ich1banf40

with 04 civic lx ?

Hi guys,

I am new here and and I purchased some Stagg SHS (cheapos) on ebay for my 2004 civic and it seems that the seller has sent me the wrong strut/shocks. The ones he sent are for 01/02 civic and I was wondering if I could just go ahead and bolt that onto my 04 civic without any problems, or will I have to do a lot of modification?

lowlife9

you will have to drill out the holes that attach to the knuckle to 16mm. so basically you have a second chance to get your money back and by a quality product not more ebay ****.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

You may have to drill a hole or two bigger (16mm instead of 14mm)
But this is a common trait for any coilover system, even my TEINs which are designated for 01-05 need to be modified to fit my 05. Very few companies make them specifically for the 04-05, namely Progress and K-Sport because they are tailor-made.

lowlife9

not necessarily they will take a 01-02 strut and just drill it out to 16mm.

ich1banf40

Okay great. I will think about doing that then... I don't really have tools for that kind of stuff but hopefully my mechanic friend will. Btw, I am replacing stock springs, struts and shocks. I bought Sportline springs and the Stagg's as mentioned. I went with Stagg b/c every review I read of them were positive so yes they are cheap and I am willing to try them out over the Tokico's which was my original thought.

I will let you know how the swap goes as this is the first time I believe this exchange has happened at 107k miles. Also, is there anything else I should think about swapping out if I am taking the wheels off, while I am at it? Thank you for your input so far guys!

On a sidenote; I will eventually be turbo'ing this car although I was looking for a supercharger at first (don't flame me, I just like superchargers) and I noticed that there are none for 04 d17's....what gives?

ich1banf40

So I got the struts on okay but when I go to align the car and adjust the toe so that it is straight, the outer tie rod end runs out of thread.

Does anyone know of some sort of extension or maybe aftermarket tie rod that can give me more thread? I need some help here and I appreciate any feedback, I am pretty desperate as I have tried like 4 or 5 different auto parts stores and called 2 Honda dealerships to no avail. Thank you.

Regards,
Dan

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

I believe some aftermarket tie rod ends give you more adjustability, but you'd have to use the OEM measurements for reference to see which products will give you that extra bit of thread. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the MOOG tie rod ends are slightly longer. But I dunno, haha

ich1banf40

Thank you for the reply. Now I am a pretty big noob when it comes to this... the Moog inner tie rod end looks way longer than the Moog outer tie rod end.... could I just buy a Moog inner tr end and put in place of the outer tr end? Or are they not the same thread?

MindBomber

03-05. k-sport does not make two different variants, they exclusively build coilovers with 16mm holes and include reducing washers. I'm surprised your Teins came with 14mm holes, because previously they used 16mm holes and reducing washers as well.

Superchargers are impractical for a D17. If you consider that a turbo d17 might make 170whp at low boost, a supercharged variant would only be in the 150-160whp range. The cost to added HP ratio would be crazy. If you prefer a more linear power curve then I would go with a k-swap.

I'm really surprised you're having trouble getting a proper alignment given the height of the drop, but I digress..

A few companies make adjustable tie rods that would give you more adjustment.

DaVinci Racing will modify a set of OEM tie rods for $255.
http://www.dvrace.com/tierods.html

ich1banf40

255?

Is there anything a little more cost effective ? I mean I know that company probably does an excellent job, but I don't feel like watching 255 Federal Reserve notes burn for a single part as simple as a tie rod end.

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

They did actually come with 16s. I wrote this before installing them. The company I bought it from ensured me that it was 14mm and I'd have to drill them bigger, but they were completely wrong. It was a good relief to not have to do any modding.

MindBomber

If you buy them from J's Racing they cost $350

I would suggest installing front camber bolts, because you should not be having this issue given that you're only on sportlines and that will help a bit.

Makes sense

ich1banf40

Interesting. So there are no aftermarket outer tie rod ends that specifically target this problem? I am running on about 3 threads, so all I need is probably just an inch more of leg on the outer tie rod end....

I don't want to spend money for another kid or a modified tie rod end that costs more than all my springs combined.

