BlockMaster3K

Hi, i'm beginning to build up my 89 ef hatch for rally-x. i've been trying to figure out what i'm going to do suspension wise and have been struggling to find good info on anything that doesn't pertain to lowering the car. ideally i would keep the ride height stock or slightly raise it for more ground clearance. of course i'm trying to keep cost down as this is supposed to be a budget style build (car was $300). things i've thought about potentially doing or have come across so far: running 86-89 accord springs on my stock shocks. everything i've found says they should fit but will raise the ride height. in most threads, discussion about them ends there. im curious as to how the spring rates compare to the stock civic rates and if i will run into issues with having too much positive camber due to the increase in ride height. also if anyone has done this do you have info on how much increase in ride height is gained? ive heard its the same story when using springs from an eg or integra so if anyone has experience with either of those i would love to hear about it. i was also playing around with the idea of using some cheap adjustable sleeves and spec-ing out some springs to use with those. my concerns with that route is that i might run into issues with longevity of the sleeves and the springs becoming unseated when driving hard over rough surfaces. additionally i'm worried that i would loose ride height with sleeves even when adjusted up to the maximum as they all seem to be targeted for lowering the car. i've also thought about an adjustable coilover set up which could potentially be ideal but there are concerns about losing ride height again and i would most likely need to swap springs out anyway as they would probably be much to stiff ( i've found articles about an ef hatch and a crx set up for rally and they were both running 285lb springs front and rear). sorry for such a long post but this has been tough to find info on. i know its an odd choice for rally-x but i like the car and it was cheap. any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Tyson

I did a Google search for Honda Civic rally suspension and got a lot of useful threads .

I don't think you'll find any useful or competitive solution with other OE springs.

You need a custom spring rates with as much travel as possible. Adjustable rebound and compression. Like OE springs, you must preload the spring a lot to get the high ride height. In other words, expect to use spring compressors to install the spring on the shock. It's not fancy, don't get lost on the word preload.

Or just run with what you got and you'll probably find suspension the least concern .