Civic Control Arms

[tcc1577]

Is there a difference between 1988 / 89 Civic front upper control arms and 1990 / 91 arms? I've been told the 1990 / 91 arms have the ball joint seperate from the arm.

[Xian]

There's a difference between some of them but I'm not sure what/if there's a rhyme or reason to them. FWIW, I had an 89 that had the ball joint permanently affixed. For my 90 I went ahead and bough new UCA's from Honda... not sure if the ball joint was separate or not.

[trobbins]

I have bought them for both and the aftermarket ones I got for a 90 Civic Si had a seperate ball joint . But the ones I bought for an 88 Civic standard were attached .
They are diminsionally the same part If I'm not mistaken ?
Does anyone else have a better idea ?

[Xian]

Correct dimensionally identical...

When I had my 89, I went to the junkyard and looked until I found a set with separate ball joint and then replaced the ball joint. I didn't think to look at what year the car was

[rickyellow90]

I have seen them both ways for the same year. I have a set of stock ones with INGALS adjustable ball joints if you are interested. New!

[tcc1577]

How much negative camber could I get with these control arms / ball joints? What do you need to get for them? Thanks.

[Xian]

Adjustable ball joints aren't IT legal... offset bushings only.

[trobbins]

The amount of - camber you get from a frony control arm without offset bushings is dependent on how much lowering you induce .
With the IT legal ride height in our 91 ITC civic we were at about -2deg +or- .
It's been a while since we sold the car though .

[Chip42]

How much negative camber could I get with these control arms / ball joints? What do you need to get for them? Thanks.

like Xian said, the ingals adjustable balljoints are not allowed in IT, but for academia's sake, you can get ±3° or so with them from stock at whatever lowering position. the real trick is that they allow a reasonably easy caster adjust, too.

IT legal offset bushing are hard to get a wrench to, but work well and give you ~±2° caster AND camber. IT questionable slotted UCA mount replacements give you a bit more adjustemnt and are much easier to adjust. Ingals sells all 3 types, IIRC.