bushings bushing everywhere

[Jesse C.]

Just a quick observation.

 

Why not paint the parts that you have taken out of the car before you put them back in?

 

Almost seems a shame to see those nice new parts in the dirty old places.

 

Regardless, thanks for posting you expirence with us. This is one of the things I am doing next! Suspension!!

[jhughes26]

yeah i had similar feelings, i have never painted before even though we have a set up, what would you recommend? what needs to be done as far as prep work and follow up? do i need special paint or anything

 

 

anyone out there know of any spring/shock upgrades or CHEAP disk brakes???

[Jesse C.]

Get some heavy duty degreaser from you local hardware store, Home Depot, Lowes or even Wal Mart should have some, a good stiff scrub brush and some hot water. Spray it on, let it sit, and then scrub away! Rinse and let it dry. Then just shoot it with some enamel paint or get a can of Rust-Oleum and you can even brush that on if you do not have access to a spray gun. Rust-Oleum even makes the nice satin black for that factory look!

 

As for brakes, the 200SX conversion seems to work well and you just have to do some slight bracket mods to put them on. I have not looked around here too much yet, but, I am sure someone has posted a note about that. Or, go to the Dime Quarterly website, they have on on there you can read up on.

Edited August 3, 2009 by Jesse C.

[jhughes26]

alright, well i have made some discoveries.

1.) home depot has cheap rustolem that looks pretty good IMO thanks jesse for the tip

 

 

 

2.)the control arms have a little sleeve in them that the bushing will fit into. i tried to flare it out so i could squeeze them to no avail.

 

 

i think they need to come out, so i tried to pry it out, i think they are welded in there.

 

 

i don't think the bushings will go in with out the sleeves coming out. i was about to take the arms to the machine shop, but i wanted to ask and see if they is a cheaper and more interesting way to do it (basically cheaper)

 

[jackedaw11]

The rear control arm bushings are a PITA! I've done it before and I feel your pain. You have to get the sleeves out of there to get the new bushings in and its not easy.

 

I ended up using a saw to cut a slit in the sleeve lengthwise and that loosened it up enough to get it out with a press. give that a try, but be very careful, you don't want to cut into the control arm!

[jhughes26]

yeah i did something different, since i have very few tools around the house i am confined to using my local machine shop. love em, they do great work but it can get pricy for someone on a ratsun budget. so i go there with the arms and the bushings, he measures everything and then says it would be half price to just shave the bushings, so i say hey, sounds great to me, so there are there on a lathe now.

 

unorthodox i know, but i don't think it can do that much harm

[jhughes26]

updates!!

 

got the lower ball joint worked out, so the entire front suspension is back together except for my new sway bar isn't in cause its not here yet :(

needless to say i'm pretty jazzed about that

 

couldn't have done it with out this guy

 

 

 

so rear arms...got my bushings back from the machine shop, looked good, fit great, polyurethane grease is God's gift to man in these situations.

 

 

 

 

bad news, the bolts that secured the arms to the frame are half a hair wider than the new sleeves. all except one, which is really strange.

 

 

was going to get the sleeves widened tomorrow morning at the machine shop, anyone see any big problem with this?

 

sometimes i wish i didn't have to cut so many pieces of my car in order to make it fit...

[jhughes26]

updates!!

 

sorry guys for the wait, i was on vacation with the fam, zion is amazing if your ever in the area...

 

first of all SORRY FOR THE LACK OF PICTURES

 

got the bolts thinned down a hair so they slide right in, used a crowbar to lever the control arms in, tapped the bolts through and tightened them down, re connected the brake hoses and was working on the e brakes when i decided this was better not done by flashlight. (hence the no pics)

 

pics tomorrow hopefully

[compression]

While you have the car up in the air, you should do a rear disc brake conversion. Shoot me an email if you are interested in how to do it.

engineered.datsun@gmail.com

 

Other things you should do to get the suspension dialed:

-steering box brace

-steering idler arm delrin bushings (Experimental Engineering makes them)

-Rear crossmember bushings (or "savage" washers).

[jhughes26]

as much as i would really love to do a complete suspension conversion, coilovers in the rear, new struts, adjustable camber plates, and all the stuff i need for the steering, and thats a lot, i am already pressed for time and money, mostly time thought, i have to drive my baby from so cal to wash state sept 16 and 17 and i'm a slow worker, mainly cause i'm an idiot and everything i have done is new to me. down the road though...

 

 

about tonight's endeavors, i got pictures. i finished hooking up the brake lines and managed to get the springs back in pretty smoothly, let the arm hang, set it up loose, then put my conan-strength floor jack right underneath the spring seat and pushed up till the shock could be bolted in

 

 

 

btw, these aren't the stock shocks setup, it came like this and i have no idea what it is, anyone know?

 

 

got a box in the mail today :D

 

 

 

 

they wanted me to attach the rear to the studs holding the bump stops in, but when i started unbolting it, the bump stop just spun too, so got think of something for that.

