It fits. It fits.

It's a little low, like an inch of drop or so, but so far it handles really well. I'm kinda concerned about the front antiroll-bar's position now, I'm going to have to inspect it a bit to make absolutely sure that it won't bang on anything.

The ride is just like my civic with the CTR suspension. Nice, responsive, and not so stiff that you need to avoid all pot holes and bumps. It stays nice and flat in the curves, and the girlfriend noticed that it's quite a bit lower now, and she says it looks better. She also noticed how flat it's staying in the corners. I can't stress how large of a difference this made to the handling. It feels like a different car. Tight, responsive, and much more traction in corners. There's a curve that I normally take at 45mph, after the install, I took it at 45mph and I had absolutely no body roll. I'll have to "test" further and compare top speeds on that curve.

I bought it used from a forum member, who put 10k miles on them, so they won't be settling any time soon.

Comparing to my father's GE8 Sport, I have two fingers of wheel gap on the back, he has four. I have two on the front, he has three. His is completely stock, and the seats are in the same position that mine are. His tank is at 1/2 my tank is at 3/8.

I am even still able to fit the stock 15" Honda steel wheels ET45 and 175/65r15 tires on with plenty of clearance, less wheel gap, but there's clearance for all the suspension components, and I don't think I'll get any rub. I should be able to fit the sport wheels with no clearance issues. In the summer I run 15x6.5 Konig Helium ET40, with Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec 195/55r15 tires. My winter tires/wheels are 195/50r15, so snow buildup in the wheel wells shouldn't be a problem at all.

The install went extremely smoothly. I had a wonderful assistant who has become adept over the years at removing things from a honda civic, so naturally she was good at taking things off the Fit too. Heh. The 14mm bolts for the uprights required no drilling of the uprights, because the USDM GE8 uses 14mm uprights. Everything fit properly, and there were no clearance issues. No modifications to the car were needed.

I will need to fabricate some brackets for the brake line, and for the ABS sensor wire, as the attachment method was different for the GD Fit. I will update this post with that, once it has been designed, tested, and installed.

Pictures, including comparison to other cars, to follow.

 

i thought the dampener lengths were longer on the ge8 and the gd3 would not extend far enough.

 

Mugen GE8 Base
Rear

Front


Stock GE8 Sport
Rear

Front



More here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3826808...7622277767684/

 

The damper lengths are different, but only the piston rod, the bodies are the same length. I just went out to the garage and measured them. (I have a set of stock GD3 and GE8 dampers.

Stock GD3 vs Stock GE8
GD3 Front: -1 inch
GD3 Rear: -3.5 inches

Unfortunately, I didn't measure the Mugen dampers before I put them on, I can say that they didn't look much different than the GD3 stuff I have in the garage. When I went to bolt up the rear Mugen dampers, I noticed that the torsion rear was about 2 inches lower than the damper, and I didn't move it after taking the stock GE8 damper off.

The Mugen springs (front and rear) are a bit shorter unloaded as well, but the front Mugen springs are much higher rate, I noticed this when using the spring compressor, I don't know if the rears are different rate because I didn't compress them.

It does work, and I can tell that it's dampening bumps too. I'm very conscious about the "ebay spring bounce" and I didn't notice any after the install.

 

hmmm interesting... no modification of the mounts?

i've always looked at GD shock suspension and wondered why people said it wouldnt fit... is it just because of the shorter damper depths? in a lowered car, i'd think a shorter/stiffer damper length would be fine with stiffer springs... right?

 

I know the GD & GE use the same size components. But I thought the stock GD was about 25mm lower than the Stock GE. Usually Mugen suspension is about 25mm lower than stock. That means the GD Mugen suspension on a GE must be about 50mm lower than stock.

 

That's what I thought too. So I figured I'd give it a go. It only cost me $12 to install it so I figure I can swap it back over to the stock GE8 components.

My GE is only about 20mm lower with the Mugen Suspension. I just measured and compared to my father's GE8 Sport, and I sit 20mm lower in the front, and 20mm lower in the back. He is on 185/55r16, so naturally he will be 7mm higher than me based on tire size alone.

I'll keep everyone updated if I see any problems.

 

Strange! There is one other thing I noticed, the (GD spring rate are F3.1k \ R4.9k) and the (GE spring rates are F1.7 \ R2.0).

I quess in theory the Mugen spring rates are stiffer again. This will give less body roll and sway which should keep the GE very firm on the road, but not too hard.

 

Yes, the GD has much stiffer springs. It's because the chassis on the GD flexes much more, and Honda needed to compensate for that with the suspension. I remember reading somewhere about how the GE has such a stiff chassis that they were able to cut the spring rate drastically.

The Mugen Suspension rocks. I can't stress how much it feels like my Civic with the CTR suspension. It's a different car, but there's almost no body roll anymore.

Now I think I'm to the point where a strut tower bar might actually make a difference.

 

If anyone wants to lower there car like Tanabe NF210 with better road holding, just buy a secondhand set of stock GD stock springs. (millions of sets around for a few dollars)

JS tower bars make the steering more responsive that's about it. Your Mugen suspension will have improved that already.

 

hmmm then theoretically, we can buy say, GD t1r s-specs for our GEs and they'd fit? but just have a lower damper length?

can you take a pic of the front without the wheel?

 

I wouldn't buy anything until I've had a chance to find out what the downside of this is. I'd hate to lead someone to do something stupid.

Yeah, I'll take some pictures when I get home in about an hour. I need to check torque on everything again, it's been about 50 miles since the install.

 

thanks man... oh btw +rep to you! not like rep really means anything.. but +rep anyway!

so the abs wire and brake lines are just kind of floating around? zip tie! for time being anyway... its ghetto but at least it wont move around

 

Nah, they've been zip tied out of the way. I used two zip ties, as described in the install section. Here's a visual aid:

Front Left


Different angle


Now I just have to jack it up with one of the front side jack points. <3

Front:

Rear:


That'll make wheel changes a lot faster.

 

As requested, shots showing wheel gap and ride height:






Front wheel gap:


Rear wheel gap:


And my mother's BMW to compare rear wheel gap:


More here:
Suspension - a set on Flickr

 

Here's a Before shot I just dug up:

Stock GE8 Suspension on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

thats awesome... now i gotta save up for some GD dampers... instead of waiting for the aftermarket to catch up for the GE... take it up on the twisties yet?

 

Protip: save up for some adjustable GE dampers, figure $1200 for a decent set. Don't use components that aren't designed for the car, even if the "fit". Don't, under any circumstances follow my example, lol. Wait about two more months for Koni to have something. Then every single turn you won't be worried about the brake line hitting the wheel and getting ripped off.

I haven't hit any twisties yet, but I've had fun on normal curves and such. It's probably 75% flatter in the turns. Should be fun on a couple twistie roads. Even on normal roads, it's so easy to control in the curves. It's so amazingly easy to handle at normal speeds.

Although, the passenger in the back today complained about how it was really bumpy in the back. Personally I prefer the rear to be stiff to facilitate looseness, but the passengers back there don't like it. :P Good thing I don't have many friends....

 

konis have always been my #1 choice... but they never offered it before for the fit..

read the other thread... hopefully it'll be sooner rather then later... *crossing my fingers for koni yellows*

 

Actually, I have been using BC Coilovers for a few months now.