TAMAatWork

Anyone have the Jim Labreck Bushings unused you want to sell? Does Jim still have a few sets laying around?


Thanks,
Joseph
'94 Black & Tan Touring

jimlab

Nope. Sold the last two sets a couple weeks ago.

xchaos

Any plans to make another run on them Jim?

rfreeman27

iTrader: (5)

im be interested in a set. Are they for front and rear?

jimlab

The kit included 4 front lower control arm bushings, 4 front upper control arm, 4 rear upper control arm, 2 rear upper control arm shock mount, 2 rear trailing arm, and 2 for the differential mount.

I hadn't really given much thought to making any more because they're not cost effective unless made in quantities of at least 12 sets, and the interest hasn't been that high. Also, I had several sets left over from the last run of 12 until just recently.

jimlab

$650 per each kit of 18 bushings (and 18 pins), which includes shipping. That's the cost for a production run of 12 kits. The price goes down as the number of kits goes up, but the next price break isn't until 18 kits, then 24, 36, 48, etc.

If you're interested in getting a bunch of people together to buy in and make it worthwhile, I'll be more than happy to have sets made for you, but I'll have to get Jason's approval for an "official" group purchase thread first.

There are additional shipping costs for New Zealand and other destinations outside the United States...

TAMAatWork

They are made of Lava and a little love from Jim.

Just kidding about the love part Jim.

I am in for being number 1 of 12 if you get approval.


-Joseph

TAMAatWork

How come I am always #2?


Failure,
Joseph

SomeGuy_sg

Will you be making anymore ?

RCCAZ 1

iTrader: (10)

Nick at N-tech engineering sells the complete bushing kit for $750. Haven't heard from anyone who've installed these bushings, but I thought he had taken over manufacturing of Jim's bushings when he decided to stop. I may be wrong, but check out his link. He may have sets on the shelf that he can ship to you tomorrow!

http://www.ntechengineering.com/inde...d=2&model_id=2

xchaos

I will be in for a set and send you the money, you just say the word!

I almost got one of those last sets, but had another issue come up then procastinated...missed out. I won't miss this chance if it comes through.

xchaos

I agree. Would rather do it through Jim, unless we don't get enough to do the run.

Its not the money, but would rather see Jim make the first profit for his work in providing them to begin with.

jimlab

No, he doesn't.

Nick was authorized to resell my bushings, but after I was nice enough to put through a run of 12 sets even though he and another vendor only had 5 sold between them (there were more sales pending, I was promised), I was left holding 7 sets, the manufacturing costs for all 12, and didn't even get a decent thank you for overnighting his three sets to Florida at my expense. Nick won't be getting any more bushings to sell.

rotorbrain

ouch. . .

wonder1and

Hey jim... if I kiss enough *** can you make me an extra pair of the diff bushings... my set that I have didn't come w/ them...

For those that are wondering... they do make your suspension feel much more solid than the squishy stockers that are 80+k old. I say they are well worth it. Also I suggest setting them up w/ zirk fittings to keep them lubed up.

jimlab

Shouldn't be a problem. I've been considering make a run of just differential bushings, but if I do a run of 12 complete kits, I'll just have a few extras made.

I pm'd Jason and asked for permission to set up a formal group purchase thread.

rfreeman27

iTrader: (5)

I will go in too.

BenzaLee

How do you put in the zerk fittings? Are there instructions somewhere for this?

jimlab

I have online instructions available here...
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlab/instructions.htm

Basically, you drill a hole, tap it (thread it), clean out any debris, and then screw in a zerk fitting. It's really tough.

erik7

Here's some "dumb" questions from a noob? How would I know if I need bushings? And why do these seem expensive to me? I know bushings in general are expensive, I'm just wondering where is the cost coming from.

I'm hearing a scrape/clunk sound from the driver's side of the car on certain dips in the road. It feels like the strut might need to be replaced, but I'm hardly an ace mechanic at this point. My car only has 55,000 miles on it and has Eibach lowering springs.

