I completed my suspension/brake/wheel upgrade this past weekend and did some fine tuning this morning. I've finally gotten everything finished enough to the point that it's a reliable driver. Pretty soon, though, the knuckles are going to come back off to have new wheel bearings and lower ball joints installed and I'm going to put a new set of calipers back on.
Here's the list of the most recent round of work:
Function & Form Type 1 coilovers
'99-'04 Acura RL 11.8" rotors and caliper brackets (same as '99-'03 TL and '01-'03 CL)
'93-'95 Legend coupe dual-piston calipers (will soon replace with a rebuilt set)
'96-'99 Isuzu Oasis front knuckles (same as Odyssey)
'96-'98 Acura 3.2TL rear knuckles (modified for the CB7 but I'll detail that later)
'92-'94 Acura Vigor 16mm rear sway bar
new inner/outer tie rod ends
new upper control arms
urethane front lower control arm bushings and sway bar end links
urethane rear sway bar mount bushings modified to 16mm
'04-'07 Hyundai Sonata 16X6.5" wheels
Michelin MVX4 205/55/16 tires
A few of you may remember the way this car looked when I bought it from this thread:
http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=184935
It was lowered in the front on cheap coilovers and had factory blown shocks all around. The wheels were very heavy 17X7" 7-spoke Motegis with cheapie tires on them. The control arms and bushings were mostly shot and the only thing I could do was replace the shocks and springs all around with some Progress springs and Monroe wagon shocks I got from da9b16. I wanted them to last me a month or two and Houston roads didn't even let that happen. All 4 of those shocks blew within 2 weeks in the inner Houston roads. They weren't perfect when they went in but I'm living testament to why that is never a good idea when lowering a car. The roads around here also bent one of my rims for me. This was partly due to the fact that there was no shock to absorb impact.
Fast forward a few weeks:
I had slowly been accumulating stuff to throw on and due to the problems I faced with the roads I parked it at my parent's house. I wanted to go 5-lug but I wanted to experiment with different methods. Tippey764 and I discussed other methods of doing the front but because of time and resources, the knuckles I was planning to use have been put on hold. For now I'm using Odyssey/Oasis front knuckles.
I was, however, successful in coming up with a rear knuckle swap that provides the community an alternative to the 5th generation Prelude hub/bearing setup. I used the entire rear knuckle/hub/bearing/rotor from the '96-'98 3.2TL. It is nearly a direct swap for coupes or sedans and IS a direct swap for wagons. It would also easily swap over to all '94-'97 Accords, Vigors, 1st generation CLs, etc., but that's another discussion. The only "downside" to this is that the hub is 30mm taller on each side so the rear track is effectively widened by 60mm. Whether or not that is beneficial to your performance or aesthetic goals I will leave for you to decide. I have plans for mine so I don't care that it currently extends beyond the arches. The reason this needed to be modified for the CB7 but doesn't for the CB9 and other cars is because of the spacing (front to rear) of the rear lower control arms. The through bolt is likewise longer through the knuckle and there is extra material on the knuckle as well. I just cut the additional length off with a hacksaw and bolted it up no problems. If you wanted, you could also use the corresponding rear lower crossmember that would match the control arm spacing of the new rear knuckles. I'll likely do it all over again in the future and go this route.
The front brake setup was something I came up with reading around on the internet for different rotor dimensions. It's the 11.8" rotors from the '99-'04 RL. I don't claim to be the first to do it at all, but I see people stick with 11.1" most often. Even 11.1" is probably overkill for these cars for regular driving but I wanted something bigger for track purposes and these fit the bill. They are 28mm wide and require you to use the caliper bracket from the same car.
I picked the Function and Forms because they're adjustable and all four corners needed to be replaced. I had also heard that they were comfortable. Comfortable is probably a stretch but they're certainly nice around curves and corners. The rear sway bar helps immensely here as well. I need them to be high up for the roads and speed bumps around me so I don't care if you think it "needs MOAR LOW!!"
Finally, the MAIN reason for going 5-lug.. I'm a huge fan of the 6-spoke wheels that '92-'93 EX coupe and 10th Anniversary sedans had. It's just a classy looking wheel. But, they're narrow, they're 15" and most notably my car didn't come with them when I bought it. I saw these Hyundai Sonata wheels and was sold immediately. I think the extra inch of diameter and lack of lug nut cover updates the look a lot. The extra width helps with performance as well, though not so much with fuel economy. Basically, it was a way for me to have the look I liked, but do it a little differently.
