Hello,
I have been doing some seriuos thinking about what I would like to do to my Acura EL (civic 4dr). I have come to the conclusion that I am going to put osme money into the suspension, with plans on upgrading the engine/tranny at a later date. I am new to this, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I am wondering if anyone has links to a civic suspension swap? Also, I am planning on making a strut tower bar, Should I measure the distance between struts on the ground, or should the wheels be free hanging? will it make any difference? Also, what are the basic components that I would need for a nice setup. (to be used on the street, not track.)
Thanks alot, and please, only constructive comments.

 

You don't do much "swapping" of suspension components in Civic and Integras as the only one thats really worth a swap is ITR/CTR setups. I actually thing they would make a decent setup for most street driven cars. The only thing is getting your hands on a nice clean set.
Also, I would not waste money on a pre-made stb, and I would not waste time making one of my own. They do very little to improve the handling of your car, nothing you'll notice for 99% of the driving that you'll probably do. If you did pursue something like that though, you'll find that the distance between the two shock towers will not change much with the car on or off the ground. If the chassis flexed that much, you'd have more problems on your hand than a stb can solve.
Nothing beats stock for street comfort.
The next step up would be lowering springs, where a good set will give you a nice dropped look, and not sacrifice too much ride comfort. Cheap, and effective.
The next step after that would for more performance gains, like higher rate springs and some beefier dampers to handle the increased rates. There's many many choices here, but keep in mind that the further you move towards the performance end of the spectrum, the further away you move from the ride comfort end. You can't have both.
A street setup doesn't need much more than that, since you won't be driving like a moron on the street (will you?). Keep the spring rates low, don't slam the car, don't cheap out on parts, and do your homework.

 

I know this is going to sound stupid, but if i purchase lowering springs, what else am I going to need to buy, or is that all thats needed? anyone know of a do-it-yourslef guide floating around the internet maybe?

 

http://www.clubel.com

 

Its a tough question to answer, since lowering springs will come in all flavors, and you don't know when the stock shocks are going to give.
With that said, there are people who run lowering springs on stock shocks just fine. There are others who will tell you to upgrade. Some say stock and x-brand lowering spring is too soft, some say y-shock and abc-brand lowering spring is the best, and others say just go with coilovers. So a DIY guide would be difficult to write up since there's no universal answer to the question.

 

Thanks PIC, much more informative then above. Thanks for the advice.