94eg!

iTrader: (2)

I just received my Frame locks from Korbach engineering, and I had a chance to install them today. The parts were actually very impressive quality, with the drilling templates built right in. At first glance, I noticed how different the design was from their EK frame locks. There is actually less pieces, and the ones for the EG seem a bit more simplistic. The whole thing was relatively easy to install, especially since they come w/ the drill bits. It took me about 2.5 hours.

*edit* I now realize I should have been using some WD-40 too keep the drillbit cool. That allows it to bite into the metal much better, and allows the drillbit to last much longer...

Remove front bumper
Un-bolt washer bottle from chassis
Drop washer bottle out of the way (don't need to remove it)
Remove Resonator box from passenger side (makes intake sound cooler anyways)
Line up the frame lock w/ chassis & bumper
Bolt it to the bumper through pre existing hole
Drill pilot holes (5) through built in template tabs
Remove frame lock
Boar out pilot holes w/ larger drill bits (as instructed)
Break template pieces off the frame locks
Bolt frame locks into chassis
Re-install washer bottle
Re-install bumper

The only hang up I experience was a chipped 3/8" drill bit (caused by myself). It was an unfortunate $6 setback. The holes drilled into the chassis were super easy, but the 3/8" holes you have to boar into the bumper are pretty tough. First off, you have to drill upwards since they are in the bottom of the bumper. Second, the bumper is not secured very solid to the frame. When you push the drill firm against it, the drill-bits don't want ot bite. I actually had to use my neighbor's drill bits to step up the hole size several times to get them up to 3/8".




Driving impressions were pretty impressive. I took the car for a quick jog around the block. I immediately noticed that over rough pavement, the car felt totally solid & quiet. On bumps that normally sound like somebody had punched the dashboard, it felt more like a soft basketball bounce. It actually made more of a ride quality improvement than my GC Top hats. This is on a 94 civic CX thats lowered 2.5-3" w/ 16" rims (205-40), GSR sway bars, Koni yellows, GC 400/250, and front top hats.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to get some good handling test in a day or two. Keep an eye out for updates...


Modified by 94eg! at 10:05 PM 5/18/2006

Luserkid

How are your launches with these?

_gurusan_

been waiting for someone besides a magazine to review these

2000Ek

Was thinking about getting these on my Del Slow...

Will be on the look out for updates.

Deemeetree

Easier to use a step-bit.

92b16vx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by _gurusan_ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">been waiting for someone besides a magazine to review these</TD></TR></TABLE>
Should've searched, they have been reviewed here a couple times, and on a couple other sites

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How are your launches with these? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Unfortunatly my car is a CX (70hp ) , so there isn't any "launching" of anything going on here. I can certainly try some hard starts though. Perhaps after we move, I can convince my wife a b18 is a good "investment" .

Korbach's insturction booklet has a step by step how to, on "before & after" testing. Basically you drive to a remote parking lot (w/o your bumper cover on), and remove the bolts & spacers that connect the locks to the bumper. Then you make a seriese of turns (slolem, and hard corners). Then you re-connect the bumper to the frame locks, and do it again. I'm gonna see if I can get a buddy to come try it out w/ me later today (for a second opinion)...

JDMCRX

iTrader: (2)

nice guy

Im thinking of getting a set too that and some A Frame braces

Daniel san

how much did these set you back ?

GoT HaTcH

so these helped improve the ride quality too?

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Daniel san &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how much did these set you back ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

They are just over 200 if you get them w/ the drill bits (which I did). If you use your own bits, they are around $180 or something (e-mail korbach for specifics). You will need 3/16" 3/8" and 5/8" (5/8" w/ a 3/8" shank for a household drill).

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GoT HaTcH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so these helped improve the ride quality too?</TD></TR></TABLE>

After the install, I wasn't that surprised that it made such a difference. When I was drilling the holes in bumper beam, I could feel the steel deflecting when I pushed the drill. It seems that the bumper is just held in place w/ four horizontal bolts, which allow the the beam to rock back & forth. When you hit a bump, it causes a sort of "Jell-O" effect at the furthest point out on the chassis. If you noticed, the bolts for the frame locks go vertical through the bumper beam effectively triangulating the bumpers mounting points. I'm pretty sure this is how they work.

The dot's & bumps in the road just feel like smooth lumps now, and uneven pavement doesn't rattle the dash either . I did get a chance to make some sharp turns, and I noticed that my "snap" over-steer is a little more exaggerated now. The car still felt very much in control, but it surprised me the first time. especially since I had previously reduced it with the addition of a 24mm front sway bar (stock 14mm integra rear bar).

CivicSiRX

glad you like em. i love these things. i once had a full review written and post it up, but some mod deleted it for some dumb reason. my car is picture in the manual, i recieved these locks for free. but i love the overall feeling of them, very smooth, reduces understeer, and makes the entire front very solid and rigid.

mrnicolas

I also installed a set on to my eg last Tuesday. I have not done a write up on them yet because I was waiting to talk to Jake about some of the stuff that I dealt with when installing them. They definately increase the stiffness of the front end.

Farmer Brown

Was thinking about this, but they are way over priced. Even when the had the special last year.

If I really want some Ill just harness my |337 Mechanical engineering skillz and make my own.

