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..... The good folks at Van Steele are now offering solid aluminum batwing bushings for those of us who like to DRIVE our IRS 'vettes ... I installed a set yesterday to correct an uneven sagging of the D44 and also in hopes of stiffening up the diff , etc. in light of the bent C-beam I discovered while under my car ... heading out to the track tonight to put it through the reality grinder (weather permitting) ... the old bushings weren't too much of a hassle to remove , I drilled several 3/8" holes through the rubber until the rubber and the center bolt support came out , then l carefully just cut through the original bushing's aluminum outer shell with a hacksaw and pried it out ... the new bushings are an interference fit so l dressed up the bore a little with a 3 stone hone chucked up in a cordless drill then pushed them in with my 6" vise ...
How much of the rear did you have to take apart to get those in? I have a set of poly bushings for there in a box, I didn't install them because people said they added nothing and it was a lot of work. At the time, I was eager to get it back on the road so skipped it.
..... Took off enough to get to this point and drop the diff out of the upper mounts ... exhaust , spring , toe rods , camber rods .....
..... If you look real close at the U-joint cap on the left , you can see that its oily and you can actually see where its cracked around the perimeter of the cap itself .....
Since the engine and the batwing are bolted together via trans and c beam, essentially they are one unit.
taking the cushioning out of them would transfer higher frequency vibration that was probably not felt before.
I would think poly bushings and enginemounts would do just fine.
They have nothing to do with handling since batwing is a fixed piece, and suspension is bolted to the body and outer hubs.
i would think there might be something to gain in putting bearings such as Delrin in the dog bones and using heim joints on the swaybars.
how many half seconds do you think your losing by using rubber bushings in the batwing, and Not stiffening up the area where the dog bones bolt on to.?
Since the engine and the batwing are bolted together via trans and c beam, essentially they are one unit.
taking the cushioning out of them would transfer higher frequency vibration that was probably not felt before.
I would think poly bushings and enginemounts would do just fine.
They have nothing to do with handling since batwing is a fixed piece, and suspension is bolted to the body and outer hubs.
i would think there might be something to gain in putting bearings such as Delrin in the dog bones and using heim joints on the swaybars.
how many half seconds do you think your losing by using rubber bushings in the batwing, and Not stiffening up the area where the dog bones bolt on to.?
already replaced the whole rear with banski rod ends.
amazing. Such a better ride over railroad tracks for example
the only vibration i picked up going to solid motor mount/polyurethane batwing bushings was a slight rattle at 800rpm idle of stuff in the glovebox.
if i raises the idle 100 rpm it would go away but its not that bad.
i will be interested to hear if the OP has any experience with vibrations (esp if he goes solid motor mounts) with the solid batwing bushings
i think you are missing some parts in there. might be the reason for your cracked u-joints.
Originally Posted by C409
..... Took off enough to get to this point and drop the diff out of the upper mounts ... exhaust , spring , toe rods , camber rods .....
..... If you look real close at the U-joint cap on the left , you can see that its oily and you can actually see where its cracked around the perimeter of the cap itself .....
Wow, now that is a total abomination to motorsports.
..... We got rained out at the drags in lmokkallee tonight ... really sucks 'cause its a 3hr drive each way ... they tried to dry it up but without the sun and no breeze it just wasn't happening ... so l have no performance review ... Yet ... FYI ... my car has heim jointed trailing arms and camber rods along with a Newman Car Creations D44 housing (note the studded bearing caps) filled with a custom spool ... it also has a solid motor mount on the drivers side with poly on the right ... the c-beam is now deformed and the OEM rubber batwing bushings had the durometer beaten out of them by way of thousands of passes down the drag strip ... l'm hoping that the aluminum hockey pucks will stiffen things up a bit back there and help keep the half shafts parallel to the pavement and stop crushing the c-beam ... at least until l add a pinion snubber ... my junk little motor makes max torque (560 ft lbs) right where the converter flash stalls (5000 rpm) ... thats whats eating u-joints ! ... that and 1.40-ish 60 footers .....
..... Give Van Steele a call ... 727-561-9199 ... the solid batwing bushings are a very recent addition to their product line ... they are 3 miles from my house and have been friends and neighbors for a long time ... good people ! .....
..... I wasn't able to document any real advantage or disadvantage running the solid bushings ... my car is/was a dedicated drag strip deal so vibrations are a given that wouldn't be on my radar anyway ... I installed the bushings in late July and my "home" track doesn't schedule any races in July and August because of the almost daily thunderstorms and the heat ... they do try to do a TnT every week but ... so I was limited to maybe one points race where some empirical testing could be done regarding any changes in performance but there are too many other variables that would have muddied up the collection of data specifically related to the batwing bushings ... then , I installed a solid rear axle in December of that year so all hope of quantifying the change were gone ... I do still have the bushings if anyone is interested .....
..... I wasn't able to document any real advantage or disadvantage running the solid bushings ... my car is/was a dedicated drag strip deal so vibrations are a given that wouldn't be on my radar anyway ... I installed the bushings in late July and my "home" track doesn't schedule any races in July and August because of the almost daily thunderstorms and the heat ... they do try to do a TnT every week but ... so I was limited to maybe one points race where some empirical testing could be done regarding any changes in performance but there are too many other variables that would have muddied up the collection of data specifically related to the batwing bushings ... then , I installed a solid rear axle in December of that year so all hope of quantifying the change were gone ... I do still have the bushings if anyone is interested .....
might be the reason for your cracked u-joints. 
Solid Aluminum Batwing Bushings
