New front struts in =)
Civic1200 Discussion Board: : New front struts in =)
The 1500s use a larger strut top than the pre '77 1200s. From '77 they all use the larger strut tops. A cheap trick to get a little bit of neg. camber on a large strut top model is to use the small tops mounted on a plate and pushed inwards as far as they'll go.
That is a good point. I tried that too because my EB had better condition tops, and you are right, they dont line up =P
Its really quite silly, the 1200 and the 1500 struts are identical as far i could see, apart from the bolt spacing at the top being about 5mm different!
Hey Colza, it that civic in the photo a 4 door, if it is how did you get the eb strut tops to fit, I couldn't, the holes don't line up.
Don, thats good to know. Lowering is a little bit away yet. But having it look cool is not the main goal...having an authentic performance 1200 is...
Would you recommend staying fairly stock? maybe with some custom coiled springs?
Pardon my ignorance, but are 1975 civic's full one piece casings or inserts? Koni sells 75 wet kit cartridge, however Tokico shows a full strut for the 75?
I am in New Zealand. The '75 openable strut cases are nothing but a rumour over here. I have never seen one, and believe me I have looked =/
I have messed around with the Rabbit (Golf) struts too. Had a go at grafting Civic bottoms onto the openable struts, kinda worked but not really satisfactory. After Don informed me that the inserts I was going to use were not as stiff as i was hoping, i gave up on the idea. Too much effort and too much money for not enough gains.
I then started looking into other options. I had a look at some of my mates spare shocks sitting around in his garage and thought 'Damn, those practically bolt on'. So i sussed out some suitable springs and chucked it all on. Hasnt cost me very much so if it all breaks and bends then its not the end of the world.
Well, assuming i dont write the car off when it breaks and bends....
As I said, from my brief calculating i reckon it should hold up for general driving. Maybe it will bend if i hit a really big hole, and then it costs me $20 to replace them. We shall see how it goes 
Nathan be careful using rabbit stuff I tried it and the KYBS are ok (justin did that) BUT allot of other inerts aren't, soooo you end up tring to graft on a rabbit housing to a Civic housing bottom. In the end you dont have enough travel over the Cut down Civic Konis to make it worth the trouble. The OEM openable cases make the best base for the suspension. The dry inserts can be shortend and the wets can be cut alot. PS when lowering the Civic the Bump steer and roll center go in the dump so prepare to corect this or most of your lowering will be just for show.
i think it`s because the availability of the parts??? for eg civics is FULL of shock and springs
on a budget, why not just run original struts (or shocks in casing) with a shortened bump stop and custom springs and or cut....?
I have read about the rabbit coil over kits etc. also about the machining Justin did. But if you want a street car with a nice ride and to just sit a little lower, why not stay mostly original?
i agree with don. but good luck.
one thing...about loosing diameter on the strut shaft...later civics have an upper contol arm to support the wheel - gen1 does not so thinking that the strut may be ok may be streching things a bit.
You might not get too many potholes on a race track but ripple strips can be very tough on the suspension ...
As much as you feel like =P
I shortened until they were just held captive with it all bolted together.
Its probably not a good idea to start spending money on this until i have been able to confirm that they arent going to bend or snap or something 100m down the road =P
how much do you shorten the eg springs???
The back suspension will be the same struts but using EF rear springs, which are not much firmer than factory.
yay! they look great....maybe i`ll try to do that! it doesn`t look hard...so well then fron EG struts with how much back EG sedan shortened springs?
P.s: what did you do with your back suspension? the same thing?
From some brief calculations, assuming the material is the same, the strength of the EG strut shaft is approximately 1/2 that of the original shaft. Generally when engineers design things they allow for a safety factor of at least 3 times stronger. This would indicate that for general driving they will probably be ok.
If you were gonna race on them however it might be a bit different, but then again you dont get so many pot holes on race tracks...
Heheh, ive been busy with the sale of my other civic, and in getting my new car nice and reliable for daily driving.
However, i have finally picked up the last 2 EG brake line brackets I needed so I can get started on the rears as soon as my STUPID exams are out of the way =/
Ill go take a pic now and put it up.
Hey Colza =)
How did it it all work out?? Any pics??
First test drive today.
