This is one of the best birthday gifts I have given myself in a while. Mad props to Fire4Fly for help'n me out with the install and thanks to FormulRedline for helping me research.

Cusco front sway bar:
32mm hollow vs. 26mm hollow OEM
172% stifness or 72% OVER stock stiffness
Impression:
So far it has improved rear grip under power, which is why I bought it, and the increased fornt roll stiffness has decreased steering effort slightly. Upon turn in, the front stiffness is appearant, the front end feels more flat. When I transition form coast to throttle, the rear is buttoned down signifigantly more and this is with bald rear tires. track day is in 2 weeks and that will be the real test.
Bottom line:
Great purchase thus far, $260 for a noticeable increase in rear grip. MY99-01 have a HIGHER rear spring rate in the rear All cars after MY02 have stiffer front springs, so not sure what effect the FSB would have on those.

APEXi N1 single exhaust:
about 20lb.s vs. 50lb. OEM
Impression:
Loud - in a good way. This is such a subjective topic but my opinion is a great, deep tone in the 2-5000rpm range with a sharp scream in VTEC. Butt dyno says there is a slight increase in tq on the mid rpm range and a little more power up top, but who knows. The best part, other than losing 30lb.s, is the lightened fly wheel effect which I suspect is due to the drop in back pressure. When I down change and blip the throttle, it seems to wind up quicker. I also installed a K&N drop-in filter with it. I might reset the ECU soon too.
Bottom line:
Other than the obvious benefits, just what my car needed to keep me entertained for a while and spice things up a little, well worth the $575 shipped. Its probably too loud for the majority of owners in the club.

I'll try to get pics up this week.

 

Nice Can't wait to see it in person.

Pics please

 

Disappointed: I was expecting a Front Strut Brace

 

FSB
Slightly counter-intuitive that a stiffer fsb should give more rear grip... I guess that's because it keeps the car 'flatter' allowing the rear suspension to work less hard to maintain the contact patch

And, just why would you be "coast"ing?

N1
I'd be interested in a comparison against Dave's J's single

 

Yes the increased front roll stiffness evens out the load better for all 4 corners. I am braking, lifting off the brake pedal, turning-in, no throttle or brake input yet(coast), then around the apex i m adding throttle. Mind you this is on a public road and obviously each croner is different so sometimes I am brake to throttle, but the majority I am brake to coast to throttle. Either way, the transition form decelrative inertia to accelerative inertia now is much more stable at the back of the car

 

Congrats on the new toys

 

WooHoo! I've got to hear your new exhaust! Congratulations.

 

Nice. That's the same exhaust humbles2k (Enrique) has. It is really loud indeed, but does sound great ... especially with a testpipe.

 

I bolded the important parts for those that want to skip the technical explanation:

The greater the normal force on a tire, the greater the grip it provides. However, this does not happen in a linear fashion (think diminishing returns on grip with greater normal force). Thinking about just two wheels for now, this property means that if you transfer a constant mass to one side of an axle, that side gains less grip than the other gives up, decreasing the overall grip of that axle.

Now expanding to a four wheel system, mass is still constant. So when we go around a corner, our weight (a force) transfer is only a function of acceleration (mostly the centripetal acceleration of cornering with a bit of longitudinal acceleration from brakes or gas). Assuming for this example that we are at steady state cornering (no brake or gas), then for any given speed and cornering radius, we will have a constant weight transfer. This weight transfer is based on acceleration force, not actual movement of the car. The actual mass transfer (relative to the centerline of the wheels) is a small weight transfer compared to that of the centripetal acceleration vector (though that might not be true on a minivan or something else with high cg and low roll stiffness to begin with). Therefore, our stiffer sway bar is basically effecting which end of the car the weight transfer happens on. In this case, it makes more weight transfer happen at the front of the car.

Hence, the rear axle gains grip relative the front, decreasing oversteer.

 

I follow the reasoning but am still unclear how a stiffer roll bar means more weight transfer at the front - I'd have thought the delta was in favor of a weaker bar since that allows mass transfer as well as the centripetal acceleration...

Isn't centripetal acceleration dependant on / constant for the whole car, & independant of the roll of the car, so the additional roll from a weaker bar would increase the mass transfer at the front => increasing grip at the rear relative to the front, & reducing oversteer - i.e. the opposite of what you're describing?!?