check it out - - after 3 months of waiting, FINALLY i have everything i need. Skunk 2 front and rear camber kit, Koni Yellow Sport shocks and struts, and Ground Control coilovers. im hoping that me and my dad can install most of this ourselves but im going to be honest, i dont even know how the coilovers go on the shocks/struts. and which ones go on which? well is there any tips/advice...anything i need to know before installing? anything else i need?? take a look at the pics and tell me. i cant wait to lower it!!!

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very nice set up i think you will be happy with it, sorry i haven't installed coilovers before so i can't help you their good luck with the install

installing is pretty straight forward. just get some extra bolts before the install in case the lca bolts break or seize up on you.

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awesome!

I sent you the link to the Koni install writeup, right?

first of all, throw away the silver spring perches. you don't need them. The shocks on the left are for the rear. Look at the springs, there is a series of 3 numbers on them. The last one is the spring rate. If you ordered standard rates, the higher one goes in the front. You will have to cut the bump stops in half, and trim the dust boot down to about 3". You'll also have to enlarge the hole in the dust boot for the Konis' larger shaft. Other than that... there should be instructions in the box with the Ground Controls, I think. You'll reuse the stock top hats, washers, and rubber bushings. Good luck with everything! I'll be away from the computer most of the weekend, but I'll check in at some point, so post here if you have any trouble.

thanks mxs, and yes you sent me a link. well hopefully i can attempt this tomorrow. what is the dust boot?

It's this black plastic sleeve over the shaft of your stock shocks.

Amazing! Lets see some install pics too. How much did it end up costing for everything?

camber kit - $295 shipped off ebay and then the koni's and ground controls as a kit - $845 shipped from redshift. i think i got this stuff for a very good price. well tomorrow is the day ( actually today ) as it being 12:18 a.m. I really do hope i can do this and that everything works out good. mxs, when you put the sleeve on the koni shock or strut, doesnt the part have to slide over that stopping clip on the koni? ( you can turn it one way and it will set directly on it and then the other way it slides right over the clip thing and its hidden. im pretty sure this is the way it goes. )

Ok, well i don't have that same setup, i dont hvae that kind of money (wish i did), but i did my setup myself, so ill check up and let me know if you have any questions and i might be able to help

ok so in my picture, the ground controls on the right are for the rear? the spring rate is smaller and so are the springs. but the coilover part....the threaded part is longer than the other one. i figured this would go with the front ones. thats the way they were shipped though. is this correct?

I think that's right, shorter springs with longer sleeves

shorter springs longer sleeves = rear? ok well i did get around to taking my pass. side front off but didnt put the new one in. i know how to do that now and i went and rented a spring compressor. i took it off and had to put the stock one back in to get home from a friend's. well hopefully ill have some time off from school/baseball this week and have time to do something on it. im sure ill have more questions though! ill be posting some pics to...

here are some pics from today when i installed my pass. side front...i might try the camber kit tomorrow and am going to do the drivers side. hopefully ill get some pics of the install on that side now that i know what im doing and stuff. well, somewhat. so im a quarter of the way there!!! looks great and im sure ill have to make some adjustments, but that doesnt take long. pics-- started off with 3 fingers and now is only one. i like this height but do you think its too low? my dad says it need to be about 1/2" higher.

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the height is fine, you should be good driving with it like that. looks like you are on you way into getting a sweet suspension set up. only 3 more to go.

cool. You need to at least lower it to the point where you have less wheelgap than sidewall. :)

Its hard to tell, but that looks like a good hight to me. My back tires tuck and my fronts theres like ahafe a inchgap almost like that. You could probably go half a inch lower tho.

http://www.hondacivicforum.com/upfiles/3700/DFEC44BFAA4849A29273D6A2369AB8BE.jpg

Should have done the shocker.

