Have some questions need help....

Springs, Struts, Swaybars, Bushings, Tower Braces & more
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Have some questions need help....

By Classiccarsrule85
- Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:20 pm #181442 Well Ive started obtaining suspension parts for my overhaul on my car 1995 honda civic cx if anyone who reads this didnt already know that.....

Anyhow heres what im looking for and im going to be specific as i can so you get a general idea of what im looking for out of my suspension....

I am going to be useing my car as a daily driver/ auto cross racer so dual purpose. Right now it has a B18b1 in it and probaly thats going to stay in there maybe an upgrade to the transmission but fro right nowits a good running motor and i like it alot....

Anyhow Lowering ---
Im not too keen on this subject since ive worked on many lowered cars and well it sucks to try and get them jacked up and stuff like that. so im thinking 1-1.5"s just so its a bit lower and dosent compromise the ease of working on it and stuff like that....

Shocks
-Id like the ability to control the stiffness of the shocks to allow softness and stiffness to create a good suspension tune. There are a lot of decent roads around here with sharp hairpins and things like that which would allow me to tune it some to get a feel for the suspension first before i take it to an autocross meet etc....but im not too sure what to get there

upper and lower control arms-
unsure completely i know i need bushings for the upper control arms so im thinking of just getting brand new ones or something like that maybe get the bushings from energy suspension. however i cant seem to find the ball joint for the upper control arm, since i know how to take them apart just cant seem to find them without being already installed in the arm...

Lower control arms well depends on what happens with my sway bar set up if i have one or not.....right now i have a energy suspension rear control arm bushing setup....so yea depends really i know aftermarkets are lighter but just not sure to get quality ones may be out of my budget and apparently ive heard their bushings arent really that great.....

And now probaly should of put this before the upper and lower control arms but...
-Sway bars-
-My cars a cx hatch never came with any sway bars up front or rear and i mean to be honest i dont mind it but im unsure if i need or want them since i know if i installed a rear sway im getting the asr rear sub frame brace but yea just completely unsure if i need them or if itd be beneficial for me to have them.....If i did get them id have to get oem or aftermarket lower control arms front and back to accommodate the mounting points and id have to get the other stuff too but that wouldn't be that hard just something im wondering about there....

I kinda went opposite of what i really wanted to do but i needed a car and well i guess i went power first and now im working on suspension stuff happened but im just wondering what your suggestions would be i guess im budgeting 600-800 prefer 600 or less since well yea im not made of money and i need to work on my cars body budgeting another amount for that as well......so hopefully soon ill have something worth looking at. but in the mean time id appreciate ideas and comments on what you think would be a good route to take with this suspension.
Thank you
CCR85
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By Vti93T
- Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:52 pm #185350 Well for coilovers/shocks..I'd go with k-sports. My bf has them on his hatch and he auto crosses it and he loves them. You can adjust it to hard or soft and lower it or raise it up. It's also going to be his daily driver for awhile as well.

As for lower control arms I've heard that function 7 lca's are amazing. That's possibly what I will be getting for my car. Don't get blox because the bushings wear out fast and well one dude on here I think already had a problem with them when he was racing.

Hope this helps. I know I didn't answer all your questions but it's a start :thumb:
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By blk92hb
- Sat Apr 03, 2010 6:23 pm #185382 i would say tein but you wont be able to get them dude to your budget but if you want you could go over. i got the tein mono flex and there great i love them. nice stiff ride, adjustable for hight and spring rate/travel, also 16 way damper 8 hard 8 soft.

use stock sway bars just because you can get them from the junk yard switch out the front lca and put in es bushings.

the upper ball joints i dont know about i just got some off the shelf camber kit. rear lca i dont know but i think you can use the stock delsol lca's and rear swaybar.

i hope that helps good luck :thumb:

By AutoXCivic
- Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:25 pm #185538 Shocks/Springs

Get decent set of adjustable coilovers ... this will get you everything you need in these categories and give you the ability to adjust the ride height to your liking. A properly valved set of shocks is WAY more important than having the adjustability. The spring control how stiff the ride is the shocks only control how much they oscillate once they have been hit, they absorb the shocks. My tein basics work great for my autocross/dd car not to stiff on the road and they perform just fine at events. I will be upgrading to PIC coilovers soon, those are a really nice unit ... but out of your price range.

