THSCC Forums

Dang, the Miata was *much* easier! What is up with the metal sleave surrounding the actual bushing? Those suckers are really tough to get out. I used my bench vise to replace the 2 sets of Miatas bushings in less than a day but I've been struggling with the CRX bushings for an entire day and have only managed to replace 4 so far.

Does anybody have a press I can use/borrow? I should pick one up from HF but it seems silly since I may not use it again (or at least very rarely). It would be much easier if I could borrow one for a day but at this point, I'll take what I can get.

Any other thoughts or tips?

Thanks,

Jim

Do you have a reciprocating saw to cut the sleeve in half. My Talon bushings were like this and it made it a ton easier.

Damnit Jim, you were supposed to say "Man these CRX bushings are soooo easy to replace!"

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Hmmm That's not a bad idea. I have a hack saw I could get in there. My only worry would be damaging the control arms but if I go slowly it should work. I'll try that in a few minutes to see how it goes.



They aren't too bad if you have the proper tools (which I obviously do not). Actually, the only hard part is getting them out. Pressing them back in is a piece of cake so far. I'm sure I could do the whole job again with the proper tools in a few hours (which includes taking the parts of the car). If you need a hand with yours, I'd be happy to help.

You should see the shape of some of these bushings. Most of them are torn/rotted and practically falling out of the metal sleeve. If it wasn't for those pesky sleeves, I'd have been done a long time ago and would be working on my clutch.

I can't wait to see how the car turns out if I can finally get all these stupid parts on it. It is already a lot more fun that I thought it would be and it isn't even close to running right.

BTW, I found a head for $35 in SC that I will be picking up next week. It looks to be in good shape and I'll probably wind up using it as is assuming it checks out ok.

Jim

Jim-

I live just around the corner and have both 6 and 12 ton presses. I doubt either one will throw a tread

let me know.

806-3320 (home)
949-8780 (cell)

Dang, that's right. I remember seeing those in your garage when I blew up, er, borrowed your trailer. I seem to have a penchant for doing things the hard way at first. If I have a hard time with the rest of them, I'll give you a ring. Thanks very much for the offer!

It looks like Ryan's trick of cutting them out is the ticket. It took all of 5 minutes to remove the 2 I have been fighting with for the last several hours. Heck, 2 of those minutes were spent trying to figure out how to remove the blade from my hacksaw...

I've already removed most of the center sections so all I have to do is remove the sleeves. The non-press approved method seems to be the following:

- Heat up the rubber section with a torch
- Use shop vise to press out the center metal section (comes out like butter with a little heat)
- Make 2 close cuts with the hacksaw (doesn't have to be clean through the sleeve)
- Use small chisel to knock out the newly cut section
- The rest of the sleeve will just fall out with a light tap

Rinse and repeat...

If I hadn't already done the first 2 steps, I'd be all over the press right now.

So, anybody have any tips or gotchas to watch out for while changing a clutch in the pouring rain? Besides being smart enough to get my next house with a stinkin' garage...

Jim

Thats more like it!!! I hope to do mine at Randy Melton's shop with the aide of a lift and press. Glad to hear that my trick helped ya!

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

I haven't done mine yet, but I seem to remember that you need to keep the sleeves as many of the third party bushing sets (i.e. Energy Suspension Polyurethane) don't come with the sleeves. You have to reuse the original ones.

Honda-Tech.com seems to have tons of posts on all of this. Including the trick you mentioned.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Thanks again! I just wish I had posted something earlier instead of stubbornly fighting with it all afternoon.



You officially suck!

Jim

I am using the ES master kit with the exception of the big honkin' rear trailing arm bushings (using Mugen there). None of them require reusing the metal sleeve thank goodness!

Perhaps the HyperFlex kit requires reusing the sleeves. I haven't seen too many people (none I would trust) recommend their kit.



I did some searching over there but trying to find good information there is a bit frustrating sometimes.

Jim

It seems that any of the Polyurathane kits are controversal. Opinions range from "your car will explode" to "it works great!" The rear trailing arm bushing is where you get the most difference of opinion. The Mugen one you have is popular. However you will also get people saying that the newer Honda OEM part is the same as the Mugen part (for less money). Apparently the newer Honda part looks identical, but the question is "is the Mugen stiffer or not". I have no idea what is true or not. Lots of opinions on H-T but who knows what is correct.

