grifter9931

Hi All,

I am planning on having a new-er motor installed on my 97 coupe, which has been loyal to me for all of these years. I have just a shade under 220k on my car and was thinking about getting my suspension redone as well.


It's a daily driver, the new motor is the same DX motor that was installed on the car. A JDM replacement motor.

I have been thinking about coil overs or a complete refresh of the suspension.
I am open to idea's anyone has to offer.

Honestly, I like my car as it gets me to work and back. I hope to have it for another 200k.

I was thinking about a new set of coil overs, lower control arms, sway bars, upper control arms (camber) and new bushings. Is there anything else, or does anyone have a complete kit they can recommend? I have seen the Skunk works kit which provides new struts, springs, sway bars, bushing, for just under $700. I figure coil overs would cost me double that with the arms and bushings.

I am not racing or anything, I just want a comfortable daily ride.

Thanks in advance for any advice you have.

Socal180sx

you can never go wrong with ground control/koni yellow setup.. pretty comfy for daily driving.

doctorake

If you want comfortable, go with stock.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

A simple and cost effective lowering setup starts out around $600ish. With Koni STRT shocks and eibach pro kit springs. Stockish ride quality and everything has a lifetime warranty.

A step up from that is a Koni Yellow and Ground control setup. Use standard rate GC springs. This is around $800 and gives you ride and damping adjustment with good ride quality as long as you don't over lower it. Also lifetime warranteed.

Why do you feel you need lower control arms?

A good sway bar option would be a stock ITR rear bar (22-23mm) with a subframe brace (ASR or BWR).

Skip the camber kit unless you really want to go low. In which case, rethink your whole approach.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

The only thing I recommend buying from Skunk2 would be a PRO PLUS camber kit if you absolutely insist on buying one. Thats it. Stay away from their other suspension parts.

For bushings, use genuine Honda and make sure you clock them properly. They'll last an easy 200k miles with a street style suspension and just normal daily driving.

Thmotorsports.com sells koni/GC or other suspension systems for cheap. They're a Honda tech vendor. So search for them in the market place. They give out HT discounts if you contact them thru this site.

grifter9931

B serious-
I will skip the camber kit, I am not lowering the car. Also would the Honda bushings be better than the Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex System kit?

I thought that in order to get the Coilovers I would need to get newer control arms?
If not I will gladly spend the saving on better upgrades somewhere else.

Are the piece mail parts from GC & Koni better than the complete Koni coil overs? Or would that be overkill for my application? Which is simply daily driving.

I will put the stock ITR rear bar (22-23mm) with a subframe brace (ASR or BWR) on my build list and price sheet.

Doctorake-

I had the car brand new and the stock suspension was a bummer
It felt like I hit every bump in the road. Could be crappy shocks etc. But I wouldn't mind trying something else.


I will definitely support a vendor on the forum.

Any more info or opinions definitley appreciated

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Why would you get coilovers and not lower the car?

And BWR is not a subframe brace. It's a tie bar, which is next to useless. Don't believe me check out the video posted on Youtube.

grifter9931

Grumblemarc -

Is it better to get a anti Roll Kit from Eibach?
I go camping and cycling, snowboarding etc, a low car doesn't do well in those environments.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Unless you're talking about off-roading then I don't see what lowering maybe 1.5" is going to hurt. It can only help handling. Otherwise what is the point of getting coilovers? I think you need to hold off on buying a single piece until you know how it all goes together, how they work together and what each component does seperately. IMO opinion you should just leave it stock. The purpose for your car doesn't warrant any of the upgrades you're looking to get.

grifter9931

Grumblemarc -

The roads aren't the best maintained roads when you go camping almost anywhere in Socal, also putting on chains is not really feasible when going to Mammoth or Tahoe. And loading up the car with gear is another reason, I will look up how much a 1.5 inch drop will affect what I do.

