Eccentric bolt torque
 

Hey all, Just wanted to get some advice from you track guys on what you torque the lower control arm eccentrics to? I used the FSM spec and I have been getting a noise which I am 95% sure is my eccentric bolts moving around some. From reading around, I have seen posts from as low as 100 ft-lbs to as high as 180 ft-lbs.

Is it safe to say that 130-150 ft-lbs is fine? My car is tracked frequently, and I would like to avoid having to torque my eccentrics at the track, but have no problems doing it before the event.

That's more than enough, however if you think your eccentrics are making noise....I would suspect that you'd notice it in the steering wheel with your alignment being horribly off. They should not move. At all. Unless you torqued them to like 30 and expected them to stay put.

tl;dr I'd suspect that the noise is something else.

If they are not tight enough, then you will get a clunk in one direction, then maybe in the other, but again in the first direction. I have "been there done that" double wrench them for leverage. You can not get them tight enough with a normal length 3/8 ratchet. DOT-R tires have lots more grip and put more stress on the bolts.

As tight as you can humanly get them.

You maybe right, but I have searched through my car in every place I can reach and can't figure it out. Here what I can deduce about the noise:

1) it sounds like what the brake clips sound when they are bit loose and rub around on the caliper (but less high pitch and louder). high pitch, metallic, tink tink style noise. I suspect its a loose bolt or washer some where thats hitting against metal.
2) its audible at 55mph, and doesn't necessarily change with speed beyond that. I think its slightly more frequent at 80 mph, or perhaps slightly louder, but not much.
3) its not tied to any particular action. for example hitting bumps doesn't cause it, nor does turning, braking, or anything. purely speed and maybe vibration related.
4) its not tied to engine speed or clutch
5) I first got it after spinning out at CMP, which royally fucked my alignment.
6) I got the car aligned for the next weekend and never heard it.
7) I put in new CA bushings and coilovers, torqued everything to FSM spec. and the noise came back.
8) I got an alignment done, and it went away again.
9) I drove down to Atlanta, did my first day on track, no noise.
10) Halfway through the second day, the noise came back. I pretty much run up most gators and had one small on track spin which was nothing compared to the one at CMP.



I got back home, checked the torque on all my Eccentrics and only 2 were still torqued to spec. the rest where well below 83 ft-lbs. I am torquing them down now to 130, I shall report back.

+1

The more grip you generate, the more you have to over-torque them and the more frequently they have to be replaced. We consider the eccentrics to be consumables and bring spares to the track.

Does this mean by hand, or air tools?

Mark the eccentric with a marker on one of the notches and then etch that area in on the subframe as a reference point.

I usually stick a 1/2" ratchet on it and pull as hard as I can.

I pretty much did this, with an extension on the end. After a few, I checked the torque to make sure it was atleast 130 ft-lbs. I think I can probably feel it after a few times torquing them all down.

As Emilio mentioned, if you think it's the eccentric bolts try replacing them and see if that fixes the problem.

The oem bolts off of the NA don't last very long. by the time you own the car the bolts have rt been used several times and theyre already stretched out. when we acquire an NA or NB, we just start with brand new bolts. the old part number has been superseded by the NB bolt.

Well, Martinez might be right. I had my brother sit in the car and he says its coming from behind the driver's side, where that cluster fuck of wires and connectors are right beside the roll bar foot. I will do more investigating, I just wish I could take my seat out and drive the car so I can hear where behind me, but thats not really safe lol.

Found the offending bolt and nut. Two of the bolts on my passenger side seat rail had loosened up and one fell off. I was removing my bose amplifier and brain storming on gutting the doors and noticed that my seat had an awful lot of play in it that I didn't remember being there when I first put it in. slid my had down and noticed the loose nut. pulled the seat and there was the nut that had fallen off. put it all back together, took it out for the test drive and everything is nice quite (well not quite at all, but no more pinging noises). I am really surprised none of my instructors mentioned anything during my last event, but whatevers. Tomorrow, I tackle a bit of wire tucking and door gutting.

Either way, I am glad this happened, I learned all about my eccentrics and torquing them. And it motivated me to start tacking some serious weight reduction behind the dash.

I usually torque mine with a breaker bar. :rofl:

Ive never seen mine move over a year of track events, street driving, curb hopping, two wheeling and a couple of lawn mowing excursions.