While researching this myself I found a few interesting URLs. This one mentions an interesting idea on how to "index" the rear trailing arm bushing. The idea is that if you lower the car and the bushing was installed with a factory ride height in mind that it would result in a twist or preload on the rubber bushing. I guess the implication is that the bushing will not last as long. Either way I can't see any harm in trying it. It is at the very bottom on this page...

http://www.performanceforum.com/wesvann ... shing.html

I also have the ES master kit and I think that if you use their rear trailing arm bushings you have to reuse the sleeve. I most likely will go with the Mugen or newer OEM rear trailing arm bushing instead of the ES as well.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

I agree with the concensus here - DON'T do the ES rear trailing arm bushing on a Honda. I've had the ES bushings on the CRX at one point or another (went back to stock for HS) and all were fine EXCEPT the trailing arm bushings. Those things just screw the rear suspension up too much. Stock or Mugen are the best options.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

glad to see this thread pop up. I'm hoping to dissassemble my beater so I can start on the bushings for my crx (beater = 91 civic hatch). Is the trailing arm bushing the ONLY one that you have to reuse the sleeve on? I've read about the binding issues with it so I had planned to use the OEM there and the ES everywhere else but wanted to find out about the sleeves. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yea, that's the big problem over there. On this particular issue, I've seen enough highly regarded people using the setup I'm going with to have confidence in it.

I have also seen the posts about the Mugen bushings supposedely being the same as the Honda but even the "credible" people aren't sure. Nobody has come up with any durometer readings I've seen and even then, that isn't a sure fire way to tell. My feeling is they are not the same but either one will work fine. I got a killer deal on mine from a friend in Charlotte otherwise I might have considered using the OEM part.

As usual with honda-tech, there seems to be some debate as to whether or not you can actually obtain the OEM rear trailing arm bushing. All of the parts diagrams I've seen don't list it as a separate part but I do remember someone posting a part number. I think the person might have had trouble actually getting the part but I'm not sure the issue was reported back as being resolved.



I believe this to be the case with any ride height altered car. After doing any suspension work that involves removing a control arm or stressed component, I always let the car down with all the bolts loose. After rolling it back and forth to help it settle, I tighten the bolts down so when the suspension is at rest, there is no binding. It is a real pain with a lowered car but I think it definitely can take some suspension weirdness out of the picture.



Hmmm That's the only one I haven't messed with yet but I'll take a look at it tomorrow. That's also the only one that has me a little worried about how to press it in-- I don't think my vise will open that wide. It also looks like it needs to be "clocked" properly which could present another potential issue. I may be calling Scott on that one depending on much trouble it is.

Jim

No need to debate here, I have a set of OEM RTA bushings sitting at my house right now. I can get the part number if somebody wants them. You wont find them in any of the parts diagrams online, you HAVE to have the part number. I think they were $38/ea.

I also read how the Mugen and OEM bushings are supposed to be virtually the same. The OEM's were cheaper, so I went that route.

With all this talk of bushing installs I had a nightmare about it last night I am not looking forward to replacing the 10902850298 bushings in my CRX

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Again, I haven't done this yet, but I think with the RTA bushing, you have to index it before you put it back together. The method you talk about would allow for movement of other bushing before you tighten everything up, but with the RTA bushing, I think you have to press it in. It will not move after you press it in. So the idea is to press it in a position that is in it's natural "relaxed" state when the car is at rest. Not sure if it is important to do this or not, but I figured I would give it a try when I did mine.

Again, more info source from H-T, so who knows if it is correct, but what I heard was that initially you could only get the RTA bushing as part of a complete RTA set (Arm and bushing). But apparently Honda experienced more failure of the bushing over the long haul, so they eventually offered the RTA bushing as people didn't want to buy the complete arm just to get the bushing. So it is likely that some older documentation was correct that the RTA bushing was not available just by itself. And some people may not have found out that Honda started to offer the bushing just by itself.

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.