New civic, bad suspension, cold idle, and sticky gas pedal
05-04-2010, 09:43 PM
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New civic, bad suspension, cold idle, and sticky gas pedal
Hi everybody, just got a 96 civic dx with the D16Y7 a few weeks ago. Been working on minor things since... This is my first car ive had thats worth fixing up some, and even though I took some auto mechanics back in highschool I havnt had too much practice since, so go easy on the noob.
So as for mods seems the previous owner did a mini-me swap to it (cant remember what he said he got the head from tho, and didnt do cams or anything else while it was open I guess). He said he tried a vtec ecu in it,(didnt say which one either) and it limited him to like 30mph or some speed which I cant remember, so it has the stock ecu. Has a short shifter with vtec button so it can at least be used at all I guess. AEM CAI and megan 2-2.5in full exhaust with headers. He swapped the gauge cluster too with a non-dx civic for a little more fancy dash (ha). Had some of those crappy ebay coilovers with stock shocks too, (turned out they were blown) extremely slammed. I think thats it on mods...
Overall looks like dude kinda riced it out, or at the very least had his priorities wrong in my book.
Anyways decided to do the suspension, and got koni str.t shocks and h&r oe sport springs. The backs went on fine without a hitch, the problem was when I came to the fronts. Since I dont have the stock springs I dont know how they were, but the h&r springs are the same diameter on the top part that goes into the strut mount for both front and back.
The front strut mounts seem to be smaller than the backs though. Without the rubber part that goes in the mount, the spring would fit the mount fine, so I cut the notches out of the rubber part. The rubber part would then go over the spring fine, but once I tried to put the hard plastic part of the mount on over it, it wouldnt fit over the rubber. Since the difference was like a few mm, I managed to get the mounts on, but the rubber part kinda hung out the sides weird, and the hard plastic part of the mount didnt look even. I figured that was all I could do and hopefully the pressure from the weight of the car would take care of it.
Anybody had to get aftermarket mounts for aftermarket springs or anything weird like this? Maybe get some back mounts and use them in the front too?
I did test it after finishing by going to the gas station up the highway. It definitely felt like a dream compared to how I got it. Did feel a little weirdness with the front at 75+. Nothing big enough to be specific, and it could just be in my mind cuz im worring so much about it, but I thought I heard something fall/rip off the car too. Just worried about screwing up my mounts or new shocks/springs and having to deal with damn spring compressors again.
Sorry I forgot to take pics, but I figured I would break em in just for tomorrow to do my commute and then check. Will take pics tomorrow if anything.
While im here;
Also when cold idling it seems to rev up and down (a couple/hundred rpms) really fast. Like faster than you could push the pedal and let go. It drives fine, and shuts up once warm, but it can be annoying especially with the exhaust I think I wake alot of ppl up EARLY in the morning. Guy said every honda hes had did that but I dunno. I think he had also said it was missing a O2 sensor or something, but the one I can find that goes into the intake is there. Cant remember if thats not a O2 sensor, might be a MAF or something else, but if anyone could tell me the correct amount of sensors and locations it would be greatly appreciated. Eventually I wanna get a chipped p28 ecu and convert to obd1 anyways tho, im just broke now.
One last thing, when I let go of the gas completely, and then go to push it again, it sticks alot of the time and can be pretty hard to push. Seems to be in relation to how I let go of the pedal, and how hard I let it go (i.e. how hard the plate is slammed down). The throttle plate and area is clean as a whistle, (He got a bigger TB off some acura supposedly) cuz I heard buildup around there could cause this. And pulling the linkage doesnt seem to indicate any catching. It doesnt even stick in any other position once the throttles open. I manually pulled that little plate that opens the throttle and letting it slam down is what seems to cause this... Only part that looks like it could be the culprit is the spring on the TB. Anyone ever heard of this or have any suggestions?
Sorry for writing so much, but I just wanna get this car working good, dont even care about looks or anything.
Also if anybody has any other comments or even ideas for what to work on next, thats definitely more than welcome.
Hope I can contribute at least some on this forum with my limited knowledge
So as for mods seems the previous owner did a mini-me swap to it (cant remember what he said he got the head from tho, and didnt do cams or anything else while it was open I guess). He said he tried a vtec ecu in it,(didnt say which one either) and it limited him to like 30mph or some speed which I cant remember, so it has the stock ecu. Has a short shifter with vtec button so it can at least be used at all I guess. AEM CAI and megan 2-2.5in full exhaust with headers. He swapped the gauge cluster too with a non-dx civic for a little more fancy dash (ha). Had some of those crappy ebay coilovers with stock shocks too, (turned out they were blown) extremely slammed. I think thats it on mods...
Overall looks like dude kinda riced it out, or at the very least had his priorities wrong in my book.
Anyways decided to do the suspension, and got koni str.t shocks and h&r oe sport springs. The backs went on fine without a hitch, the problem was when I came to the fronts. Since I dont have the stock springs I dont know how they were, but the h&r springs are the same diameter on the top part that goes into the strut mount for both front and back.
The front strut mounts seem to be smaller than the backs though. Without the rubber part that goes in the mount, the spring would fit the mount fine, so I cut the notches out of the rubber part. The rubber part would then go over the spring fine, but once I tried to put the hard plastic part of the mount on over it, it wouldnt fit over the rubber. Since the difference was like a few mm, I managed to get the mounts on, but the rubber part kinda hung out the sides weird, and the hard plastic part of the mount didnt look even. I figured that was all I could do and hopefully the pressure from the weight of the car would take care of it.
