Peter, (and list who're listening)
Terrick in Winnipeg here.
Boy, you;ve been busy. And creative.
sway bar bushings.
The urethane bushings you speak of are just a harder form of rubber and
will restore themselves to their mould ed shape. If not, they would not
be used in more critical suspension components and in fact, that is their
chief advantage over something like nylatron (black colored nylon from
England). Try hot water to soften them enough to ply open. Failing that,
a hacksaw would relieve enough tension to spread them enough, only make
sure to cut on the "non stressed" side - ie: about 5:00 PM when standing
on the LHS of the car looking in profile. Force on the bar is foreward and
upward so about 5 should be the least critical part of the bushing.
Master Cylinders.
I know nothing about these except that one of the TDC members had his done
and the seals were faulty. Replaced. No further problem in three years
and he isn't meticulous about maintenance. Stainless DOES make some sense
but once under pressure, the seal should centralize the piston in the bore
so that it doesn't touch the walls, much like an engine bearing is
lubricated by oil. Dirt and other contamination, of course, is to be avoided.
Whit nylon bushings and seals.
Yes, the seals keep the water out <at least in theory>.
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!0__________0! ok, use you imaginations.
One of two 2 "washers" I've illustrated has a bigger inner diameter. The
seal (the "o") sits between the nylon bit and the edge of the smaller of
the washer, facing outwards from the centreline of the suspension.
The bigger washer covers the assembly which you have lubed with some form
of anti sieze, likely a copper or aluminium anti sieze. The bolt running
through the whole lot crushes the washers together until it is met with
resistance offered by the inner ferrule made of steel.
The rubber ring acts as a water seal because it is squished. Since it
takes so little torque to squish a rubber seal, this does not affect the
torque of the bolt.
If you really want to try something that makes the car handle, go to
urethane or nylon upper control bushes. Then you can truly see the effect
of the torque on rubber bushings. A nylon top arm moves up and down under
its own weight with absolutely no slop even at full torque (TriumphTune
nylatron set on my TR4A irs). The rubber bushing will present a windup
effect and a side to side slop.
This side to side slop translated into changeable caster angle and largely
explains why a TR's steering feel considerable different under braking.
And under hard cornering for that matter.
"So ends the lesson" (sorry, just seems that way but years of autocrossing
and racing and needing to figguritout myself makes me beleive that such an
explaination will help others do the same - and this list is great for
learning as well astelling because we all know differnt things!)
Dave Terrick
Winnipeg
69 GT666
65 TR4A IRS (done the above)
ex-74 TR6 (was the same until the big bang)
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