RyanA

I'm not sure if this has been covered before; I do not recall seeing it though. Many people buy aftermarket shocks or coil over setups and they are set up with the wide rear fork instead of the narrow fork that a 96-00 Civic uses. A lot of the time they come with spacers. Some of the time they do not so you have to "pinch" the rear fork together or add a stack of washers to take up the extra clearance. Well, I was swapping out some suspension this weekend and figured I'd do a little measuring to see if my suspicions were correct. They were. You can press out the EK shock bushing on the control arm and an EG/DC bushing pushes straight in. Here's what I did:

1. Remove rear control arms.
2. Press the shock bushing out of the EK arms.
3. Press in the EG/DC shock bushings. Make sure to center them so they stick out equally on both sides.
4. Reinstall lower control arms and put the wide fork shocks straight on with no spacers or pinching required. Make sure to put some grease on the bolts so they don't rust in there over time.

Pretty easy and it works great. Any aftermarket control arm that uses the factory OD of the shock bushings can also have the bushings changed out this way.

Ryan

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

There's really nothing to say that's the "right" way and other ways are the "wrong" way. Now I would not ever recommend bending the shock forks, but really there's nothing wrong with using spacers to take up the extra room on the bolt vs. using a different bushing.

However the REAL "right" way is to get the correct shocks for the car.

beanbag

Pressing in the EG bushing sounds more structurally sound than using a bunch of washers.

STOCK_SOHC_DX

This FTW.

I don't know how changing bushings are better when some coilover kits come with shimming type washers for EK that you have to punch out for use with EG.

RyanA

Well, when I got my Bilstein/Neuspeed coil overs, they did not offer them for 96-00 as a direct fit. I don't know that they do to this day actually. As for how washers is just as structurally sound, think about it. Take a pencil and put it through a bushing and put the shock there. Put force on the shock. If there is a gap, the pencil will break due to leverage. If you put the spacers, you are still only placing the load on the sleeve part of the bushing; this allows the bolt to bend, in theory, where the spacers are. Now, take out the bushing and put one the correct size in there that takes up all the space. You'll notice that you can place a LOT more force on the pencil before it will break. Yes, I understand there is possibly no problem using the 1/2" worth of shims on a 96-00. However, I'd rather place all of the load on something that is going to support it. This is like saying it's OK to put some spacers between your wheel and hub to stick it out farther. Sure, it will work for a while but eventually, you'll shear the studs off of the hub.

I build a car with a "better safe than sorry" outlook. If there is a way to do it better, that's how I'll do it. For the $15 for a pair of bushings, I'll put my life's line on them instead of some parts store washers or the included shims with shocks any day.

Cliffs notes: If you don't mind having something a little wrong, spacers are fine. If you really want it done right, get the right shocks. However, if the right shocks are not available for your application and you want something nice for your car, you can use the EG/DC shock bushing in place of the EK bushing and washer setup....

RyanA

Could you provide me with the link to Neuspeed/Bilstein coil overs for a 96-00 Civic? Just looked and they still only offer them with the wide fork. They say they may also fit 96-00. I'm sure you probably know if you are going to spend some decent money on suspension, you want it completely right. The Neuspeed/Bilstein's are what I decided on for my hatch as they seem to work VERY well and absolutely blow my GC/Koni's out of the water. Guess there is something to be said about a coilover that still utilizes a full size spring.....

Here's the link I could find about them; if you can show me where the "right" ones can be found, I have no problem selling mine to get them. Until then, my correct bushing application for the shock is how I'll be going.

http://www.sciontist.com/ProductDeta...x?id=100022489

STOCK_SOHC_DX

I will agree that these coilovers ride really well (like stock) slammed or raised but did you ever try to even auto x with these? GC/Koni > Neuspeed Bilstein.

RyanA

Nope, they have been sitting on the shelf. I have a friend with the Neuspeed/Bilsteins and he says he loves them. Said that they ride way better than the GC/Koni setups he's ridden in. My only complaint about the GC/Konis is they seem to start feeling a little weird if you get a long straight that has a little ripple in it. It's almost like they just don't like to perform when that happens. If you are on a short track, I definitely like the GC/Konis. Longer track, I really have to stiffen the crap out of them to make it feel stable at high speeds.

My car will see little true autoX time as I pretty much daily drive everything I have. However, we do have lots of curves where I live so I do get to give the cars a workout on a regular basis. The reason I want everything as strong as I can possibly get it is because I do not want a bolt shearing off while I'm going around a curve; there are too many trees around here and they don't seem to be very forgiving. Track is fine because you don't have big trees to tear your car in half....