Beaks Kit & 23mm sway bar installed! Pics [56k come back in 5 days]

[T-onedc2]

Ok for about 2 months I've been driving around with my Beaks Sub-frame Reinforcement kit and 23mm JDM ITR rear sway bar, and as others have said before, the transformation in handling has got to be the best value mod you can carry out on a DC2/4.
Coupled with ITR shocks & springs this makes for a fantastic street setup, no crashing over bumps and bone jarring potholes but very firm and absorbant ride, and now thanks to the rear sway bar it sits very flat through corners with very neutral cornering at a maintained cornering speed, and as much lift-off oversteer as you dare to give it.
I've been waiting till now to show the pics as the Beaks Tie bar took a couple months more the the rest to arrive from the US as it was on back-order, but many thanks go to Yonas & Zi at JDMYard for supplying the necessary gear!

Here's some pics and feel free to ask me any questions about it.
Cheers
Tyson

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/Tykie/Integra152.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/Tykie/Integra146.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/Tykie/Integra151-1.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/Tykie/Integra142altered.jpg

[bigjo5]

wow how much was it i need one for my civic i have a ITR rear sway aswell needin a beaks kit..

[Zdster]

wow how much was it i need one for my civic i have a ITR rear sway aswell needin a beaks kit..

I would do some research on putting the beaks kit on an ek :).

Nice job - looks like a good upgrade.

[T-onedc2]

Tie bar was $200, Reinforcement kit $150. The kit would be good on an EG but as ZDSTER said you need to look at maybe an ASR kit. Hondatech forums in US can be good for this advice.
:D

[Q_ball]

Awesome work Tyson!

[tinkerbell]

can i ask how you feel about the components of the re-inforcement:

http://home.exetel.com.au/tinkerbell/beakskitwtf.JPG

or is it better than it looks?

surely they could have supplied bolts that actully went through the FULL thread of the nut???

[bennjamin]

ssssssssssssssssssnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaPPPPP PPPPPP !

Please torque up this kit a few k's after inital drive...will be interesting to see how it holds up. This is the latest thing from Beaks (the bling tiebar)

[T-onedc2]

can i ask how you feel about the components of the re-inforcement:

http://home.exetel.com.au/tinkerbell/beakskitwtf.JPG

or is it better than it looks?

surely they could have supplied bolts that actully went through the FULL thread of the nut???

It's better than it looks, there's 2 bolts, the second one is just visible in the pic, the top of the bolt is an allen key head. My only concern before it arrived was the strength of the black 90deg brackets on each end but they are quite thick and solid so I can't see them breaking anytime soon.

[BlitZ]

I also hope they are high tensile bolts too


can i ask how you feel about the components of the re-inforcement:

http://home.exetel.com.au/tinkerbell/beakskitwtf.JPG

or is it better than it looks?

surely they could have supplied bolts that actully went through the FULL thread of the nut???

[EG5]

it is igh tensile locking nuts, if it ever breaks/loose

Beaks will replace it with warranty.

[aaronng]

Maybe in revision 2, beaks will supply longer bolts. Or you could get some matching high tensile bolts which are longer.

[Jamesnic]

Im looking at an ASR and beaks tie for my EM1, wats the deal with installation? did u get a professional to do yours? if so around how much does this type of a job cost?

[T-onedc2]

Im looking at an ASR and beaks tie for my EM1, wats the deal with installation? did u get a professional to do yours? if so around how much does this type of a job cost?
I did it myself and to this day no problems at all. I'm not sure what's involved with the ASR installation but the Beaks tie bar is one of the simplest procedures on the car.

[Jamesnic]

so is the beaks tie a simple bolt on then? no mods required to the car?

[T-onedc2]

It was a matter of jacking the car up to remove the bolt where the lca meets the chassis, put the tie bar in place and reinstall the bolt for each side.

The only mod required was trimming of the brake line bracket which obstructed the mount for the tie bar, for what it's worth this wouldn't be an issue with a Spoon tie bar.

[shebangs]

Whats difference between Beaks and ASR? Same shit, same job? Beaks look like a tad better quality though?

[T-onedc2]

Totally different design but do the same on DC & EG. For EK's I hear ASR is the most reliable as some early Beaks still tore the subframe but may be rectified by now.

[bennjamin]

Totally different design but do the same on DC & EG. For EK's I hear ASR is the most reliable as some early Beaks still tore the subframe but may be rectified by now.

Yes there is a version 2 of the BEAKS KIT available.
A ASR brace is essentially a BEAKS KIT with a metal(alloy) plate ontop acting as extra reinforcement.

SOFAR....the ASR kit for both EK and EG/DC is the most reliable on the market.

[riruiz_88]

so you got the BEAKS subframe reinforcement kit too right? i dont understand how it is supposed to be mounted. do you put both blocks behind the sheet metal or, the 2 blocks sandwiching the sheet metal subframe? also did you need to drill out bigger holes for this?

[shebangs]

T-onedc2, where did you get your 23mm Bushings and Brackets from?

[T-onedc2]

so you got the BEAKS subframe reinforcement kit too right? i dont understand how it is supposed to be mounted. do you put both blocks behind the sheet metal or, the 2 blocks sandwiching the sheet metal subframe? also did you need to drill out bigger holes for this?
The 2 blocks sandwich the metal frame, and in order to mount the brackets exactly vertically you need to drill the lower hole for each bracket. Just line it up, mark the hole, check and recheck before drilling.