ORIGINAL: mill$civic

Its hard to tell, but that looks like a good hight to me. My back tires tuck and my fronts theres like ahafe a inchgap almost like that. You could probably go half a inch lower tho.


do your back tires wear unevenly because they tuck?

i probably will go a little lower but i was just showing my dad the adjustability features. me and my friend did this yesterday and im going to do the drivers side today. and also, is it hard to put on my new front camber kit? it looks to me like its pretty easy just take the pin out or whatever and the 2 nuts. also, when i put my bumpstops on they were just sitting there and could move...the stock ones sat in that one spot you know but these just fell all the way down and will travel up. is this correct?

damn jhs, looks good man :)

front camber kit is a walk in the park. Just make sure you tighten the 4 set screws because they come loose on the kit. I made that mistake in my excitement to go test drive it. very very loose feel. Anyhow, the fronts are easy, when you get to the rears, you may have some trouble. I couldn't get the bolt that went through thetrailing armout, so I wound up finding a bolt like it and just using a reciprocating saw to cut the bolt out. When I got it out the bolt turned out to be seized to the metal part of the bushing. So, I really had no other choice. Maybe you'll get lucky. Just a heads up though.

ORIGINAL: jhsplaya08

when i put my bumpstops on they were just sitting there and could move...the stock ones sat in that one spot you know but these just fell all the way down and will travel up. is this correct?


Mine actually got jammed up into the dust boot after some time.

i just got done with the drivers side. it was 2x as hard as the pass. side because there was pressure on everything. anyways im hoping to do the back this weekend and get my alignment nect week sometime. i also installed my camber arm on the drivers side. its going good and looking great and i cant wait until im finished. and oh, please forgive me - my car is VERY dirty but only because ive been workin on it and havent had time to wash.... here are some more pics -

everything look right here?

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I'm ordering that same camber kit... I've been driving around without one. How hard was it to install the camber kit?

i dont know about the rear but the front wasnt hard. just took some time because the bolts are hard to get to and you can only turn it like one time....i havent adjusted it yet though.

haha i undid the upper control arm when i installed the front just cuz i thought it made the install easier.

ORIGINAL: WhiteRabbit1021

I'm ordering that same camber kit... I've been driving around without one. How hard was it to install the camber kit?


Go read post #20 /\

ORIGINAL: jonyg98civicex

ORIGINAL: mill$civic

Its hard to tell, but that looks like a good hight to me. My back tires tuck and my fronts theres like ahafe a inchgap almost like that. You could probably go half a inch lower tho.


do your back tires wear unevenly because they tuck?


Nope. Not that I see.


Your car is looking mint jhsplaya08!. I cant wate to see it all dropped. Go for a photoshoot drive!

ORIGINAL: jhsplaya08

everything look right here?

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yes! http://www.hondacivicforum.com/micons/m6.gif

the rear will be harder to get the bottom bolts out. have fun with that. [8D]

well that sucks. the front is finished!! i have both camber arms on and everything too. its not adjusted and fine tuned and all that but i will when i get it finished. saturday im going to try and do the back. is there any tips or tricks to do it? also, when i go and get my alignment, will they adjust the camber? (the 4 allen wrench screws) to the proper setting?

yeah, they'll adjust it to where it needs to be. On the backs though, make sure there is 1/4" between the center part and the two ends. Otherwise they won't be able to adjust it and you'll end up pulling the rear end back off to fix it. Here's a picture if you don't understand what I'm saying.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s47/schimmel03/REAR20CAMBER20KIT05.jpg

why do i have to do that? where it wont get tight or something?

well when people tell you the back will be harder...it depends. Cuz if they bolts aren't stuck (very unlikely), it is technically much easier and the geometry is easier to mess with. If they are stuck...have fun.

pb blaster will your best friend ^

ORIGINAL: jhsplaya08

when i go and get my alignment, will they adjust the camber?


Start calling around now to find a shop that will do it. I'm sure some big national chain stores won't even touch it, since it's not factory. Another reason I think camber kits are unnecessary [8D]

ORIGINAL: FlipHKD720

pb blaster will your best friend ^


are you kidding...you obviously haven't done it yet. I actually took the lca out of the car, with the bolt broken through it. I used a hydraulic press to try to push the bolt out, no good. I let it sit in pb for a day, still no luck. I ended up DRILLING the bolt out of the bushing. pb blaster, at least for the bolts through the bushings won't help much.

sorry i just realized the opening of that sounded kind of rude...i didnt mean it that way.

so, what should i do? thats not what i wanted to hear.....well ill give it a shot tomorrow and hopefully i can get them out or whatever. i dont know what screws you all are talking about but im sure ill figure it out.

