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My guess is that the moderator is going to post that this topic has been covered before and that I should "search" the forum. OK. I have been trying to do that for the past 25 min and have gotten nowhere. OKOK. Here is my issue:

I just bought some 17" Enkei RS6's and am looking to add a front upper strut bar and a rear lower tie to improve the stiffness of the chasis and to relieve stress on the mediocre factory suspension. My biggest problem is that I cannot find a front upper bar that will work w/ my 5spd. 01 Civic dx coupe. The prob is that the clutch fluid resevior (CFR) gets in the way. Are there any strut bars that will work w/ the factory location of the CFR? PLS HELP!! I don't feel like having some chump at one of my local performance shops tell me that it fits when it doesn't. I also do not want to re-locate the CFR by means of drilling the fresh sheet metal on the strut tower (they honestly know nothing about modding the 7th gen civic). Is this possible? Here's a list of companies I have used before and hope to deal w/:
DC
NEUSPEED
FREEDOM DESIGN
TANABE

OR if u peeps know of any that will work pls post links.

THANK U

 
Rep Power: 332

This is the same question I had. I got a generic ebay strut tower bar a week ago and all I test fitted it for was if the holes lined up on the tower and bar, which they did(I bought it from another member that had traded for an ep3). When I went to install it with my Injen SRI the same cylinder was in the way. Being to lazy I decided to say forget it for now and I'll do it later. There was a thread on here last week that said that you can relocate it yourself. If you look at the cylinder mount you will see that there is a bolt holding it to the tower (should be 10mm). There are also a couple of bolts under that one that are the same size. You should be able to unbolt the mount, take the next lower bolt out and put the mount on that bolt. This will not interfere with clutch activity at all. I'll be doing this as soon as the sun hits the east coast in a hour or two. PM me if I don't reply here as to how it went. If you search members rides for 'Injen SRI strut tower bar' or some combination of those words you should come up with a list of members rides with these modifications. Then just blow up the pictures and you should see what they did.

Edit: and yes I said cylinder, I meant CFR but you probably knew that.

 
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Yes this has been covered. If you have CAI, the only bars that will work are the neuspeed and the DC sports. Most people like the neuspeed, though the mugen and spoon bars seem pretty thick also, but they won't work with a CAI. some people like the DC bars, but I think they are flimsy. If you do decide on the neuspeed you MAY have to relocate your clutch resevoir. It is NOT a big deal and can be done very easily. I have the neuspeed bar and i just snugged the bar into place without having to move my resevoir. All bars will fit any of the civics as long as it is made for 7thgen civic. Some RSX/Si bars will fit also.

 
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robb, do u have any pics? That would help greatly. Here's a funny thing...The Honda dealer who I deal w/ is very **** about mod'ing out cars. I asked them about strut tower bars and they said that as long as they do not see how it is put on, it's all good. This is b/c the SIR comes w/ one as well as the S2000's. As such, your pic's would basically make this mod for me!

Thank u

 
Rep Power: 332

OK, I got my bar put on today. It was easy enough.

1. Remove the 10mm bolt holding the CFR to the strut tower.
2. Remove CFR from bracket and pull the bracket out.
3. There is a tab on the bracket that was going into a hole on the tower, bend this out straight.
4. Remove the bolt under the one you just took out and put the CFR bracket on there along with the bracket that has the hose attached to it.
5. put bolt back in original hole and put CFR back into bracket. It is now low enough for strut bar clearance and doesn't affect operation at all.

I installed a generic noname brand STB from procarparts.com that I got used from "my supplier." Since I have an Injen SRI it fit perfectly. I'm not sure if any bars fit with the stock location of the CFR but then again I am by no means all knowing. I know any bar will work with Injen SRI/CAI and pretty sure that Iceman, K&N FIPK II, and some others will work with any bar. AEM and some though, have clearance issues because of their design. Basically, with Injen, you can get any bar you want. With AEM, Neuspeed and DC Sports are your choices pretty much. The generic bar has improved my steering responce greatly, and I would recommend it. I'm going with a generic for the rear too. I hope thise helps you out, good luck!.

 
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I guess I should have read this before I replied. Oh well, now you have details in case you don't want a Neuspeed.

 
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clownprince,
Thank u so much...I wouldn't have ever thought of that on my own. The best part about this method is that the Honda dealership won't even notice.

Cheers,
Specificcivic

 
Rep Power: 332

np, and the best part is that this bar costs $30 or so new and does the same thing. You might have to retighten the bar every once in a while but just do it when you clean your engine bay. And you're right, the dealership won't notice.