strut/shock assembly

[3rd Party]

i'm curious about a few things, 'cause as i'm going through this car more and more i'm starting to get a little weary with how it was put together. i today was trying to raise the car from the ride height it was at previously, and noticed the front passenger side strut assembly wasn't sitting right in the housing brace in the engine compartment. so i fidgeted with a bit and noticed that i could pull the strut up and move the bushing around, then tap it down with a pair of vice grips. so i started scratching my head thinking to myself, "...that's not right..." so i looked at the driver's side front, and it sits just fine so it seems in the housing brace. now the kid i bought this car from put ground control coil overs on this car, and the struts look like they haven't been replaced since God knows when. and i'm wondering what all the strut/shock assembly consists of bushing wise, and washer/nuts, et cetera...i'll try to get some pictures up.

[Pico]

Here's a picture of the front assembly and mounts/bushings
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/picopop/Misc/13SE00_B28.gif

[3rd Party]

thanks a bunch! where do you get those from? do you have a subscription to AllData??

[Pico]

thanks a bunch! where do you get those from? do you have a subscription to AllData??

just go to http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/ you can order from their site if you want

[3rd Party]

AWESOME! that's going to be a GREAT lifesaver! haha:cheers:

[cygnus x-1]

http://www.hondapartsdeals.com/

is also a great site for OEM parts. I've ordered form them many times.

C|

[3rd Party]

hey, thanks too cygnus, i'm always lookin' for good sites to grab parts for while also showing me the assembly. thank god for these sites, haha. :rockon:

[3rd Party]

does Eibach make springs for these cars, or do i have to go through someone else?

[LxAcc510]

If Eibach makes them they're probably rare. I know H&R(1.5"Drop), Goldline(2.25"Drop?), Neuspeed(?), Sprint(not the phone company), and a few others make springs for the 3G. There's a few coilovers too, Dropzone and Ground Control are some. If anything Google 86-89 accord lowering springs or something to that extent...you'll see who makes em.

[turabaka]

Personally I'm fond of my new suspension setup. Tokico blues with sprint springs. It's dropped the perfect amount, and the ride is very tight. Just how I wanted it. I don't have any pics yet, but you'll see how it sits on thursday.

[3rd Party]

yeah, i may just go with the same setup you use with the blues, and sprint springs

[markmdz89hatch]

yeah, i may just go with the same setup you use with the blues, and sprint springs

Pls don't. Yes, Eibach does (did) make two different sets of springs for us. Sportline and Pro-Kit.

The Toki Blues are too weak for the Sprints, or really any other aftermarket spring out there. The Eibach Sportlines are only a 1.6" drop all around too, so it's not too low, but just reduces the wheel gap nicely. The are about the only springs I would even consider using the Toki's on, and even then, right after I put them on, I'd start shopping around, and saving up, for Koni's or revalved Bill's (Billstein).

I suspect the trouble you're having is all caused by the lack of that wonderful little stop washer (#10 in the diag above). My guess is the previous owner took off the dust covers, and the particular ones that he had on there had the washer inside the dust shield, and he never took it out and put it back on the shock before re-assembly.

Check out these threads for more info when choosing your setup:
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48187
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48185
http://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67434


Also, look through the other Sticky'd threads, and other threads in this section, and you'll see all the trials and tribulations of some users, as well as some praise of a setup that I would disregard after looking at the facts in the sticky'd threads.

[MessyHonda]

i bought used tokicos with sportline springs and the car is a bit softer than my neuspeed/tokico set up

[w261w261]

Here's my story, posted a few years ago. I have an SE-i 4 door, and while the Eibach/Bilstein combo isn't the cheapest, I really love it. I only have a 1" drop though.
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OK, after 3 tries I've got it right. I originally ordered a set of Eibach Pro-Kit springs (1 inch drop), and a full set of Bilstein shocks. I didn't know the front Bilsteins had to be revalved (the rears are fine). Upon installation, the front of the car pogo-sticked badly, so I ordered another set of front Bilsteins, and on the advice of Jack French there, had them revalved to 100 compression, 300 rebound (the original specs for them are 46/195). This +almost+ solved the bouncing, but not quite. After the original deflection, the car wouldn't come back as quickly as I liked, but it was very close. So I sent off the original pair and had them revalved to 110/340 (about a 10% increase over try #2)). Just got them on today, and this IS the setup for Eibach/Bilsteins. Any firmer on the shocks, and the ride would be too harsh with no gain.

To me, the extra 10% was worth spending the $65 per shock revalve charge + about $28 shipping + $100 to install. But others could probably live with the 100/300 shocks.

ps: This has been a real educational experience for me. I had no idea about how important it was for the springs and the shocks to be matched correctly. I have had cars that others had modified in this way, and in retrospect, I think that most of my shocks were too firm, unnecessarily so. What you want is the initial deflection to come back and stop evenly, no more, no less. The problem is, without adjustable shocks, the process of getting to the optimal setup is expensive and time-consuming. I personally think the site here should come up with a list of shock/spring combos that have been tried and shown to be perfectly matched. That way the next guy down the line won't have to reinvent the wheel.