Bill Ball

Comments?


I was going to do the UPPER A-arm bushings today. Ken Adolf and I looked them over, pried on them with crowbars and concluded the uppers are not bad. This is the rear bush on the front LOWER A-arm. Same on boths side. Note these cannot be replaced - the entire A-arm must go.

You guys know the saga of my poor handling car. I'm thinking worn bushings at 170K miles. However, as Ken and I looked at things and went for a test drive, we agreed the balljoints and rack are tight and even though this bushing is nothing like a new one, there are no knocks or vibrations through the steering wheel that would indicate looseness in any front end component. So, is this OK?

Cheburator

Bill, my 1990 GT with 200,000 miles on the clock has exactly the same bushes. The car gets tracked hard - see "Sharks at the Ring" recent thread - and I cannot complain about the handling. Your poor handling problems are not comensurate with worn bushes... It has always sounded like cr*p shocks to me. Nothing to worry about your lower A-arm bushes IMHO...

You can also replace these bushes without having to replace the whole lower A-arm. Racebred Autos in Australia offer a poly bush kit for these...

Andre Hedrick

Bill,

Poke 928MotorSports and see if he (Carl) can fab something.

Now I know what you mean by tinkering over the weekend! Your definitions of tinkering needs to be updated to the rest of the world.

Cheers,

Andre

Bill Ball

That last sentence is news to me! It does appear this would be one of the easier bushings to replace. The profile of the new bushing is like the sliver of less compressed bushing seen where the lower clamp and the mount meet - even a bit taller.

I believe the upper bushings are sourced from Australia, so I'm surprised none of our 928 vendors offer the lower one.

Giovanni

That pics looks like the one on my 1988 with 277k miles. I had no luck getting a replacement on these. I contacted Capt Carl but he did not have a replacement. I end up cutting a piece of radiator hose and carefully cut some groves in it and put it on the lower half of the arm bushing. That was a year ago and that cured my problem. I would recommend going this route if you are planning on driving 170 mph plus :-).

The archives has more info on the poly bushings from AU. I believe it also mentions additional tweaking with the new bushings b/c they are not a direct fit!

Bill Ball

Gio:

Radiator hose! Heh, heh. That's just what Ken was thinking today.

Just what were the handling issues that this cured?

I will search the archives.

THANKS!

Giovanni

Each right turn the car would make a loud squeek noise.

Btw, did you get the car smogged?

Giovanni

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...er+arm+bushing

SharkSkin

Bill, mine looked only a little less compressed than that, 85K miles & 11 years older. No issues like what you describe.

John Veninger

Bill,

That bushing looks fine from the photo. You can get the lower arm bushings replaced with hard plastic (like a delrin). The need to be sent out to the guy. Stan Shaw had a set done for his track car. I was thinking about it, but other projects got in the way, so I still run the stock rubber.

Peter F

I can report that the bushings for the lower arms are not available for cars after 86 according to the answer I got back from this source.
I ended up buying a second hand unit with a better and tighter bushing.
(in my case it was the front that was toast)
Bills look like it should be no problem unless it feels loose when the bolts have been tightened to specified torque.

/Peter

Bill Ball

Gio: No the car is not smogged yet. Next month right after Sharktoberfest.

The rest of you guys: Yes, the arm feels snug when torqued. So, I guess I will pursue other ideas. I've ordered the rear suspension bushings too, but I gather unless these things have crumbled to dust, no one finds much benefit in replacing bushings other than your tools get a good workout. The new 20-ton press is looking rather forelorn.

GUMBALL

I have run a few cars (both street and track) that have had the rubber bushings replaced with Teflon or Delrin, and there are compromises:

> the Delrin bushings do take all the compliance out of the suspension, and, as such, take all of the "vagueness" out of the handling.....now you have a vehicle that is as precise as an Indycar.....

> BUT, by taking compliance out of the suspension, you are removing the shock absorbing qualities of the rubber, and consequently, the car is now very harsh over small ripples and bumps.....

It all depends what the final purpose of the car will be, and what you are prepared to live with.....

SharkSkin

Bill, I was told at my last alignment(prior to last week's alignment) that my rear bushings were getting worn. Symptom: Hard to get camber into spec/eccentrics at end of adjustment. If they had to use a strap to pull the rear end into place, the bushings are worn.

jon928se

Dave A

Thats more likely to be corrosion of the aluminium flat that the camber eccentric presses against to move the lower arm move away from the body - effectively decreases the range of adjustent of the eccentric (reduces the max neg camber available) - you can still get the adjustment correct by putting a flat screwdriver blade between the eccentric and the alu flat to make the flat bigger.

Cheers