Here's how it sits now.
Here's the list of the most recent round of work:
Function & Form Type 1 coilovers
'99-'04 Acura RL 11.8" rotors and caliper brackets (same as '99-'03 TL and '01-'03 CL)
'93-'95 Legend coupe dual-piston calipers (will soon replace with a rebuilt set)
'96-'99 Isuzu Oasis front knuckles (same as Odyssey)
'96-'98 Acura 3.2TL rear knuckles (modified for the CB7 but I'll detail that later)
'92-'94 Acura Vigor 16mm rear sway bar
new inner/outer tie rod ends
new upper control arms
urethane front lower control arm bushings and sway bar end links
urethane rear sway bar mount bushings modified to 16mm
'04-'07 Hyundai Sonata 16X6.5" wheels
Michelin MVX4 205/55/16 tires
A few of you may remember the way this car looked when I bought it from this thread:
http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=184935
It was lowered in the front on cheap coilovers and had factory blown shocks all around. The wheels were very heavy 17X7" 7-spoke Motegis with cheapie tires on them. The control arms and bushings were mostly shot and the only thing I could do was replace the shocks and springs all around with some Progress springs and Monroe wagon shocks I got from da9b16. I wanted them to last me a month or two and Houston roads didn't even let that happen. All 4 of those shocks blew within 2 weeks in the inner Houston roads. They weren't perfect when they went in but I'm living testament to why that is never a good idea when lowering a car. The roads around here also bent one of my rims for me. This was partly due to the fact that there was no shock to absorb impact.
Fast forward a few weeks:
I had slowly been accumulating stuff to throw on and due to the problems I faced with the roads I parked it at my parent's house. I wanted to go 5-lug but I wanted to experiment with different methods. Tippey764 and I discussed other methods of doing the front but because of time and resources, the knuckles I was planning to use have been put on hold. For now I'm using Odyssey/Oasis front knuckles.
I was, however, successful in coming up with a rear knuckle swap that provides the community an alternative to the 5th generation Prelude hub/bearing setup. I used the entire rear knuckle/hub/bearing/rotor from the '96-'98 3.2TL. It is nearly a direct swap for coupes or sedans and IS a direct swap for wagons. It would also easily swap over to all '94-'97 Accords, Vigors, 1st generation CLs, etc., but that's another discussion. The only "downside" to this is that the hub is 30mm taller on each side so the rear track is effectively widened by 60mm. Whether or not that is beneficial to your performance or aesthetic goals I will leave for you to decide. I have plans for mine so I don't care that it currently extends beyond the arches. The reason this needed to be modified for the CB7 but doesn't for the CB9 and other cars is because of the spacing (front to rear) of the rear lower control arms. The through bolt is likewise longer through the knuckle and there is extra material on the knuckle as well. I just cut the additional length off with a hacksaw and bolted it up no problems. If you wanted, you could also use the corresponding rear lower crossmember that would match the control arm spacing of the new rear knuckles. I'll likely do it all over again in the future and go this route.
The front brake setup was something I came up with reading around on the internet for different rotor dimensions. It's the 11.8" rotors from the '99-'04 RL. I don't claim to be the first to do it at all, but I see people stick with 11.1" most often. Even 11.1" is probably overkill for these cars for regular driving but I wanted something bigger for track purposes and these fit the bill. They are 28mm wide and require you to use the caliper bracket from the same car.
I picked the Function and Forms because they're adjustable and all four corners needed to be replaced. I had also heard that they were comfortable. Comfortable is probably a stretch but they're certainly nice around curves and corners. The rear sway bar helps immensely here as well. I need them to be high up for the roads and speed bumps around me so I don't care if you think it "needs MOAR LOW!!"
Finally, the MAIN reason for going 5-lug.. I'm a huge fan of the 6-spoke wheels that '92-'93 EX coupe and 10th Anniversary sedans had. It's just a classy looking wheel. But, they're narrow, they're 15" and most notably my car didn't come with them when I bought it. I saw these Hyundai Sonata wheels and was sold immediately. I think the extra inch of diameter and lack of lug nut cover updates the look a lot. The extra width helps with performance as well, though not so much with fuel economy. Basically, it was a way for me to have the look I liked, but do it a little differently.
Here's how it sits now.
**Don't b scared be prepared for the worst**
Got the other motor mount on order today, had to send picture proof... 
Thanks for the help this weekend, BTW I got 27MPG, but only after leaving some gas in your driveway LOL.
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