Front UCA installation

[Dr_Snooz]

Okay, I feel like a complete noob, but does anyone have suggestions for installing the front Upper Control Arm bushings and getting them NOT to squeak like all hell when going over bumps?

I did a cursory search and didn't find anyone else with this issue. Am I the only person who can't get these installed properly???

[Hauntd ca3]

ru using rubber or urethane bushes?
with rubber you dont tighten the thru bolts right up til you have the cars weight are on them.
just use a jack under the lower arm to push the susp up then tighten them.
urethane, just make sure they are well greased inside and out when you put them in

[LX-incredible]

No polyurethane is available for the UCA on our cars. I think Hauntd is thinking of other hondas, our cars do not need to be on the ground to tighten up the UCA thru bolts. Use qualty bushings and only the oem dowels to go through them. Used dowels are better than the new chinese crap that comes in those bushing kits. I would recommend moog, three five, or honda for the bushings. Do use grease where required.

[DBMaster]

I had a very persistent squeak on the passenger side UCA. The control arm was actually replaced by my mechanic. I took the mounting hardware apart and greased everything liberally with white lithium grease. It is quiet now, but I don't know for how long. I think I should have at least replaced the o-rings. The bushings are original and seem to be in good shape, but I am thinking the old squashed o-rings probably let some moisture in. If you make the long bolt too tight it will squeak and if you leave it too loose it will make other noises. It's kind of a trial and error thing.

[Dr_Snooz]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've done this twice and each time, the new bushings were so tight that they squished all the grease off the collar as I pounded them on, leading to squeaking. I used OEM Honda parts and tightened the through-bolt to 40 ft-lbs, per the manual. My upper ball joints are toast again, so I'll be doing it once more with Moog parts. I guess I'm the only one with this problem.

[DBMaster]

When I greased the bushings I noticed that there is some play in the ball joint. The UCA is only about three years old. I know that the Honda parts cost significantly more, but I am beginning to think they are worth the extra money.

[Hauntd ca3]

No polyurethane is available for the UCA on our cars. I think Hauntd is thinking of other hondas, our cars do not need to be on the ground to tighten up the UCA thru bolts. Use qualty bushings and only the oem dowels to go through them. Used dowels are better than the new chinese crap that comes in those bushing kits. I would recommend moog, three five, or honda for the bushings. Do use grease where required.

i have urethane front uca bushes.
most of the cars i've come across require the rubber bushes to be tightened with load on the susp. but then again, honda have always done thing a bit differantly eh

[w261w261]

<< I know that the Honda parts cost significantly more, but I am beginning to think they are worth the extra money >>

Except for when the Honda parts are over the moon (distributor), I'm a big believer in OEM Honda. Their halfshafts are really superior, and most of the Chinese stuff is just crap, or varies so much that you'll be concerned about the labor and hassle of taking it back. Not worth it in my book.

On the UCA's, and all bushings in the front suspension for that matter, liberal lithium grease will do it for you, at least for a couple of years.

[DBMaster]

I know what you mean about the distributor. I lucked out and found a brand new one on eBay directly from Honda that had been sitting on a restoration company's shelf since 1997. I got it for $75. That's a $600 item. I went through THREE rebuilt units from Hi-Test before I got wise and rebuilt one myself. Honestly, it was the best of the bunch because I reused my original ignitor and modified the weights to use new bronze bushings. It was working fine until I put the new one on there.

[w261w261]

I have a fuelie '89, and when the tach started jumping around, I knew it was time. Ordered a rebuilt from Cardone, which didn't work at all (the pseudo-CPS inside was bad, and obviously Cardone doesn't test them...then there was the big hassle to get my money back from Advance Auto - never again). In desperation, I plunked one in from the JY, which has worked fine for about 20k so far.

[Dr_Snooz]

I have a fuelie '89, and when the tach started jumping around, I knew it was time. Ordered a rebuilt from Cardone, which didn't work at all (the pseudo-CPS inside was bad, and obviously Cardone doesn't test them...then there was the big hassle to get my money back from Advance Auto - never again). In desperation, I plunked one in from the JY, which has worked fine for about 20k so far.

I think that CPS is the big deal breaker. There's no way to test it, and it's so expensive that no rebuild place replaces it. It's basically the luck of the draw.