Deemeetree

Looks great.

mrnicolas

I will go a little more in depth here with my install.

I was very surprised at the difference between the 96+ civic frame locks and the 92-95 frame locks. They are made out of 1 piece and it looks great. Total install time was about 1 hour 15 minutes. I took my time and cleaned a lot of little things as I was going. I did have a problem with the last 3/8 hole I was drilling, the bit did not want to bite. I tried another 3/8ths and it would not bite either. Turns out I messed my Makita drill up a little, so an error on my part. I reassembled everything after installing these and I ran into a problem fitting my bumper back on. You see I have the oem style foglights on my car and the brackets on the foglights hit the bottom of the framelock making it so you can not fit the bumper back on. I had to cut the back of the brackets on my foglights and actually file down part of the light housing itself to get my bumper to fit back on correctly. This really was not a big deal to me, it just took some extra time. SO if you have oem style foglights, be aware of this.

Driving Impressions:

I installed these Tuesday the 10th of May. I took the car out for the initial test drive. Even driving down my 3/4 of a mile dirt driveway I noticed a difference in the feeling when going over small bumps. The front end felt more solid. Now I took it for a test drive on some roads I am very familiar with. You can definately tell that these have increased the stiffness of the car. The steering responce feels like it has increased also, it is like I can feel more of what the car is doing through the steering wheel if that makes sense.

May 14th I had my first auto x of the season. I am part of a small car club that has been together since the early 1960s. We put in an event each month. It is not a true scca event, but we abide by the rules. I figured this would be as good of a place as any to really push my car to see if I can notice a difference. All I have to say is WOW. these things are awesome. I could definately feel that these have increased the stiffness of the front end of my car. It feels similar to when I installed a gsr sway bar on my cx hatch. These definately work. What I would have liked to have done if I had all day is remove my bumper to be able to loosen some bolts to do back to back runs with these. What would have been better is to be able to have someone else loosen them and have me do "blind runs" not knowing if they are loose or tight so I could see if I could tell a difference.

Overall impression:

I am very impressed with the quality of the parts, they are top notch. The laser cutting of the parts is great. The powdercoating was nice. The best touch though is how easy Korbach has made installation. The guide holes make it so simple to install these. I would actually like to have seen how quick I could get these installed if I didnt take my time. Honestly, these are so easy to install. I like the fact that the bits were included with the framelocks, it makes it simple. What I would like to see and it seems to be the general agreement is I would like to see the price come down on these a little. If you could market these below the $150 mark, I think that would be great. Maybe change the production process a little bit? Just my opinion though. Most people do not have the foglights and will not run into the problem I had, so that is not something to really worry about. It is not something a die grinder and a file didnt take care of. My contact was Jake and I must say that he is a great guy. If their customer service is as awesome as the service I got from Jake, this company will go far. These guys are awesome.

I give Korbach

-Levi Early





pic of the holes



I have more pics, just not loaded up.

93 civic cx d16z6 jrsc @ 9psi
94 gsr front and rear swaybars, front subframe brace, upper strut bar, all control arms, eibach sportline springs, kyb axg shocks set on 3, generic rear strut bar, 15" konig heliums with 205/50/15 falken azenis

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

Great pics man. I like your wash job on the front chassis. I think I'm gonna have to do the same before I put my bumper back on this afternoon. Thanks for the heads up on those fog lights too...

mrnicolas

I can load more pics later, I took a few more.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

If you can, would you mind re-sizing the ones you've already posted. They're a little big, causing people to scroll back & forth when reading the text...

93_hatch

finally i am seeing people praise the frame locks i have had them on my eg for a while (was one of the testers and my car is the one in the install book) they are great product, the ride comfort is like the best thing for me with the crapy roads around here but the steering respones was improves a lil less understeer too. love this things wish it was legal in autocross

evade this honda

I have never heard of them if someone could email me some info on them I would be very happy. My del sol is lowerd about 31/2" in the front and about 21/2 in the back , so when I hit a bump in the road it feels like a truck hit me

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by d16 sol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have never heard of them if someone could email me some info on them I would be very happy. My del sol is lowerd about 31/2" in the front and about 21/2 in the back , so when I hit a bump in the road it feels like a truck hit me</TD></TR></TABLE>

Your car is excessivly low. I would have to recomend adding some shock travel before buying frame locks. If you have coilovers, you could get ground control top hats (they only work with 2.5" inner diameter springs). If not, you can modify your existing upper shock mounts to do the same thing (click here for a "how-to").

For frame lock info go to http://www.KorbachPerformance.com. They don't sell the EG kit on thier website yet, but they do have them available. Their customer service is really good (I talked with Jake Lee), so give em a call...

clemsonhatch

I received my set a day before I came to Lima, Peru this past week. I can't wait to get back and install them on my wife's 93 EG coupe! From the sounds of it I'll be installing them on my 93 hatch also, I'll just have to disconnect them when I run SCCA events. Customer service has been great and the product looks well made. Hopefully I have time to get them on the car before this weekend, but from the sound of it should take about an hour or so.

Civic92Turbo

so this stiffens the front? never heard of these until now

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93_hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">love this things wish it was legal in autocross </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by clemsonhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'll just have to disconnect them when I run SCCA events. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Do they remove your front bumper cover for inspection or something (I've never autocrossed before)...