Civic-EG.com Forum 3.3.1

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:44 am #347183 Hello! I have a 93 civic hatch and the front suspension is shot. The car has gone through 2 previous owners already and I was looking to fix it up some. I'm on a budget and was hoping to do the front suspension in stages. My question is which parts would you do first? Right now I want to have the upper control arms replaced, the bushings in the lower control arms and compliance bushings replaced, and new lower spindle ball joints installed.

Got any suggestions as to which sections to prioritize? The ride feels really bad at the moment and I fear I'll break even more stuff if I continue driving it as it is. The car is my daily and was hoping to do the changes in stages that would relieve the most stress. I'd also like to know which fixes I can put off until the budget permits.

Thank you!

Edited: grammar errors

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:02 pm #347187 Hi

Don't really know how bad your front end is with out driving it.
You could pickup a set of lower ball joints and Discount, Advance, or any parts store. LCA buschings and your UCA bushings can be replaced with a set of POLY from Energy. The kit for the entire car come out to $125.00 with our the rear trailer arm bushings. You should be able to get this done for about $200-$250.00 on parts. If you don't have a press or a torch, look on youtube for videos of people just burning them out. JUST BE CAREFUL.

Start on that and work from there . I did had to start from the same on my 95 HB.

Drive it HARD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
viewtopic.php?t=28277

[teal_dx]

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:28 pm #347188 I think you have the right idea. Start with the issues making the ride unsafe and then when that is all good, move on to a better set of struts and maybe sway bar eventually. The only better idea I have is to do everything at once if budget allows, to save time while you already have everything apart.

Do Not PM me your technical questions. Post them in the forum!
My 1992 SOHC Turbo Hatch
My Youtube Channel: 6th Gear Garage

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 3:40 pm #347192 Thanks for the input, I read mixed reviews and discussion on energy bushings. About how the squeak, or how they could wear out other parts prematurely due to their stiffness. Any input on that?

I'd love to do everything in one go! I'm really worried about disjoining the infamous welds on the nut that holds the compliance bushing's bracket if I were to take it apart often. But from where I am, 2 sets of oe upper control arms come down to about $250, oe compliance bushings about the same for 2, $120 for the two lower spindle balljoints, and about $60 for 4 of the lower control arm bushings. No labor of course since I plan to do these myself anyhow.

But I did get the idea from your posts that maybe I can leave the upper control arm as is for now and work my way up from the compliance bushings and spindle balljoint.

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:03 pm #347198 I did my homework as well on the energy b. on the subject of squeaking. What I did was , on summit racing website, they sell the Polly Grease by its self. Energy suspension brings a little tub, but its not enough to work with. I have a small grease gun that I bought at the dollar store just for this grease. A heavy cote will do the trick.

On the compliance bushing, On the back side of frame where the arm goes into the receiver, there is a small whole there and if you use your finger you will feel the weld on bolt that is there. I ran into the problem of the bolt coming off. I tap the whole just a bit to stick my finger in a remove the loose bolt and used a self locking bolt then tightened to the correct pounds of torque.

Drive it HARD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
viewtopic.php?t=28277

[suspendedHatch]

- Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:59 pm #347201 If the car has a problem, locate and fix the problem first. Then if you feel like replacing bushings and ball joints go right ahead.

Get the wheels off the ground and the car stabilized safely, then grasp the tire and the top and bottom and try to rock it. It should not move at all. If it does, look for where it has movement. Now do the same thing side to side. There will be some movement with the steering obviously, but there shouldn't be a lot of play and it should be even from one wheel to the other.

Look for any loose suspension components, bushings that are rotted away and missing, torn boots on balljoints and tie rods. If the steering itself is loose, consider replacing the inner and outer tie rods, the rack end bushing, and adjusting the rack. You'll need an alignment after.

If you're going to do bushings, make sure your LCAs accommodate a swaybar. It would be a waste to do them on non swaybar LCAs and then have to do them again when you swap.

- Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:10 am #347225 Sounds good. I'll get the front off the ground to take some pictures tomorrow. The steering does feel loose and I hear the occasional creaking and pop sounds. If I can get a hold of them I may go with the energy suspension set to save some cash.

I was also thinking of having the lca powder coated before install, would I have to have the bushing wells covered or is it okay to powder coat those too? I hope I have lca's that have provisions for a front ARB.