elephant control arm bushing post install pics

[jbrinkley]

I can't even describe how much better the front end feels. My wife now says it's way better than before. I thought it was fine in the first place. I do notice that the car feels way more smooth. It's the greatest improvement I've done so far
including, bilstein sports, rotors, lines, pads, tierods, and ball joints, oh ya, monoballs on top

*be very careful with the metal shims that come with the bushings, The thicker ones .004 will slice through your fingers in a heartbeat. You may or may not need stiches, if in doubt, ask you wife.*

[84toy]

*be very careful with the metal shims that come with the bushings, The thicker ones .004 will slice through your fingers in a heartbeat.

I found that tossing the shims worked much better. Instead, I roughed up the surfaces and used a product like JB weld to bond the sleeves on the arms.

[armandodiaz]

How hard was it to get the old bushings out? I was told it's a "bear", one has to use a torch to melt them out. Is this true? Have you done the rears yet?

[Tim L]

Just heat the metal up and they come right out. I was surprised how easy it was.

[armandodiaz]

I think I had a local shop try to scare me into bring my car in. They told me how these bushings never come off easy. You have to heat but you also have to be care not to damage the metal. Also how the metal gets out-of-round due to years of suspension movement. It sounds logical. As far as the rear they said the mounts on the torsion tube gets misaligned and have to be straightened or the alignment will never be straight.

[jmz]

they didn't come right out for me. It required heat AND alot of scraping to get the residual bits off. Not too hard though.

[jbrinkley]

havent done the rear yet. I used the torch to light the rubber. You could do it without a torch, just spray something flamable on the ends and let it burn. The mounts will fall off or shoot across the pavement -mine did.
the bear is the sway bar and cover, as everyone knows.

I thought about JB or some epoxy, I got some of that stuff around also, but I couldn't get passed the decision to permanently mount the race on there. I'm jussed pissed at myself for not wearing gloves.

[POVI]

Are those bushings 'street' friendly ? .. any squeaking etc ... ???

[CBRacerX]

Any shop that told you the torsion tube suspension mounts get bent and need to he re-aligned (assuming no MAJOR accident) is full of poo.

These mounts are very heavy duty, protected by a large portion of the cars body and unless you pretty much totalled the car will not be damaged easily.

Very fishy statement.

Chris

P.S. A-arms look great!

[jpnovak]

POVI they are very street friendly from the previous descriptions. That is a next to have on the list.

regarding bushing removal. It is very easy to remove the stock rubber bushings.

Use the torsion bar to remove the end cap from the front of the a-arm. Just hammer it until the cap pops out.

use a propane torch (oxy acetlyene is faster) to heat the outside collar until you hear a sizzle on all sides. Grab with pliers and twist off. it will just slide off if you use enough heat. then heat the inside of the a-arm where the bushing resides. same thing. When it sizzles just pull it off. Use a wire brush in your drill or grinder to finish clean. Repeat on other end of a-arm. Don't forget to press that cap back in. Should take less than 10 min per side. you will not put enough heat to distort the metal The rubber will come loose long before you are at red hot steel.

[Craig 930 RS]

Thanks! I'd love to see install pics of Chuck's other items.
I have major binding allaround and expect a major epiphany when I do the install too -

[armandodiaz]

Does anyone have any comparison between Elephants bushings and the needle bushings from http://www.muellerdesignwerks.com/ ? Mainly racing applications.

[CBRacerX]

Craig,
I accidentally posted this as a "new topic" also!
Sorry,
Chris

Rear Arms:







I did the inner pivot points as Monoballs also, but can't find any pics of that!

[Zeke]

Armando, the end the guy might have been talking about is the front, not the rear cross member. The front mounts are seldom perfect, but Elephant's mounting kit solves that problem.

One way to check is to trial mount the arms without the t-bars in them and work the range of motion. Do this as you are tightening the front mounts to see where binding might occur. You can attempt to shim or otherwise fix any misalignment of the front mounts, or just install the kit.

If you run the bushings bound up, they will wear out faster. Otherwise, they should last a LONG time.

[Chuck Moreland]

Jerry, glad to hear the product is working well. The sharp-shim issue has been addressed. They are now being laser-cut which leaves a less-sharp edge. They older ones were sheared and sometimes sharp, you obviously got an older set.

I think Milt is correct in his interpretation of the shop's comments. The control arm mounts (front and rear) can take a beating from pot-holes, etc and get out of alignment. The rear torsion tube mount is much sturdier and would only get bent in the event of a fairly serious accident.

[randywebb]

Chuck - When are going to make some front A-arms out of nice stiff, light weight Al? Something for street use....

[Chuck Moreland]

Randy, I've given some thought to this. But it would be a fairly expensive product to manufacture. The price would probably scare off most potential buyer, many of whom would be comparing it with the ERP front suspension. In fact, it would probably cost more to make a lightweight factory-type A arm than it costs to make the whole ERP type setup.

I suspect demand for a product like this wouldn't justify the investment required to develop it.

Plus I've got a few other projects in queue that are keeping me busy. But I am sworn to secrecy!

[randywebb]

Ow! More than $1,800! The erp setup _can_ be run on the street but Carey E. wasn't too excited by the idea ....

[Chuck Moreland]

I said "cost more to make". The entire "A" would have to fabricated from raw stock. In contrast the ERP setup has some custom bits that tie together off-the-shelf rod ends.

I suspect a product like you are describing would have to sell in the $1000 - $1500 range retail. Aftermarket "A" arms are available for the 944 and they too are in this range.

All things considered I think it is a pretty slim group of buyers looking for something like this. Specifically someone with a healthy budget who wants to run torsion bars and wants to squeeze every last pound from the car.

[Mark Howard]

Would someone consider writing a Tech Article on this install? I would like to do the same upgrade, but am concerned in my abilities for a DIY job.