B serious

Hi friends. I was under the impression that AP2 rear UPPER control arms would not bolt into an AP1 rear subframe.

Is this correct or incorrect? I need new rear upper ball joints to replace my SPC's. I can get a hold of entire AP2 arms.

If not...I can always press in new joints. I'd rather just buy a complete arm though.

Thanks for any help.

Orjinal

That is correct. The ap2 upper arms bushings are much wider.

Here are pics of them both,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128168...57665995125380
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128168...57664235882994

B serious

Good to know.

I guess I'll look into ball joints.

I keep hearing about Rocar. Are they decent? I'm guessing they're chinese?

I hate using non-oem suspension parts. But arms are $250+ (!!!!!) from honda.

Orjinal

I have no experience with them but there are some who used them and are happy with them.

B serious

Thanks for the help!

RedCelica

Dont wanna just get another set of SPCs?

B serious

This is for the rear. I used to need them because I ran a combination of fairly high ride height and 265mm rear tire. I also wanted -3.x deg camber and 0 toe. So to get all those numbers, I had to get the joints.

Since then, the setup of the car has changed a lot. I have now gone with 255's, am running a bit of toe in, and have the car low enough that -3 deg shouldn't be an issue with stock joints.

I think that because the SPC's are longer, the suspension tends to gain camber more agressively. The ball joints being taller make the UCA sit at an unnatural angle. Its like having a longer spindle.

Subsequently, toe curve would also be more agressive. In a detrimental way.

For simplicity's sake, and to return the stock toe/camber curve relation, I'd rather have stock joints in the back.

I don't think my thinking is flawed, but would be open to someone telling me why it is.

I have SPC's up front because I need them for wheel/tire fitment and camber angle.

Slowcrash_101

Rocar is Taiwanese. QA wise not a lot of difference but a Taiwanese person would be offended if you called them Chinese.

The ball joints on AP2 arms will go straight into AP1 arms. The difference is the arm geometry and the bushings, much larger and beefier. They deflect less than AP1 bushings and in conjunction with the revised mounting, construction, and geometry means AP2 needs less toe in in the rear to maintain the same curve. So if you can find some cheap arms and the ball-joints are still nice and tight I wouldn't hesitate for a second to harvest them and stick them on my arms. I did so with some bushings and it worked like a charm. I got a front control arm for $50 from a wrecked CR and took the compliance bushing and swapped it in place of my seized one.

B serious

Thanks. Yeah, I was hoping to bolt entire AP2 rear UCA's into my AP1 subframe. But, as I suspected, that is not possible.

I'll probably press some joints into my existing AP1 arms and tack weld them in up top. I think I saved my 20K mile OEM ball joints, now that I think of it.

If I can't find my old joints....does anyone know if any OEM honda ball joints that Honda will sell seperate will fit the S2000 arms?

B serious

Swapped out the SPC's and swapped in my super mint, low mile ball joints. Glad I remembered that I had these in my cabinet!