Suspension Upgrade need help and comments!

[frantik]

some day those D2s will be mine.. SOMEDAY!!!!!

(or i'll take some koni rears too )

[cygnus x-1]

Hi C,

Thanks, it is good to see some one local, seems like 4 out of 5 people on here are from So Cal. Do you know know any mechanics or shops in these parts.

I do all my own work these days, but there is a shop in Gurnee that I've been to in the past. It's one of those old time family run shops that has been in the same building since like 1920. It would be a trek though if you're in Chicago.

On the sage thing, can you define it or give me some things to look for as indications? I have noticed when the car is sitting on a flat surface the drivers side front seams to dip a little lower that the right side.

That could be tired springs then. On a level surface measure from the ground to the bottom of the wheel arches. The distance should be the same left to right.

Ok, I understand what a spring does and what a shock does, but not familiare with taking them off. When replacing shocks, do the springs get taken off the car?

Yes. The shock is inside the spring like a strut. So you remove the spring and shock as a unit and then separate them. Conceptually it's pretty simple but it can be a big PITA depending on how rusty the bolts are.


C|

[1989AccordLXI]

Hi All,

Checking back in..

Well the winter has been hard on the old muffler. I was trying to get it to last to spring, and then get a new one that would not be destroyed by salt instantly. But last week hit a pot hole, not even one of the soul sucking, car swallowing ones, and the b pipe snaped, just in front of the muffler. The exhast got a little loud for my liking, could have been the rusted crack half way up the b pipe. Replaced with stock in effect, sounds so quite now, its just the way I like it. I would even swear that the car seams to have more umff when accelerating, could a functioning exhast be better for HP and flow than a rusted out one with holes? I was not ready to do a cat back replacement.

Luckily I had been planning to do the suspension and had called a shop that carried tokikos and asked them to order the shoks and springs. Shop name is One 6 Motorsports, there is some nice noise on a civic forum about them. www.one6motorsports.com. They had the basic suspension parts, and got a muffler to do inaddition. It started out simple and as such things go got a little more of a rebuild than I expected.

Tokiko blue shocks
New H &R -1.5 springs, the original stock were a little saggy in one corner .....
....... and as long as the suspension is apart........
While trying to take the old shocks and springs apart ran into problems getting things apart, can you say 20 year old bolts rusted together, and not moving.
So those got cut and needed to be replaced, after they got those off they called and reported that all but one of the bushings were completely toast. So I said fine go ahead and replace all of them that need it. ........ and another as long as the suspension is appart.....

Later that day as they were going over everything they called me back and said you know that clicking noice when you turn the steering wheel, I sayd yeah been there as long as I can remember. (I have owned the car since new) The CV boots have big cracks in them and the CV joints are in bad shape, they tell me. I aks what now. Replace both front axels and new boots and seals, ..... as long as the suspension is apart...

Well I picked the car up yesterday afternoon, and it drives great. A little stiff, but it is 20F here in Chicago and it has brand new shocks and springs, rather than 20 year old ones. Should it soften a little with seating and break in over the next few months? The steering is great!!!! I would never have though that the cv was in that bad of shape. I can feel that steering wheel is a little more responsive and the handeling is crazy good compared to before, not up to the Boxster, but do not want it to be I want a little more comfort and softness than that.

Now to decisions on what to do in the spring to give her a little more power.
Nothing crazy and to expensive, if I can add a few hp it might be good.

New Airfilter, do the K & N standard replacements make a difference?
Or should I just get one of those short ram air cone things?

Will new spark plugs and wires make any difference?
Any way to test FI's to see if they are good, will replaceing them make a difference?

Thanks for all the pointers as I have gone along,