It's the bolts you have to take out, you may get lucky, but more then likely you will have to saw them off. In which case you need new bolts (they're like 7 bucks each where I got them) I needed 4 of them.

Ok, the bolts in green are easy to take out and the ones in red are going to be a PITA. Chances are you'll have to cut the one for the camber kit out but with enough heat, pb blaster, and more heatthe strut oneshould come loose. "SHOULD". I can't express enough how much heat and pb blaster will help. AND DON'T USE AN IMPACT!! It'll just round off the head. Use a breaker bar and the 14mm socket. Here:
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s47/schimmel03/rearend.jpg

Your saving grace is that you are in the south so your car hasn't been through seven salty winters. They may come out just fine. You might just need some muscle and a breaker bar. Hell, I think Sniper got his out with an open-ended wrench

luckily on my hatch i didn't have any trouble with the bolts and i live in the south. but my hatch has a bunch of miles on it and the struts had never been changed. if you have access to air tools that always helps good luck dude

im out of ideas...ive been working on it for over 2 hours and cant even get the stock shock out. there is a TON of pressure pushing up and i dont know what to do. i have all the bolts out and all i need to do is just get the shock over the lca and come out....

is it on the front or back your having trouble?

the back...there is soo much pressure pushing up that i cant get the shock off. ive tried pushing down, jacking up, etc etc etc....been working on it nearly 3 hours now and still havent got it off. what in the **** do i do? i thought about taking the lower control arm bolt off but if that has any pressure on it, then i really dont want to do that. i give up for today.

ok i see what you mean on this pic is what i had to do to get some room to pull the strut out.but i don't know if your civic is the same mines a 1992

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/Peg_Leghcf/struts005-1.jpg

To get your strut out, you need to take the bolt that hold your Lower control arm to the body off. Then that'll drop down and you can push the trailing arm and all down and it'll slide off.

ORIGINAL: Schimmel03

To get your strut out, you need to take the bolt that hold your Lower control arm to the body off. Then that'll drop down and you can push the trailing arm and all down and it'll slide off.


This is what i did as well.

so take the bolt off that holds the tie bar on ( if you have one which i do...) in the near middle of the car right? and this will just drop down and there is no trouble getting it realigned right? i dont want this thing to have 200lbs of pressure on it when i take the bolt off....

well anyways, check out my pic of the completed front. seems like a good height to me. look at the can, the bottom of my bumper is pretty much even with it.


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ORIGINAL: Schimmel03

To get your strut out, you need to take the bolt that hold your Lower control arm to the body off. Then that'll drop down and you can push the trailing arm and all down and it'll slide off.


yeah, take one of the other 2 LCA bolts out. You won't get it out otherwise!

Peg's idea would work too, you're replacing that part anyway!!

which one would you take out? the one towards the middle holding the tie bar or the one up close to the brake rotor? it seems like the one in the middle would be easier.

on my car the middle one came out easier.

Middle one for sure, the other one snapped on mine and i had a lot of work getting it out. The middle one came right off on mine, the only of the three that did.

oh ok well thats good to know. i wont be working on it until probably this coming saturday. and when i do take out the screw, the control arm will just fall straight down? --beta club convention is this week, 2 baseball games, AND PROM....so yea...

Prom? Damn youngin. Anyhow, the LCA won't fall straight down, you'll need to pull it out or tap it out with a hammer from the housing its in and then it'll hang there. Shouldn't take much to get the strut out after that.

well i meant it would just come out WITHOUT any pressure pulling it back up, right? yea, im only 17 years old.

any updates? I LOVE your car dude.

no im up in the city away from home until thursday afternoon. and then i have a baseball game that night and prom friday. hopefully i can do something with the rear saturday. thanks for the props on my car!!

np...you have the set up i would have (if i had the money) and the car i would have (if i had the money:() Haha, but I make do with what I have and have fun with it.

well today i actually had a little time to work on the rear and i did what you all said, took the middle lca bolt out. that worked and i had the shock off within 15 mins. well i get it off and start to compress the springs and stuff then start to put the allen head in the top. yea, one turn and it stripped. an hour more of work and you see this--

yes, screwed up major PITA!!! well i havent put everything back on yet because i have a date tonight. lol, but i got the camber kit on and maybe i can get this done when i get home.

