Strut ID and mods

All OEM Honda struts are marked SHOWA on the side of the casing, (Some say "Showa-Honda" but not all), above the spring seat. The numbers vary from side to side and year to year. The openable ones have a hex nut on the top of the casing. All 73-75 Honda struts were originally wet, meaning that when you open them up all the goopy oil is in there.

The 75 inserts were a slightly smaller diameter inside.

Showa also made struts for MUGEN But they would probably be worn out any way if you did find a set.

Koni red inserts for the 73-74 casing were dry, meaning they were incased in a secondary housing from Koni, no oil to mess with. Koni Red inserts for the 75 were wet just like the factory design... No Koni yellows were ever made for the early Civics

The way I told the 75's was to try an slide the 74 Koni insert in .... it wont go pretty un scientific but it worked.

The 75 casings can be drastically shortend to deal with lowered suspension, the 73-74 casings and dry Koni inserts can be shortened too but not as much. This is important on Koni's because if you bottom a Koni it smashes the valves and the shock is junk!

KYB made stock replacement dry inserts for the openable Honda casings and complete struts for early civics

KYBs that Justin uses in the 73-74 Honda casings are for Volkswagens, The length is a bit too long for my tastes but if the spring is mounted like he did it, will probably be ok even if the car lifts over a bump.

The Koni yellows are made for Volkswagen's and requires that a Volkswagen casing be welded on to a Honda casing nub, the result was a total length that was not suitable for my needs and I didn't like the idea of the safety of my car resting on a two piece casing.

For racing use or just some very cool street struts there are a few companies that will build struts just for your car but it will run in the 2k USD range

Don