I have a neighbor who has a 3.5 drop and he has a hard time getting into his driveway. So I really equate lowering, to anything over 2.0"

The car has about 220k and since the motor is getting swapped out, I was thinking a suspension refresh would be nice as well. It rides rough and I would like it to ride a bit smoother.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Coilovers are good if you want to lower the car for performance reasons. Even at the highest setting, Koni and GC's will be about 0.5'' lower than stock.

Koni's coilovers are probably going to ride more gently than even an off the shelf Koni/GC setup.

It doesn't sound like you need coilovers for what you're after.

If you really do want coilovers, you'd want something mild like Eibach pro street, KW V1, H&R street performance, or similar. European street coilovers ride like silk. I'm considering Eibach coilovers to be european because they use KW shocks.

Your option if you don't want to lower much or at all is to buy very mild lowering springs. This keeps things simple and cost effective.

Go for good struts like Koni STRT and use stock springs if you want it at stock height. Or use H&R OE type springs for about a .5-.75'' drop. There are other springs out there that only lower the car .75''. Stock ITR springs also work well...but the rake looks kinda funny on a coupe.

Nice thing about the OE Honda or H&R springs in particular is their corrosion protection. Seems to be better than the rest.

Don't, for God's sake, use Polyurethane suspension bushings. They degrade very quickly and ride like garbage from day 1. Your Honda bushings lasted 200+k miles. Again...they do have to be installed properly where the Energy kit does not have to be installed in any particular way. But once they are installed properly, they will be your best bet.

If you want to get an ITR rear sway bar, you definitely need fairly solid subframe support. I believe BWR does make a knockoff subframe brace. ASR made the original. I'm pretty sure I just saw a BWR one at a shop. Any sway bar that's appreciably larger than stock will require subframe bracing...espeically with soft springs.

The reason people buy rear lower control arms is because 9/10 times, if you live in a state that uses salt on the road, your lower control arms will be rusted into the car via the bushings. If you do need rear lower control arms, try to find a set of stock ones. Aftermarket rubber bushings are bad...and I'm convinced that ANY polyurethane suspension bushings are bad. All of this is from personal experience and other people's similar experiences, BTW.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

avoid polyurethane bushings at all costs if ride comfort is your goal. they suck for that. just because the car is lowered, doesnt mean that it will sag more with weight in it. lowering springs with stiffer rates/stiffer struts keep that from being a problem. honestly, with 220k on the clock, start with all new bushings/tie rod ends/inner tie rods/ball joints. it will make a WORLD of difference. go from there.

grifter9931

OEM or after market for the tie rods etc?

B serious

iTrader: (1)

I always advocate genuine Honda tie rods/ball joints. But find out if you need them first. They might still be fine.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

cant go wrong with oem, but there are good quality aftermarket oem parts out there. rockauto.com is my favorite place for anything like that. dirt cheap.

grifter9931

So an update to this thread.
I got my motor swapped out!!!!!!
Changed the motor mounts (Honda OEM)!!!!
New radiator, all new hoses, plugs, distributor, water pump, timing belt.....
Koni Orange STR.T all around and finally new back bushings....
New brakes (Front & Back)...
I will test and drive for the next few months and report back. I may add the Antisway/roll bars & and sub frame brace.
Getting an Alignment this weekend and finally visor's that someone stole from my garage.... Or if anyone is selling the visors, please PM me


Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the topic and kept things extremely civil in doing so, I can't express my thanks for the opinions expressed in this thread.

tony_2018

If you can find yourself a set of type r springs and koni struts you are good to go from there. They don't lower you ride that much but the stiffness 'R' is there. If you are riding around with stock tires I wouldn't worry to much about feeling the road as much. Look into replacing the bushings since your ride is already 200k+ and your car will reward you with a new car feeling.

grifter9931

Has anyone tried or used the Bilstien HD struts /shocks?

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Ive ridden on them with some crappy springs. They were aight. I'm sure they'd be better at a more sensible height and with something like eibach pro springs.

Koni seems to be more tried and true. More versatility also.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

had bilstien on my 540i. theyre great in german applications, im not sure about japanese. not very popular.

grifter9931

They would be at stock height