It was bushing day, or it was supposed to be bushing day.
It started out with a little bit of business that needed to be done. We had a 10:00 a.m. appointment and the gal never showed so that meant I had to wait around till almost 11:00 to begin.
The kit came with Delrin bushings, but my experience with Delrin has been good performance wise, but harsh I would love to build at little compliance into this so that if Texas finally relents and allows homebuilts and kit cars to be registered again then I can put it on the street.
The guy at Summit and I looked and looked for poly bushings that might fit, but the only ones we found were sway bar bushings that would need to be shortened a little. I was concerned they might be just as rough as the delrin until I accidentally dropped both today. The Delrin just kinda sat that while the poly bounced around everywhere. After several repeated very scientific experiments with different drop heights it make be think the poly will definitely be noticeably more compliant.
What I've done with poly before is a 2 piece bushing and add a grease fitting in the space between. That has kept it squeak free and very free moving so that's what I intend to do here. B U T . . .just to be sure I'm not going to drill any of the suspension ends until the last moment because once I do that I'm outta options.
To shorten it I used the chop saw with an abrasive blade, because that's what was on the saw. I tried a razor knife, but that was dangerous and since I've seen what can happen by watching all of your builds I choose the (slightly) safer alternative. The chop saw worked well.
Then I finished it off on the Harbor Freight disc and belt sander that I'd bought 11 months ago and never unpacked. So unpacking and setting that bad boy up took up another portion of the day. It worked great to finish off the cut ends and to think the "flange" end of the bushing a little so it would fit. Yes, I had to work on both ends of the bushing to make it work which is what was giving me pause for thought. Delrin is naturally slippery so I also wouldn't need a grease fitting.
So here are some pics. This first is the poly installed. If you look you can see my mark that shows me where I can install the grease fitting. I have to use a 45 degree fitting and I can't be more than 1/2" back from the weld or it will interfere with the br@ck!t in bump.
Attachment:
poly installed.jpg
This one shows the gap between the 2 ends and the space I have for the grease fitting.
Attachment:
poly exposed.jpg
This shows the Delrin bushing. As you can see I have to use washers to finish it off whereas the poly has those soft cushy pillows on the end. OK, they aren't all that cushy, but they'll be a lot quieter.
Attachment:
delrin.jpg