 

i then started work on the front, damn it gets heavy after a while! and its way beefier than the old one, which is good. i only managed to get one bolt in before i got frustrated by the lack of food and light, but its gonna look badass once its all hooked up

 

 

on a separate note...i lost a piece in the e brake setup. its my own fault for leaving it apart so long, im still hoping it will show up somewhere, or remember that i put it somewhere, but im not counting on it.

 

its the pin and coter that holds this to the actual assembly

 

 

 

this is what i need

 

 

i know a machine shop that could re make the pin for me, but they are pricey, anyone got a better idea??

 

man i love how close i am, all bushings are now installed... just the swaybars before i can put tires on her and drive agin...man is been a while...but its getting close, i can taste it

[inline4]

i've got a set of some poly bushings, brand unknown. should I have them put on? :o

[Logical1]

Nice work Sir! As for your pin & clip, you should be able to find a pin with the same diameter at a larger hardware store and if it is too long just cut/grind it down and re-drill the hole fore the clip. I dont think not having the exact part is going to make/break it for your e-brake. I get alot of stuff from 'Lowes' the have a large special/metric/pins/misc section by the key maker that I hit up alot! and everything is 1/10'th the price of actual car parts... Wherabouts in Wa. you heading? would be cool to check your bushing work in person :)

[compression]

You can use a short bolt and a lock nut in place of the pin.

 

I hate that suspension technique swaybars come in green. It is hideous.

First thing I did was take them out of the box, then straight to the powder coating shop to get blacked.

[jhughes26]

i will be dorming at a school in walla walla, which is right next to whittier, in the bottom right corner of the state. where are you located?

 

yeah i guess i could just use a bolt, would kinda like for them to both be pins though... not that anyone will look or care, but just kinda overall quality of the build...idk, now that i said that i will not be able to find a pin and end up using a bolt ;)

 

i kinda like the green myself, i may get tired of it later though, for now it stays:D

 

i looked at the rear disk conversion, i like the parts, i just really need to get this baby on the road, need to find out what else will go wrong before i make the long trek, but im logging it all away for later

[jhughes26]

last night was advantageous. for the first time in a while,the front of the car is back on the ground

 

 

i went to home depot and for seventy something cents got this, dremeled off all beyond the first two holes, and called it good, it works well enough, especially for less than a buck

 

 

i finished installing the front swaybar, then dropped it and torqued it to spec, going to torque the rest of the front tonight, then the rear swaybar, then im driving again :D man this is close

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jhughes26]

well i guess all ends are beginnings. i finished the rear swaybar at midnight a little while back and drove it to the only shop i trust with my baby for alingment and some electrical work that i don't know how to do yet. they did their magic and came back with some bad news. the drive shaft is unbalanced cause they did something wacky when the PO put in the 5spd and could come loose, the tranny proabably has a weak bearing cause it drops out of 5th all the time, i somehow have 2 degrees of camber in the back, and a bit of toe out, the floor boards are crap (which i knew) and that there was no way he would try to make it to WA state from so cal and that depending on snow and salt it might rust to hell very quickly

 

needless to say not the happiest given that i need to leave 5 am thurs and it will be in a rental car. so im leaving it with the mechanic and hoping to drive it up over thanksgiving or christmas.

 

beginning to understand love/hate more than i wanted. and disliking the fact that i wont be able to work on it for a while. so i got no car for college. but the bushings are done and the sway bars went in alright, hope this thread helped someone out there

 

hope to be putting more stuff up soon, Joe

[wana510]

Badass once i get mine on the road i will be doing all the bushings

[Logical1]

Sorry to hear about your Troubles, I dig this thread and was hoping to see your dime up here in Wa! Dont hate on your car to much, If it was easy anyone could do it! Great work so far though, I know I'll be checking back into this thread many times in the future :)

[jratt]

jhughes26

 

Thanks for the detailed thread :D My 69 dime is due back from the body shop and I was planning on doing all the stuff in this thread. Now I know what to expect...

 

Good luck with school

Jratt

[71dime]

The rear control arm bushings are a PITA! I've done it before and I feel your pain. You have to get the sleeves out of there to get the new bushings in and its not easy.

 

I ended up using a saw to cut a slit in the sleeve lengthwise and that loosened it up enough to get it out with a press. give that a try, but be very careful, you don't want to cut into the control arm!

[71dime]

if u cut a slit in the sleave with a sawzall then all u gotta do is hit it with an airhammer and they slide right out i just did my rear arms.

[DARIN 510]

Really?

Can you tell me more about this differences on bush on mustache bar

 

 

 

Here's pics of bushings for shock bump stop and subframe if you decide to replace the subframe bushings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

these are for the mustache bar and sub-frame right?where did you get them or order from?

also what are those part numbers for the sub-frame bushings and mustache bar bushings if

those are them.

[Logical1]

these are for the mustache bar and sub-frame right?where did you get them or order from?

also what are those part numbers for the sub-frame bushings and mustache bar bushings if

those are them.

 

The Bottom bushings pictured are the front LCA bushings.