I have an 89 CRX HF with the stock front swaybar, it sits at about stock ride height with fairly soft springs, maybe twice as firm as what came from the factory, and Koni Orange shocks. Eventually this will have a B18C1 and it has rear disks out of a 90-91 CRX Si. This is going to stay a street car, and stay about stock height.

I am looking for a rear swaybar recommendation, I dont want want snap oversteer or the back end stepping out constantly on accident, but I do want something fairly aggressive without crossing over into dangerous on the street. Right now I am looking at these:

The Progress 88-91 CIVIC/CRX, REAR SWAY BAR, BRACE & END LINK SYSTEM for $386.75: https://www.progressauto.com/product...nd-link-system

The ASR 24MM SWAYBAR & REINFORCEMENT KIT - 88-00 CIVIC/CRX / 90-01 INTEGRA for $450.99: https://jhpusa.com/products/asr-24mm...nt=40056509460

Anyone have any personal experience with these or another recommendation? Is the 24mm ASR bar worth the extra $64 over the 22mm Progress? This is an HF body so I don't think I have the stock rear swaybar mounts.

Also any opinion on the ebay front traction bars? I wouldnt normally consider it but some of them look pretty decent, and it is not like they are a complex device. Although I would expect the Heim joints probably would need to be replaced with something better:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32471163545...Bk9SR6yCo8y1YQ

 

The ST rear bar is a nice piece and was easy to install. It uses the rear tow hook mounts, not sure if the HF has those.

However, your setup is sounding like something I went through on the path to my current setup. I went through sway bars, shocks, coils, not to mention lots of time and money spend on install and alignments. It was a great learning process, but ultimately a huge pain and financial boondoggle.

I too wanted something that handled well on the street, at close to a stock height.

Started with Koni Oranges and some lowering springs - they ended up riding too low and the ride was very rough over bumps.
Added ST sway bars, and the rear sway made things too twitchy for me. The turn in was nice, but it was tiring to drive.
Tried a cheap set of coilovers - they rode like crap.
Finally went the Koni/GC route, with 400F and 500R springs. This had nice turn in, but it was unpredictable over rough surfaces and bouncy due to the rear spring bias.
Played around with sway bars, and found that with the spring setup, stock sway bars felt the best.
Found progressive springs that fit the Koni/GC setup and tried those out to get rid of the bounce - they ended up working very well and retained the turn in I liked w/ the 500R springs.


My current setup is treating me very well. It handles predictably, feels fun, and doesn't bounce all over the place. I want to share it in the hope that it helps to save you some time and frustration.

Around 1/2 inch lower than stock
Stock sway bars with poly bushings
Koni Yellows
Ground Control sleeves w/ extended hats on the front
Front springs: 400lb Eibach
Rear springs: 225/475 progressive rate QA1 10" springs (QA1-10HT225-475)

As for traction bars, stay away from double-heim joints to keep stability and the geometry close to stock.
If you aren't running a different radiator, engine swap, turbo or a huge header there isn't much benefit. They do look nice, and help if you launch the car often.

Best of luck

 

Thanks! I did end up buying the 22mm ST rear swaybar on the recommendation of someone from the D series forum, so I will be installing that when it comes in.

As far as springs go I am pretty happy with what I have which was a mix of spare ones I had laying around. I think it is some progressive ebay cheapies on the rear (possibly the 'front" springs) and a pair of unknown OEM springs on the front with ebay top hats and Koni Orange shocks all the way around. Right now I have the stock HF 13" steelie rims in the back, once I get my other two 15" rims cleaned up a little I might add top hats to the back as well depending on how it looks.

Right now it is a dead stock HF engine and transmission, I have a B18c1 and Si 1-4 LS 5th Hydro tranny, but I need to swap out the pistons and rods in the B18c1 and replace the shift linkage in the trans and possibly replace some syncros depending on how they look. It is on my list, but it is a long list with LOTS of other projects. For now I think the addition of a rear swaybar will be a quick and easy way to finish off my suspension to the way I like it for how the car is used.

 

Thats good to hear, I hope the swaybar works out for you!

Looking back I should have tried the ST swaybars by themselves on my stock suspension, but the suspension mod bug bit me and it was downhill from there.

My next step is dialing it in a bit more, and getting another alignment. I've thought about the Honed Development front/rear roll center kit to keep the stock geometry while lowering the car a little bit.

If the ST ends up being too stiff you have other OE options like the Si or Integra swaybars, though you'll need to figure out how to mount them on the HF chassis.

 

I got the 22mm ST rear sway bar in on medium and like it, I need to try it on firm too and see how that feels. I also swapped my oversize 15" commuter all seasons to the back, so I need some decent 15" fronts, maybe some Dunlop DZ102s, as I had them before and liked them, but they didn't last long with my previous brutal commute. I ordered up a set of rear top hats as the back is definitely way too high.

I like the current spring setup for street use a lot, my test road is absolute pothole ridden, badly repaired, bumpy garbage and my current setup eats it up with zero loss of control, jarring, or bouncing even taking 15-25mph corners at 55-70mph.

With the ST 22mm sway bar on medium my rear springs are pretty close to the firmness limit for what I want, much more and bouncing might start to creep in on big bumps, so if the additional preload from the top hats in the rear pushes it over I might trim the rear springs a smidge, maybe half an inch or so to return it to where it is now.
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Overall it is a pretty sweet street setup, and it would probably work well for some gravel road rally fun too.
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Really glad you are enjoying your setup. I'm starting to wonder if the Koni Oranges I had were bad from the factory, even on soft Tein S.Tech springs it was a rough ride - it felt like hitting a pot hole over minor bumps.

For your rears, there should be multiple positions for the spring perch - that would help you adjust the height. The top hats will effect the amount of shock travel, but won't change your height.