I am looking into putting a energy suspension kit in, and i think i would rather have a shop deal with that mess. I see a kit for around 130.00 on ebay, how much did it cost you. How is the ride quality now? i plan on doing trailing arms to, i dont think the kit came with those. thanks. sorry for the noob like question, i cant seem to search what i am looking for.

 

edited for my mistake, i read suspension and thought u were talking abotu springs or something

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zdowell17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am looking into putting a energy suspension kit in, and i think i would rather have a shop deal with that mess. I see a kit for around 130.00 on ebay, how much did it cost you. How is the ride quality now? i plan on doing trailing arms to, i dont think the kit came with those. thanks. sorry for the noob like question, i cant seem to search what i am looking for.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you don't want to do it yourself I'd recomend selling them...

Unless the shop quotes you a low price they're going to charge you however long it takes them to do it... which will be a LONG time.

It would probobly cost you 400 in labor MINIMUM unless they quote you a flat rate for doing it... if not it'll probobly be more than 400.

Those things are a bitch to do and you have to dis-assemble sooo much of the suspension to get them done it's rediculous.

All tolled it took me in a shop with a lift and press probobly 8hrs to do them all... I took my time though...

I'm pretty sure that burning them out would be MUCH faster... most of my time was setting up a piece in the press and getting them out... Putting them in is a snap and as long as you know what you're doing the parts you have to disassemble aren't difficult at all...

The only one's I skiped were the steering rack bolt bushings... just too much of a pita to deal with.

Also be prepared for 1 if not all of your LCA shock mount bolts to get seized up...

And if they don't MAKE SURE you or the shop coats them thuroughly in anti sieze compound...

Frankly I'd pre-order all 4 lower shock mount bolts if I had it to do again.

Also make sure they lube the bushings with the supplied grease.. you may even want to order some extra... I found it was running pretty low by the time I was almost done.

The kit is OUTRAGEOUS nice... I have an otherwise BONE STOCK suspension (springs struts/shocks and front sway ALL STOCK ALL ORIGINAL) with 203k miles on it and I get asked what brand suspension I have often.

Some roadracers say that they wear out quickly but I've had my set for over 2 years without so much as a squeek out of any of them... but racing is much harder on your car... even when you beat on it like I do.

 

thanks for the reply. anyone get theres done by a shop, and remember what they paid. looks like it might be a DIY project or just dont do it.

 

I paid 115 for the kit for my 94 EG Coupe. Labor is where the money is.

 

It's quite a job to do. I had a young guy with lots of tools that did it for way to low of price. I think he wouldn't have done it if he could have gone back and changed his mind

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turboman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's quite a job to do. I had a young guy with lots of tools that did it for way to low of price. I think he wouldn't have done it if he could have gone back and changed his mind</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah that's the key... try to get a writen quote ahead of time.. that way they can't re-neg and charge you for what it actually takes...

problem is that an experience mechanic or shop will know what a bitch it is to do.

My friends shop (normal service station) quoted someone like 800 bucks to do it... it just take SOOOO much time... they have to pay for that bay.

 

800 bucks? What? Thats outrageous! The old bushings are a pain in the *** to get out, but the new ones pretty much slide right in. Theres no way unless he charges 200 bucks an hour.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rfoster03 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">800 bucks? What? Thats outrageous! The old bushings are a pain in the *** to get out, but the new ones pretty much slide right in. Theres no way unless he charges 200 bucks an hour.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So you think it takes 4hrs to do a FULL suspension kit?

Try 6 at least... and that's actual time not book time.

Like I said it's a SERVICE shop... They quote book time...

It would take a GOOD mechanic at least 4 hours just to get the LCA's done...

then you have the sway bars, steering rack, and the upper shock mount bushings.

This is an ENVOLVED job... you disassemble the ENTIRE suspension to do it.

Oh and I forgot about the upper control arm bushings... it's a pain in the *** to do.. I can't imagine ANYONE being able to do the whole kit in 4 hrs

 

What exactly does this kit contain?

 

Pretty much replaces every bushing in the car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What exactly does this kit contain? </TD></TR></TABLE>



HYPER-FLEX SYSTEM Complete Master Bushing Set Includes:
front control arm bushings
front shock bushings
front end links
front sway bar bushings
front and rear coil spring isolator set
rear trailing arm bushing set
steering rack bushings
transmission shifter stabilizer bushings (manual transmission only)
front ball joint boots and front tie rod boots.

More or less...

 

OH I forgot...

DO NOT INSTALL THE BALL JOINT BOOTS...

they do not seal propely and will cause premature wear.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zdowell17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks like it might be a DIY project or just dont do it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

better have a press in handy cause some of those bushings are a bitch to get in. Lucky my dads a mech , cause when my cuz was trying to put the bushing for his LCAs on his GSR he couldn't get them in LOL so he took em to my dad.

***** a bitch not really worth all that time and effort and money (for a shop that is) for that much money you have 1/2-1/3 for a motor swap. If you got a friend thats a mech. or a relative then its a different story.