And OMFG they are delicious! Springs may even be a little soft up front, but for a street ride they are very very comfortable. Its kinda hard to tell how it will handle in the end because this is only in the front, the back is still standard.
But, so far so good =)
The only other question, is will the thinner EG shafts stand up to the punishment of a McPherson setup. Heres hoping they do cos it is feeling like a very nice setup so far!
I just sold my 2nd gen 
This is all for my new EB build
Oh, Colza, the approach I am taking is as follows:
79-82 Prelude threaded strut housings...the fronts require the use of the Prelude knuckles as well and Prelude lower control arms, but all that stuff is heavier duty so it is a fair trade off. Koni inserts for the Prelude housings which I sourced a few years back, and just recently I found via one of the guys on the 1200 page a new set of 1.5" lower springs made for the 2nd Gens in Sweden. Still working on the upper collar asemblies though as I want to modify them to retain full strut travel at the reduced spring height so as to eliminate the possibility of trashing the inserts by bottoming them out.
I also have a set of front and rear heavy sway bars for it so when it is all bolted together it should be a delight...Rome wasn't built in a day... Oh ,yeah I still need to get the urethane bushings from downunder as well. THEN, I'll have to do something about what's under the "Bonnet".
I think the spring rate has worked out well. On the factory struts the spring was 'precompressed' quite alot. Effectively making it a higher rated spring. How it is set up now it is barely 'precompressed' at all so it is much softer than factory. They were also rear springs.
The shocks im not sure about. They are definately much firmer than the standard EB ones. Havent had a chance to test yet because its been raining cats and dogs over here and i havent felt like rolling around in our damp garage to get it finished!
Looks to be fining up though, maybe tomorrow?
The main concern i have with them is that the shock shaft is MUCH thinner than the original EB one. As John Le said, in a double A-arm setup they are only able to move up and down, side to side doesnt happen at all. Used in a McPherson setup they will be confronted with all sorts of weird forces and im just hoping to god they dont bend/snap!
I will test them very carefully before i decree them suitable for street use =P
If you are talking about front inserts, then the key things to think about are the differences between the weight of the two cars, and also how that weight is distributed side to side....front to rear. These are the main factors the manufacturers use to determine shock valving and all other specifics internal to produce the desired the strut action. My concern would be how much more weight were the adapted strut assemblies designed to accomodate as compared to the weight of a first Gen Civic. In addition, to make the complete assembly short enough to effectively lower the car would most probably increase the spring rates even further than the designed in spring rate which had to be higher to handle the increased weight of a larger car. So the combined effect...as a guessitmation...is probably quite stiff as compared to stock.
There again, It all depends on the difference between front end weights of the two cars. But as Colza knows, "only one way to tell..."
I see. That is an interesting point. We shall have to see what happens!
what i heard was that most newer hondas are double a arm suspension and our old ones are the mcpherson strut kind, meaning that in our 1st gens, the strut is an intergral part of suspension structure, while on the newer honda, the shock just provides shock absorbtion, meaning the new style shocks arn't designed to take the load that will be put on them when installed on our 1st gen civics.
John: Why is that? I just put this together out of left over parts from when mates of mine have upgraded their suspension. I think it should be a good match for the car but it probably wont be till tuesday that i get to take it for a drive.
Felipe: Fear not, pics will come.
i was under the impression that you shouldn't use shocks from the newer newer style hondas in our cars... well maybe the ep struts might work.
well i got the idea! but if you can post pictures it will be very helpful for understanding better the adaptation work!
Struts are from the front an EG civic sedan with shortened springs from the rear of the same car. Uses EB strut tops. The only fabrication involved is making new brake line brackets which are half of the EG braket with the EB bracket tacked on. The bottom of the new shocks also need a spacer (1" x 3" strip of panel steel) so they slot into the EB knuckles.
Ride hight has dropped by approx 1.5" in the front. Springs are firmer hopefully not by too much. The shocks could be replaced with any off the shelf items for an EG civic, ones with adjustable damping if necessary.
And while all that looks pretty good the real test will be how does it drive, and hopefully i can tell you tomorrow after i finish off the brake line brackets
The rears will be done in a very similar manner but making use of EF civic rear springs. Not sure when ill get on to those, probably next weekend.