B13 rear suspension re-assembly problem. Allignment all wrong. (long)

[Ben Fenner]

I thought I knew everything there was to know about the B13 SE-R. 
Apparently not, as I'm baffled now. I really need all the help I can get 
  here.


Long story:
I had a clunk in the rear suspension I was tracking down (it turned out 
to be the rear Progress torsion bar end links). I ordered a full rear 
suspension ES bushing kit and installed the bushings for the trailing 
arms only (or what ever they are) without any problems. I then replaced 
the stock suspension with a KYB AGX / Road Magnet combo, and all went well.

The clunk was still there though. I decided to install the ES rear 
parallel link bushings, fully aware of the controversy surrounding this 
"upgrade" in an attempt to get rid of the clunk, and tighten up the rear 
a bit more. When removing the 14 year-old, rusted rear parallel link 
hardware I managed to break the combination toe/camber adjustment bolts, 
and had to cut through the long outer bolts that attach the links to the 
hubs. All-in-all, two of the 6 bolts survived.

In the process of cutting through the bolts when I removed them, I put a 
slice in one of the parallel links, where the bushing is pressed in. I 
welded the slice, and ground it down to what I thought was perfect, but 
that one bushing was harder to insert than the rest and never really 
seemed 100% great.


I called up Greg V. and he sent me all new hardware for the rear. I put 
in the bushings, and re-assembled the rear parallel links assuming all 
four of the links where the same exact size so I didn't really take note 
of which one I put back where. When I was finished assembling, I 
adjusted the toe/camber bolts back to where they'd been before 
disassembly, and took a look at the situation. The driver's side tire 
had massive negative camber, and massive toe in. The passenger's side 
tire had massive negative camber. I adjusted the bolts to their extreme 
in an attempt to correct the situation. The passenger's side tire seemed 
to be fine now. The camber was gone, and the tire was flush with the 
fender as it has always been. The driver's side tire still had a bit of 
negative camber and toe in, but not as bad. The tire however was no 
longer flush with the fender as it used to be, and seemed to be 15mm 
inboard or so.

Still, the car had to be driven, so I left things this way. My friend 
following me said the car looked like it was crab walking. The car's 
body seemed right of center of the rear suspension, and the car was 
c0cked (stupid obscenity filter!) to one side while going straight down 
the highway.

I had a 2,000 mile road trip ahead of me, and wanted to get this fixed 
before I went. I had a suspicion that the rear parallel links were in 
fact not all the same, so the day before my trip I called up Greg V. to 
see if my suspicions were correct. Greg said there were different part 
numbers for the links, but could not confirm what, if anything was 
different about them.

I took the rear links apart and measured and measured trying to find a 
difference between the links without any luck. Upon disassembly, I found 
that the two long bolts (one on each side of the car) that hold the 
links to the hubs were both bent. The driver's side was bent much more 
than the passenger's side, but they were both bent.

At this point I realized there was nothing I could really do at the 
time, so I put the car back together as best I could. This time, not 
adjusting the toe/camber bolts to the extreme, just keeping them in 
their original place (making the toe/camber situation awful at best). I 
went on the 2,000 mile road trip, and noted the tire wear. The tires 
were brand-new Falken Azenis. There is minimal wear on the front tires, 
the driver's side rear is maybe 1/3 gone, and the passenger's side rear 
tire is about 1/2 gone now.





Short story:
Replaced all rear suspension parallel link bolts and installed urethane 
bushings. Rear suspension geometry is now completely wonky and bolts 
bent. Have a lot of negative camber on both sides, a lot of toe in on 
the driver's side, and driver's side wheel seems to be inboard more than 
the passenger side.





Questions:
What the hell happened?
How did the bolts bend?
What the hell do I do to fix the situation?
What is the real difference between the rear parallel links, if any?
Do I have new links, bolts, and rubber bushings in my future?


-Ben Fenner
1994 Black SE-R (wonky rear)
1994 Black SE-R (sunroof lameness)