front strut woes...

[adammet04]

this thread in relation to this thread

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13404


ok so i got the front strut thanks to brilliant work of hondar

and im trying to put the braces on the towers, however it wont go/fit on passenger side (aus euro cl9)

i think the passenger side one is the problem....

it seems that there is a bracket which will stop the brace from going on, i try to post pics to show you whats going on...
i havent actually unbolted anything cause thats my second question:

If i unbolt those bolts on the tower, whats going to happen to the car? maybe stupid question but i have to ask before i do it, im assuming that maybe when the bracket is in place it will fit better

CMF any ideas on this, can you get some more pics up specifically of this side :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: ??

i dont know enough about this area, comments and feedback most welcome

[poid]

you can unbolt the strut tower bolts without worrying mate, they just hold the suspension in place. If the car is stationary on the ground its no problem

As for the bracket, not sure what exactly you are referring to but it may be possible to either move the bracket lower or relocate it completely so its not in the way...depending of course what its holding in place!

[EuroAccord13]

Send it in the photos so we all can sit down and have a look, I'm curious as to how this problem is going on..

[adammet04]

ok

thanks for the info poid

i felt they were important so as long as i screw them back in tight i should be right

I have uploaded 3 pics into the technical diy section, as im not a supporter yet i cant embed pics...any way i have circled the problem area, and basically the bracket/arm, of the vision for the passenger side wont sit against that bracket which is holding up whatever that thing is....im not sure what it is

anyway i will have a go at trying to place the bracket in daylight hopefully toimmorrow and ill let you know, but i think i will have to remove something !!

cool

the pics are called bracket / bracket two and bracket 3 pic
and they have red circles on them

thanks

[EuroAccord13]

Make sure you find out the correct torque setting for the suspension tower....

[adammet04]

WTF...torque setting...man i know soo little about cars...

you mean torque setting for the bolts ???

probobly should be in the manual...maybe shoul dget servicing manual from honda ??

[poid]

just do em up tight and they'll be fine, its nice to torque them to spec but not really necessary

the service manual from Honda will be a few hundred $, if you can find one online to download it will save you a lot of cash. Those manuals are worth their weight in gold

[yfin]

WTF...torque setting...man i know soo little about cars...

you mean torque setting for the bolts ???

probobly should be in the manual...maybe shoul dget servicing manual from honda ??

Looking at the pics - it looks like you need to move either the items hanging off the bracket or the entire bracket. I would take this to a mechanic if you don't know what you are moving. There is power going to that box you need to shift - I would want to know what that is. It will not take a mechanic long to tell you whether this is worth doing. It also shouldn't cost much. Just my 2 cents.

[hondar]

i told adam already... if really cant fit, he can returned it back to me.. :)

i want customers to buy something that they can fit and it is my first time too having accord euro parts so.. it is a bit of a gample as well to try to cater to non teg and civic market... lol..

but i will find some help as well..

cheers

[adammet04]

Ill try and have a go at putting the vision bracket on some time this week. i think that if the bracket which i holding the item was thinner/better fitment then there is no probs with the vison item,
there is about an inch of space between that bracket and item it supports. I have a feeling that if it were flush against that item then there would be no probs fitting the vision item...

thanks hondar for the info about the car part return if they dont directly bolt on: much appreciated,
please dont think this thread is an attack on your products, just us trying to figure out how to make it work, as i think this front strut would be great if i can get it installed!!

its such a pity because the other side will fit perfectly!!...so freakin annoying !!

ill keep you guys updated over the next few days... Cheers

Adam
:)

<edit> my descriptions of car parts and intention of thred are a little ambiguous, this has been fixed</edited>

[cmf]

Adammet04-- Just got back into town, been gone all week. I'll snap some pics in the AM and post em up for you, so you can see the difference/ similarities of the US version vs yours.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

[adammet04]

cmf
thanks for the pics,

i have looked at the pics you emailed through, and i think that blue thing (what is that?) on your tsx and our aus cars are where it is different. did you have to remove anything on that side to the best of your memory in order to fit the bar, you might have had to remove annd then reattach it..., it seems that a bracked is blocking accurate placement of the strut bar on a CL9...

i too will be out of town for the next week and as such wont have a chance to try this out., however i do have a torque wrench and will ring honda to try and get them to give me the torque settings for the bolts on the euro, the following week i will find out if we are a go for this specific mod....

cmf if you can get a closer pic of where the end of the bracket attaches to the bar i think that might help in figuring out just how different/the same the two cars are in this part

Cheers

[yfin]

Any update on this?

[cmf]

My fault. I needed to snap a few more pics. I'll try and get those posted up later this afternoon.

[adammet04]

cool thx cmf

I will have time on the weekend to try this, based on pics and will get the torque settings for the strut towers from honda

hopefully we will all know by sunday !!

