guys, help with upper control arm...please!

And no I didn't get a new one. Where would I get one of those bolts?

you don't. There are maybe 5 or six OEM in the country as of last year. A new bolt should have been included with the UCA, did you keep the packaging?
 
Yeah, I did on the front one, but that didn't work on the rear one.

I would have had I had an 18mm ratcheting box wrench.

Onkelmicke - I was cussin' the accumulator for the A/C, and the Teves Mk II I had when I did my first LCAs, but otherwise, it was doable.

Potschotscott - for your next time, GET ONE. I'm surprised you even tried without; it's almost impossible to get into the side at the ABS unit on a 1st gen WITH it, and I'd hate to try a 1st gen WITHOUT it.

RwP
 
Onkelmicke - I was cussin' the accumulator for the A/C, and the Teves Mk II I had when I did my first LCAs, but otherwise, it was doable.

Potschotscott - for your next time, GET ONE. I'm surprised you even tried without; it's almost impossible to get into the side at the ABS unit on a 1st gen WITH it, and I'd hate to try a 1st gen WITHOUT it.

RwP

I will have to do the drivers side when I can get the LH UCA for it. And yeah the ABS looks to be in the way.
Did you manage to get the correct torque on the nut with the flag left on the bolt?

Onkel
 
I will have to do the drivers side when I can get the LH UCA for it. And yeah the ABS looks to be in the way.
Did you manage to get the correct torque on the nut with the flag left on the bolt?

Onkel

What I did was to torque the front one to the bottom of the torque range, then use my ratcheting box wrench to snug it 1/8 turn.

I then tightened the REAR nut to the same "feel".

(I also cheated some; since I was reusing the old bolts, I use Blue LokTite(tm) on them.)

One more thing is to either do this before attaching the ball joint to the spindle, so you can position it straight out and preload the bushings properly (the way the factory service manual says), or to do it after the car is sitting on the ground (and leave them loose until then), again, to make sure the bushings are preloaded properly.

(I like the "Point'em straight out" method myself; if you break the flags off, you SURE can't get it right sitting on the ground!)

RwP
 
I will have to do the drivers side when I can get the LH UCA for it. And yeah the ABS looks to be in the way.
Did you manage to get the correct torque on the nut with the flag left on the bolt?

Onkel
Torque the nut.. if you can. Otherwise what I did was using a 3" extension, and 6pt socket, reached behind the spring with the ratchet and tightend it up as much as I could, then with the torque wrench. I put a loose monkey wrench on the nut to just sort of hold it still while I torqued the bolt.

Oh, and on the side with the ABS, I groped around with my fingers and guided the big monkey wrench onto the nut. Then let go and torqued the bolt. It held well enough to get the job done.
 
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