I'm going to be putting in Racing Beat Springs and I'm deciding if I should replace my bushings? If I look at them and they look OK, not cracked or otherwise messed up, is it really worth the trouble of replacing? How hard is it to get the old ones out and do you need special equipment, like a press, to put new ones in? If it's fairly simple, I'd do it just because the parts are cheap and the car's already jacked up and I'm going to get dirty anyway. But, if it's a major undertaking for little results, I'd just as soon skip it.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

The bushings are at least 20 years old, unless someone has already replaced them. Look them over good, and if in doubt, replace them. Just don't go with poly bushings. They are a little too stiff, and can lead to increasing the tail-happy handling these cars are already known for.
If they still look to be in pretty decent condition, you could likely skip the replacement of them. The task is not overly difficult, but is time consuming.

 

By "control amr" do you mean the trailing links? I'm been having a hard time finding non-polyurethane bushings.

 

As long as they look alright I wouldn't mess with them. They are a real pain to swap out, and finding stock replacements can run into some real $$$. Anything with urethane will be too stiff and cause handling issues. Leave it alone and do the front end instead...

 

When I decided to swap rear-end, I decided to replace the bushings, too. It's a bitch and a half... Maybe even two and a half, but it is totally worth it IMO, and I haven't even driven the car yet.

 

New rubber bushings would be nice, since they'll be softer and more pliant than the hard, dried up ones that have been in the car for the last 20 years. So if I were you, I'd get new rubber bushings for the upper links, new poly bushings for the lower links and new rubber bushings for the Watts link. I think blackdragonauto.com has the rubber bushings.

 

If the bushings don't look cracked or weathered sponge looking on the outside don't wast your time. Changing is a triple bitch.

I raced a 1st gen for 4 years approx 46 races with 6 test days & beleive me that when I put four links in with Spherical bearings (pre tri link) there was NO DIFFERENCE in handling or having the car swap ends.