1. I got the Energy suspension master set and was wondering where all the bushings go. This is the steering rack (There are 4 pass. side and one big drivers side bushing)

Actually the diagrams they gave me kind of sucked. Does anyone have any better ones they have online or on file that they can send me? For a 88-91 CRX

 

The Master set should only be used in an all-out race application. As for the front of the car the only ones you really need to conern yourself with are the ball joint boots, sway bar bushings and end links. None of those are shown in the picture you have here. ES will provide, or your local Honda dealer can print out parts location drawings for you. There can also be a set of bushings for the STRUT or Radius rods-this is an excellent time to replace them although you will go thru some gyrations to get to them-they are under the splash shield; the threaded portion is used to adjust Caster so you might want an alignment shop to take care of them. As for the Upper control arms in front-don't bother with the poly, unless you are building a race car and even them you don't really need this stiff a material.

Now to the rear-the Lower Control arm bushings should be replaced along with the sway bar bushings and links. Using poly for these parts will improve handling. You do not need to use the poly bushings for either front or rear shocks. I would seriously consider replacing the Traing Arm bushings with poly-as the car is now quite old and the difference in cost between this and new arms, with rubber bushings, is significant. Our CRX Si is set up as I have described. I bought the bushings ala-carte and am pleased with the results. We also replaced, with stock rubber, any questionable link.

Happy motoroing

 

Thanks a lot. So im guessing that i will not be using ALL the bushings? I will be a daily driver plus going to the track in the summers

 

The parts I mentioned are fairly typical for those of us who road race or autocross. You are doing a car that is primarily for daily driving-so save the other pieces or sell them as you will probably never need them.

 

with my ES kit the #12 bushing shown in the pic above can only be used with a power steering rack. make sure you grease all the bushings well so they won't squeak.

 

Forgot about that one-but I did not buy the set-yes that too would be a good idea for the rack. Also, do put the shifter bushing in-they will take some of the play out of the shifter. If you want to do that part really right-replace the stock nylon piece tht the shifter sits in along with the 4 O-rings--use Honda parts for these.
Our setups use stock rubber isolators and shock bushings and there is no reason in my opinion to do otherwise.

 

omg not for daily driving, WTF are you talking about

it will make your car handle great, make it stiffer yes, but it doesnt affect driveability, i have a full bushing kit in my EF and its nothing bad only good.... im sorry but that is stupid

 

impotant bushing to change are your rear upper control arm bushings I don't believe they come with your "master set"

 

"omg not for daily driving, WTF are you talking about"

Thats what I'm saying!! After 15 or so years I think your CRX will thank you for changing all the bushings!!

I know mine were in DESPERATE need of changing.

As for the original question: I haven't done my rack yet. I can't figure out where the little ones go. They are rack end bushings or something like that (#10?).

 

The bushings replace parts numbers 12 and 28. There are 4 bushings to replace 4 #28's.

 

ok thanks guys that was very helpful. so its not going to be too hard to put in right?

i can ONLY put in #12 if i have power steering? i dont have power steering so i cant use this?

 

IMO use all the bushings dailydriver or not. i love the way my car handles with them. like the others said , with our cars being 10-15 years old the bushings are rotted to hell. i know mine were. in the lower control arms my struts sat all crooked . buy the trailing arm bushings too they are also going to be all rotted. i got mine from summit for $25.

i hope you are mechanicaly inclined. the bushings are the most pain in the *** thing to put in. its very time consuming


the only bushings i have left are the steering rack and upper control arms. i am just going by what the instructions say about #12 bushing. maybe the rack for the power is bigger around so the bushing won't work with a non-power rack

 

crx's don't have a rear upper control arm

 

Does the master set make that good of a difference? I've been auto-xing and did a few laps at a track day too, and have been thinking of getting these, the motor mount inserts made a huge difference (mainly b/c they were ripped) but the shifter bushings didn't do much when I installed them, could barely tell if there was even a difference.

 

ok yes they do, stiffen up the chasis, less body roll. the best bushings to get if any are REAR TRAILING ARM BUSHINGS


BEST BUSHING EVER!

