2013 EX-L oem sway bar upgrade

Id like to mess with spring compressors as little as possible and ive already repositioned it twice
 
Ok well I think I have it.... I spun the coil around until I found the position where it stands up the straightest. It looks much more even now.
 
Springs are always a lil crooked but if the shocks itself is bending then that’s no good.
 
Definitely not the shock lol

The spring was way crooked in that pic. Since rotating it to find the best upright position, its sitting nice and straight
 
Gotcha. Yea u gotta move them around a bit until they fit right.
 
With the exception of putting all the plastic covers back in place, everything is done

Im sitting here typing this from my driveway, in the dark... if thats any indication of how my day went (Started at 8am btw)

All I have to say is F**k that front sway bar (and maybe the links too)

Dont think im going to take it for a ride tonight... still have a **** ton of cleaning up to do lol

Oh and I might need to pull the rear shocks again. I spoke with TruHart and they told me I needed to cut the bump stops in half...

This better be worth it :)
 
Im at the alignment shop now

Of course I must have screwed something up because now the steering wheel isnt straight.

If I had to guess its because of lowering the subframe and unbolting the steering rack.

I really hope they can sort it out for me....
 
Both Ron and I have crooked steering wheels. Definitely from putting the u joint on slightly off. I've tried to straighten mine up like 3 times now. And it's slightly off the other way each time.

All else good besides that? I need to get an alignment myself. Curious how out of spec you were.
 
Steering could be off because when you lower the front of the car you gain toe in on the car. its the way the suspension works. i would put a couple hundred miles on the car so the suspension settles and get the alignment checked again.
 
Yeah they should be able to set the wheel straight and adjust the tie rods to get everything lined back up with the toe in spec.
Messing with the subframe and steering was the main reason I only upgraded the rear sway bar. Props to you for tackling both

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk
 
fahnix said:
Both Ron and I have crooked steering wheels. Definitely from putting the u joint on slightly off. I've tried to straighten mine up like 3 times now. And it's slightly off the other way each time.

All else good besides that? I need to get an alignment myself. Curious how out of spec you were.
Click to expand...

The tech was able to get the wheel straight. He said all he needed to do was adjust the tie rods. Unfortunately I cant say for sure how out of spec everything was because the printer in the shop was broken and he didnt have spec sheet to give me. I know that the rears were way off because I installed adjustable camber links and although I measured and tried to get it as close to stock, im sure it was off a bit. I also installed a new toe cam nut and bolt because the last time I went for an alignment, the tech wasnt able to fully adjust the toe out on the drivers side. Unfortunately the new hardware didnt fix the issue and the tech feels that either the frame is slightly out of wack or the rear trailing arm needs to be replaced. Both the tech and the honda dealer said that the amount it was off was so small that it really shouldnt be an issue... it still bothers me so I might consider replaceding the arm at some point.

freggie said:
Steering could be off because when you lower the front of the car you gain toe in on the car. its the way the suspension works. i would put a couple hundred miles on the car so the suspension settles and get the alignment checked again.
Click to expand...

Thats what the tech said. Him having to adjust the tie rods didnt make sense at first but after reading everyones responses, I feel better about it.

dpetro1 said:
Yeah they should be able to set the wheel straight and adjust the tie rods to get everything lined back up with the toe in spec.
Messing with the subframe and steering was the main reason I only upgraded the rear sway bar. Props to you for tackling both
Click to expand...

Much appreciated! I knew it was going to be hard but I definitely underestimated just how hard it would be. The worst part was knowing that if something went wrong I could get seriously hurt or massively screw up the only car we have. Having an extra pair of hands definitely would have helped.

Not sure if this guy is on here but props to him for making a step by step video



Access to most of the bolts is very limited and when you do get the wrench on, you can only turn them a little each time. It takes foreverrrrr lol

Another pita was getting the bolts installed back into the steering rack.... what an absolute nightmare. They would go in but wouldnt catch. After fighting with it for an hour, I asked the wife turn the steering wheel which worked.

The drop is a bit more then I expected but the ride is fairly nice. Its a bit more stiff then im used to but that was to be expected. I havent noticed any noises except when at full lock while going over a bump which sounded more like the wheel hitting the fender liner

Has anyone whos lowered their car noticed a noise coming from the engine bay during acceleration? Its most noticeable around 2500-3000 rpm. Its very faint and kind of a mix between a high pitched exhaust leak mixed with injectors firing off and if I let off the throttle, it goes away.

The tech took it for a drive and said it sounds ok to him. Im thinking that becasue the car is lower to the ground, more sound from the engine is bouncing off the road coupled with the fact that ive got the radio off and actively listening for strange sounds.

In case anyone is interested, The FSB from a 2013 Si sedan does fit the EX-L as does the RSB from a 2014 Si sedan
So now its 21mm front / 20mm rear.

The reason I didnt use the 2013 Si sedan RSB is that its only 18mm.

Here she is and thank you to everyone for the help.

SSchhzX.jpg


-Dom
 
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Ive had a few low cars in the past so I knew it wasnt going to be as cushy as a factory setup. I just didnt think the drop would be as pronounced as it is.

Ultimately if it becomes an issue or the wife doesnt like it, its going back to stock ride height and ill have to sell the truhart and h&r's.

The suspension was the easiest part and now that everything isnt rusted to hell, itll be much easier.
 
Definitely have a strange "shhhhhh" sound coming from the engine bay. Need to get the car back up on jack stands, remove the plastic covers and take a look.

It only makes the sound when giving it throttle even if the car is in park or neutral and is most noticeable between 2-3k rpm. Best I can tell right now is that its coming from the back of the engine, towards the bottom. When driving if I let off the gas, the sound goes away so Im fairly certain that nothing is rubbing.

It definitely wasnt there before... never a dull moment :banghead:
 
Put the car up on jackstands, removed plastic, started it up and the noise has mostly gone away. Im at a loss.... everything looks good, no apparent exhaust or vaccum leak, no codes and it drives ok.

The only thing I can think of is that whatever sound im hearing from the engine is being amplified because its lower to the ground, enough for me to notice. It also doesnt help that odd sounds drive me bonkers.

Im reluctant to take it anywhere and get charged only for them to find nothing.

Has anyone experienced or heard of anything similar?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
No but like u said the air could be flowing differently so u can be hearing sounds that u haven’t heard before. Is the engine running rough or u notice it losing power?
 
Engine is as smooth as it was, no apparent power loss.

I took it for a ride without putting the plastic covers back on and its slightly less noticeable.

I dont want to start chasing my tail but my best guess is that it sounds like injectors firing off.

The car doesnt have to be moving. If im stopped and have it in neutral or park and rev the engine, around 2500rpm is when you really start to hear it.

Its not a rattling or grinding noise... it sounds like a constant ticking sound like you would hear from fuel injectors
 
You could install a product like dynamat on the interior floorboard area? Run it up as far as you can get behind the pedals and stuff in both foot wells and back towards the seat if it’s bothering you. Others have done it to their entire trunk floor below the spare tire and sides of the trunk to lower road noise.
 
I could go that route but im honestly not in the mood to start ripping my interior apart... plus I feel like its kinda like putting a bandaid on the issue.

Ive had a Celica with Eibach sportlines and a Golf slammed on coilovers in the past and neither of them had any problems after being lowered.

Not gonna lie, this has me pretty bummed out and im leaning towards putting normal shocks/springs back in.

Speaking of which... here is a pic of the oem front springs. I assume theyre not supposed to look like this, right?

CFqVELx.jpeg
 
Those look like the rears. Mine were odd shaped like that when we pulled them off.
 
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