I am soon going to be focusing on my suspension a good amount on 97 Civic HX and want to upgrade it further with quality parts that have a reputation of working well and people having good experience with them. My only suspension done as of now are Skunk2 Pro Series Coilovers and Skunk2 Lower Control Arms.

For The Rear:
I am looking at getting a Rear Subframe Brace such as Funtion 7or ASR Subframe Brace w/ sway bar kit(possibly hollow 32mm bar). I was NOT going to go with a lower tie bar because the subframe brace is doing relatively the same thing and lowers ground clearance.

Sway Bars for the rear i was looking at an ASR rear sway bar, hadnt found a front one to go with yet or to go with a front sway at all?

Now as for up in the trunk,I was thinking to tie up with a Rear Strut and a Trunk Brace(if made for my model), thinking of a Tein Strut. I want to tie up the C Pillar as well, maybe the Miracle X Bar to do both.

Anything to do with the B Pillar? Is a harness bar worth it there for the suspension support?

For Under The Hood:
I am between the styles of front struts as to which to go with (Tein(classic) or Carbing style), and am undecided on a front sway bar.

Also had the Full Race Traction bar set up in mind, any opinions? Does that act as a front sway set up?

That is what i had in mind so far, want to hear other inputs, experience, opinions.

 

up top.

 

Pro-S or C?

Get the ASR, it's the (only) best there is. If you get the swaybar see that it is the one EK9 style, not ITR style. Use OEM EK endlinks, the ASR style ones will rust and rattle.

You def need a front one to compensate for the rear (too much oversteer), ànd it will better your ride (even less roll). Get an EK9/4 26mm front sway. For the rear you could also put an EK9 22mm (only if you have the ASR!)

Do this last. Get Explicit Speed Performance bars.

Maybe, but only if they'r one piece, so don't have ball joints and the like, this goes also for trunk bars etc.

No, traction bars keep your front wheels more steady. Again, do this last, get the swaybars setup first, it will make a huge diff.

 

Is this a daily driver or autoX/ track car? the 32mm bar should be used on a track only. 22mm is more than enough for most people. The Miracle X bar isnt worth the cost. Sway bars, good tires, shocks and springs will do much more than chassis bars will.

 

thanks for the replies fellas, good advice and good help. The car is a daily driver but is a more than capable track car power wise, but would like to get the suspension up to par. To Kristo, it is Pro-S Skunk2 suspension. For the B-Pillar bar i was looking at the one made by Sparco, pretty sure its one piece, and also there for when i do seats and harnesses.lol.

 

harness bars aren't allowed at a lot of tracks. make sure your local track does before buying one.

 

I'm not at home with USDM model specs, but I think the EK4 hatch was not available in the US.

The 96-00 SI model appears to be the EM1 coupé. Check the front swaybar of this model, from what I quickly read (on HT) it ís a 26mm, so the one you want.

Confirmed: check here. You can see here it's the same one as EK9.

Get also new endlinks, the old ones won't come off in one piece. Try to find an OEM Japanese parts dealer for those, then they are the same but cheaper (Honda does not make these themselves).

One problem: the OEM endlinks cannot be mounted on your aftermarket rear lower arms (the mounting hole is too long), so you either use your OEM arms or you cut away some of the mounting hole (friend of mine did this without any problems).

OK, another edit/update for I forgot that some USDM 96-00 vics come with EG/ITR style swaybar setup, as you can see here. So you have diff options for the front:

- buy ST Suspensions (Suspension Techniques) front swaybar (check here), only 24mm
- get SI lower front arms and install the SI 26mm bar
- it could be that the ITR front sway (51300-ST7-003) fits your stock setup but I'm not sure, any case it's only 24mm.

I would go for the 26mm taken that you plan on heavy rear sways. For serious trackers Mugen has even heavier swaybars for this setup (EK9).

Yet another edit (forgot all about this site, but hey, I drive EDM ): check here for all relevant swaybar swapping info.

 

thanks for track info, and thanks again kristo for great info, i will look into this and appreciate all your help.

 

kristo gave alot of good info. only input i have would be...i would and do run adjustable endlinks due to lower car etc.. but also alot of this "stiff" talk has to do with driving style/trust/feel/liking/etc of how you and your car work together to make you faster while you still feel comfortable. ie. i run a rear biased car. is that right..no. do i like it..yes. will it work for you...who knows. you tell us. lol. all joking aside ask you friends to take you for a drive or drive their cars and make your assumptions from there.