 

i already put in my torque rod bushing (tranny) and my shifting is a bit smoother now... however the guy who sold me the "Complete" master kit did not send me the swaybar endlinks or tranny bushing near the shifter.... (i think i need this one since my shifter is very choppy - you have to somewhat jam it in gear)

 

Will this "master set" work for an '88 CRX Si? So far as I've seen, as the rear suspension differs so drastically, it wont... just wondering if anyone has any info, as my rear trailing arm bushings are severely torn and I'd like to fix that for this fine new year of autoX

 

were do you guys get your info?!
the CRX and for that matter ALL honda multilink suspension cars have rear upper control arms. they also have compensator arms, for both of which ES does not provide ANY kind of bushings. prothane does, very expencive and INO, not that nessesary, both the RCA and CR are the same thing, cost about 30 each, and if you so inclinde could be replaced by aftermarket parts.
stan

 

For those in need of a set of poly bushings for the shifter I have a spare set of Neuspeed ones-brand new. The shifter should be smooth going into all 5 gears. It is quite possible, as I mentioned earlier, that the nylon socket is worn out. This is the part (dealer only) that the shifter sits in. You might also want to replace the rubber boot there as well.

The rear upper arm does not need poly bushings and costs about $40 at the dealer brand new after discount. I already said that you only need to redo the LCAs and Trailing Arms as they are subject to the greatest wear. The important thing is that one does not want the suspension super stiff except for drag racing, and even then poly is not absolutely needed. If the sway bar end link kits were not included in the "master set", I would order them fromyou supplier-they are listed in the ES catalog. I got mine from Ultra Performance in Tucson (think Summit might also have them). Do NOT use the bushings for the shocks-except in an all out race setup-period.

Last-the ES catalog says that the steering rack bushing is for cars w/PS and no mention of manual steering is made-check the data sheet or call ES before using it.

 

The rear upper arm bushings HAVE to be as solid as possible for handling. The rear upper arm determines your rear camber if there is ANY play at all you can have binding & camber changes.These camber changes won't be noticeable to your hand or an alignment machine but when you are flying through a corner and the load is placed on that arm that is when you will have changes. 88-91 civics and rexs are pretty old and I have yet to see a rear upper arm that doesn't have some kind of torn or rotting bushing.

The rear upper arm bushings IMO are 10 x more important then some of the bushings that come with the es kit.

Whether you change them with a poly bushing or a new stock arm...you should change them if your going to go through the hassle of doing bushings.

From what I understand you can't buy bushings from es for the rear upper arm but you can buy them from prothane but they are real expensive...A decent alternative is a rear ingalls camber kit.

 

I will agree with you about the upper arms needing to be as fresh as possible. I would not bother with the poly bushings on them. New arms are ~$40 discounted and will be fine. If you want the poly then the Ingalls parts will do the trick (have them on the Civic HB)-BUT are NOT allowed for racing in Improved Touring, which is the class our CRX is set up for.
I think we agree that these are cars with a lot of time and miles on them. This alone is a good reason to replace these "wear items" while it is apart.

 

the 4 little bushings you are talking about are # 28 there is one on top and one on bottum on each ide of rack. also no crx or civic(except 4-door had power steering so you CAN use it on your rack . i replaced my entire car also with the kit and i love it , very responsive in corners and on the track. just get a softer spring setup and you won`t know the diff. eibach prokit is nice

 

i did the whole ES kit in stages and love it. The one that made the bigest diffrence was the rear traling arm it didn't come with my master kit, but it was like $14. I have some friends that have the master kit on there daily drivers and like it just as much as me.

 

Yeah i did not receive the endlinks because it was an ebay sale and the guy didnt include tgose bushings as well as the bushing located near teh shifter which may be the cause of the shifter being kind of hard to jam in.


Which shock bushings are you talking about? (Front strut rod, Lower control armshock mount(F/R) , upper shock mount)


is that #18? and is it under the car? or in the cabin?


Iguy from Ebay said he found the shifter bushing.. now all i need is the endlinks and im set!! woo hoo


[Modified by G2-Rex, 7:26 PM 2/3/2003]

 

#18 is under the car

check # 13 that bushing if trashed will give you a sloppy shifter and the shifter kit won't help with that. With a really bad #13 your 5th gear will feel like your going to hit the glove box with your hand.




[Modified by 89civicdx, 12:09 PM 2/3/2003]