m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

A fixed belt sander works well for removing excess width.

jacob300zx

Oh, and make sure you get a drill with a small wire wheel attachment to clean the inside out that has burnt rubber and slag.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

I used threaded rod, some steel plate with a hole in it (like a Miata "tie-down") and a gas pipe junction to pull them out with an impact gun and it was virtually painless. No fumes or remnants either. The only mandatory part is keeping the threaded rod lubricated.

Sam Amporful

iTrader: (13)

Not to sway from the subject at hand here, but have you gotten another miata yet?

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

yes

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Doesn't the "rubber" deflect too much? Sounds like it would work with solid mounts but not with poly...

Very nice! But I'll be totally spoiled, using the press my friend owns. :-)

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

I don't have personal experience with the poly on a sander, but have been told that with a fixed (floor) belt sander, it did a fine job with the bushing seated against he stop and the face place directly at the belt. I would imagine that like the delrin you need to do the removal it small steps to avoid heat and removing too much.

Yes- a press is probably the ideal tool for the job.

timg

I've found that even having a press if your control arms are rusty or the bushings are old it can take A LOT of force to press out the bushings. It is MUCH safer in my opinion/experiance (one car with bushing install) to burn them out with propane torch. Wear a mask and do it outside obviously.. just heat up each bushing tube for 5 minutes or so (takes a bit of time) until the rubber at the edges starts fizzing/spitting and oozing out of the bushing tube. Then you can just tap them out with a hammer.

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

I understand what you're saying, but wouldn't the weight of the car make this binding unimportant? 500-600 pounds on a corner of the car seems like it'd laugh in that bushings face.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

No - the idea behind these bushings is to get a bearing-like action that's exact and free moving without the harshness/noise.

jacob300zx

Idk, the bushings have a metal insert. Wouldn't that stop any binding when it tightens up to the insert?

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

+1 on the bushing swap being a lot of work. I am putting in a set now and I keep procrastinating on the bushings to do other things on the car first. I am heating them with a torch and tapping them out. It is a bit messy. I am also adding grease fittings so that takes a little more time.

The deal with the lower ride height IIRC is this... The bushing is bonded to the inner sleeve and essentially bonded to the outer tube in the control arm. The bolts force the inner sleeve so tight into the chassis mount that the sleeve does not rotate around the bolt. If it did, there would be wear on the bolt and/or sleeve since they are not lubricated. Because the inner sleeve is not rotating, and the outer part of the bushing is essentially bonded to the control arm, the bushing twists, like a torsion spring. That effectively adds a tad of spring rate.

That is why the car drops slightly with the poly bushings. No torsion action.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

Jacob- that's the point of checking the tolerance on the poly bushing vs. the insert. The insert needs to be free of compression from the subframe at the camber bolt points- that requires the bushing to be narrower than the insert/sleeve.

ZX is right- that's binding at work right there. When running stock/vulcanized bushings in a race environment, you want to jack up the wheel until the suspension is compressed to a static state (as in static ride height) and THEN torque the camber bolts.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

WOW, I was swapping shocks, and noticed I basically lacked the strength to rotate the shock into place against the OEM rubber with just the bottom bolt in. I had no idea stock suspension bits binds that much.

Bushings come late this week, early next. Can't wait.


ZX - what's invovled in putting in fittings? Just drill/tap each sleeve and thread in a grease fitting? Are they all created equal?

Does anyone not have the grease fitting and wish they did?

9671111

iTrader: (10)

I did the energy suspension control arm kit too, rather large pain in the *** and quite messy with the torch. Burning them out is pretty harsh with all the splatter and fumes but found it to be the easiest way. They really just poop right out. Worth it in the end though, the car just feels fantastic.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

I burnt out bushings on my friend's volvo, yes, it was pretty easy, and yes, there was some cleanup after...

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

Pretty easy really, just time consuming. The tricky part is figuring out where to put the fitting so it does not interfere with anything else, and where you can get to it when the suspension is reassembled. For example, I could not find a good fitting spot on the inner bushings on the rear upper control arms. The front control arm fittings are pretty easy to locate.

Other than that, just get some grease fittings, drill a hole in the stock bushing sleeve somewhere in the middle (where the two bushing halves meet), tap the hole, clean out the shavings, screw in the grease fitting, done. I am just using fittings I bought at the auto parts store. I may go back and use loctite to make sure they do not back out.

MartinezA92

iTrader: (4)

So realistically, how big of a deal is bind? I'm not really too motivated to drop my control arms to sand down the edges unless its going to be a huge deal.

Laziness prevails unfortunately.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Wait, so, if the bushings are two piece, and you shave them down, then... won't they just slip out until they rub anyway?!

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

It's taking all my 32 years of maturity not to make that joke....