Anybody had to get aftermarket mounts for aftermarket springs or anything weird like this? Maybe get some back mounts and use them in the front too?
I did test it after finishing by going to the gas station up the highway. It definitely felt like a dream compared to how I got it. Did feel a little weirdness with the front at 75+. Nothing big enough to be specific, and it could just be in my mind cuz im worring so much about it, but I thought I heard something fall/rip off the car too. Just worried about screwing up my mounts or new shocks/springs and having to deal with damn spring compressors again.
Sorry I forgot to take pics, but I figured I would break em in just for tomorrow to do my commute and then check. Will take pics tomorrow if anything.
While im here;
Also when cold idling it seems to rev up and down (a couple/hundred rpms) really fast. Like faster than you could push the pedal and let go. It drives fine, and shuts up once warm, but it can be annoying especially with the exhaust I think I wake alot of ppl up EARLY in the morning. Guy said every honda hes had did that but I dunno. I think he had also said it was missing a O2 sensor or something, but the one I can find that goes into the intake is there. Cant remember if thats not a O2 sensor, might be a MAF or something else, but if anyone could tell me the correct amount of sensors and locations it would be greatly appreciated. Eventually I wanna get a chipped p28 ecu and convert to obd1 anyways tho, im just broke now.
One last thing, when I let go of the gas completely, and then go to push it again, it sticks alot of the time and can be pretty hard to push. Seems to be in relation to how I let go of the pedal, and how hard I let it go (i.e. how hard the plate is slammed down). The throttle plate and area is clean as a whistle, (He got a bigger TB off some acura supposedly) cuz I heard buildup around there could cause this. And pulling the linkage doesnt seem to indicate any catching. It doesnt even stick in any other position once the throttles open. I manually pulled that little plate that opens the throttle and letting it slam down is what seems to cause this... Only part that looks like it could be the culprit is the spring on the TB. Anyone ever heard of this or have any suggestions?
Sorry for writing so much, but I just wanna get this car working good, dont even care about looks or anything.
Also if anybody has any other comments or even ideas for what to work on next, thats definitely more than welcome.
Hope I can contribute at least some on this forum with my limited knowledge
05-04-2010, 11:19 PM
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Re: New civic, bad suspension, cold idle, and sticky gas pedal
One last thing, when I let go of the gas completely, and then go to push it again, it sticks alot of the time and can be pretty hard to push. Seems to be in relation to how I let go of the pedal, and how hard I let it go (i.e. how hard the plate is slammed down). The throttle plate and area is clean as a whistle, (He got a bigger TB off some acura supposedly) cuz I heard buildup around there could cause this. And pulling the linkage doesnt seem to indicate any catching. It doesnt even stick in any other position once the throttles open. I manually pulled that little plate that opens the throttle and letting it slam down is what seems to cause this... Only part that looks like it could be the culprit is the spring on the TB. Anyone ever heard of this or have any suggestions?
Original Poster - Hope you get your issues resolved...I love working on cars, but I hate having to fix problems!
05-05-2010, 04:20 AM
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Re: New civic, bad suspension, cold idle, and sticky gas pedal
Your front end shaking a bit at 75+ could simply be an alignment/wheel balance issue.
For the throttle cable i'll say i had the same issue with my previous EK build running the B16a throttle cable, it would stick when letting of the throttle suddenly. i too thought it was the spring at the TB but a friend suggested spraying some WD40 down the throttle cable and to my surprise that took of the issue for me.
I'll let the more experienced guys tackle your suspension questions.
For the throttle cable i'll say i had the same issue with my previous EK build running the B16a throttle cable, it would stick when letting of the throttle suddenly. i too thought it was the spring at the TB but a friend suggested spraying some WD40 down the throttle cable and to my surprise that took of the issue for me.
I'll let the more experienced guys tackle your suspension questions.
05-15-2010, 04:29 PM
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Re: New civic, bad suspension, cold idle, and sticky gas pedal
Your front end shaking a bit at 75+ could simply be an alignment/wheel balance issue.
For the throttle cable i'll say i had the same issue with my previous EK build running the B16a throttle cable, it would stick when letting of the throttle suddenly. i too thought it was the spring at the TB but a friend suggested spraying some WD40 down the throttle cable and to my surprise that took of the issue for me.
I'll let the more experienced guys tackle your suspension questions.
For the throttle cable i'll say i had the same issue with my previous EK build running the B16a throttle cable, it would stick when letting of the throttle suddenly. i too thought it was the spring at the TB but a friend suggested spraying some WD40 down the throttle cable and to my surprise that took of the issue for me.
I'll let the more experienced guys tackle your suspension questions.
what part of the cable did you do the wd-40(like did you take it all out)? will try now though.
Anyways, since the DX is supposed to have 175's on and the guy I bought it from had 195's on it, ill proly do the tires as soon as possible and get the alignment,etc. Especially cuz my big friend got in the car the other day, and even with the 3/4 in. drop I started scraping speed bumps
(again. gave me flashbacks of the shytty coilovers)Hopefully thatll fix it, but either way id still like to know from anybody whose done their suspension about the strut mounts. I was surprised for autozone the strut mount is only the bushings parts, so I might try to find the whole boot thing online. Itd be great if someone could let me know thats done their suspension though, especially if someones used HR springs.
This double wishbone's where civics supposed to shine and it feels worse on the highway than my old crappy sunfire.
BTW- Beckerton I feel you on the fixing problems thing. Just had to get a new oil cap because of forgetfulness and hurrying up cuz of rain, and a new battery just because of bad luck I guess haha
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