H8 mondays

I use summit racing all the time but this time the I also needed new shims and a few other parts that summit dose not carry. The are a good company to deal with and having them in town is an added bonus.

H8 mondays

I have been thinking about making a set of heim jointed strut rods from 1" 6061 aluminum that I have laying around but I am just not sure about the forces involved and if the strength of the aluminum would hold up I may just look for some steel round stock instead. But i like the idea of removing as much friction from the moving parts as possible.

Phil

resdoggie

T6061 aluminium is on mine. It is strong enough for that application.

H8 mondays

Great news that will give me an excuse to visit summit racing for heim joints and it will give me something to do in the meantime.
Thanks for the picture I like building things for half the price of off the self items that serve a purpose.

Phil

zigvs

My polys turned to glass in o time.Going back to rubber

leadfoot4

What brand were they?

sjstub

I just replaced all 4 poly bushings on my '69.The old poly bushings came out in pieces. Don't know how long they've been in there, but they didn't look too old. The car's up on blocks yet, so don't know how how the new rubbers are going to handle.

leadfoot4

Again, I'm just curious about what brand they were. My reasoning is this....a number of years ago, I performed a complete suspension rebuild, on the '79 Corvette that my wife owned at the time. I bought a number of parts from the now defunct 'Vette Brakes and Products. Since they also sold poly bushings, I bought them, from them, as well. When they arrived, I was a little confused, as the bushings were "unbranded" and simply packaged in plastic bags.

I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but these bushings had a different feel to them. I had previously used Energy Suspension bushings, with very good results, and had even used ES products after doing the work on the '79, again with good results. We kept the '79 for another 3-4 years, and at that point, the VB&P bushings were still intact, but I have no idea how long they lasted. We sold the car, and it's second owner retired to Florida, a couple of years later, so I lost contact with him.

But I'm just curious if the people that are reporting "issues" with polyurethane bushings are speaking of their experience with ES, Prothane, or the "generic" VB&P bushings.

H8 mondays

I installed the poly bushings and had a 4 wheel alignment done to the car and it drives like brand new no more wandering in the lane and feeling like I was always chasing the car is gone. Only time will tell how long they last but as a weekend car they will a long time. I can't beleave this was resurrected from June and everyone is still arguing about it. This seams almost as bad as what oil should I use. Ha

Have a great day all and thanks for the help.

zigvs

They were ordered maybe 10 years ago.The car sat in the garage.I couldn't find where I bought then from then I found a sticker on my spring.VBP.I'm going to give it another shot with energy suspension

zigvs

I Just had the car aligned and I had 18 miles on the bushings,Now the car sat for 10 years so maybe that had something to do with it.I just now pulled the trailing arm and scooped the crumbs out,The larger pieces broke in my fingers.Got them from VBP with an entire suspension kit along with a composite spring.(TRW).I was taking a shake down run and when I hit the gas the rear kicked out of my lane.Scared the **** out of me.Knew something bad was happening.Going with energy suspension.Praying

Pzark

I just finished replacing the bushings on my 79. The new bushings were Energy Suspension and were quite soft, felt like rubber but were poly. I have heard that earlier poly bushings were very firm so maybe this is why some guys have success using poly whilst some suffer bushings failing. They certainly need to be flexible for use in the trailing arms, hard bushings would certainly be destroyed.

leadfoot4

Were your bushings black, in color? If so, it's quite possible that they were indeed the ones that VB&P sold.

jim2527

I have feeling there was bad batch of poly about 10 years ago. At work the rubber wheels on our storage carts are disintegrating. Garage chemicals for lawn care and pool maintenance are notorious for causing issues.

zigvs

yes they were black

monstr

I have the VPB bushings In the car I just bought that didn’t have much mileage on it at all

They are shot in the back too with chunks falling out, fronts look ok but think I will replace them too

they actually look like they are not solid and have slits in them spaced around the circumference Which is why they probably crumble apart

Maybe they did this to allow for movement, if so what a crappy design

can the energy suspension bushings Directly replace the ones that came with the VBP kit or are new bolts And cups required?

monstr

Front spring bushings In VPB kit are going in chunks also And I don’t see replacements for those online are they available and any recommendations From members?

monstr

here are pics of the front leaf bushings which are in better shape than the rear but still crumbling it looks like they are the same as the rear ones does anyone know for sure if VBP used the same for front and rear?

Mod75

Poly.

jb78L-82

Wow! I have VBP poly cushings on my VBP 360 composite spring that I personally installed in 1986 and the bushings look brand new today.......jeezz. VBP must have changed poly vendors sometime after 1986 LOL.