DIY: Installing a Neuspeed Upper front strut bar.

[Miracle]

If you are like me, and making small, but effective modifications to your Civic, I highly suggest you get a Neuspeed upper strut bar. Made of ONE piece of lightweight aluminum tubing, this bar reduces flex and twist between the strut towers. TOOLS NEEDED: A 14mm Socket and a ratchet. Here is a photo of what the kit comes with: It comes with the bar itself, a nut to reattach the Clutch fluid reservoir on the 01-03 models, and 4 rubber caps. Most people have not even used the 10mm nut, they just relocated the clutch fluid reservoir by pulling it forward about 2 inches on its hole. Open the hood, and look at the driver side strut tower in the engine bay... It will look similar to this: Notice the clutch fluid reservoir is a little close to the brake fluid reservoir, but we will take care of that shortly. Undo the 2 OUTER MOST bolts on the shock tower and set them aside, for you to use later. Do the same for the outer 2 studs on the passenger side. Place the passenger side of the bar over the 2 oute studs and insert the stud nuts over the studs, and finger tighten them with the deep well socket you used to remove them. Then, with a little pressure pull the clutch fluid reservoir toward the front of the car, until the bar will fit in between the brake reservoir and the fluid reservoir. Here is the tricky part, if you make it tricky. I found it easiest to jack up the drivers side lower lift point, and LOOSEN, not remove, but only LOOSEN the 3rd nut on the drivers side tower. Jack the car up until it allows the nut to hold up the strut. The bar will then slide down over the studs. Then, tighten everything down, and torque the stud nuts to specs. Then, apply a dab of silicone to the bottom of the little plastic rubber caps to prevent water getting into the studs and rusting them. This is what your final product should look like... The driver's side. Notice the movement of the fluid reservoir: And if you were going to ask, YES, this bar will clear an aftermarket intake. Behold:

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[tdac69]

nice write up

[awang]

could you get the pics up again?

[Yoshimi]

Can't see it...

[gitrdone]

this is pretty much a no brainer..but good for all the idiots who cant figure out something like this. imo, i think u shouldnt even be messing around under the hood if u cant put this on without instructions

[awang]

i actually had my bar installed years ago. i wanted the pics because i'm in the processing making the tutorials and DIY into pdfs for everone.

[HotShotMedic]

bump for getting the pics back up. just use http://www.photobucket.com

[toyomatt84]

Originally Posted by HotShotMedic

bump for getting the pics back up. just use http://www.photobucket.com

Photobucket has bandwidth restriction.

Imageshack doesn't.

Oh, and for the record, those ARE hosted on Photobucket.

[MadDawg15]

is there a reason that these pics aren't showing up?

[LatinEM2]

Originally Posted by MadDawg15

is there a reason that these pics aren't showing up?

Yes, he took down the pics on his photobucket account...

[bakerboy0642]

ahhhh so weird i literally just did the same exact strut bar on my car yesterday cept i didnt do the silicone on the caps... this install is pretty self explanatory though, i dont even think it came with instructions

[ben98gs]

Originally Posted by bakerboy0642

ahhhh so weird i literally just did the same exact strut bar on my car yesterday cept i didnt do the silicone on the caps... this install is pretty self explanatory though, i dont even think it came with instructions

Yeah, but sometimes it is nice to have the instructions because you know there is also going to be those FEW people that just cannot figure it out and ask like 100 questions on the easiest install. Now you can just point them to this thread.

[s13_240sx_92]

Originally Posted by gitrdone

this is pretty much a no brainer..but good for all the idiots who cant figure out something like this. imo, i think u shouldnt even be messing around under the hood if u cant put this on without instructions

Uhhh yeah.. like you need a write up to do this? lol

Not to diss the author, i'm sure it was helpful to some noobs.. ahh i love honda!

[sujak]

Originally Posted by s13_240sx_92

Uhhh yeah.. like you need a write up to do this? lol

Not to diss the author, i'm sure it was helpful to some noobs.. ahh i love honda!

/agreed

[kingbrian]

sweet write up....can you redo pics please

[theineffable]

I just installed this strut bar last week.

1) using a 10mm socket, remove two nuts on each strut tower
2) install right side of the strut bar. it should go on pretty easily but you might have to flex the bar a tiny bit.
3) reinstall the nuts on the right side but leave them super loose.
4) jack up the car on the left side. you might have to jack it up until the tire is off of the ground. the suspension won't fall out though because the third top had bolt is still holding the strut up.
5) install the left side of the strut bar. you might have to use some force to get all the holes aligned. i had trouble getting one of the bolts lined up. it was off by 0.5 cm. i tried brute force to move the strut bar around but the thing didn't seem to want to budge. after wrestling with it for a few minutes, the bar dropped in perfectly. (i believe the neuspeed instructions on the manufacturer website specified a rubber mallet. maybe you're supposed to hit the bar horizontally. just don't hit it vertically or you might screw up the bolt threads)
6) reinstall all the nuts and torque them down to honda specs. i believe honda specs were around 33 ft lbs?

btw, unlike what the original poster said, the neuspeed strut bar is made of steel.

also, does anyone experience hood rattling with the strut bar installed? my car now has an audible rattle from the engine bay when the engine is around 1500rpm

[sil04ver]

best mod i ever did to my em2.