I think the reason it is running out of room could be the way the strut arm is welded on the strut, but I am unsure.

Just making sure, so I can't buy the inner tie rod end and use that to replace the outer tie rod end..? as it is obviously longer

MindBomber

There are aftermarket outer tie rods which are adjustable, but they're also not cheap and quality isn't great. DVracing ones are nice because they're modified OEM, so you know they'll last.

Do you have an alignment sheet, I'd like to see the specs because something isn't right.

ich1banf40

Ya the left front (driver's side) was perfect. The right front was 4 degrees negative (pointing towards oncoming traffic. So my steering wheel is tilted to the left.

TFMEX

To me it sounds like somethings not adjusted right.... OR the steering arms are positioned odd.... the are cheapo's as you stated.

you can always invert your tie rod ends...

Take pics of each tie rod. Sometimes shops are lazy and compensate heavy on one side.... it just doenst sounds right unless im reading it wrong....

ich1banf40

Ya, I'm thinking I will just go back to stock, this is way too much of a headache to try to correct.

There seems to be no aftermarket tie rod ends that are made specifically with more threads (which sounds like a joke to me) b/c there should be some sort of adjustable, which is what 1 poster said below but I can not find them anywhere online or in stores.

If anyone knows about putting an inner tie rod end in place of the outer , it would help b/c the inner is obviously longer on the leg with more threads.

TFMEX

I think before you do anything you need to make sure that the alignment was done correctly. being able to adjust on side fine and the other is way off means they didnt split the difference.

I had enough threads to drop my vic almost 3" before I ran out of threads. The issue seems to be more the struts steering arm position rather than the tie rods.

As you lower the toe should go IN and higher the toe goes OUT. Thats why I asked for pics because I was wondering how many threads are exposed on each tie rod end.

I just went through this as I has no more toe adjustment and inverted my ends to add more.

ich1banf40

I have about 3 threads of room if I set the toe straight. I am pretty sure it is the steering arm as well... but if there is a way to just get more threads then I am fine with that as the tie rods are still parallel to the ground.

I would feel more comfortable with just getting a part with more threads than inverting. Is it as easy as you say? All I have to do is just flip it upside down and all of a sudden I have more threads? Do I have to do any drilling? If so, that is not the way I would like to go.

TFMEX

Yes I had to ensure I had the right taper for the tie rod end. its not a simple flip.

So if you can set your toe to zero and you have more threads why do you need more adjustment.....

ich1banf40

No, it falls off before it gets to zero.

TFMEX

That is what confuses me.

In my opinion.... send them back. If you bought quality struts the first time you wouldn't have this issue OR you got a bad set. Something is not right at all. You should be able to get the required adjustment with your stock parts at stock height. Your going to spend more money getting these to fit right then you would have with the correct set the first time.

This is another example why it is said to spend the money and do it right the first time. Suspension is not a part of the car to cheap out on...

I hope you get it straightened out. I know how much it sucks to have lingering car issues when you thought you bought what you needed to fix it. Let us know if we can help you more.

ich1banf40

Thank you. Someone also told me I would be able to replace the inner tie rod end to get more thread on the outer? That doesn't make sense to me. But right now since I drilled holes into the struts to make them 16mm I will not be able to send them back so I need to try and make this work if I can. I found a couple of adjustables online that look like they have more thread on them than stock....Here:

http://www.partstrain.com/store/deta...DDM154370.html

MindBomber

Four degrees of negative camber?

ich1banf40

4 degrees negative of direction. I think camber is something else. This is just dealing with the tie rods.

MindBomber

Toe and camber are related, if you have excessive negative camber you will unable to achieve get correct toe, which I think is what's happening here. The correct approach is to address the issue causing you to not be reach zero toe, rather than just buying longer tie rods.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=alignm...Oma3_Bw&zoom=1

ich1banf40

I don't think camber is my problem... all the alignment shops said my camber was perfect.

But what I was wanting to know is if any of you know if this part should fix my problem about the threads b/c this tie rod end looks longer than the stock oe outer tie rod end:

http://www.partstrain.com/store/deta...DDM154370.html