Rebel Racing RSR Bushing (Front) A-Arm Install Question
 

Hey Gang - I installed my RSR \ Rebel Racing bushings on my front A-Arms yesterday, all went smooth. In terms of the swinging motion of the A-Arms once everything is tight \ torqued up, if I tie a 5lb weight around the end of the arm (where the ball joint is located) the arm will freely fall from 12-O'clock to 6-O'Clock. I do have the arm shimmed so that it is co-linear front to back. No matter how many adjustments I made with shims between the bushing and the body of the car, I could not get the arm to fall freely under its own weight. Is this about right? The motion with the 5lb weight tied to the ball joint is very smooth / fluid / linear and absolutely no binding.

I am hoping Flieger and others who have installed these RSR bushings can chime in.

Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Many thanks! - Yasin

Yasin,

Are you using the conical washers to shim the front pick-up points or did you just use spacers?
Before you torque everything up, can the a-arms move freely up & down?

Carl

Hi Carl - "Yes" I am using the conical washers supplied by Rebel Racing \ Clint, and also "yes" everything moves nice and free before torquing down the bolts.

Regards - Yasin

Then I believe you might need a little more... The belly pans are often not perfect and can cause a problem. When finger tight, if everything moves nicely, I would try adding a flat washer or two against the chassis before the conical washer combo.

Can you offer a picture of the setup?

I found it difficult to get proper alignment when I tried to reuse the tow hook caps at the front so I went without. My car is a full time racecar and they are not needed. If you street the car I suggest you ask Clint for his opinion on this!

Hi Carl - I will definitely call Clint and ask him and post a picture tonight when I get home. Many thanks for your response and assisitance.
Yasin

Based on your description, I think you are good to go. When I did my install, I had to play with the shims but I finally got it very close to the ideal free play and probably had no more than five pounds or less needed for the arms to drop. Make sure you take out any fore and aft play before you crank down on the front mount. I didn't and had a clunking noise when braking after reversing. Finally figured out the problem, loosened the bolts, tapped the a arm back toward the rear of the car and re-tightened everything. Everything is great now - love those RSR's.
rt

Ok guys, so I called Clint and chatted with him for about 20minutes or so...here is the deal.

1. The spherical washers that is provided sandwhich the RSR bushings and need to be mounted on either side of the bushing between the mounting bolt and the underbelly of the car. I only had the bushing shimmed between the underbelly of the car.

2. Tip on the spherical washer. Half moon convex side against the RSR bushing, the concave side against the car (or bolt head).

2. If re-using the stock cover \ tow hook (which I will be), further shimming of the single bolt (not the two side ears) will be required to ensure eveything is still co-linear.

Bob - My arms were very snug or very precise when they went in, so I did not have any lateral movement (fore and aft), but thanks for the heads-up.

My best - Yasin

Interesting. I get a single clunk when reversing out of the garage. It happens only once per drive that I notice. I always thought it was my relatively sloppy (axially left-right) Weltmeister anti-sway bars. Perhaps that is it.

Are you or did you hear the "CLUNK" in front or did it appear to come from the rear?

I may need to adjust the "for/aft" on my Rebels.

Trying to visualize any you guys have a pic f the play I should be looking for?

Clunk comes from the front for me, but I can't tell if it is the anti-sway bar or the A-arm bushings. I am starting to think the A-arm bushings.

Did you guys tighten and torque all your bolts AFTER the car was back on the ground, wheels on and rocking it back and forth to ensure that the new suspension has settled with and on the car's weight? That was a great tip Clint provided to me today.

Pic of RSR Bushing install from tonight.
http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL387.../397465603.jpg

Regards - Yasin

My single clunk after reversing out of my driveway was in the front and after I tweaked it as described above, the problem has never resurfaced.

My recent installation of RSR bushings also required the spherical washers for "low drag" A-arm movement. To align the tow hook/cover, the forward bolt required a 5/8" spacer between the body and the tow hook/cover, with the rest of the hardware stacked in its original order. Very smooth and silent set up - great stuff.

When is clint going to make a rear bushing to match the fronts??

Michael

When is clint going to make a rear bushing to match the fronts??

Michael

He is working on it now..stay tuned!

He has already designed it and told the machine shop to make the prototype housing but it is just so hard to find a good shop that will treat Clint's parts with priority. He usually does smaller runs and the prototype will be just one set so they are taking FOREVER to get them back to Clint. I think he might just machine them himself at this rate.

Once he gets the prototype, he can do some testing on his car to confirm they perform in a racing environment.

After that, they can go into production provided the machine shop will make them on a timely basis.

Do you think he'll have em ready by around November? I've been putting off ordering the rear poly-bronze for a long time, but I'm not ready or able to install yet. I keep hoping that he will ferrules out.