Cheers

[SSML]

Hi, Have u got ur strut bar fitted?
if not, just be aware those nuts on top of the tower bolts can be very very tight.
u may need a rachet with a long handle + a deep socket to undo the nuts.

make sure u hold the socket vertically down with one hand so u dont apply any diagnol force which can shear off /snap the bolts.

that's what happened to me when I was DIYing.

[cmf]

OK, hopefully I got all the right pics now. :D I think there was a bracket that was in the way that you were worried about, attached to the stock strut tower bar on the driver side of the USDM TSX. I have pics from far off, and close up, and one actually resting on the bar facing the bracket. Hope this helps. Guess it'd be easier if we lived down the street from one another :D

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/4766/dscn03836rt.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03836rt.jpg)

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/2723/dscn03826ms.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03826ms.jpg)

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/6545/dscn03793dy.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03793dy.jpg)

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/34/dscn03800ow.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03800ow.jpg)

[cmf]

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/894/dscn03780jz.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03780jz.jpg)
http://img191.exs.cx/img191/9929/dscn03815qs.th.jpg (http://img191.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img191&image=dscn03815qs.jpg)

[cmf]

For some reason when I click on the image, it doesn't show it as big as it should. Hopefully it works for you guys. Damn imageshack and their new rules.

[baboo]

cmf, does the strut make any difference at all in handling & general ridigty of the car?

[yfin]

cmf, does the strut make any difference at all in handling & general ridigty of the car?

Keep in mind baboo that cmf has the TSX. It comes from the factory with a stock tower bar - so we can't really compare it to the Euro.

Most people I speak to with a Euro and decent coilovers are saying there is minimal body roll after fitting the coilovers - are you finding this with the Zeal? These people do not have the tower bar. I know that Noel on TSX Club says that good coilovers is enough - and that the chassis is already stiff with the factory bracing. I am not convinced the Euro needs a tower bar if you fit coilovers.

[baboo]

not so much it needs a top strut bar, they are there basically for looks factor.
I'm interetested to see if it tightens up the front end further more than it already has.

I still get quite a bit of body roll, because my spring rate is lower, I opt for F 12kg, R 8kg as oppose to Noel's F14kg, R 10kg.

I would get the rear sway bar fitted to dial out the roll a bit more.

[cmf]

To be honest, I notice a big change, but am not sure it's cause of the bar or not. :D I did all my suspension upgrades and wheel upgrades at once. For me, it's more of the bling factor. I think you'd notice the rear sway more than anything.
Speaking of rear sway, do any of you guys have access to find out if Spoon has a rear sway bar avaiable yet? I want one of those. :D

[adammet04]

hey guys

just waiting on honda to call me back about torque settings for the bolts on the suspension tower...thx to euroaccord13 for freaking me out about this LOL (just kidding), your right i should know....will post the torque settings so others know for future reference

ill then have a go at trying to make that bracket fit on the audm passenger side tonight

cmf, damn that only just fits in on your tsx !!!

Im sorta also going for bling factor , but am looking at getting the whiteline rear sway bar as well

I also have the 17X7 wheels so hopefully this plus tower bar plus rear sway bar is a good start to improve handling. but if this doesnt fit maybe i look at coilovers instead with rear sway bar instead...
hopefully hondar will still accept it return if i cant make it fit...

i agree with yfin that euro doesnt have much body roll, but i took it for a jaunt through great ocean road about a month back, and i can tell you there is still quite a bit of body roll going on, of course maybe if i was going slower.......and not trying to keep up with a celica and 200sx.........

[adammet04]

oh yeah
just wanna confirm that removing the bolts while the car is standing stationary with handbrake on will not f#$$ the car up???
cheers

[tanghy]

oh yeah
just wanna confirm that removing the bolts while the car is standing stationary with handbrake on will not f#$$ the car up???
cheers


no

strut top bolts, about 80-100Nm should be ok, but it's not really necessary, more important to avoid using a shallow socket or rattle gun, end up stripping the bolt then you're screwed

[adammet04]

Hi,

found out the torque settings for the bolts on the suspension towers

2 14ml nuts are 28ft/pound (old school)

the others 17ml should be 52ft/pound


i also was told by honda mechanic that all are attached to the damper....so not too bigger worry then about removing them as you dont need to remove the 2 smaller ones.

however i could not successfully fit the bracket... :( :( :( :( :(
it still comes up the against the other bracket and would require deformation of this to make it fit properly IMHO.....

I dont really want to do this at the moment as the car hasn't even gone in for 10,000k service....

Im really pi$$ed off.. cause its so damn close !!!!!!!!! (scuse the language)

for the record the other bracket was ok though, perfect fit, plus i think based on temporary placement of the bar that, it too would be ok....

just that one bracket... dammit...

the search continues.....