Rebushing the whole car.

[rhipsher]

Originally Posted by Dynomite

See "Solutions" under heading "EXTERIOR" Eagle

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread....8872#post88872

I am hoping for some more pictures all in one or two posts and combining this with the front bushing thread http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12309

Thanks for the thread with pictures and associated information rhipsher

I'll have some more pictures with better quality. There's one tricky upper A-arm bushing thats a challenge to get in but I figured out a great technique to get it in that I'll share with pics. The upper A arms have two different size bushings in them unlike the lowers which are the same size.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Ok I just got done rebushing the front end which includes the steering rack and both upper and lower A-arms. And of course a few weeks ago inner and outter tie rods. Now I promissed that I would do an official write up with pictures on this. Since I'm not a registered paying member of this site but have been a member for 3 years it's the least I can do to contribute. So here goes.
Now last I had left off on this I had just pulled the lower A-arms off. The bushings for them come in two halves. You just stick one in one side and on in the other then push the sleeve in and thats it. Here they are after install.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

I'm in the middle of rebushing the whole car right now with the Prothane poly euothane kit which consists of a whole lotta bushings. I figured I'd hit first what looked like it was gonna be the biggest pain in the azz. The steering rack. You pretty much have to take it to the point where you could take it out if you wanted to including removing the two hydrolic conections to it and unhook it from the steering wheel so it can be pivoted to get the drivers side bolt out otherwise the engine block is in the way. Actually the three rubber bushings I pulled out look really good. They are definitely much softer than the polyueothane ones that are going back in. The rest of it looks like a piece of cake. I'll do the front end first then do the rear. Even though the rest is a piece of cake its still a whole lotta work.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Here's some pics. My cell phone decided it doesn't want to take pictures in color anymore so they look like the old pics out of a Chiltons manual. The Prothane poly kit.

I ordered the kit from Eklers. Both mid America and Eklers were out of stock on them and Eklers had to back order them so it took almost a month to get them. The Prothane kit was $199. That includes every bushing for the entire car plus the super grease.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Heres the steering rack loose and out of place just sitting there from the drivers side. You'll need a pitman arm press to press the bushings out. As soon as you get the steering rack out of the cradle you can rebushing it where it sits.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Once the lowers are installed you want to bring the lower arm up to the wheel spindle so you can bolt it together. I used a 36mm socket to protect the grease fitting from getting crushed. Then jack it up and bolt together. My ball joints were still in good shape. But I did reboot them before bolting together.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

The steering rack is really the only thing thats a pain. You have to disconnect the steering linkage from the steering wheel coming out of the fire wall. Then unsnapp the plastic cover that protects the flex coupling and two hydrolic fittings. Then you have to use an 18mm crows foot with a 15" long 1/2 drive extension to to unscrew the fittings. After that get under the car and unscrew the other two hydrolic lines to the steering rack cylinder then you have to bench press it up and out from between the two ears. Then you can rebushing it. The rest of the front end is easy.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Now rebushing the upper A-arms is a little more tricky because they consist of two different size bushings and one of them involves some finess. But I'll get into that later.

Removing the upper A-arm. Remove the cotter pin and unbolt the nut. Then take a ball joint seperater/fork and place it in between the arm and ball joint. Take a 3lbs sledge hammer and give it a couple of whacks to break the taper lock. Step to one side before you hit it otherwise you might get a lap full of grease jizz. It tends to squirt. Then remove access panel.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Once the access panel is removed unbolt the arm. Just make sure you keep the shims together so you don't have to remember how they went.

Once you get them loose enough you will have to use your fingers to hold the bolt in its square pocket to keep it from spinning as you turn your wrench. Now I just bought this NOS upper A-arm from corvette recycling a year ago and the rubber looked great but upon inspection of it you can see that the rubber was already starting to crack.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Next out with the old in with the new. I used a press for this. Put the arm upright as shown. Then simply press the shaft through until free.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Next I clamped the arm in a 6" vice and used a puller to press the last bushing out. Super grease is also supplied with the kit and this stuff is super sticky like tree sap. Use it to grease the inside of the bushings before pushing the sleeve through the middle. Next just one half bushing in one side and one in the other. Then push the sleeve through both. Then use a C clamp to press them together the rest of the way.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Now this one is more of a challenge to press in. A word about poly eurothane. This stuff is super super tough material. It's nothing like rubber. Getting this bushing in takes some force. Poly does not distort or fall apart. Now put the arm back on the press for this. You simply can't press down to get the bushing in. That might work with rubber but not this stuff. You will bend or collapse the arm. So I fasioned up a little jig so there's no force on the arm itself. That keeps it from bending to far. It's kind of a pain to hold it in place with just one set of hands but it works well.

