Step one is to put the Bilstein PSS9s on eBay before they're damaged in the dirt. The Corrado PSS9 kit has less total stroke than the stock shocks, which means no amount of re-valving will make them dirt-worthy.
With the money you just made, buy a set of Bilstein HDs, but don't bother taking them out of their boxes. Instead, go to www.bilstein.com, click on the Services link and follow the instructions for sending them in for re-valving. When you do, state that they're for a rallycross car and give your car's corner weights (go to a truck scale and weigh each end of the car) and spring rates.
About those spring rates... the simplest thing is to start with stock springs. Hopefully you saved those. If you need taller and/or stiffer springs, coilover sleeves can be added later, but you can also try stock springs from heavier Volskwagens that shared your Corrado's suspension.
Oh, and the anti-roll bars too. You want the individual wheels to be as free to move as possible, so they can maintain contact over ruts and dips, so go back to the stock bars as well. Don't put the big ones on eBay just yet, though. If you're struggling to get the car to rotate, it may be worth putting the big rear bar back on, or removing the front one.
If you want to stay out of rally tire classes, grab some snow tires instead. And if you really like doing this rallycross thing, you'd be wise to build at least a rudimentary skidplate, just to keep the oil on the inside.
Q Living Life In DI recently inherited a 2000 Civic with an automatic transmission for use as my winter car. I've only been driving it for two weeks and I'm already sick of rolling around with my left foot resting on the floor like every other lazy-ass American driver. Even more annoying is the violent mid-corner downshift thrown into any attempt at having fun on a tight curve.
Will it hurt my slushbox to downshift on corner approach? I'm not familiar with the electronically controlled auto trans, but it seems like sliding the gear selector from Drive to second or third would just send the trans the same signal the computer does when it's time to change gears. Something feels fundamentally wrong about downshifting an automatic and I wouldn't be asking the question, except that I have a not-so-intelligent friend who does it on a regular basis with no adverse affect (as yet).Brian BeefGeneva, IL
A There's a good rule of thumb to know if you're hurting anything mechanical. If there's any lurching, grinding, groaning, popping, squealing, or abnormal resistance, you're probably doing something bad. If you can do whatever you're doing smoothly, with minimal effort, you're probably going to be just fine.
Downshifting an automatic usually results in a lurch. Not good. That lurch is the transmission dragging the engine up to speed, and all that dragging is being accomplished through the slipping of some kind of bands, or clutches, chainmail, your grandpa's old leather belt, or whatever the hell it is that changes gears in one of those stupid things. Is that lurch-and the attendant slippage-any worse than the lurch when that piece of crap downshifts on its own in the middle of a corner? Not really. So it's probably within the transmission's design limits.
Beyond the wear, though, think of the smoothness of your driving. Do you really want to be lurching through corner entry just to avoid lurching through the apex? Hardly. Instead, try rev-matching that downshift. It isn't easy, but if you can predict the agonizing delay between your downshift signal to the engine room and the response of those oily little sea monkeys in the transmission, you can throw in a gentle little stab of throttle to smooth the whole mess out.