If i were you i would do my whole suspension all at once that way you don't have to keep taking **** off just to put on a new part LOL.

 

my way to remobe the LCA bushings. get a drill and drill out all the rubber ising a lube like WD40 makes it much eaier and less smoking.

after teh rubber and metal inner drop out. get a dremel or similar rotary tool and a cutting wheel. slice the outer steel shim down the middle, then and get a hammer and flat screwdriver to pound it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NonovUrbizniz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">OH I forgot...

DO NOT INSTALL THE BALL JOINT BOOTS...

they do not seal propely and will cause premature wear.</TD></TR></TABLE>they seal fine one my car, havent leaked a bit of grease out

 

My ball joints were fine as well, but I didnt put in the rear trailing arm bushings cause I heard that there were alot of binding issues so I would search that as see what you find. Also you will need to get you rear LCA bushing cause they dont come in the kit and you might as well have the whole car done while your at it
Also you should be looking at around 400-600 for labor thats what I have seen other ppl pay if you dont do it youself. Putting the ES bushings on is easy I did it with my hands

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fasthatchb18c1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My ball joints were fine as well, but I didnt put in the rear trailing arm bushings cause I heard that there were alot of binding issues so I would search that as see what you find. Also you will need to get you rear LCA bushing cause they dont come in the kit and you might as well have the whole car done while your at it
Also you should be looking at around 400-600 for labor thats what I have seen other ppl pay if you dont do it youself. Putting the ES bushings on is easy I did it with my hands</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's funny my set didn't come with the trailing arm bushings but it did come with the LCA bushings... Actually had 2 sets of LCA bushings one set for my year and one set for an older gen.

 

well I never got the kit I was looking at this list Half the bushings I got someone gave to me cause they never got around to doing it<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkoundrelUSA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



HYPER-FLEX SYSTEM Complete Master Bushing Set Includes:
front control arm bushings
front shock bushings
front end links
front sway bar bushings
front and rear coil spring isolator set
rear trailing arm bushing set
steering rack bushings
transmission shifter stabilizer bushings (manual transmission only)
front ball joint boots and front tie rod boots.

More or less...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Here we go this is what you will get in the set
HYPER-FLEX SYSTEM Complete Master Bushing Set Includes: front and rear control arm bushings, front and rear shock bushings, front end links, steering rack bushings (power steering only), transmission shifter stabilizer bushings (manual transmission only), ball joint and tie rod end boots


Modified by fasthatchb18c1 at 5:41 PM 5/13/2005

 

I found out when I installed my kit that it only replaces the bushings in the front control arms, shifter and rear trailing arm. It doesn't come with rear control arm bushings or rear shock bushings. What I did on the front was use a hole saw and cut the middle out of the bushing and used a sawzall to cut a slot in the shell. On the rear trailing arm and upper control arms I used a torch. If I were to charge sombody else I would do it for $300. Not any less though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zdowell17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am looking into putting a energy suspension kit in, and i think i would rather have a shop deal with that mess. I see a kit for around 130.00 on ebay, how much did it cost you. How is the ride quality now? i plan on doing trailing arms to, i dont think the kit came with those. thanks. sorry for the noob like question, i cant seem to search what i am looking for.</TD></TR></TABLE> Ride quality is the same as before. I have GC/Koni and they actually seem better after the bushings. It feels like it bounces less when I autox. Kind of like the dampers are working better. All in all they're pretty subtle differences. I would consider this one of the final things to do in your suspension. After shocks, swaybars, braces and such.

 

U know u dont have to buy the entire kit. If u look on Energy's website, u can see the indivual sections have their own part #. I was planning just to get the kits for the F/R LCA's. I already bought a bunch of other kits separately, like the shifter bushings, F/R sway bar bushings and I put those in myself. Plus things like my Onmi camber kit came with new bushings so i dont need to change those out anytime soon. I was planning on taking off all my LCA's and bring it to a shop with a press, get all the old bushings pressed out and put the ES ones on myself.

 

Just an FYI you cant just press the old bushings out on some of the control arms. You have to remove the rubber but leave the shell intact.

 

uuuummm no you dont

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NonovUrbizniz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I agree with everything this guy has to say..

but just wanted to add a couple of things.

1. With a lift, power tools, a press, and two people - myself and another mechanic. It took us 6 hours to do it. Granted, it was our first time, but I had to it again, alone no less.. easily 6-7 hour job with all those tools/facilities listed above.

2. The shop I used to work/hang out at.. they charged a flat rate of $70/hour x 8 hours for install of this kit.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NonovUrbizniz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Some roadracers say that they wear out quickly but I've had my set for over 2 years without so much as a squeek out of any of them... but racing is much harder on your car... even when you beat on it like I do.</TD></TR></TABLE>

3. I did my install in 98, and the only thing Ive worn out was the sway bar bushings. Otherwise, they still feel like new.


Id highly recomend doing the install yourself. Not only will you learn a thing or two about your car, but also save you some extra cash for beer/tacos/pr0n/more parts for your car. Not necessarily in that order.