Michael

It might help if he hears from you personally- that might get him in gear to finish the parts.

ContactUs

Sent ;)

Max I have sent him one as well

Michael

I would love a set of the rears also, but I hope he makes them for the Sway Away adjustable spring plates.

This was an issue we were having for some time with our CAD parts, if he wants I can give you/him my CNC shop contact's info (self run small business) he's a great guy & makes rocker arms designed by him for 8,000 - 10,000 hp drag cars.

Clint has a GREAT product here - and just sooo damn beautiful! Wish more people in this industry would follow suit.

Thanks very much for your offer, Gabe. Clint says he is interested. I sent him the link to this thread. He should be contacting you soon, by PM I think.

He is also very impressed by your D-Zug 935 style chassis X brace.

:)

Rebel racing BUshings
 

YasiN: greetings. I am close to replacing my front 930 suspension bushings. Would you reccomend the Rebel racing set? What the main differences you've realized since instaltion? Is you car a street driver or a track car? What about road noise, any increase?

let me know please...

Phillip

Hi Phillip - I fully recommend the Rebel Racing Bushings, they are incredible, there is no looking back once you have them installed. My car is far more responsive and linear with these bushings plus the additional suspension improvements I made. My car is 100% street and there is no difference in road noise.
Hope that helps. Good luck, it is conversion that requires patience and some time, but well worth it.
Warm Regards - Yasin

+1, I had them for about a year now and absolutely love them.

Agree, be patient while installing them and Clint is really helpfull. Before tearing things apart, make certain the new bolts will thread in, PO on my baby did a hack job and placed SAE instead of Metric but Clint helped me along.

My understanding is noise will only be if installed incorrectly, i.e. binding and not dropping on it's own prior to torqueing the bolts with those eccentric washers. Remember once you find the sweet spot, you need to re-torque with the car on the ground tough if lowered but you can place her on ramps to do the same trick, the A-Arms need to be under load for this final stage of installtion.

Agressive Street and occasional track/DE :D for fun and trying not be last

Jim

If you like his front RSR bearings, you should see the new rear springplate setup Clint has...... I saw them at Rennsport.
These will be going on my car shortly.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1319389865.jpg

Oh Snap!, Finally! He was there? damn missed him.

OK has anyone tried them yet?

He put the first set on his Mom's longhood a few weeks ago. That is the only car running them to my knowledge.

Guys,

If you are getting a "clunking noise" please closely inspect your spherical washers! They can be over-torqued and crack which caused the cluncking on mine......on the track!

I used stainless versions for the fix.

J.J, I have a clunk when I turn but I felt it was coming from my rear bearings. I will check those washers. Where can you get those AS washers?

Clint is now supplying stainless washers. He had to have a batch made custom. The case-hardened ones are harder but also more brittle and can rust. They will work mechanically but the stainless are more painless to install.

Clunking noises can also result from a failure to follow step 7 or 11 or whatever it is where it says to tap the A-arm back snugly into the rear bushing, then tap the front housing back to take up all the axial play in the A-arm. Otherwise there will be a small amount of play that will result in a small clunk when reversing out of the garage. Once you start moving forward everything takes a set and is fine, even under braking.

I just got the Rebel S Racing (RSR) Products Front Bushing Set, Rebel S Racing (RSR) Products Rear Bushing Set and Rebel S Racing (RSR) Products Superior Quality Adjustable Bump Steer Kit with covers. I will post some pictures once installed.

Let me know how you like the rear bushings. Those are very new.

+1 Please!

Just got my SS washers, Clint is the MAN! :cool:

Has anyone had any experience installing the rear bushing set from Clint?

I helped Clint install them on my car. Some crash repair damage and other kuldges by previous mechanics made things a bit tricky on one side but other than that it was straightforward. I was switching from Delrin to them, so I was able to avoid the time spent removing the old rubber. It took Clint about 6 hours including getting the car in the air and also changing the torsion bars (and reindexing them) while we were at it. One side took about 5 hours and the second one only about 1 because it was nice and factory. Drove in in the morning and drove away in the afternoon.

Suspension Work June 2013 - a set on Flickr

I did them this past summer. They are easier than swapping the rubber bushings in my opinion. What i found is that it's critical that you dry fit everything including the torsion bars and banana arm and establish that your car is straight before you JB weld the bushing into the torsion tube hole. The tight tolerances of the delrin bushing they use won't deform like the stock rubber ones will do, which is great (and what you are paying for in the first place) until you need a little give to line everything up due to production variances and or some curb kissing mishaps somewhere in the car's history.
By dry-fitting to verify it will all line up, then disassembling, expoxying, and reassembling it all before the epoxy sets, you can be assured nothing sets up at the wrong angle.