Important!! The exact location of the hole you drill will determine whether the forward-most bracket fouls the control arm as it move up and down.

[T-onedc2]

T-onedc2, where did you get your 23mm Bushings and Brackets from?
JDMYard supplied sway bar with endlinks, bushes and brackets complete.

[riruiz_88]

recently got sway bar, did you replace the bushings on either side of the sway bar that connect to the endlinks? and did you use any grease between them?

[T-onedc2]

The sway bar I got had endlinks attached so no I didn't get new bushes, I used multipurpose grease (red Castrol one) to apply inside the D bushes, and to stop the awful creaking also applied at the bush where the bar joins the endlink, and have reapplied it once since then (over approx 2 year + period).

[riruiz_88]

sounds good. also when you attached all bolts on, did you tighten it up hard while off the ground or you just hand tighten then release back to ground and then tighten all bolts?

was just thinkin if you tighten while off the ground, would this change the geometry of the sussy. maybe causing premature bush failure???
thanks

[Webby_roller]

Also, how thick is your front swaybar??? Or is it standard?

[T-onedc2]

sounds good. also when you attached all bolts on, did you tighten it up hard while off the ground or you just hand tighten then release back to ground and then tighten all bolts?

was just thinkin if you tighten while off the ground, would this change the geometry of the sussy. maybe causing premature bush failure???
thanks
You don't need to jack it up to do this, the car must be sitting level with neither side compressed even slightly more than the other.
The bolts need to be tight enough for the D bracket to touch the mount but not as tight as possible, for me it's just very firm and I've never had a problem. I would suggest after fitting and driving for a bit to get under and check the bolts and tighten if needed.
Sway bar has no effect on geometry, just resistance to uneven compression between left and right struts (shocks & springs).

[riruiz_88]

say what, you didnt jack the car up to remove/install the sway bar?
its so cramped in there. i was lookin at my bushes and it has a number on it, number 23. my bar is 22mm thick, would this be the size of the bush of 23mm ID? do you remember if you saw a number corresponding to the size of your bar.

[riruiz_88]

Also, how thick is your front swaybar??? Or is it standard?

you askin me or t-onedc2?

[T-onedc2]

say what, you didnt jack the car up to remove/install the sway bar?
its so cramped in there. i was lookin at my bushes and it has a number on it, number 23. my bar is 22mm thick, would this be the size of the bush of 23mm ID? do you remember if you saw a number corresponding to the size of your bar.
oh yeah I forgot, I have a pit so it was easy, you'll have to jack it up. Can't say I took any notice of a number on the bush to correspond with the bar diameter as they all just came with it.

[Webby_roller]

you askin me or t-onedc2?

Both... if you dont mind me asking.....

im just interested as im looking for some sussy upgrades for my teg and have been looking for a while for a setup that seems to work for some people.. then tailoring it for what i need...

[T-onedc2]

I have 24mm ITR front sway bar

[riruiz_88]

i have standard civic front sway bar, i think its 22mm

[GIPONU]

i didnt wanna start a new thread so....

i've decided to get a 24mm asr rear sway bar kit. after choosing between that. and the "race only" asr 32mm hollow sway bar kit. and for a low tie bar, instead of using the beaks. ive decided to go with the whiteline low brace alloy tie. it sits higher than the beaks and is longer, also looks more durable..

and for the front. im going to get a whiteline 27mm front sway bar and currently lookin for endlinks. if necesary..

wat do u guys think?

[riruiz_88]

The ASR rear subframe kit is a tie bar as well. no need to buy another one.

[GIPONU]

The ASR rear subframe kit is a tie bar as well. no need to buy another one.

well, if i bottom out, i dont wanna damage the $300 brace. so i decided to bottom out on the tie bar. which only costs like $80... only concern is, if it will fit onto the brace.lol.

its pretty much like, wat every1 else is doing. but every1 uses teh beaks. which costs like $190

[riruiz_88]

you have a better chance of bottoming out on the Beaks tie bar, not the ASR brace. ASR sits heaps higher pretty much tucked under the car. look at the guys from USA, they are super low with ASR brace and i havnt heard of any being damaged.

[riruiz_88]

i have some left over grease from some poly bushes i had installed, do you think it would be ok on rubber bushes? and did YOU use a torque wrench or just roughly tighten the way it was before you installed?

[T-onedc2]

I driven with a full boot of luggage over large bumps and rises at speeds which compress the suspension a lot, and never have I come close to scraping the tie bar. For my car height, the tie bar sits within a cm or two of the front lip heightwise. Just not an issue for me at all.


i have some left over grease from some poly bushes i had installed, do you think it would be ok on rubber bushes? and did YOU use a torque wrench or just roughly tighten the way it was before you installed?
If it's general purpose grease then yeah it will be fine.

I just used a socket set and try to use similar force to what I used in removal, very firm but not nearly enough to snap a bolt.

[JasonGilholme]

i was contemplating the beaks kit but went for the ASR. I got a black one so you can barely see it and it sits alot higher then the beaks kit. That integra in teh first post isn't too low so it probably wont be an issue.

Looks good. :thumbsup:

[T-onedc2]

It's a fair bit lower now tho

[riruiz_88]

and i was contemplating ASR kit but went with Beaks. i read that Beaks have had troubles with tear outs and other bad stories, but no one has ever come up with the proof. and i have picked both Beaks kits for great prices.
but yes only draw back to Beaks tie bar is height clearances