Tom400CFI

Not much. Here is that vid of my 26 year old, 180kish mile car...
3:38 - 4:00 -I am in 1st gear going from no throttle to full throttle.
7:25 - 7:36 -I do a minor clutch dump in first gear, then do some mild drag type shifts to 3rd gear.
8:50 - 8:56 -I do a couple little clutch dumps and tire squeaks. Didn't want to go too crazy in my neighborhood and also didn't want to shake the camera loose.
9:55 > -I'm backing up a pretty steep driveway. Nothing major there, but the same thing in our Caddy and the diff would be flopping all over the place!

drcook

Thanks, that is the movement that I missed. When I do the rear, I am going to see if I can slip some "fender washers" in beside the batwing bushings and the mounts (see part 3 of the rebuild). I am also going to see how those "pillow blocks" on the top of the batwing actually function.

xrav22

I did the rear in red Energy Suspension 3.3145R Rear End Control Arm and such , then replaced the front sway bar with the new updated bushings. I could not be happier, driving to Las Vegas
5 times in the last couple years and feels good and safe(had to avoid obstacle once). Lube em alot and tighten while lowered to ground, mabe slight squeak when really cold. Ride handling better than old bushings.

MatthewMiller

One nice thing about poly bushings is that you can tighten the pivot bolts while the car's still on jack stands. With poly bushings, the inner sleeve actually rotates inside the inner bushing bore. So if you tighten the bolts with the arms at full droop, the sleeve will just rotate as you lower the car back onto the ground. That is not true with OEM rubber bushings, whose inner sleeves are bonded to the inner bore of the rubber. With those bushings, the suspension movement causes the inner sleeve to twist the rubber bushing instead of rotating inside of the bushing. So you do need to wait to tighten the pivot bolts until the car is at normal ride height.

drcook

It is that twisting and cushioning of the OEM rubber bushings that equates to "the new car ride". If you have ever rebushed an entire car/truck, including spring eyes (if applicable), body mounts and all the other sundry rubber mounts/bushings, you would be amazed at how that 25 yr old vehicle starts riding like the day it was new. Might be blowing blue smoke out the back and slipping the clutch or trans, but it will have that smooth, cushioned ride.

Polyurethane and even the Banski suspension/del-alum front bushing suspension parts that I bought are going to make the car ride "harsher" because they don't soak up, dampen the vibrations/movements.

However, the handling improves because the components move, instead of the bushings twisting, moving then the components move.

On one hand this makes me wonder that (for the road, general cruising NOT track usage) if using a little softer shock (base Bilsteins instead of the Z51 Bilsteins such as are on my car) along with the pin top shock mounts from Banksi (which let the shocks work instead of the bushings, then the shocks) when the suspension is stiffened up (such as poly or Banski suspension/del-alum front bushing) would take some of the "harshness" out of the ride, while still being able to enjoy the increased handling.

I do know that there is a mountain of information and practices on how to tune a suspension for handling / ride depending on usage.

Maybe I will test this out with a cheapo set of shocks once I get the suspension all done. I don't mind a stiff suspension, but I don't want it to the point of my wife not wanting to ride in the car. My entire goal is to achieve that point where the car responds to driver input as quick as possible and provides feedback about the driving experience.