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Howdy,

Thank god i have finally got my 5 back together and on the ground!

But...
I just finished a suspension swap, and it wasnt until i was tightening up the wheel nuts that i saw a bottle of loctite red thread lock on the bench. I hadnt used it at all.
Should this be a must when reassembling suspension components?

The bolts were:
upper control arm inner bolt (the big 30cm long one)
sway bar to end link nuts
bottom strut bolt
strut tower nuts

Some reassurance that it will be right as it is would be appreciated.
Some encouragement to loctite it all would be equally encouraged.

I have never used any sort of threadlocker on anything to do with suspension, and I have not had anything ever come loose.

I do use anti-seize on all the threads though, makes life alot easier when removing bolts/nuts in future.

If everything is torqued up to the correct strength then you don't really need loctite in any of your suspension.

A word of caution though, don't use Loctite Red. You want Loctite Blue for most applications. Google Loctite Red, Blue, Purple etc.

Loctite Red is permanent. You will be hard pressed to un-do your suspension again if you use red. I've heard many a horror story of people snapping metal components of what they were working on trying to undo Loctite Red items.

+1 for no Loctite and the use of anti-frustration, oops i mean seize!

Ok, the loctite red is going in the bin. I'll have to check my mini now. Its almost held together with the stuff.

Everything is hand tightened, as tight as i could go. A lot of it was very hard to undo, even with a breaker bar, so i figured the tighter, the better.
Am i better off getting a impact gun on them to torque up that last bit?

Does anti-seize make it easier for nuts and bolts to vibrate/work their way free?

You'll need alignment now.
Maybe request that the alignment guys do a check over if/when adjusting things for your peace of mind.

I marked out everything before the swap. Nothing has moved from the marked positions. It was a fresh alignment before the swap, and feels no different now.

Everything is hand tightened, as tight as i could go. A lot of it was very hard to undo, even with a breaker bar, so i figured the tighter, the better.
Am i better off getting a impact gun on them to torque up that last bit?

You really should invest in a Torque wrench.
About $80 from Bunnings etc etc.
Get a semi-decent one like a Kincrome.

Doing thing by feel or worse, just tightening as tight as you can get it, something will go bad.
Trust me.

I have a torque wrench, but who can even tell me what to torque these up to?
Is it physically possible to reach the recommended torque by hand is another question.
I havent been able to spot these details in the haynes manual.

I can give you the torque figures if you need them?


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http://www.miata.net/garage/torque.html

Torque specs are also in factory manuals.

There was only one I couldn't get to with a torque wrench, can't remember which bolt sorry.

+1 for a torque wrench. I use it on pretty much everything, particularly on wheel nuts.

Ill have to look further into the manual, but i havent seen it as yet.

This link doesnt tell you the torque for the long upper control arm to body bolt. The long 30cm one.

If I remember, I'll have a look tonight and post up. I've got them kicking somewhere around the house. :-)

That would be a huge help.

Thanks

Its a pretty huge figure.
Like 65-75 ft/lbs.

I will get my figures out tonight also.


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