mustclime

None of those are a bad choice.

civizen

Great post! I just now discovered this and only AFTER i ordered new springs for my 05 ep3. I went with the Eibach "Pro Kit" but now I'm thinking I'll need new dampers to go with the new springs. Or will the stock dampers work? Discuss. :-)

Thanks.

http://www.andysautosport.com/honda/...a00039163.html

LTC

Question for mustclime,

I have an EP3, currently on the A-Spec Suspension and a set of 16x8 RPF1's with Falken 225/50/16 tires (I know they aren't ideal, just what I could afford at the time) Everything else is stock.

What do you recommend to maximize the handling potential of my car (tire wise)

I was thinking about getting some 225/50/16 Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's

Also, I might be removing the front sway bar when I go to do my k24 swap, will the A-Spec spring rates be enough to compensate for the lack of the front sway bar?

Oh yea, it's my DD.

One last thing.. I heard great things about removing the front sway and adding a Type-R rear sway.

neg0t

http://www.bc-racing.co.uk/coilovers-series-v1/

Anyone got any experience on the BC racing v1 coilovers? I´ve been thinking to purchase those for my 2003 Type-R.
I´m kinda 33/33/33 between D2 coilover kit / Bc Racing v1 / k-sport coilover kit.

tijag

Hello all. I've read pretty much every page of this thread and feel like its the best resource for what I'm trying to do.

It's past time to replace my original suspension, and I would like to do so while still getting a very minor drop, less than 1" even.

I read somewhere in this thread that the yellow Koni's + a-spec springs are a good combo.

I have stock 16" wheels on a 2003 EP3. [5 lug wheel]

This car drives about 4k - 5k miles a year, primarily on the freeway as a commuter car.

Where is a good place to go? Is the Yellow Koni's + A-Spec springs still a good choice? If so, where do you find these 'a-spec' springs?

Is the Tokico Blue HP kit a good choice for my use case?

And should I get a rear camber kit with any of these choices? Am I way off? If so, please feel free to set me straight.

Thank you.

EM2abe

I've been wanting a new suspension setup for a while now, and i know KW makes products for the EP3. How well do their products hold up as far as durability? i was thinking of throwing a coilover setup on my EM2 dd.

EM2abe

anything?

poeticfinesse21

I don't know much about KW but if the car is your DD, I would say pick up a RSX A-spec suspension from curryacura. $650 shipped. All you need is RSX tie rod ends and shave the rear shock bushings about 3mm....unless your EM2 is 01-03, then you have the crash bolt issue. 01-03 EM2's have a 14mm crash bolt, 04-05 EM2's, EP3's and RSX have a 16mm crash bolt. You could drill the knuckles, pick up some 16mm knuckles from a newer EM2 or a 4-lug EP3 or just bolt them on like that and torque them down real good. If you want mustclime's opinion, try clubep3.com. I don't think he logs on here much anymore but he's probably gonna suggest the same setup I did

EM2abe

hm.... I wanted something for DD, yes, but also wanted something that's a little sportier and that I can pair with some swift springs for weekend track use, every once in a while... I personally feel like the rsx Aspecs might blow prematurely if I were to use aftermarket springs. I will check around clubep3 though and see what i might be able to scrounge up.

poeticfinesse21

If you want just shocks then go with koni yellows or bilstein sports, there is no substitute. Don't underestimate the a-spec kit though, there's a huge difference in handling between it and the stock EP3/rsx suspension. A lot of us EP3/rsx guys are convinced it's just the DC5 Type-R suspension for the US market. My car currently has a DC5 Type-R suspension and I didn't really feel a difference between that and the a-spec kit on a friend's car. I don't know how low swift springs are but if you read this thread I'm sure you know anything more than a 1" drop for our cars is just messing up your handling. A-spec/Type-R springs give you about a 0.75" drop. If you do go a-spec, install the whole kit, not just the shocks. Once my suspension goes, I'm keeping the Type-R springs and most likely getting bilsteins shocks

tijag

I'm thinking I might like to do this as well for my 2004 Civic Si.

What do I need to buy? Is there a 'kit' or list of parts that I will need?

poeticfinesse21

Here's a DIY and the link to curry acura...
http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthr...-on-ep3/page11
http://www.curryacuraparts.com/pro.html

tijag

Thank you.

I am really not the DIY kind of guy. I don't own the tools or anything. Is this something I could just buy and take to a reputable repair shop and have them just charge me for labor?

