I finally finished installing the inserts. It was real pain in the ass like everyone else before has said, but I think the results are worth the headache.

Stuff installed:

Energy Suspension Hyperflex kit for a 92-95 civic
Energy Suspension 92-95 civic trailing arm kit
Energy Suspension Motor mount inserts
Prothane ITR rear LCA kit

The Hyperflex kits is pretty good. I used everything except for the powersteering bushings and the rear lca bushings (itr rear lca's). Only thing I didn't like about the kit was it didn't pair up sleeves with the bushings you need for each hole in the LCA. It does have the bushing # stamped on them so it's easy figure out what polyurethane insert is for what hole in the lca's. I used a caliper and measured the inner diameter and length of the inner metal sleeves needed. It was a littler over kill to do that, because you can figure out what sleeve to use by making sure the bolt will go through the sleeve easily, and the sleeve inserts into the polyurethane bushings perfectly. And the lenth should be obvious. Anyways once I got all the bushings together, and the sleeves. I started the hard part, removal of the bushings. Once the bushings are out just lay on the grease and just pop the new bushings in place. I just hammered them in within' 5 seconds with a ton of grease. Any extra grease just spews out. (If you wanna know how I got the rubber bushings out do a search on it for my username in this forum.)

I used axle grease on anything that the polyurethane touched. I used a ton of grease because Ididn't wanna have to go back and regrease cause getting the polyurethane out would be a bitch to do.

Anyways I did the whole front end at one time. When I went back to install everything, it fit fine. Everything was a lot tighter. I had to put alot more muscle into lining up the damper forks to the lca's and so forth. I also noticed my suspension stayed more "loaded" when I jacked up the front. The hardest part is the front. I was lucky I used a Progress camber kit and I replaced the pieces that the upper arm to the chassis. If you are gonna use the stock pieces I would have the rubber pressed out. Their is less rubber to work with. It's possible to remove the stuff at home, it'll just be harder to do.

The rear I approached the same way. There were significantly less bushings to do, but if you have ITR rear lca's it's twice as big of a pain in the ass. The hyperflex kit doesn't have any bushings for the upper arms connected to the trailling arms, but that doesn't matter there is very little rubber their anyways. The Hyperflex kit does not have the trailling arm bushings either, so you have to buy those seperartely. Those bushings are def worth it. My trailling arm bushing rubber was old and worn out, you could tell there was a lot of flex and movement in the back by just looking at the trailing arm bushings.

The ITR rear lca bushings are made by only two people as far as I know, Mugen and Prothane. Prothane is $50, and Mugen's is $70 I believe. I bought the Prothane cause I'm cheap . Removal of the stock rubber is same like the other bushings but install is different. With the Prothane you get a new metal sleeve you have to press in, and then you have the polyurethane inserts. The diameter on the sleeve is different on each end. The larger diameter part of the sleeve goes in the back of the LCA. You insert the sleeve from the back of the LCA. I tried to press it in on my own but no way it was gonna happen. I took it to my friend we pressed in the sleeves. You have to insert something in the middle of the lca when you are pressing the new sleeve in. If you don't put something in the middle, the whole LCA starts squishing together (you'll know what I'm saying when you start doing it yourself). Anyways once you get the sleeves pressed in, it's cake from there. Grease up everything and push it all together. I did grease up the sleeves that I installed.

Installing everything is pretty straight forward but it all fits really tight. I had a bitch of a time lining up the lca's to the trailling arm, but it all fit nicely at the end.

Some things to remember when doing the trailing arm bushings. The middle sleeves from the original bushings is reused. They have a hole on each side. One hole is more circular and the other hole is move oval. The oval hole is suppose to be on the outside of the trailing arm (outside being closest to the side of the car. I measured how much the center pin protruded from the trailing arm metal and when I put the center pin in again I got it close to the same distance. I believe the distance I measured was 63 mm.

The motor mounts.

JUNK. I knew they sucked when I ordered them. The front tiny mounts only ES makes. So I bought the kit just for them. The polyurethane is soft, tooo soft. But it was the only thing I could buy. If prothane releases a kit, but that.

The rear mount was complete trash. I could squeeze the rear polyurethane inserts with my hand. I have the Prothane rear mount inserts at my house, and it's a thousand times better. I recommend the Prothane motor mounts over ES anyday! I recommend Prothane over ES on everything. Their kits are more complete, and the polyurethane is actaully stiff.

Impressions.

I drove it a little (needs alignment bad).I noticed signficantly less bounce. With my spring rates I noticed my car would hop over tiny bumps. The car still hops over tiny humps but it doesn't go up and down at all. Once it comes back down it's back to normal. I'd have to say my ride quality has increased. I noticed less weight transfer around turns and I wanna say a little more oversteer in the back but it's been a while since I've drivin' the car so I could be talking out of my ass.

I think once it's aligned I'll notice a big difference.

I would recommend this upgrade to anyone who has an older civic. EG's especially. The rubber is very worn out on most civic's that old so the upgrade would be very beneficial. If you have a brand new car, wait a little and then do it.

 

Ha ha, I was about to critize you about posting really long post but then I stopped myself.

Which motor mounts did you buy? The HaSport ones or just the ES motor mount inserts? Seeya.

 

Both

 

Mine go in tonight

 

How did you do the shock bushings? If you did them, I tried for like 10min and gave up ...

 

shock bushing????


thats how you deal with bastard bushings.

then you do this:

 

thats how you deal with bastard bushings.



wont this warp the arm?

 

Thanks for the review.

1. How long did it take you?
2. You've had the motor mount inserts for a long time now haven't you? Does the polyurethane "soften" up over time?
3. What does your tool list for the job look like? Is this adequate:
-drill
-hacksaw
-punch and hammer
-wirewheel on dremel

Looking forward to hearing your impressions after the alignment.

 

Not puttin the flame on the metal, just the rubber bushing. So yea, the metal gets hot, but its not gonna warp or anything.

 

I pick my car up from the shop in 6 hours Cost me $200 to get them installed