If you are only budgeting about $600 for suspension I would recommend just finding a set of coilovers. You can get a decent set in that price range and it will improve your handling immensely.

K-sport, Function & From, Blackworks are all good budget coilover options.

Control Arms:

Find some OEM control arms (both sets) from an Si or an EX they will have sway bar mounting points and you can just get some ES poly bushings. The weight savings you will have using an aftermarket control arm isn't going to matter that much unless you get to a national level of competitiveness where every ounce really does count. You won't save more than a few pounds by switching. And best of all you can get them cheap at most junkyards.

Sway bars:
You want these, trust me.

Again junkyards are your friend. You can grab both front and rear sway bars from a 92 - 95 EX or Si, or you can also grab them from any 94-01 Integra ... they will mount right up ... Except the rear sway bar from a Type R integra they have different RLCAs, so the sway bar mounts differently. Personally, I would run a 92-95 front sway bar (all the same size I believe) and a 94-01 GSR rear bar, it's a little thicker than the EX/Si bar and will help tame the understeer that civics encounter. This is a good budget set-up and it would not be necessary to run a subframe brace with it. Then you could save for a brace and new rear sway bar.

If you are going to get a brace anyway ... get the beaks Type R kit for 92-95 civics, it comes with all the hardware (including the sway bar) to attach it to our cars, as well as subframe bracing to keep it from tearing anything. It's only $200 plus shipping.

For a good budget AutoX/DD suspension setup I would use:

Function and Form Type 1, Omnipower, Blackworks Coilovers:
-These are all pretty much the same coilover with different companys' names on them.
-These are a very nice unit, and can be had for about $600 - 700. They are not rebound adjustable but the are height adjustable. The nice thing about the height adjustment on these is that it is done from the lower mount so that full shock travel is retained. This is something that you don't get out of coilovers that adjust the height using the spring perch, which will limit the usefulness of the shock absorbing portion.

OEM Front and Rear control arms from EX/Si w/ES bushings:
I already had fronts that had mounting points for a sway bar ... picked up the rears at a junkyard for $30.

OEM EX/Si front sway bar:
Go junkyard hunting, or check locally for people parting their cars out.

OEM GSR rear sway bar:
Again find someone parting a car, or check the junkyards. Got mine with all the hardware for $45, or if you want to spring for a little more cash the beaks Type R kit is a great upgrade for the EGs.

You can get ES bushings for the sway bars as well to tighten everything up a little more.

I would seriously recommend getting the coilovers first and then getting the rest of the peices as you have the money ... or find deals.
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By Ajax1989
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:19 am #185610 ^^dude u are like my hero[ccr85 and autoxcivic].. i was about to start a thread about a cheap/low budget good autocross car and keep it a dd..

not to jack ur therad but what about the strut bars??
should he use the one under the hood and in the trunk/hatch
would that help as well :?

By AutoXCivic
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:12 pm #185673
94_jdm_ferio wrote:^^dude u are like my hero[ccr85 and autoxcivic].. i was about to start a thread about a cheap/low budget good autocross car and keep it a dd..

not to jack ur therad but what about the strut bars??
should he use the one under the hood and in the trunk/hatch
would that help as well :?


Honestly our chassis is pretty rigid on it's own, and in autox you don't usually get going fast enough to have a strut bar make a difference as far as chassis flex. My car came with Spoon strut tower bars (front and rear) ... but I've never removed them to see if there is any difference. I've heard it both ways that they help, and that they don't. If I was doing it on a budget that would be the very last thing I even considered purchasing, because the benefits are ... well ... questionable at best.

I have no real experience, but my car feels really solid. If you want them grab them, they may give you enough peace of mind to push the car harder (because you think you car) in which case they will make you faster, but the benefit of the strut bar itself I believe is very hard to quantify, or is at the very least quite small.
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By blk92hb
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:11 pm #185678 I dont want to be a thread whore but is the si suppose to have a rear sway bar because mine didnt come with one and the rear lca dont have mounting holes for the sway bar
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By 95c1v1c
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:22 pm #185723 4 door ex have the rear sway bar, not sure if you can swap setup over to hatch

By AutoXCivic
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 11:03 pm #185747
blk92hb wrote:I dont want to be a thread whore but is the si suppose to have a rear sway bar because mine didnt come with one and the rear lca dont have mounting holes for the sway bar


Then it may be a rebadged dx or cx ... in any case someone was lying to you because the Si came with with a rear sway bar stock.

