lowering the civic just a tad

hey im planning on going through my suspension here pretty soon putting in all new bushings and the works. was planning on lowering the car 1 inch front and back. my question is do you think i will be able to get away with the stock adjustments for the alignment or should i be buying an alignment kit. ive done a bit of work on suspensions but never anything performance. so any recommendation for the alignment and or what i should be buying to correct the change in alignment would be sweet. thanks Paul

Also the car is a 1990 honda civic dx

1" is a fairly small drop, you should be fine without a camber kit.

1" is a fairly small drop, you should be fine without a camber kit.

ditto...i'd still go get an alignment...are you using springs or coilovers?

thats good to hear. im going to go with lowering springs. i also have a set of skunk 2 coil overs that i got used if any body is in need. when doing bushings ive heard that the rear trailing arm bushing from energy suspension is to stiff any body else hear this or have any thoughts

How much for the skunk 2 coilovers? Yes the energy suspension bushings are very stiff, not that thats a bad thing, but they squeak alot.

I would just go get an OEM replacement bushing for your trailing arm. The ES is gonna be really stiff and squeaky(squeaky doesn't bother me) but installing trailing arms can be a PITA with factory busted bushings sometimes...I can't imagine trying to do it with ES bushings.

Well I can, as I have them. They don't squeak one bit. Just use the lube that comes with them. And they are stiffer, but its a very good stiff. They make the ride more confident. They are trailing arms..they just pivot, they don't take a load really so they don't take a shock. If your going to go to all the trouble of taking the arm out to get the original bushings out you may as well do the energy ones. its actually easier because it is possible to do it without a press, I had a press but used a vice instead and it worked great.

my arms.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/100_2063.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/100_2065.jpg

How much harder is it to reinstall the arms with those? I've installed tons of trailing arms, all with bad bushings and very seldom can I get lucky enough for it to line perfectly up.

There is more force than you think on that bushing...considering you can't find a good OEM bushing in any used arms. So far from what I can tell, that is one of the weakest spots on the rear suspension, seems to be the first to go out.

Mine lined up with ease. Just make sure you put the pin back in right, it is offset.

So, why are the ES bushings cheaper than the OEM ones? How long have you had them installed? Seem to wear ok? I have always been told they squeak terribly, but obviously they dont always if they are good for you.

So, why are the ES bushings cheaper than the OEM ones?

a good percentage of all aftermarket products are cheaper than OEM

Ive had them for about 3 months now. They havent worn at all, I used the lube they provided (which is like thick icing rather than grease) and they dont make a bit of noise.

a good percentage of all aftermarket products are cheaper than OEM
But most of the energy suspension bushings are more expensive than OEM.:bigthumb:

well i will be starting on the bushings tomorow at school. i went with the ES master kit and the ES trailing arm bushings. as for the coil overs 100 shipped as i got them for 75 and i never used so i figure it would even out with the shipping. i installed a phantom grip LSD today and am waiting for the new bearings and blocker ring kit to come in so i can put the transmission back together. so hopefully with the the down time waiting for the kit i will be able to get the bushings done as i have presses and all that jazz at my disposal. im still waiting on my lowering springs. Jegs had them on back order so they should be sent out pretty soon. also hacked off the fart cannon that came with my aftermarket exhaust and slaped on a magnaflow performance seires muff witch sounds way better. lot deeper and way less farty/ raspy,but incredibly loud. gave her the full beans in second gear while going though a tunnel and a guy walking through it had to cover his ears . hopefuly will have some pictures when its all said and done.

**edit** Also i have had these trailing arms out of 92 interga ls laying around for a while am i able to just use the hubs from them on my curent trailing arm on the civic. forgot i had them till i saw a previous post of mine asking about them. so i already have all the bushings for my curent set up can i just use the hubs from them for the disk coversion or would i have to use the whole arm. thanks

also the face dealy in BLU's sig is relly freaking me out, but yet i cant turn away

gave her the full beans in second gear while going though a tunnel and a guy walking through it had to cover his ears .

i loved downshifting when going turough the tunnel...my exhaust was incredibly loud...very deep and very loud...but VB officials made me change it...i'm thinking of getting a magnaflo exhaust as mine just sits way too low
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/blucivic1/DSC01080.jpg

how is that muffler even still on the car. that low it would have been long gone on the roads around me. i hacked off the exact same muffler you have on there in that pic, looks wise anyway dont know if it would be the same brand as i went the ebay route and ended up with i belive a tsudo N1 exhaust. the magnaflow i got is pretty flat like maybe 3 inches thick. cost about 82 from checker. would really help you out with ground clearance i mean my god thats low

well i got all of the front bushings in today. was not the funnest thing i have ever done but it wasent terrible if you got the tools. getting the metal sleeve that goes around the bushing itself to press out was dam near impossible so we ended up pressing the rubber out and then cutting both sides of the sleeve then knocking them out with the air chisel. still have all the rears to do and am not looking forward to the trailing arm bushings. may have to save those till next semester when i have suspension and steering class.the trailing arms are by far in the worst shape of them all. they are almost completly torn on the bottom side. tomorrow i will be putting in all new ball joints and hopefully the bearings and blocker rings will be in to put the trans back together.

