polybushings for a arms

I swapped out my stock rotten rubber ones for graphite/urethane ones from Precision Proformance. They were advertised to eliminate squeaks. They still squeaked until I tapped in grease fittings and lubed. My stock ones were very difficult to remove. Luckily I have a machinest friend who made me a bushing removal tool.

Price the original rubber bushings. Then price the graphite/poly vendor sourced replacements. Then figure out if you think it will be worthwhile to buy something close and spend hours machining them to fit.

Buy billet aluminum brackets for the chassis sway bar mounts (the stock steel straps will eventually break), buy billet aluminum sphere ball mounts for the a-arm sway bar mounts(no bushings needed), buy graphite/poly bushings for all the a-arms and sway bar chassis mounting points. Drill and tap the poly bushings for zerks so you can keep them lubed with silvery, slimy anti seize.

Make sure your bushings/sphere balls for the sway bars are the right size.

Then go out and enjoy your new found, much improved handling Pantera

Larry

Removal is the challange. After 30 years, getting the stock units out are a real pain. Some end up pounding out the centers then using a hacksaw cut the outer shell of the bushing so that they can fold over the steel shell and remove. Time is the factor here, take your time. Heavy pressing and pounding can damage the A-arm.

Stop! You're bringing back bad memories of the time I did mine! I had an unbelievably difficult time removing mine even with the Fred Terry designed press tool. I didn't have a hydraulic press so we used a large table vise to press out the bushing. The bushing sleeve was so tight, we ended up cracking the jaw of the vise.

Yes, I did the installation. Yes they are tough to remove the old ones. It's a combination of pressing them out and drilling them out. You need a press and a drill press. Installation of the polly's are really easy.
Yes you should pup in zerk fittings, and yes they should be greased (with synthetic) when you assemble, and yes they are worthwhile to install.
Get them from Hall or Pantera Performance.

I did it too. If I had it to do over again, I'd look for stock rubber replacements. They show up on E-Bay from time to time. The Poly bushings are hard and ride rough. Real rough.
Later, Mooso.

When this chassis was designed, late '60s, the limiting factor was tires. If it was designed today the limiting factor would be tires.
The difference was that it was built around initially a Michellin radial. Nobody was too happy with it. Ford USA went to Goodyear and had them design the ultimate tire for the car, The Arriva.
That goes to show you how things have changed. A polyglass bias tire as the ultimate?
Well anyway with a tire like that, this was the best the suspension/chassis team could do.
If you do poly bushings, you need to do the whole 9 yards. Tires, wheels, shocks, and springs.
Progressive rate springs are available, double adjustable shocks are available and nice grippy soft radials are available.
The problem is that now YOU are the engineer. PI's spring/shock package is pretty nice. The billet wheels are very nice...and also if you go with wider wheels you need to rebalance the front rear anti-swaybars too. You can test your results on a g-pad. Don't forget to do before and after.
Happy re-engineering!

I'm with Mooso.
I just switched from Poly to factory bushes last year.
The roads are a little rough where I live. I snapped two sway bar strap in 1000 miles with the poly bushes. I haven't snapped any since I changed to factory bushes.

The poly bushes are easier to remove though. If you do one a-arm at a time you can do it without removing any hubs, axles or ball-jounts. You can twist the poly bushes out with a pipe wrench - no pullers or large forces required. I fabricated a puller to pull the factory bushes in (just a bit threaded bar and a couple of sockets) I used lots of anti-rust wax to try to make the next change easier.

quote:

The Poly bushings are hard and ride rough. Real rough.

Rough/smooth/hard - we each view such terms differently. As PanteraDoug said, once we start changing some part of the suspension, it changes how the rest will work.

No one who has ridden in 2511 has complained of it riding rough - no one. Most comment on how nice the ride is. Now, it is not just using poly bushings on a stock car. Koni 30 series gas shocks, GT5 rate springs (450/550 pounds), Quella's bump steer package, 1" solid bars front and rear, Quella sphere balls at all four a-arms, 245/45x16 and 335/35x17 Pilot Sports on Pantera East clones.

Poly may be a rough ride in some situations - it is surely less forgiving than squishy rubber, no doubt. But with everything else working with it just right, I do not think you will find poly to be too harsh.

And remember, if you wanted a soft, smooth, highway cruising - living room soft car, you should have bought something other than a two seat, mid engined, 35 year old sports car

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by LF - TP 2511:

quote:

The Poly bushings are hard and ride rough. Real rough.

Rough/smooth/hard - we each view such terms differently. As PanteraDoug said, once we start changing some part of the suspension, it changes how the rest will work.

No one who has ridden in 2511 has complained of it riding rough - no one. Most comment on how nice the ride is. Now, it is not just using poly bushings on a stock car. Koni 30 series gas shocks, GT5 rate springs (450/550 pounds), Quella's bump steer package, 1" solid bars front and rear, Quella sphere balls at all four a-arms, 245/45x16 and 335/35x17 Pilot Sports on Pantera East clones.

Poly may be a rough ride in some situations - it is surely less forgiving than squishy rubber, no doubt. But with everything else working with it just right, I do not think you will find poly to be too harsh.

And remember, if you wanted a soft, smooth, highway cruising - living room soft car, you should have bought something other than a two seat, mid engined, 35 year old sports car

Larry

Lincolns with the heated seats and air ride suspension make you forget about your hemroids

Maybe my butt was numb to begin with but I actually felt little or no difference in my ride. Squeaked like hell until I put in the grease fittings and lubed it though. At least I know I'm not that deaf!

Could you guys elaberate on the grease fittings for the bushings? I'm getting ready to tear into my suspension and would like to get some input.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Pooky:
Could you guys elaberate on the grease fittings for the bushings? I'm getting ready to tear into my suspension and would like to get some input.

Steve

You need to drill a hole, thread and install a "zerk fitting", for each bushing, and there are a bunch of them. You can buy them in any autoparts store. I believe that on the "a" arms all of mine are 90 degree. I also installed them into the tie rod ends, the ball joints, the shock joints, and the anti-sway bar joints. With the polly bushings you need to drill all the way through to the stainless steel sleeves. I use a synthetic greese. The advantage to that is it will never dry out. With the poly-bushings you can also use petrolium jelly to lube them, but don't expect it to last long. As soon as it gets hot it will virtually liquafy.
The hard part of this job is getting the old rubber bushings and sleeves out. It is going to take alot of patience and perserverence to get it done. Don't bother to powder coat the arms.
Blast them and paint them with rustoleum or krylon. It will last just as long as the powder coating.
Personally I don't think the car is any harder then it was. It certainly isn't any softer for that matter either. And yes the will squeek something fierce if you don't grease them.

Be sure to ask the auto parts "professional" if the zirks you buy require a special tap. You want the right threads on those little buggers. They snap off easily if they get threadbound.
Mooso.

Most, all?, zerks are 1/4 x 28. Not a hard tap/drill to find.