If you have anything other than a 92-95 Civic, post it in here
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By eg-guy
#349742 Wheels and drop look great :thumb:
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By FG2_Andrew
#350201 :thumb: :thumb:

trade plus cash on your end?
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By teal_dx
#350202
FG2_Andrew wrote::thumb: :thumb:

trade plus cash on your end?


Civic Si was actually one of my final choices (sedan though) along with a 6 sp. TL (harder to find than a 6 sp TSX.)

But I'm 100% happy I picked the TSX. It's just the right size, has the bells & whistles and handles great. :)
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By FG2_Andrew
#350211 the new TLX is the boobies, too.
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By teal_dx
#350709 It feels great but since the weather got cold, they sound horrible. Everything is tight, I checked 3 times and even took it to a shop incase I was missing something and they said everything was tight. Yet, when i go over sharp bumps, it sounds like the top of the shock piston is crashing into the top hat. I've taken them apart and put them back together and they were fine, then after a could days were noisy again. Probably because it was in a heated garage. Now that the holidays are over, I'm going to get back to this and figure something out hopefully. When the temps get past the low 30's, it sounds like the top of the shock is going to rattle loose. :thumbdown:
I already wish I went Tein because of all the time I have spent trying to solve this problem. The dampeners themselves are great, not blown or leaking. (although 1 did blow and was replaced under warranty, I just had to pay shipping both ways. )
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By teal_dx
#351364 I just adjusted valve lash for the 100k mi service the other night and the engine feels better than when I bought the car with 45k mi.
:woot:

I always thought the ivtec was soft on these K motors. Now I can actually feel it 'kick' @ 6k. The motor sounded plain like blah before and now it sings and sounds beautiful from about 3k to redline. Almost has that hum that an ITB car has, just not as loud.

I've done valve lash on plenty of D series and never noticed such a huge improvement... guess K's love to get valvelash adjusted. 8)
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By teal_dx
#358676 I just realized I have not updated this thread in a while...
The clunking noise of the F&F type 2's continued to get worse. Finally, Form & Function offered to inspect them all for free and replace any parts that were out of spec. I told them in a few months, I would have a second vehicle to drive (TSX is the daily) and I'd be able to remove the suspension and send it in.

So about a month before the year warranty expired, I went to remove the suspension and found this:
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After 1 winter, they were completely rusted! The collars were seized to the threaded bodies. I tried PB, Big hammer and chisel, nothing would break them loose on the rears. The fronts weren't as bad, so I was able to break them loose. The sad part is I sprayed the hell out of the underside of my car & suspension with Fluid Film, which prevents corrosion. I can't imagine how bad they would have been if I didn't coat them before winter.
I ended up getting the rears off by standing on the knuckles to push them down far enough to slide the coil over out in the rusted together length that they were seized in. However, Form & Function said that corrosion was NOT covered under warranty. "Have fun taking these apart to inspect them, guys" I thought to myself while packing them up to send.

They were pretty quick to inspect them after receiving and notified me that all 4 shocks did not meet specifications and were being replaced under warranty. Woohoo :woot:

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To my surprise, they even replaced the collars :) I'll never stand behind another F&F product after this experience and all the time I wasted (and money I was going to lose) on this suspension, but at least their customer service was beyond what I expected. :thumb: They also shipped them back to me for free. :D

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So they were basically brand new again, except for the lower mounts. There were some chips in the red paint. But they did clean them up for me. So when I got them back, the first thing I did was take pics to sell them ASAP. No way I was putting these things on my car ever again.
Then I went to Heel Toe and ordered Koni Yellow shocks and Ground Control coil overs. (one of the setups I had considered in the first place, but liked that the F&F came with new top hats.)
Speaking of top hats... I sold my stock suspension for $150, so I had no top hats anymore :( So I had to buy new OEM top hats bushings which was almost another $219, bringing the total for my new suspension to $1195.

Nobody was biting on the F&F's I was selling, so I had to keep dropping the price for a few months. I think I ended up getting $630 for a basically new suspension that I paid $900 for [smilie=BangHead.gif] Plus I had another $100+ in shipping the first blown shock for repair, plus all 4 coilovers later on.

Lesson: Don't buy cheap chinese-made suspension. Pay more for name brand- it's worth it in the long run.

I was so excited to get the Konis/GC on, that I didn't get a single pic of them or the install.
Here's how the car was after I was done:
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Pros: I've had them on the car almost 10 months and no clunk noise :thumb: The collars & threaded sleeves are aluminum, so no rusting together. Both made in USA and have a lifetime warranty.

Cons: Can't slam konis like I could the F&F's, but I don't want to have my daily slammed anyways.
But here is a pic for reference on how low the F&F's went:
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The GC spring rate is slightly softer than the standard ones on the F&F's. I raised the car about 1/4 to 3/8" higher because I heard it rubbing over some big bumps with the softer GC springs.
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By EconoBox
#358677 Can't go wrong with Koni Yellows and GC sleeves! TSX is looking great Teal_dx!

What spring rates did you get? I noticed a lot of variance from company to company on spring rates. Some were very soft (almost stock) and others where very high. I went with a pretty high spring rate but the custom valving keeps them under control and I feel like mine still rides very well.
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By teal_dx
#358682 They are Fr/Rr: 7.7kg/5.8 kg (430 lbs/340 lbs)
They seemed a little soft at first, but now I love them for a daily driver.
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By teal_dx
#361011 Funny, I just almost posted my update in your 2006 TSX thread :lol:

After I left my job which put about 100/mi a day on the TSX, I told myself one of the first things I was going to do was repaint the front bumper. It looked horrible from rock chips and a foglight was cracked. :thumbdown:
So a little over a year later, I finally got around to it :lol:

The headlights looked pretty bad too, so I refinished them while I had the bumper apart and clear ion the gun.
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All apart! Here's a DIY video how to remove the TSX front bumper: https://youtu.be/18je5MqIeM8
It's a lot easier if you don't live in the rust belt [smilie=BangHead.gif]
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TSX chillin in the driveway while I prep the bumper for painting.
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Filling/sanding to get it ready for primer
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I didn't get any pics of the primer/sanding, but I put the primer on thick to take care of any tiny chips I missed & sanded any orange peel out of the primer until I was happy with the smooth finish.

Then it was on to the headlights. Wet sanded with 1500 & 2000 grit and set them aside to be cleared.
Here's the full DIY on how I restored the headlights: https://youtu.be/5C1o8x-Vb18
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Next I painted & Cleared everything.
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All back together, ready for assembly.
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And the only picture I got of the car all together. I'm really happy with the results and the road looks better at night too.
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