need to know the torque spec for the upper control arm bolts on a 97 integra the ones that go through the bushings on the arms. i cant seem to find them anywhere. im replacing my upper carms and i ant to install them withouth having to take out the shock. or should i not do it this way??? i just cant find this damn torque spec.

if anyone knows please let me know



Modified by DeDonDeRosa at 12:54 PM 2/9/2007

 

It's 20lb/ft of torque for the 92-95 Civic. This torque is supposed to be applied to the nut on the inner sides of the wishbone, and not the bolt head itself. Integra is the same, but 96-00 Civic is different.

I really love how people ask for super specific information, but forget to even mention what car they are working on... LOL!

I don't know why you wouldn't want to remove the shock assembly. It's only held in place by two nuts at the top and two bolts for the fork at the bottom. Thats the easiest part of suspension work on the front end Civics & tegs. I don't know for sure, but you might not be able to remove the bolts from the upper arms with them in place. They are long, and there isn't much room...

 

lol by this:

/Oo ___A___ oO\
|=_/_______\_=|

I would say he drives a dc

 

That was my guess as well, but who knows...

 

ok thank you i just wonder why there is no listing in the helms manual for the specs on those bolts

i just assume when u buy the arm assembly there already tight thats why they want you to remove the shock and not mess with those bolts

 

I got the spec right out of the Helms manual for the 92-95 Civic. It's on one of the first several pages of the suspension section. It shows a nice 3D drawing of the complete front suspension and has arrows pointing to each nut & bolt with the size pitch and specific torque called out.

 

WELL heres the setup for a 99 si




and heres the setup for an INTEGRA





As you can see the upper arm on the civic setup is different from the integra. the bolts on the civic are replaceable and they both throught the upper strut tower from the inside of the engine bay. The integra ones are bolted together when u buy them. and you can not buy them seperate. This is why there is not torque spec IN THE HELMS MANUALcause they dont want you to touch those bolts

 

Well the 92-95 Civic (not 96-00) is identical to the DC integra so take the torque spec I gave you with a big smile on your face. BTW, if you look these parts up for an EG Civic, you will find they are all available separately...



It's sucks when people make you play guessing games and then try to rub your nose in it even when you do give them the info they're looking for... You get the raspberry.

 

ok thank thank you i just dont understand why u cant order it in pieces by acura you have to buy the whole unit
but ok

thank you

 

does tightening the bolt to torque spec really matter?

does it make a difference.... I always just tightened until the bolt was through and tight.

i'm redoing the suspension on my 2000 CIVIC Ek9 and if it matters i'll do it

thanks guys

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EK9Rider &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does tightening the bolt to torque spec really matter?

does it make a difference.... I always just tightened until the bolt was through and tight.

i'm redoing the suspension on my 2000 CIVIC Ek9 and if it matters i'll do it

thanks guys</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes it does matter. If you over tighten them, the bolts become weak. If you under tighten them, they could back out...

 

bumping this, in relation to the other thread I just posted.

I just replaced my UCA's as well, and after a few weeks they are squeaking pretty bad. Could this happen because the nuts are too tight and causing the arm/bushings to bind up? I tried loosening the nuts slightly, which helped the driver side but not the passenger side. How can I ensure that the nuts won't eventually back themselves off the bolts?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bumping this, in relation to the other thread I just posted.

I just replaced my UCA's as well, and after a few weeks they are squeaking pretty bad. Could this happen because the nuts are too tight and causing the arm/bushings to bind up? I tried loosening the nuts slightly, which helped the driver side but not the passenger side. How can I ensure that the nuts won't eventually back themselves off the bolts?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't drive with any loose nuts.

Did you originally tighten everything properly? You cannot tighten those upper bolts until you fully load the suspension. Put the front on jack-stands, take the wheels off, place a jack under the LCA and lift it until the car rises off the nearest jack stand. Now you can tighten & torque those bolts down.

If you don't do this, your bushings will be twisted when you set the car on the ground. This causes them to over-twist when you go over bumps (especially if your lowered). This is most likely the cause of the squeaking...

 

okay, yeah I'll give that a shot. I might put a little grease on the bolt shaft and a little Loc-Tite on the threaded part of the bolt, just to be safe.

Of course I'll have to remove the shock assemblies to be able to get my torque wrench up in there.

 

I noticed the helms manual says to set the position of the UCA in relation to the bushings while the whole thing is off the car (I think Tyson told you this in your other thread).

- You should just remove the UCA and line up the marks on your work bench and tighten the bolts down (dont' torque).
- Next figure out just how much your car is lowered over stock
- Now hold UCA & mount securely in place and loosen the nuts again
- Raise the ball-joint end of the UCA upward that same measured distance (hold mount in same position)
- Now lock the parts in this new position by tightening the bolts (parts match your lowered ride height now)
- Torquing the bolts per spec
- Now you can install everything back on the car

This should relieve the twist that is causing your noise problem. The UCA should NOT be able to spin freely around the bolt (bolts must be locked down tight). It's the rubbers twisting that allows the UCA to move up & down. This is how all the suspension components move without play...

Did you get OEM Honda UCAs, or are they aftermarket?

 

I got the ones sold by ArmCan on eBay, $85 shipped for the pair, including the ball joints, bushings, and all hardware. It even came with new nuts to go on top of the shock tower in the engine bay, but I didn't use them because they required an 18mm socket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got the ones sold by ArmCan on eBay, $85 shipped for the pair, including the ball joints, bushings, and all hardware. It even came with new nuts to go on top of the shock tower in the engine bay, but I didn't use them because they required an 18mm socket </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well anything but OEM is questionable at best (no matter what the seller says). If they continue to squeak after you set them up for your ride height, you should try to return them and get your money back so you can get a set of OEM ones... Sorry man...

 

Normally I only go with OEM, but I read plenty of good reviews here on H-T about the upper control arms sold on eBay. so I went ahead and got them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Normally I only go with OEM, but I read plenty of good reviews here on H-T about the upper control arms sold on eBay. so I went ahead and got them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Then they probably just need to be set-up like I was saying. If you try it, please post you results...

 

Alright, so I took my shocks off, jacked up the suspension and tightened the UCA bushing bolts/nuts to 20 lb-ft while the arm was at ride-height level and lo and behold, no more squeaking!

There is one thing you have to do, to figure out where the UCA needs to be when tightening the nuts, you first have to put the jack under the LCA and raise it up with the shock still in place. That way, you'll know when the suspension is at ride-height by the car lifting off the jackstand slightly. Then you have to remove the shock, and jack it back up to about the same place, because with no shock on there, jacking up the suspension won't make the car lift up at all, as I found out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...because with no shock on there, jacking up the suspension won't make the car lift up at all, as I found out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL! That sounds like something I would do...

Thanks for the great update with the how-to info. Most peoples threads lack such conclusion...