Suspension Setup EK Civic


Q

qasim

Active Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2010
Messages
135
Hello Everyone

I need some advice on my suspension setup.

My car is a civic Ek3 hatch with a b series swap(will be boosted or k20 not decided yet ). Will be looking to re-shell this if an ek9 shell comes up for sale. In the meantime am looking to make a start on the car as I would like to take it on a couple of track days!

looking to purchase sway bars front and rear- camber arms, toe arms, LCA's. and coilovers. Rebush kit

Swaying towards hardrace for the camber arms lcas and toe arms ect

Coilovers - yellowspeed, BC and meister r

Rollbars - Whiteline , ASR, or oem ek9 front and rear.

Just wondering what you guys are currently running and if you have any recommendations as a lot of you guys have built your cars up and have a good deal of experience :) if there is anything from the list I am missing that would improve the handling let me know! and if I carry out the above will it improve the handling anywhere near an ek9

I look forward to your responses.
 
Last edited:
Personally i wouldnt bother with rear toe arms. Just rebush them as the stock adjustment is more than enough.
I use hardrace front camber arms and d2 rear arms, id use hardrace on the rear aswell but i bought my car with the d2s on.
Lca. Again i rebush the stock arms.
Ek9 roll bars are good as they are so id just use them.
 
To add to what Jesse has said - Don't use any kind of aftermarket "uprated" bushes for rear trailing arms - the bushes are designed to increase toe-in under braking which stabilises the rear end. Solid bushes won't move as intended. That's why you see so many hardrace trailing arm bushes for sale - they come as part of the kit but many people don't use them.
 
^thats a good point i missed out.
My current ek9 has the hardrace rtas and its noticably more unstable at the rear under almost any condition. For autox or something it may be an advantage but on track in a cold country like ours i see it as a disadvantage, esp faster tracks.
 
The thing for us is we already have a ek9 which is setup great from stock but for someone else who is building a setup ek9 suspension parts are hard to find, in bad used condition and costly where thats where aftermarket parts come into place.

Me personally for a track car have kept everything stock apart from front bc p1 camber arms rear skunk2 camber arms and skunk2 lca's for a bit of bling and fixed cusco coilovers.
No need for toe arms as mentioned and ive fully rebushed my car with a mixture of oem honda and poly bushes, always stick with honda rta bushes.
Tyres is probably the most important thing we pay less attention to which in turn will give us the most gains.
 
Thank you for your responses very informative. I will have a build up thread soon ;) so will link all this info into that.

For the camber arms and lcas I'll go for the hardrace setup I think

Bushes: RTA's - OEM Honda , and the rest hardrace bush kit? I already have the energy suspension Master bushing kit but a lot of people have mentioned they are not that great so might give it a miss.

Roll Bars - Since I have an ek3 the rear subframe will need to be braced (looking at the ASR subframe brace)- unlike the EK9 it doenst come with the rear roll bar from factory. If the ek9 roll bars are hard to come by are there any good alternative aftermarket setups worth giving a go?

Coilovers - Still undecided

Tyres are definitely important , I was previously running AD08's so might give another set a go or might try something different.
 
Im using energy suspension and genuine honda bushes. The polys are fine so far no problems but then again my car sees less than 100miles a year so cant comment on long term.
The only thing is not all the bushes provided are suitable/compatible for my ek9 they may be suitable for a ek3 do check the part numbers against your model.
Only reason i went for energy suspension was that they were more than half the price compare to hardrace and im not bothered about comfort/noise etc on a track car.
You can still purchase a ek9 arb new they are about 100 odd quid from tegiwa/
h-tune etc.
Genuine asr braces are quite expensive plus lots of fakes about, buy from a reputable dealer, they could be pointless putting one on hopefully someone else on here will be able to advise you.
 
Last edited:
Honda did apply additional bracing in that area on the ek9s so its safe to assume they are needed. Probably more so on a sticky tyre on track than on a road car
 
I can provide info on the MeisterR ZetaCRD and ZetaCRD+ coilovers.
The first questions is what do you intend to use the car for?
Fast road & Track, or more track focus.
What tyre compound are you using? Road compound or Semi-Slick.
All those affect on what suspension specification will work best for you.

Depending on your budget, we can also offer the custom build GT1 coilovers.
The GT1 are design to compete with the likes of Ohlins DFV, and uses high tech precision CNC made internals that are produced in house at our workshop in Essex.

Suspension needs to fit for your purposes, that is why we have multiple specs for the Civic as there is quite a wide range of usage.

Jerrick
 
qasim said:
Roll Bars - Since I have an ek3 the rear subframe will need to be braced (looking at the ASR subframe brace)- unlike the EK9 it doenst come with the rear roll bar from factory. If the ek9 roll bars are hard to come by are there any good alternative aftermarket setups worth giving a go?
Click to expand...

Take a look at the whiteline anti-roll bar kit for Civic ek, it includes an adjustable rear 22mm arb, fittings, and it also includes a subframe brace.
 
Encore - I will have a look to see what bushes are compatible as your right it will be slightly different on an ek3,

Jess- Yup looks like i'll need the bracing

in terms of bracing ,Miguel mentioned the whiteline arb kits and these come with the rear bracing too which looks ideal.Thanks for pointing this kit out might get the matching fronts and rear almost the same price as the ek9 arbs front and rear. Anyone heard or had any experience of these?

Jerrick I have had the Zeta superlows and Zeta S. What setup including model and spring rates would you recommend for road and track use. Car will be used on both but mainly the track
 
Last edited:
If it is going to be on for both road and track, but mainly track, use the ZetaCRD+
They have stiffer springs rate, stiffer valving, shorter damper.
The springs rate have been revised to 10/7 on the new setup also.

The split have been move further apart to avoid suspension syncing at a suspension harmonic frequency.
That would be my choice if you want something that is more track focused.

GT1 of course are custom build and it can be done for anything.
But it depends on your budget.

Jerrick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top