Trailing arm bushings are always the worse. So far, even with me working at a salvage yard for a year, I have yet to find a Honda with good trailing arm bushings still in them.

Well replacing them (with energy ones anyway) is not that bad. The sleeves do not come out. You just cut the rubber out, and then push the new ones into the metal sleeve.

How hard was it to get the metal bracket(i guess you can call it that) out of the old bushing, Frodo?

Well once you cut the core chunk of rubber out, I put it in a vise and used a razor knife..just peeling it away in layers till I got to where I could see the metal, then I put a set of vice grips on the flap that was left and peeled it back while cutting away any rubber left. I then made sure it was smooth with a wire wheel and moved on from there. Its more like a dowel pin thats flattened on both ends..one end has a slotted hole and the other is round. And the pin is slightly offset so make note of the orientation before you remove it.

just curious are you talking about the trailing arm bushing that the metal sleeve does not have to come out on? or all of them cause the guide that came with the ES master kit said that those sleves needed to be removed.

Lets make this a little clearer.

And just so ya know, the RTA bushings arent included in the master kit.

http://www.energysuspension.com/pdf_instruc/17339.PDF

im aware as i bought them seperately. i havent opened them up yet so i figured they would have the same instructions as the master kit.
have you installed them in the car like they show in the instuctions or did you take the trailing arm out.

well I already had the arms out because I was doing a rear disc conversion and they came with the arms. I used a vise to push the bushings in..mostly because I couldnt find washers that size ANYWHERE.

so i got my transmission all back together and got it back in the car today. drove out of the school and about a mile down the road and she poped out of 3rd gear and 4th so its got to come back out on monday. this really sucks as it was so smooth and shifted great. untill this happend that is. also got my lowering springs today but cant work on the car till monday and the transmission will take priority of course. seems to be my luck though on this car. probably is just something stupid that i overlooked. :frown: so my question is to anybody who has rebuilt or anything with these transmissions. can the synco sleeve go on both ways or will it only go on one way. also i found the procedure for end play but can not find the specs it should be in. thanks paul

well its done aside from having to put another clutch (again). got all the bushings, lowering springs, and struts in. one of the new transmission bearings we put in litterally exploded so when i would shift into 3 or 4th it would lift the whole input shaft up instead of moving the syncro sleeve. got it all fixed and tranny is smooth as beans now. car looks great sitting an inch lower.(seems like more than that in the rear to me) when all this non sense is over and done with i will get some pics up here so this thead will be worth something. i have the motor mount inserts so there is a ton of vibration. 4 oil pan bolt worked there way out and disapeared. but still did not leak. put new ones in and gues what..... it started leaking. i belive this is what took out my clutch. also the bit of time i actually got to drive it it was raining but got dam near no wheel spin launching the car with that phantom grip LSD. defintly took care of a lot of tourque steer also.

i can't stind my car in the mornings...seems like when i start my car everything vibrates b/c i have solid rubber engine mounts

well it just keeps getting funner and funner but it is officaly completed besides a bath. put the clutch in yesterday with a new oil pan gasket and rear main seal, the rear main wasent leaking but i figured what the hell. got it home after the install and it was still dripping a bit so i pulled off the inspection cover and it was wet on the tranny side and not the oil pan side. turns out the company that put together the rebuild kit has there head up there asses. the imput shaft seal was to big and did not seal on the imput shaft so i had to go to honda and get one. we litteraly had that tranny out and apart in 30 min. so its all good now but what a bunch of crap we had to go through becuse the company that we got the kit from screwed up. so i gonna call and bitch and hopefully get some loot back. the car rides and drives great. shifts like butter and there is no bearing noise witch is great.

so all in all the company we got the rebuild kit form gave me 1 wrong blocker ring, 2 seals that were wrong (one axel,and one imput shaft seal) and one of there bearings exploded after about 5 min of use, witch probly isint thier fault, but wasnt our fault either.put the original bearing in and it works fine. the only thing left to do is the trailing arm bushings. so all in all the only thing that hasent been touched or altered is the body and aside from returing it to it factory glory it will be left alone. Pics soon ...... Thanks Paul

well here are those pictures finally, the car was hit in the back before i got it and has the usual honda rust but it is only just starting , hopefully that will be taken care of this summer. also need to get a battery hold down or move it to the back.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0687.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0678.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0686.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0682.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0680.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0679.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0681.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t70/pbrizzle86/100_0684.jpg

looks pretty good, keep the project moving and keep us updated