Hey, I have a few questions about the syspension on my 90 si, its lowered with stock struts and shocks and has ground controll coilovers. This car is going to be my daily driver from college to work ect. I was just wondering what common things being the age of it i should replace on the suspension, new ball joints ect. Everything feels firm but when i go from a stop it seems like i dont know everything is loose and moves back and forth (yes i looked at everything and no bolts or anything like that is missing). Also aside from the common fluids,plugs and wires is their any thing else i should look to replace so this car stays reliable? Thanks in advance.

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In a REX or civic of the same year when you drive over loose surfaces (gravel road, cobble stones, etc) if you feel and hear something strange out of the front end, something that sounds loose that resonates up through the steering wheel it's most likely your steering rack. We used to rebuild a ton of them at Honda. It's real easy, and it's actually not "rebuilding". There's a small nylon bushing that slides into one side of the rack. This bushing wears out and makes the rack "rattle".

Other then that you should look at your typical ball joints, upper shock mounts, front bearings, and inspect all of you control arm bushings.

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I had a radius rod bushing broke on the pass side of my 91 civic, it would always pull to one side and it made a hidious sound when you would hit a bump. Something to look at also.

Alright ill look into all that, i mean it dosent feel as if somthing is going to fall all apart or anything like that i did a quick viusal look over and everything seemed ok other than every bushing looking its age, you think it would be a bad idea to buy some prothane busings? Also is their anything else besides the suspension stuff is their any commonly over looked things ie: motor, ect. that i should look into so i dont get stranded Thanks

Also, im pretty sure the pass side axle needs to be replaced like when im going stright its fine but when i turn it goes like clink clink clink (worst description ever) is that prolly it?


Jadkar plz check your pm just incase you havent

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your axle is shot, i would replace it pretty soon

I figured that, they gave me a replacment axle when i bought the car so im going to go put it in today, any other suff i should look into?

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I would recommend that you replace all your suspension bushings on a 16 year old car. They should be worn out and having fresh new bushings will help your suspension work properly. I have a combination of prothane and mugen bushings in my car. There is somewhat of a controversy on bushings such as Energy v. Mugen/and or factory bushings. Some claim the Urethane bushings tear up quickly and cite Energy as one manufacturer where that happens. I have not had my Prothane bushings on long enough to know if I might have that claimed issue. There is a big thread on it over at Honda Tech if you search. I know my suspension feels a lot tighter with the prothanes.

My bushings were so worn I was getting significant toe changes in the rear suspension of my 88 Rex to the point where coming out of a tight turn at Road Atlanta I was actually getting fender rub on my left rear wheel (which was taking the brunt of the load). It was also making my car too squirrely under heavy braking at 135+mph (death wiggle). So heed what the others have said and do your bushings too.

Barry H.

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88 CRX Si track car, stripped no a/c, modded B18c w/Hondata,Toda Spec B cams, bigger injectors, 72mm throttle body, ITR headers, ST cam gears, AEM fuel rail meziere water pump, fluidyne radiator, Koni adjustables/GC sleeves/Eibach ERS 450f/550r, Kosei K1 wheels w/Kumho V710 R

See thats what i was figuring would be a good idea to change out, but i dont have a dam 10ton punch or what ever those ppl used to get thta shit in, and it can be done other ways its just going to suck i have a feeling

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I just took everythng off and took it all to a mechanic buddy who had the press. That made life a lot easier and I was lucky in that he did it for free. Take a picture of your suspension before you disassemble everything. I was starting to put everything back together and on the left rear side I could bolt everything up until the last bolt and the bitch would not line up. I thought it was because the bushings were so much stiffer. I cursed at it for two hours. I called a friend he looked up under the car, tried it too and could not get it to go. He then asked this important question. "Is your control arm on upside down?" Son of a bitch it was. Turned it over and it bolted up like a dream. LOL. A bushing job is piece of mind.

Barry H.

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88 CRX Si track car, stripped no a/c, modded B18c w/Hondata,Toda Spec B cams, bigger injectors, 72mm throttle body, ITR headers, ST cam gears, AEM fuel rail meziere water pump, fluidyne radiator, Koni adjustables/GC sleeves/Eibach ERS 450f/550r, Kosei K1 wheels w/Kumho V710 R

I don't have a press. Can bushings be done with a big vice, or is that out of the question?


-Des!

^^ No and I'll tell you what. I bet you a lot of money a press isn't gonna do it either. I had a shop put my control arms in a 60 ton press and they didn't move. The guy actually put a "blast" blanket over the entire machine in case anything let go. The damn things were seized in place. The way to get them out is to heat up the rubber with a MAP torch (propane will work also). Once you melt the inside out then cut through the metal sleeve with a hack saw, carefully!!! Open the hack saw up, run the blade through the bushing and then reattach it to the hack saw. Be very patient and cut away. You may have to make two cuts. Once you do this the circumference of the bushing sleeve will be compromised and then you can use a vise or a big ass hammer and pound it out. Like I said our cars are so old now that I highly doubt a machine press will push it out. I have no idea how Barry was so lucky because when I spoke to Jeff he laughed at me and said every Honda past 8 years old has that problem.

Be ready for so long and tedious work, just be patient.

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i have used engery suspension master set on my car, with prothane rear traing arms bushings, there is a measurement that you need for the distance from the edge of the trailing arm to the edge of the bushing

JADKAR!!!! . man..... you just made my day.
Ive been having a nasty rattle from the front end recently in the gravel when i leave my driveway.... and i hate it. checked all the ball joints and shit, and finally realized it was coming from the steering rack area.
for a minute i was thinking i'd have to pull the rack and replace it or do some insane amount of b/s. this just relieved me.

For anyone wondering about the mysterious "rattle from your front end". It's most likely your steering rack slide bushing, they constantly wear out. Here are the parts that should be reaplced when doing this job.


The following is an exerpt from a PM sent to another TJ member......

..........I'm not sure how much mechanical work you do on you REX but this job is not that difficult to do (IMO). The rack does have to come out. Since you would take the rack out you should replce the following:



Steering rack bushing -#10 qty1 (this is the reason for your noise)
Steering rack-chassis mounting bushings - #28 qty4 & #12 qty1
Tie-rod end boots - #23 & #24 qty1 each
Outer tie rod ends - #26 & #27 qty 1 each

Look up these parts here........http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...AR+BOX-TIE+ROD

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Good Stuff, any other little crap i should look into

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^^^^

BTW do you realize that little "pot sentence" that's in your signature has a spelling error??? It's kind of funny that the generation that's talking so much about pot can't spell the word "does"

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drugs are bad umkay

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http://www.myspace.com/ls91crx
http://www.cr-xcentral.com

get'em!!!!!

Copy and paste is all i did, and no i dont somke pot anymore thats back when highschool was cool.

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dude you didn't have to remove it I was just busting on you..... and I knew it wasn't you, the guy that probably wrote it was stoned

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