Fiat Coupe Club UK
Solid Rear Bushes...
Posted By: Anonymous
Solid Rear Bushes... - 05/10/2007 23:26
Hi All
I know this has been mumbled around the forum a bit, but here is my progress for anbody who is interested
So far I have bought a
chunk of aluminium from
these chaps and have drawn up some bushes using my shakey CAD skills.
I have sent my request off to 4 machiners, and so far have had quotes of:
1. £120+VAT & Materials
2. £60+VAT & Materials.
The Metal its self was £25+VAT and £14.50 delivery, but the Metal Fast crew where very helpful and it came next day.
I think I will test run the bushes - hoping I got all the dimensions correct etc and see what the final costs are like and maybe if there's interest do a GB.
If anybody has faith in my CAD drawing then I'm more than happy to Email it to you for your own fettling - PM me.
So I guess best estimate so far is about £100 without postage, which is quite alot, so fingers crossed it will be worth it
Alastair
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 01:45
I'm still interested dude. If you get some made, i know someone who can probably replicate for cheaper?
Ross
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 14:34
Great web site, good price for the material too.
Rich
Posted By: paul
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 14:48
good work
,and good luck with the results
Posted By: stan
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 16:04
Just pinning on the end of this (or the middle!
) this is something we may need to start seriously considering as a coupé failed its MOT a few weeks ago on worn rubber subframe bushes
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 16:08
Great web site, good price for the material too.
Rich
Got a lump of 30x40x200 for my arb brackets too - £8
Posted By: Jimbo
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 06/10/2007 18:51
Im with Stan on this, its a cause of concern for the future.
Wonder if its possible to produce some rear bushes using alloy and polyurathane to absorb a little more vibration ?
Posted By: mattB
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 07/10/2007 02:51
Dont be such a wimp Jimbo!
Posted By: paul
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 07/10/2007 03:54
Wonder if its possible to produce some rear bushes using alloy and polyurathane to absorb a little more vibration ?
Nowt wrong with that,would be ideal
Posted By: stan
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 07/10/2007 12:12
Dont be such a wimp Jimbo!
Oi! You! Us oldies need a bit of a comfort to stop our dentures rattling!
I've heard you've already got natural padding to absorb the bumps
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 21/12/2007 16:27
This has been quiet for ages, so a quick update...
After getting some project work out of the way and making enough time to go to the machinest, The bushes have been made up and I'm collecting on monday.
MattB is going to guinea pig them and if all goes OK, maybe we can think about a GB, if there is any interest....?
So far the total cost has been aroundabout £100-110
Will post up some pics when I get ahold of them
Alastair
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 26/12/2007 20:16
For anybody who is interested...
Tah -
Dah !
Now being posted to our in-house Guinea Pig
Alastair
Posted By: stan
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 26/12/2007 20:35
Nice!
I'll be very interested..........
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 02:39
I'll be interested too depending on how hard they are to fit and Matts write up after fitting. Good effort so far though.
Mark
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 03:40
Im with Stan on this, its a cause of concern for the future.
Wonder if its possible to produce some rear bushes using alloy and polyurathane to absorb a little more vibration ?
Would it not be better to go for poly ones? I'm up for either option - they're going to get done with the rear arms soon....
Posted By: paul
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 04:14
poly ones sound an ideal compromise
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 05:01
Poly isnt exactly that much more flexible.
Ross
Posted By: paul
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 05:12
it is a lot more flexible than solid aluminium,especially with regards to,vibration and resonence
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 05:18
Hmmm. Could the solid mounts be used as a mould for poly?
Ross
Posted By: Nigel
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 13:39
The poly bushes wouldn't be moulded (at least not for a run of this volume)
Much easier to get them turned on a lathe
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 13:48
Ah. Wasnt sure. Has anyone contacted them with regards to it?
