Penguinracer

I'm looking to completely renew the suspension on my '90 car - it has 134k (miles) on it. Can anyone provide feedback on Elephant Racing's solid mounts/spherical bushings/backplates etc?
Tim

333pg333

It's good stuff and well made. Same with all the Racers Edge stuff. I mixed and matched although mostly RE. If you want to improve the handling it's worth it but you will sacrifice some of the ride quality. Just depends on your priorities.

Van

High quality products. I have their poly-bronze spring plate bushings and their banana arm mono-*****.

gt37vgt

the standard bushes really don't have alot of rubber in them they are half steal the the early castor blocks and rear spring plates flex a little the rest hardly flexes at all .. I have some elephent bushes and i have converted other parts to mono ball my self .. the elephant parts are well made but i feel really not worth the money .
i think i reasonable compromise is the spring plates and castor blocks only but i wouldn't got near them until i had the springs shocks and sway bars all sorted ..

67King

What are you doing with the car? I've got Racer's Edge stuff, but it is for the track. I believe that recently, either Polyurethane or Delrin bushings have become available (though I don't know how much caster you can adjust if you do that?). Before the 944, I ran PU whenever I could, which was great on the street.

Penguinracer

The car is for the track but street legal. I've got Leda shocks (oil) with 450 lb fronts & 350 lb rears. I plan on getting some Tarett front & rear bars & some hollow 31mm torsion bars. The idea is to go for solid mounts & sphericals all-round. I figure I'll soften the shocks right off for driving to the track. I'll also need camberplates & most onhere seem to favour RE.

67King

I've got a similar setup, but stiffer springs. And the same vision - track car that will be street legal. So yeah, I'd go for the solid/spherical stuff, assuming you can tolerate the harshness on the road. I'm a big fan of Racer's Edge because I know the guy who started the company, Karl Poeltl, and have worked with him on some stuff, so I see how he operates. And the kind of engineer he is is why I'm going to continue to use his stuff when I can.

theedge

The rear spring plate parts are excellent, theres no similar product except for the junky plastic ones.

mikey_audiogeek

+1 on the RE bushes and the Elephant Racing polybronze. I run 'em on the street. Best grease for the Polybronze is SKF's LGEV2.

Only comment I'd make is : use the spherical bearing in the FRONT of the lower control arm and leave the caster block rubber. This will give you much better camber control and steering precision but still allow the wheel/arm to move rearwards slightly on bumps - critical for ride quality.

Have a look at how Honda did it on the NSX, or McLaren on the F1.

Cheers,
Mike

gt37vgt

I have to disagree there Mike as i had a big bar on the control arm with differnt bits out to investigate this that front bush is STIFF AS .... i also put on in the lathe and turned it they are 50% steal....
and they are defiantly much stiffer than polyurethane bushes .
I have made my own rod end (heim) type Castor mount and i coudn't flex the arm outward at the rear 20mm for the new pick arm with the standard in...
If any one else has done any real flex tests on these things now would be a good time to comment ..

mikey_audiogeek

OK yep cool, I haven't dismantled an arm or done any deflection tests so you definitely are ahead. Thanks for the info - you're right, it would be good to get some objective measurements. Same with strut brace/lower brace as well.

I'm running brand new 968 arms and castor blocks, haven't been game to remove the front bushes and replace them with the RE sphericals that are sitting on the shelf at the moment. From what you say, no need to hurry.

Whaddayarekkon about the banana arm bush at the back?

Cheers,
Mike

ZW 944

Mikey, do the elephant racing monoballs + polybronze stuff make the street ride harsh? like on a scale of 1-10 how bad is it compared to stock rubber?

My other question is where does one find a replacement for the stock rubber pieces? for the '87+ cars it doesn't seem anybody sells all of them.

tjbreen

I am running the Elephant monoballs front and rear as well as the polybronze stuff in the spring plates. I have fairly stiff springs (525 front and 650 rear). I also have RE adjustable camber plates and M030 bars and poly bushings but retained the 968 rear control arm bushings and the street ride is rough.

It feels worse when I haven't driven the car for a week but I find myself steering around bumps and holes in the road.

ZW 944

Good to know.

Wow those are really stiff springs no? stock front springs are like around 160 iirc.

mikey_audiogeek

It doesn't make the ride harsh, just the opposite. It makes the ride less "disjointed" with firm suspension. In other words, it improves the secondary ride. Transmitted road noise/tyre roar is higher, but absolutely no clunks or rattles. Read my other posts on my setup.

Cheers,
Mike