The point of this is just to get the lip of the bushing started and press it down far enough so you can start the bolt on it. Then put it back on the vice for the next step. Once back on the vice I screwd the nut on until the bushing starts to distort a little then back off one rev.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Use the same two socket and 3/8 extension setup on the vice for support while screwing the nut down. Remove the support jig. Then install the puller and and pull up 2 or 3 revs. It's a push pull push pull basically untill the lip finally pops through the bottom like this.

Is this a pain in the azz? Hell yes. Is this the right or wrong way to do it? I don't know but it worked for me. I just used my machinist smarts and what I had laying around. And whalla!

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Once I got everything back together my wife and I took it for a spin. As soon as I backed out of my driveway I could immidietly feel the difference. It was much stiffer in the front. We drove around and got on the freeway. The handling difference was totally awesome. Around corners there was almost no body roll or tilt. It felt extremely planted. The only down side for some people"Not me" would be the fact that you will feel the road more which rubber insulates from better. Everything is a give and take and you can't have it all. I'm very happy with it. And when I get coilovers installed it's gonna be sick. Now I still have to rebushing the rear end and will also do a write up on that. I'll save that for next weekend.

.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Finished rebushing the rear yesterday. As I was pressing out the last bushing on the strut rod a huge bolt of lightening hit my house. My hand was on the press handle and I got shocked right through the handle. It was so loud it scared the sh#t outta me. My hair was standing striaght up. It was hilarious. Knocked out all my Comcast receivers in the house and my A/C but nothing else. All the car alarms in the neighborhood were going nuts.

Anyway here is a write up on the rear end rebushing. Again I don't know if it's the right or wrong way to do it! Just did what worked for me.

The first thing I did after getting the rear up on jack stands and taking the wheels off was take some of the spring tension off the wheel spindle with a sissor jack. Then loosen up the strut bolts.

Now that the tension is off the strut rod bolts you can remove the bolts. I only did one strut rod at a time and left the other one in. If you remove both then the wheel spindle will drop down and be to heavy to menuver when you install the strut rods. Leave one in for support. Also you want to put a jackstand under the side rail off the side your working on. You want the wheel to hang free without a jack holding it up.

Remove one strut rod and press the bushings out and clean it good. I used dish washing soap in the kitchen sink and a brillo pad.

As you can see my strut rod bushings were wasted badly. Now simply install the bushings.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Now install it and take the next one out.



Then simply install the rear spring bushings.



Now I didn't replace the differential carrier bushings because Bill B. had warned me not to. Just keep it rubber. Plus they still looked good.

One thing that suprised me is that the kit did not come with front or rear sway bar bushings. Go figure. I checked my rear sway bar end link bushings. All that was left of any bushing that used to be there was a few crumbled pieces. In other words no bushing at all. I've got front and rear sway bar bushings on the way. Those are really easy to do.

.

Originally Posted by rhipsher

I'm sure that all these bad bushings had allot to do with one tire wearing out much faster than the other. These vredestien tires were great and I'll buy them again but with all the bad bushings on the car I only got about 15K miles outta them. And of course 35 runs down the drag strip over the 2 year span that I had them probably didn't help.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Ok I'll just get right to it. In order to rebushing the differential carrier you must remove it off the car. Put something under it because gear oil will go all over the place.
Remove the old bushings on a press.

The original rubber bushing next to the poly bushings. You must modify the poly bushings in order to press them in. As you can see there is a press fitted sleeve were the bushing goes. One side is lipped. The other side is not.

If you try to press the bushing in from the non lipped side it will shear the poly bushing and you don't want that.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

You have to gind down one of the ears of one bushing to about a 30 degree X 1/4 long chamfer. On the other about a 30 degree X 1/8 long chamfer so you can actually get them started. They will both have to be pressed in from the lipped side.



As you can see the bushing with the big chamfer is also chamfered smaller on the other side. Thats no necessary to do. I only did it because in the beginning I thought I was gonna be able to press them in from the front and back side. But this was a learning expieriance for me also.


While I was at it I also put new poly on the adjustable rear camber rods. Heres a little vid on that.

New Bushings On Rear Camber Rods Video Left click on picture.

[Dynomite]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Next it was time to put the rear differential carrier back on. I just used some red RTV to seal it back up.



Then it was time to fill the rear end back up with fresh gear oil 80 90 gear oil and a bottle of limited slip juice.

See "Solutions" under Heading "SUSPENSIONS" http://www.zr1.net/forum/showpost.ph...73&postcount=3