Ross
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 18:09
you cant use PU on the rear, there's not straight forward way of incorporating that into the design. Listen until you actually look at the rear bushes enough with the random comments about PU. You have to have a clamp design with the bolt through the middle, the std bush achieves that with some seriously well bonded centre to a rubber bush which is then bonded to an outer section. Under the middle section is a spot welded cover.
rich
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 28/12/2007 18:30
The poly bushes wouldn't be moulded (at least not for a run of this volume)
Much easier to get them turned on a lathe
If you wanted poly, could you not buy a bar as the aluminium and turn them in the same way?
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 29/12/2007 16:25
For anybody who is interested...
Tah -
Dah !
Now being posted to our in-house Guinea Pig
Alastair
Alastair, is the depth of the stepped section (parallel to the bolt axis) equal or less that the lip height on the sub frame - if its greater then the frame could move up and down in that space.
if you turned the same thing from PU the bolt would pull through it and the lip on the frame would cut the PU in seconds.
Rich
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 29/12/2007 16:32
Alastair, is the depth of the stepped section (parallel to the bolt axis) equal or less that the lip height on the sub frame - if its greater then the frame could move up and down in that space.Rich
It should be the same so the subframe should be solid. I did wonder if you could make the bushes thinner to lower the back end slightly but I think that would have ended in the subframe not sitting correctly so left at standard thickness.
if you turned the same thing from PU the bolt would pull through it and the lip on the frame would cut the PU in seconds.
Rich
Thought that may be the case
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 29/12/2007 17:00
Thanks for the commments Rich!
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 29/12/2007 17:28
Yes you could lower it, I may do this to mine as I made them too thick, the only issue you get is the hole in the chassis rail for the top damper bolt becomes obscured if the dimension changes. But to get round that for the occasional damper change I remove the top cap and raise it up on the bolt, of course it would be the other way round for a lower (thinner) top section.
Rich
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 31/12/2007 13:16
......just have the rear 2 bushes changed, as these are the ones that begin to rot.
I had Barbz do the horrible task of this for me & he siad it was a real sod to do.
My bushes were solid alu' with no lady-smady damping rubbish / PU sleeves.
I can honestly say that I cannot notice any difference in ride quality, except the rear just feels somewhat more planted ( in addition to the Eibach rear arb ).
Taz
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 31/12/2007 14:30
I think that settles it then - I'm interested in the solid variety.
Posted By: paul
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 31/12/2007 15:21
I had Barbz do the horrible task of this for me & he siad it was a real sod to do.
Taz
Your lady smady enough............you didn`t do em yourself
Posted By: mattB
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 10/02/2008 00:49
A little update for those interested.
Over the past few weeks, amongst a lot of other work on my coupe, these rear subframe bushes were fitted. I didn't actually think it was terribly difficult to do, and they were a nice fit in the subframe. The rear ones were in pretty chewed up, although the front ones seemed in not bad condition (that's before I smacked them several times with a big hammer
).
Also fitted at the same time, were powerflex bushes to replace
this mess and the rear trailing arm bearings were replaced. So it's pretty hard to gauge how much of a difference they've made, but it definately feels a lot better than it did. The fact that I've only driven a Hyundai Getz since before christmas makes the comparison all the harder.
I'll give a bit more feedback in the next few weeks, but so far everything's looking pretty good.
http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f312/bryce_matthew/Coupe%20rear/And that, I think, completes the elimination of all rubber from my suspension setup.
Posted By: Nigel
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 10/02/2008 01:23
Id be interested to know if you experience any increase in road noise
I have a feeling that my rear subframe bushes are getting squidgy, as the rear of the car feels a little loose when throwing it into a corner. radius arm bearings are fine.
Where did you get these solid bushes from?
Posted By: mattB
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 10/02/2008 01:25
13ad13oy sorted them out for me, but the design is dink's.
I think there is a bit more road noise, but I'm so unused to driving the coupe it's hard to tell (you cant even hear the engine in the Getz and I often find myself trying to start it again after it's already running
)
Posted By: Anonymous
Re: Solid Rear Bushes... - 11/02/2008 00:51
these are on my to do list soon - I guess I should get hold of a set from badboy (can't remember the exact name now......)
now just need to sort out the rear springs, front top mounts, and repair both rear arms, then test the braking bias blah blah blah.....