I am just curious if the little ring on the bottom that holds the bottom plate for the spring is already isntalled on the shock or it should have come in the little bag. Also, has anyone installed the fronts on an EP3 or RSX? How much of a bitch is that to have to cut off the top of the old strut and install the Koni inside the old housing?

 

cutting off the tops of the old struts isn't that difficult. measure 2 or three times to make sure you don't cut them short. I did it at work, and we a decent fabrication shop. i used a large pipecutter to score and a hacksaw to finish it. i suppose i could have used the pipecutter the rest of the way.

drill out the tap hole in the bottom first. pump the rod a few times to get all the oil out. there is a fair amount of oil in them, so have a coffee can or oil catch pan nearby to collect it.

when you do cut the tops off, remember to debur the cut. it's really pretty easy if you take your time and focus on what you're doing. i finished mine in under an hour, but i had a full shop available to me. a decent bench vice is the biggest time saver.

 

its not hard at all, it just takes some time. The snap ring for the rears came installed on mine, I'm assuming they come that way all the time as long as you order the right year (honda did some adjusting of the perch location).
I probably had the struts hacked up in about 2 hours with the inserts in place another hour or so after that.
Its not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be.

 

Awesome, thanks for the insight guys. My issue is that I do not have a vice at home. I may have to take it to a shop or something to have them cut it for me. Also, did you guys have problems getting the axles to go back into the CV on the inner CV joint? the LCA's and knuckle on mine fell forward, and it is impossible to get those suckers to go back intot he CV. Might have to take the boot off.....damnit.

 

i stabilized the hub on a jack, with the car on jackstands, before i removed the strut.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1337 Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Awesome, thanks for the insight guys. My issue is that I do not have a vice at home. I may have to take it to a shop or something to have them cut it for me. Also, did you guys have problems getting the axles to go back into the CV on the inner CV joint? the LCA's and knuckle on mine fell forward, and it is impossible to get those suckers to go back intot he CV. Might have to take the boot off.....damnit.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ooohhh wow. how'd that happen? i do hear it is a pain to lock it back together. awesome DIY. will keep this. venturing into GC-koni setup.

 

I have no idea man lol. Had I known this would happen I wouldn't have allowed it to.

 

Almost forgot, another thing that pisses me off about this install is the lack of real instruction. The instructions have nice little pictures but no words or anything of the sort. Of, one more thing I nearly forgot. On the rear shock upper mount, did you have to drill out the hole for the shock shaft to come out? I tried to put mine on and it doesnt go past the threads. I think it needs to be like 12mm as compared to 10mm or something like that.

 

I didn't have to drill anything out. Just pull the stock upper mount off, pull the bumpstop and all the washers and spacers off, then put them on the koni. Use the koni washers and top nut hardware instead of stock.
I agree though, the directions suck. Ground controls are far worse than the Koni ones though.

 

Cool, I really appreciate the insight from all of you guys.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boilermaker1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didn't have to drill anything out. Just pull the stock upper mount off, pull the bumpstop and all the washers and spacers off, then put them on the koni. Use the koni washers and top nut hardware instead of stock.
I agree though, the directions suck. Ground controls are far worse than the Koni ones though.</TD></TR></TABLE>

were you doing this on an 02 and up Si or an RSX strut assembly? curious. i've had a couple of friends drill and cut. koni never made an assembly specifically made for the 02 and up Si.

 

I'm working with EM2 strut assemblies (which I believe are identical to EP3 assemblies (at least from what I can tell, the guts may be slightly firmer in the Si, but I used to have Si coilovers in my car and they fit perfectly), but I've done a few of them and I never had to drill anything in the rear. You have to drill the front for the nut on the bottom, but I don't recall any drilling required for the back, all the hardware went right back on without any issues.

 

FYI:

02 and up Si drivers use the application from your car (02 and up civics). so i'm thinking they are completely different, although i can use springs made for your em2. ie. tanabe DF210's i used for over a year.

 

personally, i don't care for koni's rear perch solution. i used kyb agxs in the rear, konis on the front.

 

Are you referring to the little ring that holds the whole spring and plate onto the shock?

 

yes.

 

I totally agree, its just stupid and I dont feel comfortable with that.

 

i have seen the ring fail. it'srare, but it does happen. you could get it welded in place.

 

Damn, looks like I will have to convince myself to get Teins......