Hey guys -

This Saturday I burned the whole day doing the front A-arm bushings. I bought a full set of Prothane polyurethane bushings - REALLY nice stuff.

Following the creed that everything I'm bolting back onto the car has to look as new as possible and work great, I removed the old rubber bushings, thoroughly cleaned the A-arms, then installed the new bushings.

This is yet another case of having the right tool for the job makes life easier . It took me about a half hour to remove the internal bushing by using a torch, a socket, and a hammer. The external bushing was way easier - light it on fire with the torch, let it burn for about 15 minutes or so, cut the metal sleeve with an angle grinder, and pry off.

The a-arms were covered with rubbery undercoating from when the car was new. It's a shame to put undercoating on beautiful cast aluminum! I cleaned it off the old fashioned way - scraped some off with a knife, and scrubbed with Super Clean and a brass brush. Took a LONG time to clean each up.

You'll also notice I have the Racing Beat swaybar endlinks as well - they're mighty sharp lookin'. I've had them for some time - they do make a difference!

The Prothane kit also includes ball joint and tie rod end boots that are polyurethane, so you can see them in the shot as well.

Here's the finished pics -

http://www.clubrx.org/rx7guru/101702/aarm1.jpg
http://www.clubrx.org/rx7guru/101702/aarm2.jpg
http://www.clubrx.org/rx7guru/101702/aarm3.jpg

Here's the bushing on fire . Note how cruddy the A-arm looked - yep, that's what they both started out as!
http://www.clubrx.org/rx7guru/101702/aarmfire.jpg

Tonight I should get a chance to do some more work - I'm starting in on the intake manifolds. They're getting ported, and the extra nipples I don't need are getting cut off and welded shut. No vacuum caps for me!

Stay tuned!

Dale

 

is it a good idea to be heating an arm to high temps? would you lose the strength in teh aluminum?

 

Didn't really get 'em SUPER high - hell, they're forged at a far higher temperature than that. I also wasn't torching the aluminum, just getting the rubber to light on fire.

It sure was fun to watch!

Dale

 

Yo,


Pyro!! *grin* Dale, I'm glad you're posting these pics...makes my obsessive-compulsive behavior with my GTUs seem...well.../normal/. *wink*

Good job man! You remind me of Seth and his CYM FC, he pretty much stripped everything and had them re-plated/re-painted. It's good the RX-7 community has folks like you who do things right in order to preserve the FC, especially a 10th AE. Cheers!

KS
1989 GTUs "I need to put new bushings in too..."

 

Sweet!!

I heard you can use a dremel too in order to remove the bushings. My bushings have been siting on my desk for the past 4 months, I'll see what I can do no that you got me all pumped up!!

 

I really need to replace mine my question is how do you get them in (the new ones) they have the the rib on the ends?

 

lets see a picture of the 10thany already.

 

I give you props on doing it the right way first so you hopefully won't have to do it again.but show a picture already.

 

Do yourself a favor and hit the arms with some mothers mag wheel polish before you get them back in. They polish up really nice and it tends to keep them clean. BTW you neighbors must love you...

 

Really, the best way to remove the internal bushing is with a hydraulic press. The external bushing you can just cut - the rubber was slowing down my angle grinder, so that's why I burned it. And it was fun too .

I would give yourself plenty of time to get the job done - if you rush, you can goof things up, like scoring the area where the new bushing will go, etc.

Dale

 

That's the easy part is installing the new ones. The internal bushings are actually 2 halves - you just hammer one half in one side, and the other half in the other side. Then you put the steel tube in the middle and lube it all up good. Installing the new ones takes like 2 minutes.

Dale

 

Well, I'm really not doing it the right way first - I've had the car for around 4-5 years now, and it's seen a whole world of mods. Part of this project is doing everything right - there's a lot of things I did to the car in the past that I know better ways of doing now, technology has changed, you name it.

The car's really unimpressive right now - it's up on jackstands in the garage with minimal stuff in the engine bay, no front subframe, the dash is out....it's seriously in pieces. It's dirty as hell right now too .

I did some more engine work tonight - built a primary fuel rail, test fit my secondary fuel rail, ported the lower intake manifold, and probably some other stuff .

This weekend I plan on pulling the steering rack out (it's only attached by the tie rod ends right now) to give it a good cleaning and once-over. I also need to drain and drop the tranny - I'm replacing the output shaft seal and giving it a good cleaning and inspection. And, I should be doing some more work on the engine this weekend - I should be able to install the front cover, get some more stuff painted and assembled, etc.

Dale

 

to get hte old bushing out... maybe you can try a metal punch and a ball point hammer and a vice to hold down your a-arm.

 

Where did you get your new bushings?

 

Thanks
Thats what I like to hear. Something easier to put in than take out.

 

Summit racing has the energy suspension bushings

 

IMHO, the Prothane kit is a better bang for the buck than Energy Suspension - you get more stuff in the kit and it's around $10 less. I paid around $80 or so for my kit.

As above, just do a search on the Internet to find places that carry the Prothane kit. I think the place I bought my kit from was Don's Sports Cars or something.

Dale

 

ES:
1986-91 HYPER-FLEX SYSTEM Complete Master Bushing Set Includes: Front and rear control arm bushings, front and rear sway bar bushings, ball joint and tie rod end boots. Part Number 11.18101

Prothane: ref: Part Number 12-200
http://www.prothanesuspension.com/totalkit2.html

Ball Joint Boots, Control Arm Front and Rear, Front and rear Sway Bar Bushings, Tie Rod Boots.


What am I missing? Both kits list the exact same components

 

Whoops! I thought the Energy Suspension kit didn't include the ball joint/tie rod boots. Oh well!

The Prothane kit is still cheaper, though . And it even comes with a free hat - woohoo!

Dale

 

I went on the Summit site, and couldn't find the kit for an Rx7. It was either Chevy, Ford or Honda. They were all well over $100 too. Do you have to ask them to special order it? How much is it from them?

Is there a very noticable increase in feel and performance with these bushings? My stock ones are quite worn, but money is scarce these days.

 

Call their 1-800-230-3030 number and ask for Part # 11.18101R

 

Gee whiz, you guys - I typed in "prothane rx-7" into Google, and 2 seconds later...

http://www.eshocks.com/pro_ind.asp?M...ts&B_Color=Red

$82.46 for the complete package.

Dale

 

Total with shipping: 93.53

Energy Suspension Kit W/shipping : 99.00

I personaly went with ES, Their website would lead you to believe they have decent quality control. Prothanes site doesn't delve into how they develop.produce their products. 5.47 isn't worth it to me personally. Plus the ES kit is available in black, for the "sleeper" appearance vs. the "golly gee whillicker's Wally, you have KEWL red bushings". Unless you need the red to coordinate with your Neon lights! LOL J/K Dale!

 

Prothane is also available in black. I got red since that goes with the color scheme on my car.

The bushings were well-made, came with good instructions and more than enough lubricant for installation.

Dale