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damn did u cut the bolt off? atleast u have some nice new shocks and wont have to worry too much about it. still a major pain...i stripped one of my oem shocks with the allen key when replacing it, what a b*tch that was[:@]

yep with a dremel took and alot of banging with a wedge and hammer. i got home at 11:30 and started working on my car. its 1:40 now and im really tired. i got pissed off when i spent about 45 mins trying to get the lca screw to line back up. i have it through the hole but i cant get it to start in the threads. i tried alot of stuff and it got the best of me so tomorrow, i should be able to get it with a helping hand. so yea, i have it all on just need to get that one screw back on....

update---LOOK AT ALL THAT CRAP!!!

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well after about 2 weeks, i can say that i am DONE.i still have to adjust the coilovers a bit because the back is too low ( itsrubbing ) and the front drivers side is about 1/2" lower than the pass side.i need to set all of this and then get an alignment correct? well here are some pics - - everything look right with the rear?

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here are a few more they wouldnt fit on that post. and also on the first picture, my trunk isn't shut all the way so dont think its all f'd up. lol. that was before everything had really settled. i liked that height but now its about an inch lower than that. oh well, i can fix it.

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word!

yeah, you'll need to raise it back up in a couple days. :)

Did you cut the bump stops in half? I can't really tell.

Also, you might need to trim the dust boot a little more too. They'll bottom out on the threaded sleeve if you go too low!

yea the back is already saggin. and yes i cut the bumpstops in half.well thanks for all your help EVERYBODY!!!

looks awesome man.

no problem! hope I helped!

did you find a good alignment shop?

havent had time to look for one yet but i think i know of a place. im going to call sometime when i am free.

Looks killer. I love the paint on that car. Glad you finally got it done? I hate finishing projects because then you just want to do another one. My car is a money whore.

looks hella good! nice work.

yea ill post up some good pics when i have an alignment and everything set the way i want it. might be a week or 2 though.

It usually only takes a shop 30 minutes to do an alignment, get it done asap

Everything looks great man, nice work

looks really good....how low did u end up goin? and did u put on a camber kit?

That's freaking awesome:)

really i dont know how low. i use to get 4 fingers between the fender and tire in the back and 3 up front...here are some before and after--maybe like 3" in the back and 2 1/2 up front? i dunno....im adjusting everything thursday and hopefully get an alignment.

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whoa. looks like you're tuckin' in teh front.

Thats hot:D(paris lol)
100% better then before! You car looks great man, I like it alot...the coilovers made such a differance. Keep up the good work on it! A++

Damn, I still love that color. Everytime I look at your car it makes me want to paint mine. Looks incredible.

Looking real good man. Your car has my vote if it comes up in ROTM.

i got some new pics today. sorry it was rainy and a little bit dark. but i do have everything set like i want it. next week im getting an alignment too. what do you think about this height? raised up about 1/2"....i honestly think this is about as low as i can go because the roads are horrible here and its a daily driver. i think its a good low height though.

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looks sick as hell, about where imma set mine to

it looks a little lower than mine but I think that's just the illusion created by your little tiny sidewalls. [8D]

take it easy for a while, you'll be OK.

im gonna tell you, they really are a pain to set. MAKE sure before you put them on you have them set exactly the same in the front, then in the back too. and once you get them on, then you can just count the # of turns u go up or down. my drivers side front had to be turned 4 more times up than the pass. side. once you get it on, you will see what im talking about but it just takes time.

yea so im curious....do you guys compensate for the infamous "Honda lean" with new coilovers???? basically what im askin is, do you drop the passenger side lower than the driver's side so they are even looking although the weight is not evenly distributed??? i was trying to think of what would be the faults of doing this, but i cant seem to think of any.....

when lowered, i had both fronts the exact same setting on the coils. but, the front drivers side was almost an inch lower. so now everything is at a different setting but at the same height. so yea i guess so. and then in the back it was just the opposite.