Suspension Upgrades

XiongXiong Band Wagon
in Suspension, Braking & Wheels
Original Thread: FF for $565 shipped or Ksport for $750? worth the $200 price tag difference? Purpose is for daily driving, but capable for some corners when needed.

Since no one replied, Im changing it to my suspension upgrades so far:

1. EG Function & Form Coilovers
2. Function7 LCA

TBI:

1. Energy Suspension Bushing + RTA
2. DA Rear Sway Bar

Comments

  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Just purchased a used set of the first gen FF out of eg hatch for $280. Guy said used for about 7k miles, so hopefully still has a little life left.
  • ragenasianragenasian Moderator
    With only 7000 miles on them those things better have a lot of life left. My Tein SS are about 10 years old, they look the part as well but are still holding strong.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    ragenasian wrote:
    With only 7000 miles on them those things better have a lot of life left. My Tein SS are about 10 years old, they look the part as well but are still holding strong.

    About to put them on right now so hopefully still as good. heres what they look like:

    488.jpg
  • ragenasianragenasian Moderator
    It looks like your threads on the coilovers are starting to rust or have some corrosion on them. You are going to want to put something on those to keep that from continuing. They could potentially seize and no longer have the ability to be adjusted. Happened to me and took a good couple of hours to get them unstuck but I destroyed the collar and had to order new ones.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Yeah, I tried adjusting one of them and it wouldnt budge.
  • ragenasianragenasian Moderator
    Get a wire brush and clean all the corrosion and rust up really good (this will keep the collar from collecting all that corrosion while you move it). After you do that soak the collar with some type of penetrating oil. Let it sit and go find the biggest pipe wrench you can. What I did was get it to budge a little and soak it again. Keep moving it back and forth just a little bit at a time. Don't try and move it too far all at once. Just keep working it back and forth, and keep spraying it while you do it.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    ragenasian wrote:
    Get a wire brush and clean all the corrosion and rust up really good (this will keep the collar from collecting all that corrosion while you move it). After you do that soak the collar with some type of penetrating oil. Let it sit and go find the biggest pipe wrench you can. What I did was get it to budge a little and soak it again. Keep moving it back and forth just a little bit at a time. Don't try and move it too far all at once. Just keep working it back and forth, and keep spraying it while you do it.

    Cool, thanks for the adivce.

    I forgot how much it sucks working on old cars. the lower control arm bolt just broke on me. Now need to find a way to drill it out.
  • heavy dutyheavy duty Band Wagon
    Let us know back how it rides. I would like to buy a set but i am getting mixed feelings about them on a wagon.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    heavy duty wrote:
    Let us know back how it rides. I would like to buy a set but i am getting mixed feelings about them on a wagon.

    I wish I could be giving feedback on coil overs, but still waiting on skunk2 lca. My stock lca, one side had to be cut due to broken bolt and one bushing came out while trying to take out struts.

    I went to junkyard, found 4 door da and took out sway bar. My question is will this mount on? I didn't see any holes for the sway bar to mount to chasis?

    Also would it matter which nut I use for the bolt that goes through strut and lca since aftermarket has no thing for just the bolt. I found that the nut for upper strut mount fits th bolt.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Found a set of function7 locally so I decided to pick those up for $160. so my take on ff + lca:

    Value: can't get any better for $280.
    Ride: a lil bumpy, but still pretty smooth. Havent scratched car yet even going through dips and such.
    Recommend: yes

    Maybe in the future, I will buy a set of ksport.

    753.jpg
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Here's a picture of the ES Bushings. Just dropped off the car at a shop to get the bushings and RTA installed:

    879.jpg
    880.jpg
  • Mandalore88Mandalore88 Senior Wagonist
    are you installing the entire set of ES bushings at once?

    Where did you end up ordering your set from?
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Mandalore88 wrote:
    are you installing the entire set of ES bushings at once?

    Where did you end up ordering your set from?

    Yeah, just took it to shop to install everything. Got the kit from amazon: http://amzn.to/m89773
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Is it just me or is there a whole bunch of stuff left uninstalled:

    1. Tranny Shifter Stablizer
    2. Shock & Strut Bushing (because I have aftermarket coilover)

    Anything else you guys see?

    15.jpg
  • JakerJaker familEE
    Rear LCA bushings since you already have the F7 arms and they come with poly bushings. You can't use the shift stabilizer parts because your car is RT4WD and has a cable shifter. Yes, because you have aftermarket shocks with their own top mounts, they didn't use those either. I don't really see anything else that I think would have been missed. How does the car drive now? Did you get it re-aligned after the work was done?
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Jaker wrote:
    Rear LCA bushings since you already have the F7 arms and they come with poly bushings. You can't use the shift stabilizer parts because your car is RT4WD and has a cable shifter. Yes, because you have aftermarket shocks with their own top mounts, they didn't use those either. I don't really see anything else that I think would have been missed. How does the car drive now? Did you get it re-aligned after the work was done?

    I had the lca installed on the stock ones as well. Guess the mechanic said there's another lca set for just the 88 civics.

    Haven't got it realigned yet. Probably do it this weekend. Car handles great now, turns without hesitation. Rear seems to be squeaky a bit and front seems to now make my car scrape the fenders (didn't do this before). Need to raise it up a lil or get smaller tires.

    ***Update: There was a lil slack in the spring, I should of have adjusted this before driving. Just adjusted this right now, the left front went up a lil bit and now the car is no longer as bouncy and doesn't scrape the fenders. Feels a lot more like a sports/luxury car now.
  • quartersquarters Council Member
    i think i see a bag of radius rod/strut rod bushings there. the bag of 4 dome shaped bushings. you definitely want to change those, can make a huge difference, unless you have a traction bar of some kind and they aren't required.

    they are often overlooked. they are the ones on the rod that connect the front lower control arm to the sub-frame. they are hardly visible behind big washers.
  • XiongXiong Band Wagon
    Just purchased a used EF Carbing strut bar, but can't feel too much of a difference in handling.

    Update: not sure, but it seems the car has more a bounce now when making hard turns at higher speeds?
  • The BlockThe Block New Wagonist
    Which Carbing strut bar did you get 2-point, 3-point, or possibly the imposible-to-find 3-point with MC stopper?
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