I have measured the gap in the bracket where the bush bolt into which is 33.1mm so I think 33mm is correct for bracket dimensions I have as 32mm would not be clamped when the bolt is tightened so the bushes would rotate around bolts. The od of mine is 14mm this may make mine to tight .Howard has this problem with his k3 the aftermarket bushes of this type where tight in the arm this caused more strain on the metal arm around it which eventually snapped off. As Mr Sidewinder said the stainless tubes should be ok to reuse unless the dimensions of the bush have changed slightly.

Update


Yes we will be able to buy the top hat bushes separately from the tubes.

Supaflex have sent me a form to recalculate the hardness of the bushes. Mark has kindly measured his wishbones and I will remove a wishbone from my car this morning to check that they're the same. Roger, they also sent you the form, is your car in bits? Could you take the measurements as well?

Bob.

Update.

Superflex have come back to me after recalculating the hardness of the bush.

They are still recommending 'shore95' and say that the tube 33mmL x 14mmOD x 10mmID is the correct tube although the sample that they sent me is 33mmL x 13.5mmOD x 10mmID ?

If you have a 32mmL tube the bush needs to be trimmed, if your tube is 14.2mmOD it 'could' be too tight and cause binding.

The minimum order is for 100 top hat bushes which will do 6.25 cars, so are there any more people interested other than myself, Roger and Sidewinder?

Bob.

If it comes to it I can cast my own bushes, I have all the gear, including a pressure pot for doing the molding & casting.

I've only found max of shore A85 in poly casting rubbers so far, but as the originals were 90 its not far off.

SAS

They told me that they have only ever supplied '95'

With three of us I am willing to order 100 and hope to sell the surplus on eventually, but if there's only two of us........it makes it difficult to justify the cost.

Bob.

My mistake someone, mentioned 90 earlier.

Note my idea is only a contingency plan, i'm still in for a set from the supplier.

I'd say to anyone reading this who's had their car on the road for a good few years should invest in a set.

SAS

What's the final price Bob?

Final price for the top hat bushes alone should be £6.90 each x 16 =£110.40 + Post & Packing from me.
They have no stock of the 33mmx14mmx10mm tubes and again want a minimum order of 100. As we're replacing bushes and not building new cars we should reuse the tubes that we have.

Bob.

Hi

My car is still whole and will be for some time yet as there is no room in the garage at the moment.

I am still up for this and am happy with that price Bob.

OK I'll have a set to put by. I'll collect tho' One 1st Tuesday.

Thanks Roger. Great Malcolm.

In my haste to answer Malcolm I forgot to mention that the above price is for full members, non members + £20.

Bob.

I would like to a set because I am not happy with the binding on the on unused ones I have so I want a spare set so I can have a set to experiment with I intend to try chamfering the ends of the bush slightly to reduce the contact area with the bracket to reduce binding. When I tightened the top arm bolts with the top balljoint removed I could hardly move the top arm. I also think 14mm is to big for the tube as this is tighter than the outer part of bush in the arm so will try to make my own in tubes slightly smaller od so sill have old ones to put back if no good. Doing this will hopefully allow more movement in suspension but this will mean bushes will wear faster so more likely to need spare ones but will let springs provide suspension rather than bushes making inner ends of wishbones like torsion bars

Your thinking along the same lines as me Mark. I'm going to see if Superflex will supply me with some 13.5mm tubes [same as the sample that they sent me] so I can try them and see/feel the difference to the 14.2mm tubes that I have. I also might have the 14.2mm tubes turned down to 14mm but it's doubtful that it will make any difference.
I'm looking to place the order this week so they arrive when I'm back from my holiday.

Bob.

Card thu' the letter box when You get back "We tried to deliver......" 2nd card "We tried again and have returned to sender"

I am going to find out what size tube I can get from local metal supplier and hope to pick some up on Saturday morning as have morning off work if they have anything close to size needed then take it to my friends stockcar workshop where there is a lathe I can use to get it to 13.5mm .If the sample was 13.5mm but we have 14mm is it possible we were all supplied with the wrong size tubes but they do not want to admit this because there would be a lot of people wanting free replacements .Will the new bushes be exactly the same as the old ones dimensions if they make the holes a little bigger the 14mm tubes will be ok and the new smaller tube won't be needed so may wait till new bushes are made or use old tubes with new bushes and make the new tubes to suit the original bushes?