B18C5-EH2

First of all I want to tell everyone that I paid regular retail or so for these arms from a retailer, not any sort of hook-up from Skunk 2, and my post here is literally shooting straight with no alterior motives. Skunk2 isn't hooking me up to sing the praises of this product. I am just extremely pleased with the results and wanted to share with fellow EFers.

As some of you may or may not know for years EF owners have had to deal with inferior sliding ball joint or upper "knuckle" or "anchor bolt" camber kits. The inherent problem with these kits were that either the 1.5 kits were limited in how much camber they corrected, and the anchor bolt kits are PITA to ever adjust, or the 3 degree kits caused clearance issues that made the upper a arm or the sliding balljoint kit itself slam into the pinch welds in the fender well area.
Sliding balljoint kits also added suspension height to an already very tight fender well that EFs have.

Anyways I will be doing a complete install topic later, but for now i've got a few pretty pics and just overall impressions to share, enjoy:

Compact design adds minimal height to suspension and provides clearnce as to not smash the shock towers:







As you can see they completely revised the upper balljoint area, and the adjustment bolts and mount for the upper balljoint is a much sturdier design that the first-gen EG/DC/EK kits.

On the car:



My 1990 Wagovan sits pretty freaking low as pics will show, and at this height the front negative camber was definately enough to wear insides of tires, regardless of what others may try to chime in and call BS.

I turned these kits all the way out and ended up with -1.3 degrees of front camber - this is a daily driven car on softer-than-usual full coil-overs that allow a lot of travel to soak up bumps, so in turns the camber goes much more negative than a lot of others' really stiff set-ups. Ideally I like about -1.5 to -1.0 degrees of front camber on a DD car with softer suspensions. Agressive, really stiff suspensions can get away with radically negative front camber and show minimal tire wear - I intentionally set my 1992 EG Civic's front camber at -2 with it's much stiffer suspension.

Anyways here's a few pics to illstrate the low ride height, and minimal front negative camber:

Sitting:



Rolling with me and a front passenger:



Front camber at only -1.3 degrees:



Again, another angle:



I've hit some pretty big bumps/potholes and not an ounce of contact has occured up front. This may be due to my car being a wagovan with extra under fender clearance, but honestly I think the edge of my tire would hit my fender arch well before these camber kits would ever hit my shock towers, even on an EF hatch.

As long as the allen heads are properly tightened with an 8mm allen socket or longer allen wrench there should be no reason these will slip or fail in any way since the design is much beefier than the first-gen kits on the EG/DC/EK.

I truly hope the Skunk2 haters won't try and turn this into a debate, and also the "you don't ever need a camber kit" guys please feel free to skip this topic altogether.

I've been aligning lowered Hondas/Acuras for over 8 years now, and I've never been the "you need a camber kit if you lower your car at all" guy so please don't think I'm saying that. For guys with EFs lowered more than 2 inches, especially on softer spring rates/dampeners I'd be willing to bet a camber kit would help ease inside edge wear on tires.

Lastly I want to make something very clear to anyone looking to purchase and install a camber kit:

TOE KILLS TIRES WORSE THAN CAMBER, AND IF YOU ONLY INSTALL A CAMBER KIT WITHOUT HAVING A PROPER ALIGNMENT, INCLUDING TOE ADJUSTMENTS, YOU WILL KILL TIRES MUCH WORSE THAN HAVING NO CAMBER KIT AND PROPER TOE SETTINGS!!!

Adding positive camber toes the front tires out at a very high rate. Adding a few degrees of positive camber can add 3+ degrees of front toe out PER WHEEL, which will murder tires and make the car very unsafe to drive. Keep this in mind when planning on a camber kit install.



Thanks all for looking!





Modified by B18C5-EH2 at 8:08 PM 3/6/2008

b16chaos

sweet ride, looks great. cant wait to put mine on...

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b16chaos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sweet ride, looks great. cant wait to put mine on... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah man thanks for the action.

I've posted this on three different forums for EFs - here, ef-honda.com, and hondacivicwagon.com and not a single reply until you chimed in.

I've owned an EF since 1995 and have had lowered EFs for years and longed for someone to finally make a quality camber kit with no quirks or compromises - I figured this type of topic and this type of product would have garnered more interest, but I guess not.

I've installed the old SPC upper anchor bolt kits on other EFs and they sucked because not only did you have to spread out the opening in the a arms just so they'd fit, but the special slim wrench used to adjust the eccentrics would usually hit against something before even getting an 1/8th of a turn either way on the adjuster. Any other kit claming "3 degrees" just slammed into the fender well pinch welds, sliding balljoint or anchor bolt kit.

I know there's been a huge demand for these damn kits seeing as how most sources are sold out, and Skunk2 is having a hard time keeping with demand.

Did I just miss a ton of "installed Skunk2 camber kit on my EF" topics and I'm just covering an old topic here?

WWDTrackRacer

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I turned these kits all the way out and ended up with -1.3 degrees of front camber</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just for my sake can you explain again, you went for to the full positive camber setting on the a-arms? Some of us track friends want more negative.

SIred91

I LOVE your car....and thats saying a lot, since mine is better than ***** and sliced bread put together.....

Thanks for the semi-write up.

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WWDTrackRacer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Just for my sake can you explain again, you went for to the full positive camber setting on the a-arms? Some of us track friends want more negative. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes I went for full positive to achieve a reasonable street front camber setting of -1.3 degrees since my wagovan would have likely had -3 to -4 degrees of front camber at it's current ride height. It's a daily drive that will never see auto-X duty or track duty of any kind, so tire life is the number 1 priority for this car.

