I have one bushing thats destroyed, its the one from the sway bar hanger, on the actual bar. Anyways, there is a run on sunday, and I really need to fix this before that. Is there any possible way I can? dealers need to order, performance products doesnt know they exist, and some random place wants an obscene amount of money, more then twice what the dealer wants for the part. anything else? anyone in SoCal have one? Can anyone overnight me one? please help!
~Eyal

 

If you're in a pinch and know of somewhere that sells urethane energy suspension bushings, (Some Checker/Shucks/Kragen and Autozone stores stock them) you can modify their universal sway bar bushings to work. They only come in fractional inch sizes, but assuming you have the 25.5mm stock bar on your 87 just get the 1" ID one. If your bars are bigger then adjust accordingly.

Next comes the fun part, the energy suspension generic ones are a D shape rather than round. If you have a disc sander, sand down the profile so it's more or less round when viewed from the side. If not a dremel works but takes a whole lot longer. On my 86 the inside diameter of the bushing hangers is 36 or 39mm or so (going from memory here), not sure if it's bigger on the later versions like yours so measure it with some calipers or whatever you have accessible that's reasonably accurate while it's still bolted together like it will be when installed.

Next you'll want to sand down the outer lip on the urethane bushing so it's pretty close to the original bushing's outside diameter. Then taking a dremel tool with the large coarse sanding drum attachment start sanding down the outside diameter of the bushing so that it matches the diameter of the hangers. Try to keep it as close to round as you can of course. The energy suspension bushings are slightly wider than the stock ones between the lips so expect a 1/8" or so gap between the metal loop of the hangar and the inside edge of the lip. With urethane not being as soft as rubber it shouldn't be an issue.

That's basically it. The urethane generic bushings have a slit in them so sanding them down around the slit can be a bit touchy and you'll want to mount the slit away from the top of the hanger loop where it creates a gap. The bushings should be as close to round as you can get them but if they're not exact it shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't sand them down too much. I think it took me about an hour to do both of mine but the second one went much faster as I was figuring out how much material to take off on the first one. If you're going to do this I'd definitely recommend doing both as having bushings of differing hardness on each side might make for unpredictable handling.

Also, as a disclaimer, I have not had my car back on the road since I did this so I can't make any claims as to how well it works, but it's sway bar bushings so I just can't see any major issues arising. Basically they just have to act as an outer bearing surface to allow the bar to rotate inside them, not exactly rocket science. Might get a bit more road noise vs the stock ones but I can't imagine it would be too bad from the sway bars especially if you use the rubber end bushings. The generic Energy Suspension bushings are about 16 bucks for a pair of them so it's cheap enough to give it a shot even if you end up not liking it. The other upside is that the urethane won't get all crappy from power steering fluid and oil getting on it which I'm guessing is what happened to your original one as it did with mine.

Anyway hope that helps, if you need more info, PM me and I'll see if I can get a picture of the ones I did for reference emailed to you since the bar's in the garage still and easy to get to.

 

Eyal,
Have you tried Pelican Parts in Torrance? I got some sway bar bushings from them last year.

What run are you talking about on Sunday? I'm local and would like to join you if you can post the details.

Good luck finding the bushing.

 

My PS reservior dripped on my bushing and it ate it pretty good. I was successful in taping it up with electrical tape so I didn't get that *thunk* sound when I turned. Sold the car that way too...

 

I was thinking of wraping it up thick, very thick with duct tape. thick enough to put some pressure on the hanger and act some what as a bushing. the hopes are that not only will it stop the noise, but actually help reduce sway. (not nearly as much as a bushing, but at least a bit?) shall I try?
Silver bean,
Torrence is very far for me, I'm in the SFV. As for run details, go here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=117968
~Eyal

 

Future reference, dealers and most mechanics can get parts from PCNA by the next day.

 

Eyal,
Thanks for the link. I'm going to come on out - it sounds like a great drive.

 

adrial,
not dealership parts are open on the weekend around here, which really sucks, since thats when i need em. so if i ordered today, i woudn't get em untill monday. I think I'll give paragon my business since they deserve it much more then the dealer.
Silver bean,
great! another 944! see you there!
~Eyal

 

so... any last ideas?
~Eyal

 

Remove sway bar. Replace it when you get the correct bushing.

 

So now I'm wondering if you guys think the modified urethane ones aren't a good idea or something. I can't for the life of me think of any potential problems other than possibly more road noise and the way the hangers are mounted even that should be pretty minimal. If anybody does think there could be problem that would arise from what I did, please speak up, I don't want to damage something because of it.

Honestly, if anybody made a specific urethane application for the 86 951 24mm bar, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I'm actually tempted to make a mold of a new rubber one and make some urethanes one from that with castable urethane resin. Maybe I'm being cheap here, but the 22 bucks each for the 24mm bushings everybody is asking is a little silly. I have no problem paying a reasonable price for quality merchandise, but this particular part is just ridiculously overpriced especially considering every other size but the 24mm bar's bushing is 8 or 9 bucks.

I realize it's good old Economics 101 supply and demand with the 24mm bar being a 1 year run it's going to have a lower demand (possibly arguable since substantially more 86 model year 951's were imported to the US than other years). I also understand that the retail price is simply a reflection of a higher wholesale price to the vendors and I'm not faulting them directly they're in business to turn a profit and that's fine. I'm sure they'd be happy to price it lower if they were paying less for it.

I certainly wouldn't suggest my "ghetto" method for something like control arm bushings by any means. I had good luck with urethane bushings on my Datsun 240Z for the most part though and with the power steering reservoir and pump mounted as they are I'm surprised there's not more demand for urethane factory replacement ones for the front sway bar in any size.

Anyhow, I am genuinely curious if anyone thinks what I did is a bad idea, and if so why.

 

the reason I didn't opt for doing what you did is I dont have the necassary tools, and if I did, not necassarly enough skill to do it right, nor do i have the patience.
No front sway bar just sucks, i drive like that for a few days a while back. I'd rather "ghetto rig" it till monday.
~Eyal

 

I wouldn't say it took much skill aside from just holding back from not getting impatient and taking off too much material at a time combined with measuring it with calipers about 8 thousand times. Not much different from sanding wood, metal or any other plastic.

If nothing else, I did find out something unique about sanded urethane dust. Rather than just being dusty, it forms a skin of sorts. When you wipe it off it almost peels off in sheets. I've never seen anything else I've sanded down do that. Maybe it was just a static charge or something causing it but it was somewhat interesting and unusual.