My family's got a 200-year-old cabin up in the deep woods of New Hampshire that I'm responsible for maintaining. When I bring my '95 Civic EX up there, I bottom out on the nasty dirt back roads. I love the stock ride but I'm afraid of ripping my oil pan off. Has anyone ever heard RAISING the suspension on a Civic?

Would taller springs with the same compression rate do it? Or would I have to look into replacing the shocks as well? What about the anti-sway bar?

Any feedback would be appreciated. And try not to laugh at me...

 

I know a guy that used to rally a 5th gen Hatch. He ran TYPE-R shocks/struts onit with sleeves from a coil over kit. I believe he used Eibach Sport lowering springs? They were the lowest amount of drop you could get. I guess the car handled well, but it seemed sway bars helped a lot on the asphalt sections of the races too.

 

The dude's not looking to lower his car further, he's looking to raise it up. I know it's possible, as I've seen some jacked up rally Civics, but I'm not sure what exactly is involved. If you got longer springs, I would think you'd need longer shocks, or else the possibility of putting too much upwards stress on the piston may exist. Swaybars won't help at all with this, as they have nothing to do with ride height.

Your other alternative is to get a different car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sscguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The dude's not looking to lower his car further, he's looking to raise it up. I know it's possible, as I've seen some jacked up rally Civics, but I'm not sure what exactly is involved. If you got longer springs, I would think you'd need longer shocks, or else the possibility of putting too much upwards stress on the piston may exist. Swaybars won't help at all with this, as they have nothing to do with ride height.

Your other alternative is to get a different car </TD></TR></TABLE>

Read his post again. He said that the guy used eibach lowering springs with coilover sleeves. Considering that the Eibach springs are a lot longer than the standard 7-8" coilover spring this would raise the car and provide you with a higher rate than stock. Sway bars would help handling in this situation because with the CG higher you would have more body roll.

Another option would b to use Koni shocks on the highest setting, although I don't know how much higher it would get you. You don't want to be higher than the shocks can handle.

Another thing to think about is camber. When you lower the car your camber goes negative (good for handling), if yuo raise the car it'll go positive (bad for handling) so you will probably need a camber kit that will allow you to dial the camber back to zero, or even slightly more negative.

 

Hmm, I suppose he could've meant that, but he also said "They were the lowest amount of drop you could get"

The camber thing is a very good point. Positive camber would be AWFUL.

 

Good thing I posted to this list. It didn't even occur to me to consider camber. Thanks for the tip. Any idea then where I could find a camber kit for a '95 Civic?

And no, I'm not buying a new car just to drive up a hill three times a year. I love my Honda.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coffeebeanben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good thing I posted to this list. It didn't even occur to me to consider camber. Thanks for the tip. Any idea then where I could find a camber kit for a '95 Civic?

And no, I'm not buying a new car just to drive up a hill three times a year. I love my Honda. </TD></TR></TABLE>

If it's not too often maybe you can look at renting/borrowing a car or truck to get up there. The last thing you want is for your beloved Honda to break down out in the woods cause you craked the oil pan.

 

Good thing I posted to this list. It didn't even occur to me to consider camber. Thanks for the tip. Any idea then where I could find a camber kit for a '95 Civic?
And no, I'm not buying a new car just to drive up a hill three times a year. I love my Honda.

but you would LIFT your civic for 3 times a year? just drive carefully.