By Tom Burick (152.163.213.208) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 11:33 am:

Hi guys, I want to upgrade the suspension in my 1975 Civic 1200. I have 13" Yoko AVS tires with totally stock suspension. I do not race the car. Looking for a firm (not abusive) ride and flat cornering with MAYBE just a touch of understeer to protect me from myself. I want to spend $500-$700 dollars. How can I tell if my struts are "openable" to accept Koni inserts? Do I want wet or dry inserts? I was thinking about Koni inserts with brand new springs (as opposed to used wagon springs). Where do I get the springs? What kind of springs do I ask for to get the results I want? Do I need new bushings or Addco swaybars? Please keep in mind that this is not a racer, it's just for fun, spirited driving on back country roads. Also, I am new at this so the easier the better.
Thanks,
Tom

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 04:27 pm:

Hi Tom,

Use stock springs, lowered up to 1.5 inches or buy new springs with the same or similar rates. get some good shocks, KYB are fine, koni reds are nice but you need to be able to find some.

Then just add swaybars. Go up a couple of mm in the front and add a 20mm rear bar. We are now stockists of selby swaybars for all Hondas and they come with a complete mounting kit and nolathane mounts.

This will give reasonable compliance and nice flat handling around corners, as long as you increase the size of the front swaybar a bit when you add the rear you can still dial in understeer (with toe settings). With this sort of setup and your tyres you will find you can outhandle most cars on the road. Our selby sway bars are about $165AU (inc GST), about $85US. This may be cheaper than addco ones, otherwise buy locally.

Charles

By david (208.130.241.222) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 04:52 pm:

charles, how do you suggest lowering the springs. how are the koni yellows? (classic garage-$27ap). i pretty much want what tom wants out of his car. can you get that swaybar in in the US or will you have to send it?

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 05:04 pm:

Hey Tom, you are not a butcher... I am! So if you go to Dobi Performance and download their catalog. They sell a set of springs that will lower your beauty 1" which is tasteful and functional (not that southern California SLAMMMMED look). The springs are about 10% stiffer than stock... a big plus. I bought a set of springs from them about a year ago for my daughters 1st gen Accord, we are very pleased with the results. The price is very reasonable too.

www.dobiperformance.com
714-529-1981

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 05:37 pm:

Koni Yellows are very nice shocks. Are you sure they are available for early civics? $27 is a bargain. Selby is OZ owned and manufactured , there may be a dealer in the states??

Charles

By david (208.130.245.122) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 08:02 pm:

charles, classicgarage.com has front shocks(same thing as stuts, right?) for 1973-1974 civic for $30ap. they seem to have both the front and rear wet kits for the 1975 cvcc for $27 per shock. i didn't know the suspention changed in the first gen. or between standard and cvcc. are they mistaken?

quikrick, i dowloaded the dobi catalog. that is preety spendy versus $15 per wagon spring at the wrecking yard and coil clamps. was there a major diff in your daughters accord?

By Tom Burick (152.163.201.197) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 08:06 pm:

Hi Guys,
I should mention that I do not want the car to look lowered in any way. I want to keep the exact suspension height. Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Tom

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Tuesday, March 06, 2001 - 09:30 pm:

Tom,

I have never seen a set of saggy Honda civic springs. Just keep your stockers and don't lower it. You will acheive excellent handling with swaybars and decent shocks, even new OEM if you can get them at the right price.

David,

There are three types of civic shock, sealed strut, openable wet insert and openable dry inserts. I think the shock they have listed is a dry insert (seem to remember that number). If they have at least 4 then you can fit front ones into the rear if you are lowering. I think they may be all out though. Check and see.

I have made custom struts using wet kits and sealed honda struts. One day I will make a How to section on my web page.

By lawrence (24.66.94.141) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 06:20 pm:

Charles,
Do you have a condensed 'How-to' that you could email on how you installed the wet kits into the sealed Honda struts? I have the kits and don't have the openable casings for my '78 CVCC that I would like to set up for roadracing.
Lawrence.

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Monday, March 12, 2001 - 02:15 pm:

These are "for your information" shots. These struts are off a 1975 1200. The tag on the jamb indicates manufacture date of Nov. 1974

These are the wet kit type

note the big hex head on the top

you can see (fuzzy) the threads on the strut
Later CVCCs do not have the hex head and the threads are not visible, The top has a "cap"
I hope this helps.

By Anonymous (208.60.186.46) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 04:45 am:

Hey Quickrick, what kind of struts came on a '74 1200? The date in the door jamb is 12/73, and they have the big nut at the top. Would the front coils on this car be stiffer or softer than '79 1200 front coils? I'm going to use fronts in the rear and wagons in the front of my '79, eventually.
Thanks

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 09:53 am:

the way I understand it. 73-74 are the type that use the "dry" insert. As shown on this site in the "How To" page off of the main page. In 75 I think that both the CVCC and 1200 had the "wet" type. So it looks like you have the dry insert type. The best and safest thing to do if you have the time and space is to pull the struts and unscrew the top and take a little peek. It will be pretty obvious once you do that to see what youv'e got. I'm not sure about the stiffness of those early springs though.

