Newbie needs help

I'm a reader of Grassroots Motorsports and thought I could get some advice. I bought an all stock 1989 Crx Si off my brother. He bought it last year and drove it for a month with no problems. He then had a guy do alot of work on it including engine work and suspension work. Ever since then the front end is very unpredictable. The guy added new ball joints,tie rod ends, upper and lower control arms with bushings and right axle shaft. My brother then took it to an alignment guy who said it was way off and may need a shim kit. My brother parked it because of bad weather and sold it to me. I took it to the same alignment guy today and he told me the following. -3/4 camber +2 1/4 caster on the Left and -2 3/4 camber and -6 caster on the Right. The right side also leans in towards the top of the tire. He said nothing he could do could fix it. Carfax doesn't show anything, but that doesn't mean it wasn't wrecked, pothole,etc. It also goes to the left when I hit the gas then back to the right when I let off. Not sure how it drove fine then went bad. If you guys have any advice, please let me know. I'm not sure what to do and I love the car. Thanks guys.

Holy askew Batman! I'd check the subframe bolts to make sure they are all tight, and uh, in. Then I'd go every EVERY single bolt he may touched.
Can you tell us what "suspension work" he did?

In reply to DrBoost: The alignment guy did think there might be something loose. The "suspension work" was just replacing the ball joints, upper/lower control arms, tie rod ends. New axles as well. He did replace the flywheel and clutch too. He was suppose to anyway. The alignment guy also found the motor mount bolts were so loose they were almost out. He tightened those up. The right wheel that leans in also has more of a gap between the back of the tire and the wheel well than the left side. Thanks for the reply.

Fletch1 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: . The "suspension work" was just replacing the ball joints, upper/lower control arms, tie rod ends.

Wrong parts, poorly installed. Find a good shop, and pay him money.

Been a while since I've worked on the suspension of one of those, but if everything was fine before and the caster is waaaay off now, sounds to me like the car maybe has a left side upper control arm installed on the right front?

Welcome Fletch.

If you have access to a warm place and jack stands, I would get it a foot or so safely in the air and tighten every nut & bolt in the house. When replacing ball joints it's easy to not have them tight enough. Gently pull the rubber bootie out of the way and look at it, anything shiny visible? Take a bigass screw driver and jack it between moving parts, like the ball joint to lower control arm; spindle to the upper etc. You may not see or feel things with the weight of the car on it, but hanging freely things change.

Got any nail polish? I keep some in my tool box. As you tighten up a bolt. wipe the area clean and dab polish where the nut meets the frame. If the bolt moves or someone wrenches on it later, the brittle polish will be chipped.

Get an opinion from a different alignment shop.

Dan

Fletch1 wrote: . It also goes to the left when I hit the gas then back to the right when I let off.

Isn't that torque steer?

Run_Away wrote: Been a while since I've worked on the suspension of one of those, but if everything was fine before and the caster is waaaay off now, sounds to me like the car maybe has a left side upper control arm installed on the right front?

This is what it sounds like to me. Something is bass ackwards or there's a wrong part installed somewhere. The steering on acceleration is called 'torque steer' and is usually caused by something very loose or sloppy in the front end. You might check the wheel bearings as well, if the CV axle nuts are not tight enough the bearings aren't clamped together and that can allow the toe measurement to change as you accel/decel. 914's suggestion about going through everything bolt by bolt is gold too, although I didn't know he was into nail polish.

Wanna see my toes?

Negative caster? Wow.

Take some pictures and post them up, it might help us diagnose it. (take wheel off and get good shots of the suspension)

Yeah, I was also wondering it a wrong part was installed, either a left on the right or a 1988 part on a 1989 car?

Well, just got back from Honda. They thought it might be a bad right axle the guy put in and told me to go back to him. Weird thing is, they didn't try to sell me one of their's and they didn't charge me for having it inspected for an hour after they quoted me $40-80 on the phone. The alignment guy didn't charge me either and said it would cost me alot of money to get it fixed. I'm starting to think they see it may have been in an accident and don't want to fool with it and feel bad enough not to charge me. I have another guy to look at it tomorrow.

Yeah, I wondered if there was a collision in the past. But it still sounds like a bad tech to me.

914Driver wrote: Wanna see my toes?

Why not? I haven't seen mine in years!

Quasi's got dickdo?

For all those who were just dying to know my problem...problem solved...I think. I had a guy I know very well who works on car's look at it today. Wrong upper control arm. I thought the right one looked odd. The left one comes straight out and the right one curves forward which explains the wheel sitting too far to the front. Don't know how Honda didn't catch that. Well, drama is over..I think. I did learn some things from this though, but problem made myself look like a moron. That's ok. Thanks for the help guys.

Glad we could help.