I imagine you could more easily achieve more negative camber by buying the good old SPC upper anchor bolt 1.5 degree kits and install them BACKWARDS at the highest setting to get up to an extra -1.5 degrees of camber up front.

The Skunk 2 kit was designed to ADD camber while making the adjustments easy.

With the older "crappy" anchor bolt kits installed backwards you wouldn't have to worry about the upper a arm hitting the pinch welds anyways since you'd be pulling the arm in even closer/tucking it in more. What you might have an issue with is clearance between the spindle and the spring possibly hitting from pulling the knuckle in so much.

Boosted Chemist

iTrader: (1)

I def want to pick up a set of these

sgallagher

Did you adjust full positive to achieve -1.3deg?

Does anyone know how much you will achieve at full negative.

I have seen this nes upper control arm/camber kit and it looks very nice. Im just not convinced it is going to help me achieve what I am looking for in suspension adjustment.

dem0nk1d

got rid of the rhino/revo's and got the skunk2's today in the mail. I will probably post pics as well. also i'm doing a rear disc conversion on the sedan as well. lots of work. trailing arm bushing is a bitch.

Tyson

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lastly I want to make something very clear to anyone looking to purchase and install a camber kit:

TOE KILLS TIRES WORSE THAN CAMBER, AND IF YOU ONLY INSTALL A CAMBER KIT WITHOUT HAVING A PROPER ALIGNMENT, INCLUDING TOE ADJUSTMENTS, YOU WILL KILL TIRES MUCH WORSE THAN HAVING NO CAMBER KIT AND PROPER TOE SETTINGS!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>




thanks for making that clear.

you know, as much hate as ive given skunk2, they are at least open to change. albeit slow, but ill give them credit for 1) improving on the stripped/loosened bolt screwed from the top design to the sturdier threaded plate design and 2) finally figuring out a way to adjust camber without hitting the fender wall, when others just COPY the design, they finally improved it.

but i gotta say this tho. you guys who own and slobber over these wagons are like the guys who i see pick up fat chicks at the clubs.... lol. j/k, sorta.

DONTSLEEP_

Nice Wagovan, +1

Bsixteen_CRX

nice to know people are happy with this camber kit. i literally just ordered a kit about an hour ago.

B18C5-EH2

Actually the funny thing is I've got the old top adjust designed kit on my EG for seven years now with zero slippages. the only reason mine hit my shock tower was because my first set of Konis were blown (bought them "gently used" from a local guy) and after replacing them and adding Eibach ERS coil-over springs they never hit again. Too many people install them incorrectly, or leave the adjuster allen heads loose.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> 2) finally figuring out a way to adjust camber without hitting the fender wall, when others just COPY the design, they finally improved it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes. I would not have bought them if they were just a rehashed EG/DC kit. I truly hope they perform as well on the sedan/hatch as they do on my wagon in terms of no contact.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but i gotta say this tho. you guys who own and slobber over these wagons are like the guys who i see pick up fat chicks at the clubs.... lol. j/k, sorta. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh man...Wagovans are a love it or hate it type of car usually. I've loved them since I was kid, long before any us were trying to hit clubs. I've owned EF hatches, EG hatches, EG 4 door, etc. etc. I'm not going to bash any particular body style because honestly as far as the EF goes I appreciate them all.

It is VERY easy to fall back on the EF hatch because it is THE popular platform to build upon. They were by far the more common from the factory, and the lightest, cheapest, etc. so I can't blame the people who are die-hard for them.

This is my daily driver. My wife will be having a child this summer and I wanted the two extra doors. Wagovans have more room than sedans, and they're just crazy unique in today's "scene" if you will.

I sold an ultra clean, excellent running rarish white EF hatch with factory painted bumpers, all converted black Si interior (it was a 1991 DX with blue interio) me-built 11:1CR D16A6 with ZC/Si hybrid tranny, cold a/c, etc. etc. to buy the wagon - believe me I have love for the hatch too:



If I want to go boy racer on yo *** and impress all the local kids I can hop in my 1992 CX with B18C5, crazy mad tiiite "jDm yo!" Spoon wheels, stripped/repainted entire chassis body, etc. etc.



More pics:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=390535

Funny part is that I haven't driven my EG since I got my wagovan. If there was a local Honda meet tomorrow here I'd probably drive my wagovan first - maybe contract a pal to drive my EG also. The wagons are much more rare, and although my EG is spotless I get more reactions from many more people on the wagon. go figure.

Anyways it's funny to see how peoples' perceptions of the wagovan change once they ride in one, or drive one that isn't a heap. I've got a buddy who was never "feeling them" until he saw mine, drove it, rode in it for a while, and realized how awesome they are. They're like a utility vehicle that gets great gas mileage, can be made to handle very well, or can be made to go off road very capably if you got a RT4WD model.

Anyways I'm not going to convert you on the wagovan - I'm just pointing out some of my logic on why I love them, and also to say that I've owned/built/still like other bodies/generations too.

YZFR6

That's a pimp ******* wagon... Damn, you guys and your rust free cars down there! Skunk2

SIred91

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

but i gotta say this tho. you guys who own and slobber over these wagons are like the guys who i see pick up fat chicks at the clubs.... lol. j/k, sorta. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's funny how you go to clubs and just sit there watching other guys pic up fat chicks!!

I'd much rather have a wagovan than do that.....