My Mugen eg9 inspired sedan...

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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Today I managed to replace the upper control arm's mounting bushings. These were the single hardest bushings to install. They are small and extremely hard. A press was extremely handy to have. The factory bushings were extremely trashed. When I was heating them up and beating them out the rubber just fell out of the sleeve. Here are my install pic. I really think this car is gonna drive great.

All nice and installed.
 


young_

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I bet this thing is gonna ride like a dream! :thumbup:
 

buzzbombtom

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i feel like a lot of kids do the master bushing kit and dont seem to comment on the install/number of bushings it has... do a lot of them skip some?
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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i feel like a lot of kids do the master bushing kit and dont seem to comment on the install/number of bushings it has... do a lot of them skip some?
I imagine they do. Most of The ones I see people buy end back up for sale.
 

buzzbombtom

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on a scale of 1 to major pain in the ass, where do you rate the bushing kit install?
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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on a scale of 1 to major pain in the ass, where do you rate the bushing kit install?
Considering I replaced every bushing I could minus the rear toe arms(which I don't know if they make bushings for those), as well as all the rotors, brake pads, wheel bearings and ball joints, I'd consider it a major pain in the ass. You need a press, an oxy-acetylene torch, various pieces to press the bushings out, creativity to install a few of them. If it were just the bushings I'd say it would be an 8.5/10 because of all the parts that have to be removed as well as all the downtime. I can see why people would give up and sell it. The hardest ones to get out are the sleeved bushings in the front and rear control arms. They are uncooperative at best. I wouldn't attempt it unless you just woke up and wanted to hate yourself all day. It takes hours even with the right tools.
 

buzzbombtom

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lol noted. i mainly ask so that it is documented on here how f**king hard that s**t is.... now a quick search will tell anyone thinking about this how god damned hard this is. ps, do you know of anyone who has done the bushing kit? a quick jaunt around the webz provided little.
 

jameswanser

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I agree with you on the upper control arm bushings. Got 1 out, couldn't figure out how to use the arbor plates to get the new one pressed in (like the creative use of the square tubing as an arbor. wish I'd thought of that). I ended up just using another spare set of upper mounts, just so I could get the car back together.
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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I got a little piece of heaven in the mail today. It's my next to last piece of suspension goodies. Next piece is the struts themselves. I think I need a tune before that but I don't need to tune my car in sub freezing temperatures. I'll wait until it warms up a little bit before I really get to that though. The weeks are winding down and body progress is ramping up in the bodywork section. I've been working slowly on breaks here and there to get some parts closer to finished. I did a little bit of bodywork on one of my fenders which should have been beaten out more but I had ambitions of keeping the panels on the car. If I had taken it off I could have metal worked it more and less filler work to do. It feels great now. I'm blocking the primer out now. It should be ready to paint this time. I'll be prepping the side skirts, front lip, and fender for paint. I'll be painting a lot of parts and stashing them somewhere until I can install them.


My tein S tech suspension for my new Tokico blues
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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+1. I really wish I could see your stuff in person.
I can promise you it all looks better in person. Most builds look kinda shitty in person that I see on the internet but my attention to detail and skill makes the body work and finish superb. If you've seen my hatch you'd understand. I got a brand new Mugen front lip badge from ICB the other day. It's quite a rare little piece nowadays.
 

buzzbombtom

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im confused as to how that is a rare part... it seems like something as "stupid" as a badge would just have an contentious run, but all the mugen parts seem to be missing the badge, and mugen doesnt make extra?
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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im confused as to how that is a rare part... it seems like something as "stupid" as a badge would just have an contentious run, but all the mugen parts seem to be missing the badge, and mugen doesnt make extra?
I dunno if it's super rare. The ek stuff came with the same badge. They never made them here though so I guess they can only be sourced from Japan directly. Finding the ones, if they don't make new ones any more, could be a problem. For all I know they do make new ones, but they don't really come up often. There are tons of fakes on ebay. All the stuff I've seen around has had the badge, but I imagine if people wanted one they would be borderline screwed and would have to suck it up and buy the ebay one. IF I worked at Mugen I'd follow spoons lead and sell older parts as long as they sold like for the spoon eg's and such, not just because it's not new enough.
 

CHILD

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These parts are available through Mugen (M-tec) distributors or direct through Mugen. Most don't know how to get in touch with these companies and thus the "rare" name gets thrown around. There are some discontinued items from mugen but they are major parts or insanely old. The few non official companies who pick up these items from time to time, only import them when they can be added to a large container of imported products so it takes them awhile to get them. Buying direct from Japan only takes a few days just buying from here in the states. It's the Hiragana and who's got what part that's the problem lol
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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Well I haven't posted any updates in a while. I haven't really done anything to it in a while. I also haven't bought anything for it but I need to. Other things have taken precedence like work and life in general. Here are a few pics of the progress.
A few weeks ago I cleaned and scuffed my wiper cowl down and shot it with some SEM trim black to freshen it up.


I've also been scuffing various parts in preparation for paint.
Here's a progress pic of me in various stages of scuffing/ prep.



I also bought a new intake for the car. I'm not going to use the clamps or fasteners or even the filter that were included. I'm going to buy a new K&N filter and use all the hardware from one of the CT Engineering intake kits. Coincidentally it's the exact same intake I used for my RHD. I just needed a pipe and I wasn't paying $250 or better for a pipe when I could get one for $30.


Future purchases will be struts and getting a tune when it warms up to about 60-70. I need to get on that lol.
 


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