Thanks for the info.

ERIK

BenzaLee

Cool, thanks

jimlab

Erik, If you're hearing clunking or scraping coming from the suspension, it's likely that you have ball joint (front) or pillow bushing (rear) wear that is causing the noise. This kit won't fix that, because the front ball joints are not replaceable without replacing the entire suspension component, and the pillow bushings in the rear suspension are only replaceable with Mazda components.

There's also the possibility that the bolts on your powerplant frame may have come loose and are causing the clunking sound under acceleration and deceleration, and as you mentioned, it is possible that the shocks or springs are causing noise, not to mention the possibility of squeaking coming from the sway bar bushings. In other words, there are a number of sources for noise in the suspension of the car, and you'll have to diagnose it yourself. The easiest way is to jack up each corner of the car and shake/wiggle the wheel by hand and try to find out if the noise is coming from that corner.

These bushings are not intended to fix noisy suspensions. They're intended to replace the OEM rubber bushings which allow slop in the suspension (inaccurate movement of suspension components under load) compromising handling and road feedback for the sake of soaking up some road noise. The only reason that an OEM bushing (merely a pivot point, or "hinge") is made with rubber is for that sole purpose... isolating road noise. These bushings will increase noise somewhat, but no one has yet claimed that it was unbearable and most say they barely notice an increase, if at all. They do increase performance greatly, going a long way towards eliminating wheel hop, increasing power transfer, improving handling and steering wheel feedback, and eliminating or decreasing wandering on grooved or worn pavement, depending on tire tread design.

The reason they're expensive when compared to an average polyurethane bushing kit is simple... volume. Prothane, Energy Suspension, and other bushing manufacturers only tackle cars for which there is a large potential market. When tooling to mold polyurethane bushings in large quantities can cost $50k or more, it doesn't make any sense to target a car for which there is a very limited number of potential buyers because you'd never get a return on your investment. That's why bushing kits for Honda Civics, Ford Mustangs, and Chevy Camaros are so cheap... because there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of potential buyers and they can afford to make the tooling to make bushings in bulk. With the 3rd gen. RX-7 however, that's not an option, which is why none of the major manufacturers produce an FD bushing kit.

In addition, as with almost anything, material costs are reduced when purchased in bulk. Buy 1 of something and it costs X. Buy 5 and the price is reduced. Buy 500 of them, and usually you'll get a sizeable savings over the single unit price. With these bushings, the same is true, so buying enough Nylon for 12 sets is a specific price. If the number of orders justifies buying enough material for 18 sets there's a price break, and the same goes for 24 sets and so on. I choose to pass that savings on to the customer, so higher volumes means a price break for everyone involved. The same goes for the stainless steel stock used for the center pins.

And finally, there are machining costs. Since the bushings are machined in several separate stages or operations on milling machines, there is human labor involved, as well as a set up fee for each bushing size (there are seven different sizes in the FD kit). If you make more parts while the machine is set up for a specific operation, the setup fees which are a fixed amount are amortized (distributed) over more sets, and as a result the price goes down overall. Make enough sets, and you minimize the expense of the machining process, and that savings also gets passed on to the customer.

Bottom line, they may seem expensive, but when compared to the alternatives they're less expensive and perform far better than Mazda OEM or Mazdaspeed "40% stiffer" rubber replacements, and about the same cost for the entire suspension as the Pettit "drag launch" kit, which is just for the rear of the car.

Hope that helps!

erik7

Hey Jim,

That more then helps. Thanks for the very well explained answer to my question.

I'm interested in your bushings, I have some other things I need to check out first though. I'll keep monitoring the thread for a group buy and see what happens.

Thanks again.

ERIK

jimlab

Jason's given his permission, so I've set up a formal group buy thread in the vendor/group buy forum...

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...postid=2022061

Thanks!

BATMAN

I have a set that I might be willing to sell.

it is a complete set sans the diff bushing.

PM me with offers.

I don't have pics since they are in perfect uninstalled condition......