By daniel (208.220.89.28) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 02:52 pm:

Where do you supose I could find bigger sway bars in the USA.

By Anonymous (208.60.186.11) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 03:22 pm:

Quickrick,
If the struts are the "dry" type, what is needed to convert them to konis, is machine work needed or am I thinking of the wet type? I would like to lower my car about an inch and a half. I believe that there was a discussion on grinding off the bump stop from the strut and welding it on higher up, as well as using special c.v. boots. Is this the machine work that is being refered to?
Thanks, Tony T.

By daniel (208.220.89.28) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 04:25 pm:

Hey charles,
Do you own a shop or parts store. How would I go about getting a front and rear sway bar from you. Also, are the springs from dobi stronger than cvcc wagon springs.I have a 78 civic 1200.

By ROotUS (203.34.130.64) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 05:14 pm:

yeah, where do these low profile boots come from? and isn't it just the brakeline bracket that needs to be shifted? this would lower the car an inch without effecting suspension travel at all? maybe? why did they put those blasted cv joints in the way, could lower it crazily without them. aha, back onto the midmounted rwd honda...
also how much are these boots worth?

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 07:31 pm:

The low profile cv boots are Renault boots. Not sure on the part no. I have 2 here that I haven't used if you want. They are $50 per pair (including grease etc).

As rootus said you can lower the front 3/4 of an inch or so but you have to reweld that locating tab back on.

Daniel,

I am a supplier of Selby swaybars and have a small shop mucking around with these bloody Hondas. Web page is http://www.users.bigpond.com/

You can email me at: Racecraft@bigpond.com

Charles

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 07:32 pm:

The low profile cv boots are Renault boots. Not sure on the part no. I have 2 here that I haven't used if you want. They are $50 per pair (including grease etc).

As rootus said you can lower the front 3/4 of an inch or so but you have to reweld that locating tab back on.

Daniel,

I am a supplier of Selby swaybars and have a small shop mucking around with these bloody Hondas. Web page is http://www.users.bigpond.com/Racecraft

You can email me at: Racecraft@bigpond.com

Charles

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 07:33 pm:

Sorry for the double post, the web address was wrong in the first and I thought I had cancelled it.

By Anonymous (208.60.186.207) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 07:46 pm:

Hmm, you're in the land o' oz, right? Do you think those would be avaliable in the states? Are they stock or a special part? I know that AMC imported Reaults, but only 3 or 4 models. I have also seen cv boots in j.c. whitney that are avaliable in different colors. They are pretty cheap, but would they work on a honda?
Thanks, - Tony T.

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 08:17 pm:

You may want to go and sit down in a large generic parts store and go through their cv boots. Thats what I do when I need a certain type of part. In this case I went to my cv supplier and stockist and racked his brains and shop.

By daniel (208.220.89.28) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 02:19 pm:

Hey Charles,
I think you got the web address wrong again. It says the location is disabeled or disconnected. What gives!

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 02:35 pm:

http://www.users.bigpond.com/Racecraft/

By Ray (203.97.2.242) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 02:57 pm:

can anyone tel me the koni part numbers for the wet inserts as my local koni guy has never seen them.
if i have the corect part numbers they may be able to help me out!

Thanks,

ray

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 04:16 pm:

Thanks Rick,

The koni part numbers are all obselete, however the numbers given on the classic garage web page are the correct koni numbers.

By daniel (208.220.89.28) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 04:19 pm:

Charles,
Couldn't find much any info on swaybars in the web site but I do need front and rear. I also read about the LSD you had on the web site and I'm very interested in that. If you could get me some prices or a phone # that would be helpfull. I wonder what shiping is like from there?

Thanks,
Daniel

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 05:18 pm:

Shipping is quite expensive
ie for 20kg shipping is:

$242 ($125US Express air mail)
$166 ($88US Economy air, 3-4 weeks)
$128 ($65US Sea mail, 3-4 months)

Send me an email and I will send you info.

Racecraft@bigpond.com

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 05:54 pm:

replacement front bar is 16mm,

rear bar is 20mm.

Both come with complete mounting kit.

By david (206.98.121.221) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 10:09 pm:

i swear i already poted this earlier today..., but i emailed classic garage and they said that they have plenty of the 73-74 front konis for $30. they also have rears, but cost $138 a peice!!!!!. charles mentioned using fronts in the back if i'm lowering. wouldn't the rears have different tension that the fronts. is there another brand of strut that would be better and cheaper to fit to the back. BTW, i do plan on lowering about an inch.