Polyurethane Bushings?

[todd1561]

As is usually the case after one of Darren's tech meets, I get the motivation to get into some more projects on my car. One area I've always wanted to do a little more work in is the suspension. Presently, I have the Eibach springs installed and the KYB shock kit offered by Marty Maier of the Mid-State DMC club, not sure they're even sold anymore. Next I would like to incorporate some polyurethane bushings, I see John Hervey is offering a kit but reviews do not seem favorable - too soft apparently. The offerings across the pond seem to be well-liked, but the exchange rate makes them way too expensive. Does anybody know of a good source state-side to do the entire car? I already have Toby's kit on order to do the sway bar.

And yes, I realize this will create a considerably firmer ride, that's my goal!

Thanks,
Todd

[tgraham]

Check with DMC MW - I believe Dave stocks the poly bushes that Ed Uding sells. Also, it's worth mentioning that when ordering bits from Europe, check to see if the prices include VAT, which would dramatically lower the price when the part gets exported to the US. DMC EU's site includes VAT, for example, and Ed will just quote you a price without VAT.

Travis

[todd1561]

Hi Travis,

Thanks for the tip on VAT, if Dave can't supply them I'll contact Ed or Martin directly and get the skinny. Dave, if you're out there, do you have a set for sale and if so how much?

Todd

P.S. Travis, that looks like an insanely thorough restoration you're doing on your car from what I can tell from your site, excellent work!

[tgraham]

P.S. Travis, that looks like an insanely thorough restoration you're doing on your car from what I can tell from your site, excellent work!

Thanks! Though, I must admit I'm technically not *doing* very much to it at the moment Hopefully I'll be able to turn that around soon.

Travis

[refugeefromcalif]

One area I've always wanted to do a little more work in is the suspension. Presently, I have the Eibach springs installed

Thanks,
Todd

I'm thinking about going with the Eibach lowering springs myself. (Shocks I haven't made up my mind yet).

The problem that I've ran into is that I'll have to the car realigned. Nobody that does alignments around my area have the specs for a D.?
Where can they be found?

(Sorry to hijack your thread).

George

[DMCMW Dave]

Nobody that does alignments around my area have the specs for a D.?
Where can they be found?

George

In the manual.

[stevedmc]

I'm thinking about going with the Eibach lowering springs myself. (Shocks I haven't made up my mind yet).

The problem that I've ran into is that I'll have to the car realigned. Nobody that does alignments around my area have the specs for a D.?
Where can they be found?

(Sorry to hijack your thread).

George

Have you checked with your local Firestone shop? Delorean is in their alignment computer and I was able to purchase a lifetime alignment plan a while back for something like $180.

[Mark D]

DMCMW carries the full line of poly bushings from Europe. I ordered everything for the front a while back and I'm still working on putting my car back together. A few things to note about swapping to poly:

The LCA bushings are easy to do... the hardest part is pressing out the old bushings but that's pretty simple. To install the poly bushings you'll definitely need a press to squeeze the two halves of the new bushing into the arm tight so there is no gap in the middle and it can fit back in the frame correctly.

The UCA bushings are a pain in the butt. If you plan on doing these you'll need to get creative with spacers when pressing out the old bushings and replacing them with the poly versions. If you don't use spacers the "U" shaped channel of the upper arm will bend/squash together. I fabricated some steel spacer plates as you can see in the pics below. The washers are there so when the new bushing is pressed in then you can pull the washers out and remove the two big plates. Otherwise you'll just press the spacers in and won't be able to get them out.





I decided to stick with rubber bushings on the rear... I wasn't a fan of how the poly would rub on the frame, and from what I've read from other people who've installed poly in the rear it ends up being really stiff.

[todd1561]

Thanks mjdehlin,

Excellent info, glad to hear from someone who has had some first hand experience installing these bushings. Apparently these poly bushings are slightly different than ones I've done in the past. I'm used to not dealing with the outer metal sleeve, you can just simply hand-insert the poly into the suspension component and then slide the metal inner tube in. You'd only need a press on the removal side of things. I'm sure this is a more robust setup. Looks like some creative ingenuity on your behalf for the upper control arm, I'll keep that in mind if I actually go down this route. And thanks for the tip on DMCMW (and Travis!), oddly enough, when he replied to this thread he didn't mention one way or the other, I guess I'll call.

Todd

[Mark D]

The other bushings you're thinking of are the what's used in the lower control arm and also in the LCA support brackets that Ed sells.

The note I made about them needing to be pressed in is because it's extremely difficult to push them in by hand and get them all the way into the lower control arm sleeve. Without a press of some type you'll end up with a gap in the middle between the two bushings and the whole assembly will be too wide to fit back into the frame. I had to use the press to get everything to seat fully into the lower arm so that it wasn't too wide.

IE:





The lower control arm supports brackets that Ed sells uses the same type of bushing as well, but those can be installed by hand.



The upper control arm bushings are the only ones that have an actual metal sleeve on the outside of the bushing since the upper arm itself has no sleeve.


If I had to do it all over again I would probably have left the upper control arms with the stock rubber bushings. I powder coated all my suspension components and anything rubber would have been destroyed when they baked the powder so that was the only reason I removed the old rubber bushings. If you simply want to replace with poly I don't know if the upper bushings are worth the trouble. The rubber is very firm to begin with and I don't see much advantage with the poly. NOS rubber upper bushings aren't available so if yours are dry rotted or worn and you don't want to replace the whole upper arm (comes with bushings already installed) then poly would be the cheaper alternative.