Part one of my Polly bushing kit replacement
 

I got my Energy Suspension kit a few days ago. Today I decided to crack open the box and start changing shit. I started first with the big ol' bag of stuff for the Sway Bar end links. (since it looked the most envolved) I first removed the endlinks, they weren't too bad. There was some cracking in the rubber and being 20 years old I thought it was time for them to be switched out. Now to get that rubber out you have to burn them out, as i didn't not have access to a press (the control arms should be fun ;)) after about 3 mins of continual flame from a torch the rubber started expanding and cracking making it easy to tap out the metal sleve inside. After i cleaned all the rubber off (more fire!) it was time to lube them up and hand press the new polly bushing in. after i got the whole assembly done, plus the sway bar holder things it was time for a test drive. It corners slightly better than before, deffinately noticable. My next project is either Tie rod boots (witch need it) or control arms (witch need it more). Do you guys know of any write ups for these, i've searched and searched but found none (acctualy just for tie rod boots)

Well thats my contribution to the forum for now. any questions please ask!

I'd go with the suspension arms...hehe

(especially seeing as how that's the backbone of the suspension)

thats what i was thinking too, but my tie rods pop an awful lot :(

I was gonna start mine 2 weeks ago after I got my bushing kit, but the rear bushings for the front control arm weren't in the box, and I STILL havent received them after calling twice. It sucks.

I tried to do the rear sway bar mounts and and first nut I attempted to remove wouldn't budge and I ended up rounding it. :)

I did a rear end link. I managed to hammer it them out, but it was certainly more time consuming than I'd imagined. My hat off to anyone who can do the whole Hyperflex kit in a weekend. :)

I'm sure i could of if i new what i was doing, the first end link took me a couple of hours, and the second one only took about 30 mins

Hey this would be very helpful to me if you post up pics. I got the energy suspension complete kit a while back but am hesitant to do it, cause my car was sitting for 1.5 years and i dont want to take on this project just yet. My suspension is ight as of right now, but if i have an idea of the work, labor and materials needed i can def figure out how long it will take and see what i can do.

So please take pics, post em up so i can get a visual.

Many thanks

Jason NYC

Just go to your nearest Autozone and loan a 2/3 claw puller. It can pull most your pushings out except the big one for the front that has no metal sleeve. For that one, you need a specific type of clamp that clamps between the bushing and the arm, so the puller has something to pull on. It's less messy and faster than burning. And basically free. Hope that helps.

I will get pictures of the control arm bushing replacement. it looks like i can unbolt it and just pull the bracket off and cut the old rubber and sleve off and just push the new one on. or am I missing alot?

i can do the whole kit in less than a day, however it is more of a pita than i can viably charge for the project. you're gonna have some real fun when you start doing the rear bushings... i wonder if it's even worth it for the one bushing that they chose to give you versus all the others.

whats the best way to go about changing the rear bushing?

depends how much you love your car... you can manuever the rear forward arm bolts out by dropping the suspension cradle down a few inches and pounding the unibody seam flat and working the bolt out. of course i only make sure this is ok with customers before doing it this way otherwise the only alternative is dropping the rear cradle down completely.

i did all the bushings on my 91 and it kicked my ass but its worth it after its done. i mostly used a ball joint press and an impact.all i can say is have fun. i did mine in about 14 hours. plus i work in a shop so i had tools lol.

hmm sounds good, thanks guys for the responces, looks i'll be going through a couple packs of smokes on this one

Oy very, I remember doing the ES master kit when I had my FC! It took me about a day of work...

If the 7 is your daily car, enjoy the ride quality when you're done...it goes straight to shit, but it's well worth it for the increase in response. For me, the car was literally a totally different animal on some of my favorite twisty roads :)

Did the kit come with tie rod boots? Because I believe those are for your ball joints (which you referred to earlier). Either way, you can get an air cutter and slice off the "rearmost" control arm bushing. Be careful not hit aluminum.

I have the front control arms done on my non-drivable 7 and will have all the rest done by end of summer hopefully.

i thought it came with them, i need those badly, it didn't come with instructions for it though, one bag had 3 polly things w/o instructions. i'll search through there again and see what i come up with