What am I doing next weekend? Mugen.

[BarracksSi]

Because of Mother's Day, I've got a 4-day weekend through Tuesday, which would be great for doing car work. Trouble is, the auto hobby shops on the local military installations also have a 4-day weekend off, so I'll be waiting until the following weekend to put in my Mugen suspension, along with helping to change the oil pan on what used to be my '86 Si.

Anyway, here's the goods, thanks to Victor (aka 97 TYPE-R 312) of VPR Motorsports in VA. Don't look any different from all the other Mugen pics posted anywhere on the internet... lol

Oh yeah -- that's an RSX-S sway bar. So, in one fell swoop, my Si will behave pretty differently!

[chakra71]

I just did mine today!

Easy install. The only difficult part was getting the ball joints out of the front. I had to go and get a gear puller like the one shown in this thread. Link

I had Progress springs on and the Mugen kit raised the car up about 1 inch from what the progress was. It still looks great.

But the best part is the ride. It's great. It's really great. Words fail me, but you'll see. I also have the progress rear sway and the car has no body roll to it, just turns where I point it.

Tomorrow I'm going to get new tires and an alignment. :D

[BarracksSi]

Let us know how the alignment turns out!

I'm seriously tempted to just get a couple jack stands and do it before the weekend's out. Still, I had planned to take advantage of one of the frame lifts & huge array of tools at the auto shop at Bolling AFB.

Or maybe I don't have the patience... lol

[chakra71]

just do it!

I used 4 jackstands and got the car up in the air a good bit. Air tools would have been nice, but were not needed.

Compared to some other installs... this was cake. It took about 4 hours and that was with a run to the store for that gear puller. Just be sure to have a friend to help because there are times when you need to hold the piece from below and put on nuts up top.

[Ep3 No.2]

damn u rich bastards !
lol j/p but yah i was intrested on how the alignment comes along after the install.

[BarracksSi]

Originally posted by Ep3 No.2
damn u rich bastards !

Hehe...

Actually, it's called "tax refund". ;)

I've got time to decide what to do next year, too.

[DumbNewB]

how much did that cost you in total?

[BarracksSi]

A grand for everything in the pics. Victor had been using the sway bar on his own EP for a while, but has since upgraded to a CTR bar, and offered to throw this one in for free.

[foilpan]

yeah! i hope to install mine today if it stops raining. happy mother's day, mom, i'll be working on my car!

[!@#$%]

might be alot, but could u post before pics with the progress and after with the mugen?

[foilpan]

AAAAAGH!

i got three corners installed and spent a couple hours working on one of the 22mm bolts on the drivers side front. the damn thing won't come off! and on top of that, i ruined my tie rod end bolt with the puller i borrowed. it mashed the end of the bolt a little bit, so i can't get the nut back on.

this sucks.

i'm gonna have to ask the mechanic down the street if he can use his air wrench to get the nut off so i can finish the install. then i need a new tie rod end from the dealership.

[the1986]

you dont need a new tie rod end, this happened to me when i installed my springs. Get a pretty good size vice grip, and grip the top of the tie rod, and the suspension thing it goes into, tighten the vice, then screw on the bolt. It just needs to have sufficiant pressure on the tie rod.

-Teal

[foilpan]

well, i got a new tie rod end anyway. the threads are mashed right near the hole for the cotter pin, so i can't even get the nut back on if i tried (i just did). i just have to figure out how to get the damn end off now...

[BarracksSi]

Did I say next weekend?

I got the bug yesterday, and went to Autozone today to borrow a torque wrench, a tie rod puller, and buy some other tools that I didn't have already.

I started messing with the front (got it lifted and the wheel off), and started getting cold feet, thinking that I couldn't get it done by myself. So, I figured I'd wait until the weekend anyway.

While I was at it, I decided that replacing the rear sway bar would be easy enough, so I started on that. I put an allen key in the end of the bolt and a wrench around the nut (like the manual says), started yankin', and got the nut to move. It was going good for a while, then got REALLY stiff (like, stuck!), and I got nervous enough to decide to screw the nut back down. While trying to do that, the allen key's hole STRIPPED.

mother FUCKER.

So, I took the loaned tools back to Autozone. I called up Victor, and said, "Dude, I've lost any confidence I had in my ability to do this thing. What now?"

So, now, or more precisely about 40 minutes ago, it got installed down at his place.

It needs an alignment, but other than that, DAMN it's nice. Took an exit curve from the tunnel under the Capitol's reflecting pool that empties out near Constitution Ave. a lot quicker than before, no swoopiness, just rock solid all the way to the exit. It actually felt less fast because there wasn't the same amount of drama. This shit's gonna be fun... hehe

It doesn't look slammed, either, which isn't the look I'm going for. Actually, my intent wasn't to change the looks much at all -- I was after the better composure with the Mugen setup. But, it's dropped just enough to where it looks really nice. Many Japanese manufacturers -- and especially Honda -- style car bodies that integrate really well with the wheels (many American cars look like the wheels intrude into the body lines), and the subtle drop makes that integration look even better.

Pics later -- I'm headed to bed!

[DumbNewB]

Get those pics up soon!