96 00 civic front sway bar

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BXSS-10107

WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm www.P65Warnings.ca.gov

BLOX Racing offers a fixed end link set for the USDM 96-00 Honda Civic using a BLOX front sway bar (BXSS-10101-F) or of similar design like the JDM 96-00 EK9 Civic Type-R front sway bar.

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I currently have the 13 mm 99-00 Civic Si rear sway bar and the standard 22 mm front Civic EX sway bar. My car's handling is already pretty good with very little lean in turns and almost neutral handling w/ a little understeer. I also have Mugen Sports Suspension and a Spoon front strut bar. I am debating if I should change my front LCAs, forks, and sway bar to those of the 99-00 Si. By doing that, I would have a 26 mm front swaybar instead of a 22 mm. I intend to keep the rears at 13 mm, so please don't respond by saying stuff like "get the ITR rear bar." By getting a larger front swaybar, my car would understeer more but lean less, right? So among the two choices in the poll, vote for the setup you would prefer and you can respond with reasons why.

My intent in making this thread is for a few reasons. First I have been looking for a good writeup for installing a factory sway bar on a 96-00 and although finding a few aftermarket threads I wanted to show the install of a factory sway bar on a car that wasn't equipped with one from the factory (DX, CX, etc). Also I wanted to help out on what swaps from these models and what doesn't and show the easiest way to put it together for cheap. This write up will be consist of installing a front sway bar on a 96-00 hatchback but will be similar for the 2 and 4 door models as well. You may also instead of using the above EX/HX/LX parts also use the 99-00 Civic Si complete front control arms,front shock forks, sway bar (26MM), end links, frame bushings and brackets but may make the project a bit more pricey. Also I will be doing a rear sway bar install later but I am awaiting some parts to finish it. I'm open to critique so if you have anything to add positively do so freely as we are here to help educate and inform. Also for some awesome helpful sway bar info for ek's try here as well: http://www.ek9.org/forum/suspension/...formation.html. Here we go:

Required parts and tools:

-Front sway bar (22MM), sway bar frame bushings and frame mounts, sway bar endlink bushings, from 96-00 EX/HX/LX(4dr) OR
-Front control arm rear section from 96-00 EX/HX/LX
-Metric socket set

Optional parts and tools

-Polyurethane sway bar frame bushings (22MM) and endlink kit (16.5121G, 16.8104G )
-Torque wrench
-Prybar
-Silicone grease

The Beast (96 DX Hatchback), modifications: oil change, factory air filter, new tires, old rims

Step one: Gather your parts, loosen lug nuts, jack the car up, use jack stands, take off wheels, yada yada

New frame bushings ($7.99 Autozone, special order, no delivery costs), reused old fram mounts

New end link set vs old marshmallow set ($13.99 Autozone, special order no delivery costs)

New used sway bar and rear section of lower control arms (you don't need the whole arm just the back section, its cheaper and easier to get off at the junkyard and bolts right up to the DX/CX control arms) $25 dollars at the local pick and pull junkyard

Close up shot of rear section of control arm

Comparison of old and new control arm sections

Step 2: Remove old rear control arm section. You may have have to use the prybar to pry these apart but usually they come apart easily.

Passenger side

Drivers side

Closer pic of rear three bolts to remove

Step 3: Install new control arm section on front control arm by rebolting all 5 bolts using torque specs where shown.

Step 4: Now I know someone can probably play tetris with the bar to get it past the exhaust and two sections of shift linkage but I couldn't so unbolt the front portion of the stabilizer portion of the shift linkage and the rear section of the part that bolts to the shifter itself. Also unbolt the bottom front exhaust portion. Then begin to work the bar above the exhaust down and over the shifter portions making sure the center "hump" of the sway bar points up and the endlink portions of the bar are forward (it'll only bolt up one way anyways).

Exhaust

Front stabilizer bolt

Rear shifter bolt

Step 5: Now you want to put your sway bar frame bushing on the bar and lube it up real good with the provided lube on the inside portion (see pic above). Place the frame bushing bracket over the bushing and begin to line up the holes with the threaded holes on your sub-frame (all the models have the threaded holes thank goodness). Make sure the arrow on the bottom of the bracket points toward the front of the car for proper bar alignment. Tighten the bolts to the proper ft/lb.

Step 6: Bolt all your exhaust and shifter portions back up to proper specs.

Step 7: Its good to remember how the configuration goes but heres a quick cheesy sketch (not to scale). Place the end link kit on the bar ends but don't do anything but hand tighten the nuts yet.

Step 8: Place wheels and lugnuts back on car. Lower car. Torque lugnuts. Now use the torque wrench and torque the bolts down to 16ft/lbs on the end link bolts. Honda recommends putting silicone grease on the factory bushings but energy suspension does not so its up to you. If it squeaks later don't blame me. Enjoy the ride.

My thoughts and feelings about the car before and after. The car never felt bad before but didn't feel that "secure" in most situations. I will speak in simple terms because I don't really know what turn in, understeer, and oversteer mean technically someone can add that if they want. The car feels more firm over all. When I tell it to go left or right it feels like it listens to me faster now. On curves it definitely feels more flat and I don't have as much lean in my seat so it takes a little bit to get used too. Overall I am satisfied. I've done the fast car thing in the past now this is my DD to the extreme meaning. I drive to work and around town. I won't drop it or put a lip on it so don't say it