the precious underside of your car all the time, and cause fender rubbing in most cases. I say moderately stiff springs (H&R Sports) are the best way to go.

On your previous cars, I’m actually very interested in Porsches. I’ve driven the 944 Turbo, which was a blast. You can definitely tell that the transmission is actually in the back of the car, and the engine in the front. It’s nimble, almost twitchy in my experience. Going from that to the understeering CRX is a whole new world, but a very worthwhile experience. If you get the chance, try driving a race-prepped truck at some point. It really shows the extremities of a vehicle’s capabilities right away.

On pictures…
I’ve actually been looking into featuring some other peoples’ cars lately. If you’d like to be the first, shoot me an email at drummingpariah (at symbol) gmail dot com. I had a features section up for a short time in hopes that I’d be able to populate it, but too many other things came up all at once. Now that things have settled, I think it’s a more realistic project to tackle.

I’ve had quite a few Porsches, mostly 944 Turbo’s/S2’s and one Boxster S. I’ve done one full weekend DE event with the Porsche club, but I’m still a very novice driver. I love the light feel of the CRX, but the front wheel drive still feels funny to me when I try to push it a little. I good course with the CRX would probably be just the thing.

How do you post pictures here?

The biggest problem you’re looking at right now is the 70/30 weight balance of a stock CRX. I suggest a mild once-over of the stock suspension. As I recommended here, H&R Sport (not Race) springs and KYB AGX struts are a good idea, and a larger rear sway bar will help to stiffen the rear a little and control that understeer you constantly fight. If that’s not enough, you can get a smaller front sway bar, or get a strut bar for the rear.

If you’re really serious about learning, it’s probably a good idea to go take a driving course. I don’t know what instructors have good repuatations down in SoCal, but you could certainly head down here:
SCCA

to get some good recommendations. A driving course will help you to nail down exactly what your wants and needs are in addition to giving you a practical hands-on understanding of vehicular physics. A book can offer a lot, but nothing’s the same as serious seat time.

Don’t make huge modifications all at once, try to make small changes and get used to the difference in driving before going further. It’s easy to screw up your suspension geometry by doing too much all at once.

Good luck, and take lots of pictures!

I didn’t see that you had replied to this previously. Sorry for the late response. I don’t get up to S.F. very often but thanks for the kind offer anyway. I wish there were more mildly modified CRX’s around so I could see what combination of stuff would appeal to me. I’m reading a book on suspension modifications in general, but it gets pretty deep pretty quick. What I DON’T want to do is get a bunch of upgrades that DON’T work together well and end up with a car that handles worse than stock. What I’d like is a VERY crisp-handling, street car. So far down here I run into shops that either ask me “What do you want….” which I can’t really answer specifically. I know suspensions are all a set of compromises ;-). I’d like a street Si that handles like an old Lotus Elan ;-). The stock car is surprisingly good–darts around well, but with just a bit quicker reaction to driver inputs and an overall “tighter” feeling in the twisties.

stp