car sitting wierd
Thread Starter
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 928
Likes: 0
From: Homestead,FL
car sitting wierd
ok guys i have a 94 hatch..with steelies for sum reason the car sits lower in the back then the front kinda looks like i have no motor in it..i have all stock suspension never been modified..could my shocks and struts be blown?all i have inside the hatch is a box with 1 12 a jack and a tool box and i know all that cant make my car sit the way it does ..any ideas?
Re: car sitting wierd (305accord)
Originally Posted by 305accord
ok guys i have a 94 hatch..with steelies for sum reason the car sits lower in the back then the front kinda looks like i have no motor in it..i have all stock suspension never been modified..could my shocks and struts be blown?all i have inside the hatch is a box with 1 12 a jack and a tool box and i know all that cant make my car sit the way it does ..any ideas?
The springs & bushings will be your main concern here. Inspect the rear coils to see if any of them have rusted through, and broken. If not, it is still possible that the rear springs have lost rate and begun to sag with age (not very common for OEM springs though). Also inspect the bushings in the rear lower control arms. Make sure the bolt holes are still centered. If the bushings sag, this will lower your ride height.
You should also make sure the front shocks are installed correctly. The damper fork should be fully seated onto the shock body, and sit flush against the brake hose bracket like the shock shown on the right. If there is any space between the fork, and the brake hose bracket (both black in the picture), then your front will be raised up...
If you want to lower your front end, you can modify or remove your brake hose bracket and sit the shock lower in the fork just like the one shown on the right. This is common practice in the racing community, so you know it's a safe mod to make. Here is the instructions on how to do it:
Originally Posted by CRX Lee
Yes, they are a twin tube so a new dent won't screw things up but I have never made a dent and certainly would never file on the shock body. Once I tried whacking a new dent in the body but found I was more likely to just oval out the bottom of the shocks before a real dent got in it.
You guys are making it much harder than it need to be, I have been doing it for years. Leave the brake line bracket off and install the shock, spring and wishbone just like normal with the top and bottom mount bolts and nuts. Using the dent to align and start the pinch bolt, start the pinch bolt by only two or three threads so it is solidly started but definately not being tightened. Now take a large straight blade screw driver tip or a chisel punch around to the split on the back side of the wishbone and use it as a wedge and hammer the end it to further spread the split and make it looser around the shock bottom. Now put a floor jack under the LCA (the car is up on jack stands BTW) and lift the LCA upward loading against the spring and the car. The mouth of the wishbone will slide right up higher on the shock body and the pinch bolt slips up out of the dent. It only uses the dent as a guidepath so the bolt threads properly across the gap. You may need to fiddle with the wedge a bit or knock the top of the wishbone lightly with a hammer but it will normally move pretty easily. Once it stops moving, note how much shock bottom sticks through the bottom of the wishbone and make the other side match. Any amount of extra travel you get at the shock means 1.5 times that amount of free travel at the wheel. The key is that you must first use the dent to start the pinch bolt into the threading, if you don't then the arc of the shock body will deflect the tip of the pinchbolt on a tangent and you risk cross threading the wishbone like Tyson did (and I did until I figured it out).
Couldn't be easier, no new dents, no grinding or filing, just free stroke but remember that you must raise your spring perch accordingly or otherwise the car will just be lower with no extra stroke.
BTW, I just use one zip tie normally to hold the braided brake line (older Earls normally) and have had no evidence or concern of it moving or wearing.
You guys are making it much harder than it need to be, I have been doing it for years. Leave the brake line bracket off and install the shock, spring and wishbone just like normal with the top and bottom mount bolts and nuts. Using the dent to align and start the pinch bolt, start the pinch bolt by only two or three threads so it is solidly started but definately not being tightened. Now take a large straight blade screw driver tip or a chisel punch around to the split on the back side of the wishbone and use it as a wedge and hammer the end it to further spread the split and make it looser around the shock bottom. Now put a floor jack under the LCA (the car is up on jack stands BTW) and lift the LCA upward loading against the spring and the car. The mouth of the wishbone will slide right up higher on the shock body and the pinch bolt slips up out of the dent. It only uses the dent as a guidepath so the bolt threads properly across the gap. You may need to fiddle with the wedge a bit or knock the top of the wishbone lightly with a hammer but it will normally move pretty easily. Once it stops moving, note how much shock bottom sticks through the bottom of the wishbone and make the other side match. Any amount of extra travel you get at the shock means 1.5 times that amount of free travel at the wheel. The key is that you must first use the dent to start the pinch bolt into the threading, if you don't then the arc of the shock body will deflect the tip of the pinchbolt on a tangent and you risk cross threading the wishbone like Tyson did (and I did until I figured it out).
Couldn't be easier, no new dents, no grinding or filing, just free stroke but remember that you must raise your spring perch accordingly or otherwise the car will just be lower with no extra stroke.
BTW, I just use one zip tie normally to hold the braided brake line (older Earls normally) and have had no evidence or concern of it moving or wearing.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Ignitecivic
Honda CRX / EF Civic (1988 - 1991)
4
May 31, 2002 07:54 AM