E30 Zone

is there a poly bush available to replace the shitty rubber ones in the front suspension drop link, they seem to last six months then fall apart, i did drop the car back on its wheels before tightening the bolt but they still seem to tare

Front droplink?? As in wishbone?

Or ARB droplink?

sorry, arb drop links

Can't say I've ever really seen an upgrade for them..

Although I think you can get rose jointed ones but are pretty expensive.

yes superflex do them
http://www.superflex.co.uk/photopage.php?part_id=102

cheers fellas

IIRC, there's a link from a 5 series rear suspension that has a ball joint on both ends, and can replace the E30 link, with the addition of a little L shaped bracket for the bottom end.

i found these to work well and no bushes to fall apart . the links are mondeo estate 2000/2001 rear roll bar links think they where about £10 or so each .

you can buy the standard m10 rose joints and spacers for around £20 on ebay. chop the bush off the bottom of the link and thread the shaft and screw the rose joint on with a nut to lock it on. sorted.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M10-Female-RH-Thr ... 240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M10-METRIC-Misali ... 240%3A1318

got chance to do these today, obviously got a pair of bushes but fitted one then remembered to take some pics of the second one



found this tool years ago, new it would come in for something



old bush



pressing old one out, i found a slice of the bottom of my axle stand to be the perfect size








new one going in





sleeve going in



all done



and fitted

forgot to say thanks to daveD for the heads up on the bushes

ta ...I knew that link would come in useful one day! you will have to let us know what they are like on the road>

DaveD wrote:ta ...I knew that link would come in useful one day! you will have to let us know what they are like on the road>

no probs dave, tbh i wont get the full benefit as there on the e36 as they needed doing for the mot on wednesday but after a run out in it yesterday i can tell there is an improvement, a lot less roll on fast bends. i will be getting some more for my e30 now, cheers

monkey wrote: i found these to work well and no bushes to fall apart . the links are mondeo estate 2000/2001 rear roll bar links think they where about £10 or so each .

I got some to go on. I'll update you when it's done. Cheers

murran wrote:you can buy the standard m10 rose joints and spacers for around £20 on ebay. chop the bush off the bottom of the link and thread the shaft and screw the rose joint on with a nut to lock it on. sorted.

Have you done this murran? Does it work well? Any problems? Sounds like it could be a good solution with decent cost effectiveness!

mhuk wrote:

monkey wrote: i found these to work well and no bushes to fall apart . the links are mondeo estate 2000/2001 rear roll bar links think they where about £10 or so each .

I got some to go on. I'll update you when it's done. Cheers

Fitted without a problem. Car feels firmer now. The driver side 'old' was not even bolted up when I went to remove!

Any idea of the Ford part number for these?

i just couldnt bring myself to fit a ford part to my bmw

A grinder should deal with that, if it does have Ford markings.
There's also a 5 series rear suspension part, IIRC, that is similar in length and shape to the E30 link, but with a ball joint on each end. This needs a small L shaped bracket to be fabricated to fit it to an E30 arm.

bodger wrote:got chance to do these today, obviously got a pair of bushes but fitted one then remembered to take some pics of the second one



found this tool years ago, new it would come in for something



old bush



pressing old one out, i found a slice of the bottom of my axle stand to be the perfect size








new one going in





sleeve going in



all done



and fitted

im not being funny but i personally would of used new drop links to put new bushes into

err why would you do that ...its the bushes that keep getting sh****d and new drop links come with new bushes which are OK if they are oem at £60/pair but ecp ones wear out quickly so replacing the bushes is one cheaper alternative

DaveD wrote:err why would you do that ...its the bushes that keep getting sh****d and new drop links come with new bushes which are OK if they are oem at £60/pair but ecp ones wear out quickly so replacing the bushes is one cheaper alternative

well the ball joints wears out too so why use old ones and put expensive bushes in worn out parts. its like put new track control arm bushes on old worn out track control arms!

town325i wrote:

DaveD wrote:err why would you do that ...its the bushes that keep getting sh****d and new drop links come with new bushes which are OK if they are oem at £60/pair but ecp ones wear out quickly so replacing the bushes is one cheaper alternative

well the ball joints wears out too so why use old ones and put expensive bushes in worn out parts. its like put new track control arm bushes on old worn out track control arms!

You have a point, but they are so easy to swap into new ones later I don't think it matters.

the links i put the bushes into are only 6 months old, when they wear out i will change the bushes into another used set of links as the balljoints rarely fail before the rubber bushes, the poly bushes were not expensive they cost the same as a cheap set of links from euro crap parts

That is useful to know, so there is a use for wrong wheel drive Fords after all

Bodger - Stick that write-up in the Wiki

bodger wrote:the links i put the bushes into are only 6 months old, when they wear out i will change the bushes into another used set of links as the balljoints rarely fail before the rubber bushes, the poly bushes were not expensive they cost the same as a cheap set of links from euro crap parts

that sounds fair enough to me

aj_mckay wrote:Bodger - Stick that write-up in the Wiki

not sure how to mate, feel free to stick it on wiki if you like

mike_sayer wrote:

murran wrote:you can buy the standard m10 rose joints and spacers for around £20 on ebay. chop the bush off the bottom of the link and thread the shaft and screw the rose joint on with a nut to lock it on. sorted.

Have you done this murran? Does it work well? Any problems? Sounds like it could be a good solution with decent cost effectiveness!

yeah, i did it on my touring. was fine.
only problem is needing a tap and die set to thread the shaft on the drop link.

Or use rose joints >> http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... drop+links

Don't get cheap rose joints though, I bent the ones I fitted to my track car!