[Oldblueaccord]

Okay, I feel like a complete noob, but does anyone have suggestions for installing the front Upper Control Arm bushings and getting them NOT to squeak like all hell when going over bumps?

I did a cursory search and didn't find anyone else with this issue. Am I the only person who can't get these installed properly???


Im thinking the squeek might be from somewhere else,maybe a ball joint? Since the bolt goes thru a metal sleeve there should not be any bind on the rubber inserts unless maybe you chucked the sliver dust caps and the bolt head or the nut are making the bind.

You have the 2 nuts tight on the thru bolts on the car as well?


wp

[DBMaster]

I have a fuelie '89, and when the tach started jumping around, I knew it was time. Ordered a rebuilt from Cardone, which didn't work at all (the pseudo-CPS inside was bad, and obviously Cardone doesn't test them...then there was the big hassle to get my money back from Advance Auto - never again). In desperation, I plunked one in from the JY, which has worked fine for about 20k so far.

I agree with Dr_Snooz. There are several components on the distributor that rebuilders don't replace. The ignitor is number one. There are some cheaper non OEM ignitors out there (don't know how good they are) but even they would be too pricey for a single part of a rebuild. They don't seem to replace the vacuum module, either. Again, it's pretty pricey on its own so you usually get a used one that they might have sprayed with clearcoat to make it look newer. This particular distributor is just a strange hybrid of electronic and mechanical parts. If you replaced all the wearable parts you'd end up spending nearly as much as the cost of a new one ($600) You go to 1990 and the 4G distributor has far fewer parts and brand new aftermarket units proliferate for about $100-up.

I had similar experience with the remans. Hy-Test is a reputable rebuilder. The first one I received wouldn't even start the car so it went right back. The second one operated fine for about two months and then the car died pulling into my neighborhood. (Glad it was close to home!). Whatever happened also shorted out my coil. Hy-Test was at least good about sending replacements. When I got the third one I completely disassembled it and my original unit. I ordered bronze bushings for the weights and had to drill the holes larger to fit the bushings. Those weights are made of some super hard metal. Either that, or my drill bit was crappy. Hy-Test did use new springs and bearings at least. I definitley used my original ignitor. The rubber seal on it was in near perfect condition unlike the one on the reman. That might mean mine has seen less engine heat. I picked up some silicon heat sink compound to apply between the ignitor and the distributor. Since it's like that from the factory I thought it was a good idea. When I got done I had a very nice distributor that was working fine for a few months before I stumbled upon the new one on eBay. I did have to use my vaccum module because a new in the box distributor from Honda does not come with one. It has a plastic piece covering the hole with two screws. Weird, huh?

[russiankid]

Mine had the same issue, but after two attempts at greasing. I just torqued the bolt to 30 lbs-ft instead, it stopped with the squeak.

[DBMaster]

I think that CPS is the big deal breaker. There's no way to test it, and it's so expensive that no rebuild place replaces it. It's basically the luck of the draw.

For what's it's worth I don't think the CPS is really a wearable part - unless the wire insulation is cracked. It's basically just a couple of magnets. I also observed that one of the three remans had some slop in the shaft. When the bearing goes the shaft gets pretty worn and I don't think they replace that, either.

[Dr_Snooz]

I just replaced them and they were way easy this time. I think I got some defective parts the last two times. Which is odd, because I'm pretty sure they were Honda parts.

What happened is that the bushings were too fat for the arms. Both times I did the job, I got to this step and things went to hell:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/dr_snooz/DSCN2155.jpg

I was trying to drive in the second bushing but the clearance was so tight that the bushing literally wiped all the grease off the arm and the pivot.

Some of you don't believe me, so here's proof:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/dr_snooz/DSCN2171.jpg

This is the old arm and you can see that the end of the bushing sheared clean off because there was no grease to allow it to move. I listened to those lousy things squeak for 100k miles.

I used Moog parts this time and they went together like butta'. My front end is tight and squeak free now.

Happy happy!!! :D

[Oldblueaccord]

The tolerances from arm to arm on that are alot. I learned the hard way when I made bushings for mine. I measured one hole made some bushing went back to the project later in the week and some of the bushing just fell into the arms and some were so tight I couldnt get them in with a vice.


wp