Dremmeling cutout in fender well--QUESTION - Honda Prelude Forum

SLICK96 · 05-21-2003, 02:11 PM

After talking w/ a bunch of people here, and asking many questions as to why my upper front control arms go bad once a year, people have suggested dremmeling a cutout in the fender well. Is this cutout supposed to be made directly above the balljoint of the upper control arm? If not, where else should I cut?

I think I may have found the cause of my destruction of upper control arm ball joints. While replacing one of my upper control arms last night, I noticed that directly above each side's upper control ball joint, there was a dent in the very highest point in the fender well, w/ paint missing, and the indentation was rounded, which kinda matches the top, flat, round surface of the ball joint on the control arm. I'm thinking that the "banging" sound my front end makes whenever I take a big bump on the roads is not from my struts bottoming out, like I always thought, but rather from the upper control arm smacking the inside of the fender well.

If I make this cutout, what should I paint the cut sheet metal w/, so it doesn't rust? How big of a hole should I cut? Anybody got pics after they've done this to their fender wells? ANY advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!!!

Jason

spin_r_g · 05-21-2003, 03:09 PM

I know what problem you're talking bout. Do you have a camber kit installed? This was happening when I had my car dropped really low with a camber kit installed. The control arm would bang into the fender. But anyways I would cut just enough for the end of the control arm to clear it. Unbolt the arm not from the balljoints but on the other end. Swing it up and see where it hits, mark it and cut out some of the metal, and keep going till it doesn't hit anything making sure you don't cut into anything important. After done cutting i'd paint it with some kind of rust resistant paint or some kind of body under coating. I dunno if anyone has acutally done this. I just raised my car back up (coilovers) because I don't have access to tools to cut it.

SLICK96 · 05-21-2003, 04:25 PM

Hmmm...I'll see if I can reach it w/ my dremmel tool, b/c I don't want to unbolt everything again (but may have to). I'll do anything to fix this problem, b/c I can't afford to keep replacing upper control arms. Perhaps I'll have to take it to a body shop. Somebody told me before that the camber kit may cause this problem, but then again, it seems as though I'm the only dude on the whole board who's had to replace upper control arms due to the ball joints being literally smashed. It'll be nice not to hear that god awful banging sound when the control arm goes up. Damn camber kits...

J

prelude styl · 05-21-2003, 08:25 PM

AH screw it! Just glue a rubber bumper to the top of your control arm... problem solved!

SLICK96 · 05-21-2003, 08:39 PM

I don't know...those ball joints are actually ridiculously fragile. I've got some body modding to do.

J

SLICK96 · 05-21-2003, 08:52 PM

Does anybody know the repercussions of cutting this piece of fender well out? Will there be too much travel? Will the damn control arm just snap off? I KNOW people have done this here...

J

Absolut · 05-21-2003, 11:37 PM

I saw a guy with a 94 Accord on air bags who had cut out the top part of the fender so the arm would clear.

If you open the hood, on the fender side of the shock mount, here is a trapazoid shaped piece of metal that looks like its glued in. Cut that out and the arm should be able to swing up to almost the hood.

SLICK96 · 05-22-2003, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Absolut
I saw a guy with a 94 Accord on air bags who had cut out the top part of the fender so the arm would clear.

If you open the hood, on the fender side of the shock mount, here is a trapazoid shaped piece of metal that looks like its glued in. Cut that out and the arm should be able to swing up to almost the hood.

Any consequences to this, though? I don't want so much travel that something ends up bending or smacking the hood...

Going crazy,
J

phatz · 05-22-2003, 08:55 AM

I was going to do this on my own car.. When I slam my car, its fully dumped and it just sits on the control arm../ball joint. But if I did it, the car would just lay on the belly and my front bumper would hit.. I am about 1/4" off the floor right now with my front bumper. SO any lower and Id be screwed.

You can actually take out a little rubber peice at the top of the fender and see if your control arm is hitting when the car is fully slammed. Or just stick a peice of wire in the hole and see how far away it is.. basically you just have to cut a hole out to let it come through... I would put some tremclad rust paint over it after and probably get some small silicone hose and make a homemade grommet around the hole to protect the metal..

vtecprelude · 05-23-2003, 09:52 PM

Shave off about 1/4 of an inch from the front upper control arm. Try not to get too close to the balljoint. Depending on how much clearance you need this could do the trick without having to cut the fender.

bdaddy · 05-24-2003, 07:18 AM

my car is lowered with eibach sportline springs, would i need this mod???