Club 80-90 Forums

R0B wrote:I wonder if the brickwerks powerflex ARB to body bushes are going to make a lot of difference to these FEBI Bilstein eBay ones.There is a huge price difference.
https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/s ... te-85.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-FEBI ... #vi-ilComp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The purple powerflex bushes are a bit stiffer, 30-40% iirc, but I imagine not in relation to price difference. Life span is probably the biggest gain they have.

Dubworth wrote:Glad you're enjoying the bushings, I've got mine bedding in now and already I can echo your words, very noticeable improvement in body roll etc.

I put 400+ miles under the wheels so far this weekend and mine are noticably bedding in too.

I've just changed my front anti roll bar, have a spare complete set up . Looking at using it to set up a rear anti roll bar , what you have posted is just what I was looking for brilliant talk about good timing ... I have the thread from T3 technique plus a few more from Samba.... cheers

I've ordered a pair of early ARB bush clamps, they have two screw holes rather than the later ones with one hole.
So I'm waiting for them before I can do any more.
I've tried sliding the bar through behind the sloping bulkhead and it's going to be a tight fit but should be do-able.
We might have to cut away some of the old sound deadening material from the bulkhead.
Brackets will be needed to mount the bush clamps onto the chassis rail and the trailing arm will need beefing up where the drop link mounts to it.
I'm not sure whether to weld on a plate or if that would actually weaken the arm.
I'll post as I go along, I'd be interested if you could do the same Ian.
Which mounting method were you planning on using?
BBB.

P.S. here's a pic of the oe krankenwagen rear bar.
Looks like it's got a bracket welded to the chassis rail to take the bush bracket.

I too need to order early clamps with 2 holes , Having read the samba lemoms thread I'm going to copy the set up shown in the 2 photos , to be sure & safe
I'll more than likely remove the trailing arm fit new bushes, weld a plate in the area the drop link meets the trailing arm. Apart from that it looks straight forward

Being a bit lazy can I ask who did you order the early clamps off .. cheers

I got my bush clamps today (from brickwerks) so did a trial fit.
I drilled the brake pipe clip hole out to 10.5mm for a start but think it will need to be 15 or maybe 16mm to take the drop arm tube and allow it to move around slightly as the angle of the drop link changes.



I'm feeling happier about the stresses on the arm now, if you reach inside the arm you can feel a strengthening piece welded into the top of the arm, it stops just short of the hole and leaves enough room for the lower drop arm bush that you're going to fit in there.
The area around the hole is slightly raised so I think I'll weld on an extra drop link dished washer, upside down, as a strengthener around the hole.
The arm is 3.5mm thick and the washer 1.5mm giving a total of 5mm. sounds about right to me.
I may need to shorten the tube slightly to make sure the bushes grip the arm.

On the chassis bush clamp side.... it looks like the back edge of the clamp needs to be level with or forward of the slotted hole in the top of the chassis rail in order to keep the top of the drop link clear of the suspension tower.
More to follow.

Thanks for the encouragement Ian, Glad I'm not alone doing this.

I have just got going on this , so i'm a bit behind 1st job I removed the sound proofing to allow me get the ARB in place .. Order some bits & bobs
get some angle iron
Not helped that I was hill walking last weekend & off this weekend too oh well .. I'll get there

I'm just doing a bit each evening Ian, as the parts arrive and I figure out what I'm doing. hahaha.
tonight I drilled the drop link holes out to 14mm and then reamed them so the tube is a loose wobbly fit in the hole.
I then repated the same on two dished washers and welded the washers on, sorry no pics, it's dark out there now.
I put the tube in the hole and clamped it there with a bolt while I welded the washer on but it still needed reaming again after, not by much though.
Unfortunately I nicked a brake pipe with the welder and it's now seeping, "oh dear I cried, what a shame"..... well... something like that anyway.
I'm not that bothered tbh, I thought I might need longer pipes to clear the drop link bushes anyway and mine are a bit corroded so it's a good time to replace them both and get some fresh fluid in the system.
Fingers crossed the unions and bleed nipples come out cleanly.
Unfortunately it's bad timing and BW are stocktaking this week so I got them from JK.

I'll move on to the angle iron brackets tomorrow I think.

Some progress today. I ordered new brake cylinders as there was no chance i was going to remove the pipe unions and nipples from my old ones. They turned up today so are now fitted and just waiting for pipes.

I had a think about how to mount the bush clamps and came accross a couple of steel plates with captive nuts welded on. Here's what i've come up with so far.





The front hole of the clamp is slotted out so it slides on under a bolt screwed into a captive nut.
The rear hole in the plate is slotted too so it can slide a bit to help get it in the right position.
The rear of the clamp is then tightened down with a free nut and as the clamp is not flat across the bottom, the front of the clamp lifts until it's tight under it's bolt. I'll find the right amount the bolt has to stick up by and then tack weld the exposed thread so it doesn't work loose.

I had to flatten the clamp a little by cutting slots in the raised edges and bending the clamp then welding up the slots.
I'm happy with it so far and just need to decide whether to weld the plate to the chassis rail or clamp it. Hmmmm..... time for a beer and contemplation.

Brake pipes came today so they're on. just need brake fluid and bleeding up.

Plan B on the arb clamp mount. The plate on plan A was too thick.

So i'll try this-

Nice tablecloth!

Is the plan to weld/bolt the bracket to the side of the chassis rail? I'd wonder about the need to have some element bearing down on the top of the rail to provide additional stability.

Yes. It's now welded to the chassis rail. I couldn't get the drill in to drill the rail to bolt it. I might add a plate across the top of the bracket and rail but the main force is upwards when one wheel is higher than the other rather than down onto the rail. Trial fit tomorrow once the paint is dry.

I think the forces are balanced are they not? There is torsion across the bar so there is an equal and opposing force on the bush and its bracket on the other side. If there wasn’t that equal and opposing force, the ARB would just swing up.

Yes, there is equal and opposite vertical force on the drop links but does this directly translate to the pivot point at the bush mount?

I think I’ve reached (or maybe exceeded) the limit of my competence...