Don't feel bad, the rear hardware on these are basically one time use. I snapped a ton of bolts out back on my Del Sol the first time I did suspension work.
Just a heads up in regard to the eBay LCAs—the bushings leave a LOT to be desired. I was replacing the shock mount yearly until I found a guy selling really nice slip in delrin (IIRC) bushings. Just keep an eye on them whenever you're under there.
Get replacement bushings for the stock arms.
solfly said:Get replacement bushings for the stock arms.
How hard is the install?
ebelements said:Don't feel bad, the rear hardware on these are basically one time use. I snapped a ton of bolts out back on my Del Sol the first time I did suspension work.
Just a heads up in regard to the eBay LCAs—the bushings leave a LOT to be desired. I was replacing the shock mount yearly until I found a guy selling really nice slip in delrin (IIRC) bushings. Just keep an eye on them whenever you're under there.
Thanks for the tip! At least the bushings are cheap
Here's how I've done them, assuming you don't have a press.
Drill holes through the rubber until you can separate it from the outer sleeve. Cut the outer sleeve in a couple spots and get it out of the arm. Emery cloth or sand paper for the bore. Ball joint press/vice/hammer and sockets for putting the new ones in. Or take it to a shop to be pressed in.
One important point that just dawned on me: I have an Integra rear sway bar that I need to install. I can't install it without getting either Integra/Civic SI lower control arms, or some eBay replacements. Mine don't have the provisions to mount a sway bar. So I need new LCA anyways. I still have a ton of room in the budget at least, so there's more than enough room.
looks like rock auto has stock integra replacements for under $40 each
In reply to solfly :
I just got a pair for $44 total. And they're shiny.
do they have the right sway bar mounts?
Yessir! And they're adjustable! Hopefully putting them on full stiff will help the car rotate, considering my rear sway bar is something like 14mm. Very smol.
No pictures today, but plenty of positive progress. I removed the A/C from the car, which from what I've read saved 47 pounds. That E36 M3 was heavy so I believe it. I also removed the entire exhaust system, as I'm selling the catalytic convertor. I had forgotten that people will pay good money for those things. I'm getting $90 for mine, and that's with one of the flanges half rusted off. Also I can remove all the white spray paint from the budget, as I'm going to be sanding it all off. Right now my budget total is $1,343.60. Major things I still need to get are two more Konig wheels for the rear of the car, some form of exhaust system, fix the rust in the rear wheel wells, and better paint.
Sold a few stock parts to myself for FMV, ordered a new konig helium wheel (just need one more now), and tried to plan for the future. I definitely want to do an engine swap. I just need to wait for when I have spare cash on hand. That being said, I found a complete B20 for $300 today. Makes me wish I had $300 to spare! But at least I know I can get the stuff cheap down here. I'm going to focus on finishing other things, saving my money, and around the end of the year or early spring I might go ahead and drop the motor and transmission in this car to sell, to prepare me for a swap.
So today I set out to install the new lower control arms on the back of the civic. Driver's side went on relatively painless, once I got everything to line up.
so I soaked everything in PB Blaster on the passenger's side and crossed my fingers. Most of the bolts broke loose, but...
The same berkeleying bolt broke right off. At least now I know there's no point in keeping the stock LCA so I just trashed the entire thing and installed the new shocks/springs/LCAs/camber arms. Low and behold it's finally done! Well, mostly.
still need to install the rear sway bar, I just need to figure out what size bolts. Fortunately I have a pile of bolts from gutting this car, and the entire thing is pretty much assembled from 2 different size bolts. So something should fit. Once I get the sway bar on, that'll be it for the suspension! Exciting to finally have something (almost) done.
In reply to infinitenexus :
Bolts are the single most useful thing to have on hand. I got 6 5gal buckets of bolts at my house.
bracket to chassis 8x1.25x18
clamshell to bracket 8x1.25x20
what do you have for sway bar links?
In reply to solfly :
Thanks for the info on the bolts! I just had to dig around some, I found the ones that fit the bracket. Currently I have the stock integra end links on there.
So today was a good day. The Wife and I drove up to Orlando to check out a pick and pull and meet up with a guy selling a motor. There was an Integra in the junkyard so I was hoping for a few doodads to throw at my car, but of course it was stripped down to the bone. Integras don't last long in junkyards. I need to start keeping an eye on when one comes in though, since I have decided...
I will be doing a B20 swap in this Civic! I spoke with a gentleman today that has one for sale cheap, and a ton of extra parts as well. I should be able to get the entire motor with accessories for $300 from him, then I just need to source an LS transmission. Not my first choice of transmissions, however they're the cheapest ones and this guy has spare final drive ratios from other ones that he can hook me up with. LS transmission with a GS-R final drive ratio should make for an acceptable transmission, and the torque of the 2.0 engine will be great on a 2,000 pound car! I did not pick up the engine today though. I told him I need to sit and think on this for a bit and plan it out and source some parts, which is what I'll spend the next week or so doing. I've never done an engine swap and the thought makes me pretty anxious, even on a swap as simple as this one (which is basically plug and play).
Also picked up 2 toyo tires in good shape, 205/50R15 for $20 each from the junkyard. I want 225s, but 205s will work for now as I learn the car.
Super easy swap. Let me know if you have any questions. Which B20?
In reply to solfly :
B20B, with a B18B1 intake manifold. I've read it's about as easy as a swap can be, pretty much just unbolt the old stuff and bolt the new stuff in (with the appropriate ECU) but I'm still pretty nervous. It'll be such a huge performance boost for this car though.
You got this! Have a shop manual? Pm me if not.
It will be so much more fun with more power and deeper final drive should do a lot to wake it up.
Yeah I'm pretty anxious to do the swap but I know it's the right move.
I installed the rear sway bar today, put the E30 bottlecaps back on all 4 corners, cleared out the junk, and took it for a drive. Right now I just have an open header so it's pretty deafening. I idled until I was out in an orange grove away from houses, then gave it a quick acceleration test. Shifting into second I spun the front tires nicely. I guess all that weight reduction helped. You can tell in this picture from the wheel gap that the rear is sitting about an inch high, because most of the weight reduction is in the back of the car. But it drives nicely with the new suspension. A bit more body roll than I would like, so I'll keep my eyes out for larger sway bars, but the springs/shocks feel fantastic. A nice sporty ride, and still very comfortable due to the bilsteins. Better wheels/tires will help as well.
For now, the suspension is officially done! Now I just need to trade these bottlecaps for a set of integra LS mesh rims. Those are 15x6 and look good painted, and lots of guys trade those. That'll free up money in the budget in case I need some with the engine swap.
I have a bad habit of half-assing things - I mean come on, I spray painted this car - so I decided to do the paint the right way. I was going to get some white and blue rustoleum and try to blend them to get a gulf blue color but I know it probably would have been way off, so instead I went to Sherwin Williams and spent $28 and they mixed up the perfect color blue. I can't wait to paint this thing.
That'll be pretty sweet.
So after a lot of thought and discussion with my wife, we have decided against the B20 swap. I know that's a fantastic engine and perhaps I'll do it in the future, but right now we simply don't have the facilities, space, or skill. Instead I'm going to try to piece together parts for a low boost turbo. I'm not going to worry about an intercooler for now, to keep throttle response high and the cost low, and I'm only going to shoot for around 200 crank horsepower. I've found dirt cheap turbo parts on FB marketplace so I should be able to do it.
so here's a question, where can I find a junkyard t3 turbo? Maybe a good source for intake piping?
Volvos if you're ok with an internal wastegate.
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