For the record, I drive a 1989 Honda Civic Si.

So I'm at a U-pull-it and I see what I think is maybe a '91 Integra LS in their "just in" lot. They're working on bringing the new cars into the main lot, so I figure I'll go out to lunch and come back. I came back, and ended up pulling the disc brakes off it, from the trailing arm to the e-brake cables. The cost was far below the $300 quoted from a normal junkyard, at a minute $40.

I brought them home and bought a couple new rotors and a set of pads. Removal of the calipers was easy, but as soon as I tried to remove the rotors, one of three screws was destroyed. The next day, I went to my friend's work to see if he could get them off, which he did, to only find that on of the caliper's pistons had seized. The following day, I traveled to a different, closer junkyard, where I purchased a right rear caliper from a '91 Integra for $25, only to get home and realized I needed a left rear caliper. I went to a different junkyard to find the correct caliper ($35 they don't know me as well there), and eventually got home and put it all together.

Finally I jacked up the car and disconnected the e-brake cables and all the brackets back to the calipers. And my friend and I began unbolting the trailing arm. The outer bolt of the rear lower control arm on the driver side was not coming out. (I guess I should mention that I am very limited to tools at this point, using only my 73 pc Craftsmen set <half of which is standard,> and a 10 piece wrench set.) In the process of attempting the removal of the bolt, I broke my 1/4 in. socket wrench (my jack handle fits very snugly on the end of it), hurt my hand about a million times, and got very frustrated. At this point, I'd like to mention that this was the first bolt I tried to get out. Trying the same bolt on the other side and finding the same thing, I decided to extend the removal process to include the control arm on both sides.

After calling a local performance shop, we learned that the Integra arm was not the same as the civic arm, despite the fact that they looked almost identical. So off to another junkyard to buy 2 control arms which cost $40. Snow slowed down this process on the second day, but I passed the time behind my friend's Trooper on ski's. The past few days kind of all blurred together, but I believe this is still the second day of the project. With the driver's side off after very little struggle, I began the passenger side and ran into 3 more problems. The bolt connecting the upper control arm and the trailing arm was stuck, but didn't strip. No, it didn't strip, but the bushing inside began to turn freely with the bolt. After destroying the trailing arm by attempting to remove the bolt, I decided to include the upper control arm in the removal process. The Integra's upper control arm matched the Civic's and I didn't care what the shop said.

On the third day, the inner bolt of the lower control arm on the passenger side decided to get stuck too. After consulting 3 different sources (3 mechanics at the shop I go to, a guy I work with, and an old dude at Ace hardware), I bought a pair of badass vice grips, a propane bottle for my torch, and I went to work on that little bastard, eventually getting it out.

Of the 2 bolts holding the arm to the car, one came out, and the other required something else. So that night I gave in and called my friend, who delivered a Craftsman air compressor and air tools to my house. The upper control arm came out along with the rest of the suspension. After attaching the driver side halfway, I realized that the lower control arm was facing the wrong direction, which just added to the week. But as it stands now, the cables are hooked up, all the arms are in place, and I'm sitting here on a Saturday waiting for Monday to buy 2 brake hoses, because I'm a dumbass and cut the stupid things when I took the disc brakes off the Integra. I guess it was a good learning experience...

Congratulations if you got through this. I hope you're not dumber.



[Modified by 89Si, 1:12 AM 12/8/2002]

 

damn so how much did you end up spending??

 

ouch.

plan it out before u attempt anything. u end up in a heap of trouble sometimes..


also invest in some good tools

 

good luck on the disc conversion...thats one of the many on my HUGE to-do list...you sound like me and my luck...everthing never goes like its supposed to...

 

The rear disc conversion was by far the worst upgrade I have done, as far as problems go. I eneded up cutting all the bushings off, through the rusted, seized bolts. A bonus out of that, was I flipped for a urethane bushing kit. But overall, that **** sucked.

 

I fell your pain. However unlike you I waited a month of prepping before installing mine. I replaced everything calipers (old ones had torn boots), rotors, pads, brake lines, etc. Most everything on them is new. The installation problems I had was mainly with the cables as they are a major bitch to install. It took me a day to install and another day before I could bleed them correctly.

 

I think its a lot better to buy new brake hoses than re-use old ones. Thats asking for trouble.

As a certified Honda chief safety coordinator, I must recommend that you buy brand new, genuine Honda brake hoses!

 

I thought my plan was pretty solid actually. buy the setup, get new rotors and pads, and hook that **** up. The only thing that wasn't planned was the cutting of hoses, which ended up being the last of my problems. I planned on having rust, but I didn't plan on having it everywhere. Buying control arms, a caliper, tools, and hoses weren't in the plan because I didn't know they were gonna give me trouble. And I'm going to the dealership for new hoses. And I think tools are coming for xmas. Good luck to anyone else planning this. Be prepared to have no car for 4 more days than you think the job will take. Be prepared for snow, rust, ice, and more rust. Oh, by the way, I cracked my center console in half trying to get to the e-brake cables.

brake setup with upper, lower, and trailing arms - $40
rotors and pads - $120
useless right caliper - $25
useful left caliper - $35
left and right lower control arms - $40
brake hoses - $??
badass vise grips - $15
propane tank - $6

Parts: $260+ hoses
Tools: $21

 

those center consoles are notorious for cracking in the middle be careful. slide slide slide.

 

Sorry to hear about the bad story with the brakes... I took mine off my friends spare integra parts car. Everything came off easy but air is always better...I almost cut the brake lines too but then I realized the consequences that could come with that. I am doing the conversion for the front 12-8-02 over at a friends shop
Good luck if you need parts let me know

 

You got by pretty cheap, mine cost way more...

Trailing Arms+Cables=$230 shipped
Rotors=$40
Goodridge SS Lines=$118
Honda Pads=$40
Reman Calipers=$140
Brake Fluid=$5
Total=$573

But the setup has worked flawlessly with all the new parts so it was worth the money.

 

sorry to hear about your problems/headache - i did this conversion and it took me 3 hours and i had no problems. EXCEPT i didnt want to drop the tank and the E-brake cables didnt want to get up where it needed to be.. but after much diligence, everything is A-OK.

p.s i went with pep-boys ceramic performance-pads in the back to give a little more bite and keep my car a little more level (ie. less nose dive) when braking. worked great!

 

Do you really need to drop the tank? I am about to do mine and I guess I don't want to drop the tank like you did.

 

all of u guys just swapped complete trailing arms and cables what about the master cylinder and the booster

 

no. you dont.. i didnt..its just really a tight fit.. but it can be done.. a lift would have made it easier