Or is it because of the grinding needed on the rear strut stuff [this was the only modification I could see that was needed?] a repair shop won't do this? Or is the grinding only required for the older EP3's?

poeticfinesse21

You could try but a shop probably won't be willing to do the grinding. The alternative is buying the EP3 shock bushings and having the shop press them in. Look at the "optional" part of that DIY, it's part # 52622-S5A-004. All EP3's have the same shock bushing.

pannetron

Last summer I installed Eibach Pro-Street-S coilovers on my '05 RSX-S. Turns out they are KW (variant 1?) shock bodies w/ Eibach springs. My car is a daily driver and with the minimal 0.7" drop the Eibach coilovers allow, I'm very pleased with the handling improvement and effective spring rates. The rear springs are MUCH stiffer than stock, something the car REALLY needed. Those front coilovers have a nice provision for adjusting camber, I run -1.5 degree. Just the 0.7" drop in the rear gave me too much negative camber so I had to add an adjustable rear upper control arm to run -0.7 degree camber back there but I will increase that to -1.0 at my next alignment. I had previously installed an adjustable Progress 25mm rear anti-sway bar set at the stiffest setting, after installing the coilovers I adjusted the bar to the softer of its two settings and that seems perfect. A couple of weeks ago I dropped the chassis attachment point of the rear upper arm by 0.5" to get a steeper rear camber gain curve and am pleased with the more planted feeling of the car. I don't think I'd do this for an auto-x car but it improves road feel when cornering hard on the street (my daily drive is 20 miles of twisty mountain roads...)

The coilovers look and ride as good today, 12K miles later, as they did when I installed them a year ago.

HTH, YMMV...

poeticfinesse21

What did you use to do this? I've been wanting to do this mod...

pannetron

The stock bolts are 48mm long with a taper at the end so I bought four M12 1.25x60 grade 8.8 (equivalent to metric class 10) bolts from my local hardware store along with 28 hardened steel washers of the appropriate diameter. One washer under the bolt head, six washers between the UCA and the chassis yields a 0.5" drop with the same length of thread in the chassis. So far, so good :-)

neg0t

I´m running on stock shock absorbers on my ep3 Type-r. Lately i´ve been noticing a bit of a twitchy handling and I found the culprit on monday!



Never again buying Weitec -35 mm lowering springs.
I ordered a full set of H&R -30mm springs and they arrived today.
Installed the rear springs today and gonna install the front springs on monday, will be doing an alignment check as well.
Also did a joint check with a tire iron to see if there are problems with the bushes etc.



Gotta say there is a HUUUGE difference in ride comfort between Weitec and H&R. Weitec was very hard on the lighter bumps,
but H&R seems all round softer and firmer. I´m gonna recommend these for anyone who is in need of a new spring set. Price was 300€

poeticfinesse21

Have you fully read this thread? Anything more than a 1" (25.4 mm) drop is only negatively affecting your suspension, most likely your front lower control arms are angled upwards now And it's never a good idea to put lowering springs on stock shocks, they were not designed to handle the drop. My advice to you sir would be to look into some extended ball joints for the front to correct your LCA angles and since you're located in europe, look into that sweet suspension kit that bilstein sells over there

neg0t

But fine sire, I have adjustable control arms and all of the whatnot around ; all that is needed for car wheel alignment and such measuring. Camper or Caster angles are no problem for my car shops equipment, If i get in a sore spot with the angles I will change the parts as needed. I also have adjustable control arms so that eliminates the possibilities of probems.

Regards : perhaps drunk finnish man.

ps : Also i will use the stock shocks until summer, then i will change them to a whole another kit! Repair was necessary for this moment so I had no much options. My trustful salesman has some nice Sachs gas shocks inc for me once it is summertime. Over winter i will manage with what i have, because of funding problems.

Paul 631

I'm also considering the 3 choices above... did you ever make a purchase?...

spoon.ef9

So i was wondering why the spring rates were always soo stiff in the rear compared to the front on dc5's..

I found this answer:

"Motion ratio = ~ 1:1 front, .5:1 rear. Hence, you need double the rate out back to keep a neutral car. About 4x in the rear if you want very good rotation."

how true is this?

Paul 631

True except the "about 4x in the rear if you want very good rotation" part. Aprox. 2x the rate in the back should produce a very neutral handling car with good rotation.

xracer6

Hey everyone. Excelent info on the 12 pages! I have been looking into an EP3 recently and I feel like people bash the EP3/DC5 a bit too much. These cars can handle fine i'd imagine right? Just a bit of learning required? I mean these cars have been and still are so damn popular in touring car racing and I have talked more than a few people have success with them on track/autocross. When I drove one on a spirited drive through some back roads I found the car to be pretty fun with good steering feedback. Of course I wasn't pushing the car hard on track but still. I would concider them to be a pretty solid performer! What do you vets think?

Cheep3

I think you described the ep3 almost perfect - a pretty solid performer. As long as you don't expect it to do things it's not capable of you won't be disappointed. I've had good results racing autocross in STF class. The only cars that really own me are the few set up Scion TC's that show up occasionally. With a few mods you get a very solid performer IMO! You also get a car with more character than most for less $'s.