lifting a civic ( dont laugh its not that bad)

95coupe94sedan

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ok so i have a 94 sedan that picked up for 200 dollars it needs a head gasket but the body it pretty rough fenders are smashed in hood is smashed in front so on and so forth.

i bought the car to use the engine and trans to put into a dune buggy for offroading but until i get the frame i have ready to accept the engine i am gonna just use the car on trails and things of that nature in order to do this and be able to have some sort of fun with the car i think i need to lift it for a little more ground clearance so im not getting hung up every two seconds

i have an idea on how to do it just wonder what everyone else thought or if anyone sees any problems with my idea

if i pull the struts out of the car and remove the factory strut mount bolts by either hammering them out or drilling them out then taking some metal 3 to 4 inches or even some pressure treated wood placing that in between the body of the car and and the top of the struts then replacing the bolts i drilled out with some longer bolts and nuts.

as far as i can see it should work like i said this car will be strictly riding on trails and fields no roads at all and i will be wearing a seat belt lol just in case this idea fails horribly

any thoughts are greatly appreciated even though i know most people will call me a hillbilly or a redneck i know there will be a few good answers mixed in with btw i am far from a hillbilly just love offroading plus i drive a 95 coupe with a b16 everyday so i do appreciate honda's and wouldn't be doing this if the car wasnt already a turd
 

civexspeedy

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yikes....

I would strongly advise against w/e the hell your idea is. I can barely make sense of it, but it doesn't sound good... Wood? really? LOL.

Anyways, I believe you are VERY limited, primarily by the shocks. You can only extend the shocks a certain length before they are at full droop. The only thing I could think of is using Ground-Control coilover sleeves and order from them the Eibach 8" length spring with 200 lbs/in rates(the softest they offer for that length). Once installed, adjust the height to where the shock is nearly at full droop when unloaded.

This is probably the safest and cheapest way to do it. However, still not exactly safe or smart lol. These cars and suspension parts were not designed to be raised and do rock climbing or w/e. I'm sure you could easily bend lower/upper control arms, trailing arms, etc.. The stock suspension does well for fast paced, "smooth" ground RallyX type racing but not anything that's more abusive.

Oh and I know Ground-Control won't back up their warranty if you use their products like this. I called them years ago asking if their sleeve coilovers could take the abuse of RallyX and they didn't say much other than "maybe but we don't test for those conditions". I do know quite a few RallyX racers use their products without much problem but again, the conditions aren't extremely severe.
 


95coupe94sedan

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ok let me explain a little more clearly i am gonna destroy the body of this car so buying expensive coilovers and suspension parts are out of the question im not rock crawling or going thru deep mud pits basically gonna be going on trails i have already went on with my four wheeler pretty smooth trails few hills and stuff nothing real agressive


now for my idea for the struts i will remove the whole strut as one piece it will all stay intact now the top plate of the strut where the two studs are that bolt to the body or strut tower of the car i am going to remove those two studs which will leave two holes in the top plate of the strut then using a 3 or four inch piece of steel to cover the whole top plate with two holes drill in it put longer bolts thru the plate and the steel up thru the factory holes on the strut tower the put nuts and draw everything tight basically the same design as a leveling kit on the newer f150's so if your are familiar with those leveling kits that would be the easiest way to explain it
 

civexspeedy

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If all you're doing is going down some dirt trails, the stock suspension is fine. Like I said, they hold up well for RallyX which can be pretty brutal at times. I co-drove my sponsors '91 Civic Si at a RallyX, with 3 other co-drivers. It was about an hour of total driving time between everybody. The car is bone stock. The suspension took one hell of a beating for the day and nothing happened to it.

I'd stay away from that DIY thing you posted. Those extended bolts for the top hat scare me. I can see you hitting a rut and snapping them... Might be fine for a lifted street car like an Element(since we all know those things aren't true off road kings...), but anything else might not be so hot.
 

Gunner

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I dont know how to do it or have any good advice for you but i thought i would share a guy down the road from me had an el camino lifted with 33" inch tires on it. so i guess it can be done.
 

emerican

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If your just gonna use it for that leave it stock. Cant say i think its a good idea though.
 

civexspeedy

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What tires do you guys use for rallyx being that the car is stock
Most people who RallyX usewinter tires. They have tremendous amounts of grip in dirt and mud. If you compare them to true dirt tires, some of the tread patterns are similar. The only draw back is they have soft sidewalls so if you dig into a hard rut at high speed mid turn, there is a slight chance of debeading the tire. But we always run about 40psi in the tires to help prevent that.

Firestone Winterforce tires are awesome. I had them on my RallyX Neon ACR. They are real cheap too. Bridgestone Blizzaks are very popular too, but IIRC more expensive. Generally, winter tires are cheap though.
 

Rich-PMS

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Can always drill holes in a few hockey pucks and do spacers like the element in the link posted.
 

mymmeryloss

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why not get taller springs and different struts from a different vehicle from a junkyard?

Take the top hats off the civic and mate them to the new struts. Willing to bet u could get a few inches of lift for very cheap and also have a pretty good ride..
 

95coupe94sedan

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Well just top hats would be alright if the bottom of struts were all the same as far as I know Honda is like the only company to use one bottom bolt and run the axle thru the strut could be wrong but I'm fairly certain that's why I was looking at the spacer idea

Hockey pucks would probably be a good idea since I think they are polyurethane just don't know if they are big enough around to fit the strut with all the material I would have to drill out of them

I am looking at the Goodyear Nordic tires they look pretty aggressive and they sell them in a 13 which makes it cheaper than having to buy 14 or 15 inch steel wheels then tires as well
 
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mymmeryloss

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U can get fifteen inch steelies for $50 for a set of four in my experience...

This would be easy with a little fabrication...
 

95coupe94sedan

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Oh yeah I'm in the process of removing the front bumper and fenders now I have a large piece of like 16 guage sheet metal that a am making into a skid plate to protect the oil pan and exhaust which I am just gonna run the exhaust out in front of the passenger tire then probably bring it up just above the hood
 

95coupe94sedan

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im trying to plan for any kind of problem before i take it out and have to work on it all day instead of driving it and with my experience in 4x4 trucks and four wheelers i know these things:

1. ground clearance and tires are important
2. underbody protection
3. keeping water and mud out of the intake - any good ideas accepted on that problem havent thought thru that yet - d15b7

if anyone else can think of weak points please let me know and any possible solutions for those problems is much appreciated i know this isnt a conventional build at all but more than one mind thinking about it is always better
 

mymmeryloss

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Well how much lift are u trying to get?
 

95coupe94sedan

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im probably only looking for 3 to 4 inches max just to get everything up a little bit so if i do come to a spot with some rocks or rubble i would have a better chance of clearing it instead of having to turn around its not absolutely necessary but i have it in my head and i atleast gotta try it even if it doesnt work thats why i am gonna fabricate the spacer out of wood first cause they will hold up long enough to drive it around the house to make sure nothing binds up then i will go to either metal or polyurethane spacers once i have the "prototype" made lol

like i said this is basically just to see how much i can do with minimal money into the chassis of the car since the engine and trans will eventually be going into a completely different frame and a purpose built offroad buggy

im gonna try to get a few pics up this weekend of the progress so far hoping to get the "lift" on and the skid plate bolted up before pics
 

mymmeryloss

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i dont really see why u would want to use a civic engine in a buggy..

there are so many better options for cheap...

im all about fabrication and building interesting s**t, but this seems like a total waste of time...
 

TigBitties

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thats going to be one powerless and torqueless buggy with a d15.
 


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