Although it could be that the LCAs broke ... somehow ... and they were replaced with LCAs with no sway bar mounting points.

By AutoXCivic
- Mon Apr 05, 2010 11:04 pm #185748
95c1v1c wrote:4 door ex have the rear sway bar, not sure if you can swap setup over to hatch


Yes they can, all you need is the RLCAs, sway bar and all the mounting hardware.
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By blk92hb
- Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:16 pm #185895 Its a true si thats whats in the vin code but thanks for the info. Good luck classic with your set up
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By Ajax1989
- Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:48 pm #186690 not tryin to jack ccr85's thread, but its better to post on a current thread then start a new one..

here is a list of what i want to do to my suspension
* fuction & form type 1 coilovers
* fuction & form RLCA
* beaks or asr rear sub frame brace w/ rear sway bar
* upgrade the front sway bar
* front camber kit
* rear camber kit
* rear disc conversion da/dc/ek
* bigger brakes in front off a da/dc/ek
* enegry suspesion bushing

would this be a good set up??

wat would you recommend for a front sway bar upgrade??
and a rear sway bar
i got a lx sedan wit the stock front sway bar..

By AutoXCivic
- Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:12 pm #186796
94_jdm_ferio wrote:not tryin to jack ccr85's thread, but its better to post on a current thread then start a new one..

here is a list of what i want to do to my suspension
* fuction & form type 1 coilovers
* fuction & form RLCA
* beaks or asr rear sub frame brace w/ rear sway bar
* upgrade the front sway bar
* front camber kit
* rear camber kit
* rear disc conversion da/dc/ek
* bigger brakes in front off a da/dc/ek
* enegry suspesion bushing

would this be a good set up??

wat would you recommend for a front sway bar upgrade??
and a rear sway bar
i got a lx sedan wit the stock front sway bar..


Yes that sounds like great setup (mind you I am looking at this from an AutoX standpoint, but that looks like a good all around entry level setup). You might also look into getting some slotted rotors ... as long as you are upgrading anyway ... or dimpled ... I've heard/read good things about dimpled rotors. And SS brake lines, you will love the way your brake pedal feels after that upgrade.

Also for the rear disks, there were EGs that had disks available as a factory option so that's another place you can look (just sayin').

For sway bars I would get the beaks Type R kit ... allows you to fit an Integra Type R rear sway onto an EG. Comes with the sway bar and is only $220ish. This kit comes with poly bushings.

If you really want to upgrage the front sway bar I recommend getting the OEM Type R Integra front bar ... which you will need all the associated mounting hardware as well (endlinks, bushings, and brackets). Which can all be had for around $200. (The GSR also used the same front bar, it's a 2mm upgrade over the EG stock front bar).

Why do I recommend this combination you might ask? Well since the Type R Integra is one of the best handling FWD car ever built to date ... Honda must be doing something right. I personally have not tried this setup yet ... but I plan to, and I figure you can't really go wrong with part of a suspension package from one of the best handling FWD car ever built (that and I don't think there are a whole lot of other options for upgrading the front sway bar).
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By Ajax1989
- Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:12 am #186852 ok cool, would it be hard to find a type r front sway bar, and ya dimpled rotors are better then drilled, ya some of the ex models had rear disc, what size are the stock eg sway bars?

By AutoXCivic
- Sun Apr 11, 2010 2:41 pm #186978
94_jdm_ferio wrote:ok cool, would it be hard to find a type r front sway bar, and ya dimpled rotors are better then drilled, ya some of the ex models had rear disc, what size are the stock eg sway bars?


Stock sway bars are 22mm front and 11mm rear.

The USDM GSR and ITR used the same size front sway bar ... that should make it easier to find one. Or you can source it from a honda parts dealer online and get brand new OEM equipment. (The sway bars really aren't that expensive from a dealer).
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