96 honda civic lowered 4" - just wanted to share (lots of pics)

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

...That's a 2" drop; 3 MAX.

Frank Lee agrees!

Originally Posted by vrmouseyd15b

...Gotta love the eBay cheapies! ...

2" or 3" or 3.75 or whatever... it's a good look, I think. Filling the wheel wells better is just better.

[vrmouseyd15b]

Huh. You do make sense. My measurements agreed twice, with a short run around the block, I never checked again! I'll give it a week and check again. Thanks.

If it does settle more, I'll have to re work my exhaust. That's my lowpoint now. ..

[darcane]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Agreed- cornering can be improved.

There were a couple of occasions I wanted to measure ride height; one was the camper truck laden vs unladen and the other was when I lowered my Coupe. It was then I discovered I couldn't measure to the ground- even on what appears to be a decent concrete slab- because the measurements were all over the place, far too large to make the measurements of any value. It was then I discovered I could get better measurements by leaving the ground out of it, by measuring from the tops of the tires to the inner wheel well. The Coupe got lowered approximately 2" and it looks like your before-and-after.

P.S. The ground is still "in it" because the vehicle is parked on it, but the measuring errors are less. Concrete slabs are deceptively uneven.

I typically measure axle centerline to wheel well for the same reasons. That gives me two hard points to base changes off of, and compare front to rear (since the tires are slightly different sizes).

I did a similar lowering on my Civic. Before and after looked very comparable to the OPs pics (his maybe a smidge lower up front). It was about a 2.5 inch drop. Mine scrapes too much as it is, I couldn't imagine going any lower.

[The donkey CRX]

Hey Mouse, what's with the little container of Chinese take-out hanging off the rear of your car?

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by The donkey CRX

Hey Mouse, what's with the little container of Chinese take-out hanging off the rear of your car?

it's a jdm thing

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by vrmouseyd15b

okay, I had to throw one more in:

if you ever decide to build belly pan, With those new LCA's... you won't have to worry about building "clearance" to avoid the LCA's

[cowmeat]

Man, I ought to get on eBay and order a bunch of shiny yet dubious aftermarket suspension parts for the Black Widow and lower it 4 inches, too . . . . . Wait a sec, with my current suspension, I lower it 4" just by sitting in it!

My opinion is save your money for repairs, don't blow it on non-essential crap like that, but then again I did buy that Kammback a couple of tanks ago . . . .

Originally Posted by The donkey CRX View Post
Hey Mouse, what's with the little container of Chinese take-out hanging off the rear of your car?

I assumed you meant the tailpipe at first, that's about as Chinese take-out as it gets

[vrmouseyd15b]

Yeah, the Chinese take out box, on a japanese car! I just think it's hilarious. It's been on the car about a year now and I still laugh every time I see it! It used to have a fortune cookie on it, but that was many driveways ago.

I'm proud to say that my mileage looks like it's going up! (I've also found a new respect for the EOC). MIGHT JUST BREAK 50 MPG THIS TANK! ! Previous best was 46.2 mpg. We'll see what comes out in a few days, and I'll be driving easy and eoc'ing my butt off until then.

Frankly, this mod has inspired me to try and hypermile harder than ever!

If this is what it takes to adjust the nut behind my car's wheel, then so be it.

And for the exhaust, 3"stainless "test pipe" back exhaust (no emissions by me so no cat) it's Damn loud and also makes me laugh so hard!

[vrmouseyd15b]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Man, I ought to get on eBay and order a bunch of shiny yet dubious aftermarket suspension parts for the Black Widow and lower it 4 inches, too . . . . . Wait a sec, with my current suspension, I lower it 4" just by sitting in it!

My opinion is save your money for repairs, don't blow it on non-essential crap like that, but then again I did buy that Kammback a couple of tanks ago . . . .

I had terrible rear camber, I didn't mention, I guess. It ate the inner from my rear tires. My shocks\struts were pretty beat too, it actually rides BETTER on the highway now! At that point, the "performance" parts are cheaper than stock stuff, so why not? This is cheaper than going to a mechanic for a repair any day for side by side stock vs performance, and I do all the work aside from the alignment because I like to! so for me, I'm money ahead.

Originally Posted by basjoos

There are two approaches to handling air flow under the car for minimum drag.

One is to lower the car and adding an air dam to divert air around the sides of the car and side skirts to maintain the low pressure zone under the car. This reduces frontal area (lowers drag) and creates a low pressure zone under the car (increases downforce and also drag, since it takes energy to create the low pressure zone). This is the approach that most race cars use since it increases downforce. Many ecomodders also do this since it is easy to implement.

Now I don't have to pan under my car! I'm looking for something like a really wide brush to be my "air dam" that way the bristles will give over bumps / driveways now. . Any ideas?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by vrmouseyd15b

...I'm looking for something like a really wide brush to be my "air dam" that way the bristles will give over bumps / driveways now. . Any ideas?

The 4" lawn edging stuff, the kind that is very thin for the most part and thick only at the one rounded end is what I used. Installed with a curve on it, it will hold shape at speed but flex and return to shape when it rubs a speed bump or something. Very cheap. Very effective. Easily installed, really.