FRONT CONTROL ARM BUSHES

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 7:10 pm

Does anybody have a clear picture of their control arms with the powerflex bushes installed?
I have searched on this for tha last two hours and although there have been many questions and answers there has not been a simple picture to show how they have been installed. There are people saying that you need to "direct them to the front of the car" this seems odd as they can only be either to the inner of the car or the outer.

If somebody does have any pictures or diagrams with instructions please post it and then we can get a moderator to post it up in a special section. I think that this would be the best idea as their are more and more people performing this upgrade. I also need to have a look at a simple picture, as I am a visual person, and the amout of different instructions etc is rather missleading.

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:20 pm

Hi again .... they should look like this ...

and NOT this

If you have them as the second picture then they will be normal.
How did you get on with the top mounts ??

Giles

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 8:21 pm

And by the way as I'm sure you've found out .... the bush markedleft goes on the right hand control arm ..... wierd I know.

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:04 pm

Thanks GDBM for the pics, I saw these earlier. Although they show the position of the bush they do not show if they should be to the inner or the outer of the car. I read however on S14.net that the whole should be towards the lollypop i.e. the chassis rails where the carrier bolts on. Therefore they should be facing to the outer of the car to push the wheel forward in the arch.
I went back to eurocarparts today about the missing bearing and they said they never sold them with the bearings installed and I would have to get them seperate, so I will do that.

Also did you have a problem with the bush moving in the carrier once the car was back on the ground?

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:23 pm

Hi ... you're right in what you say ... the wheel is moved roughly 1 inch forward using these bushes. The one in my pics is the rhs so you can tell which way it sits in the lollipop. Once the two parts of the bush are in, there isn't any way I can see them moving. As you know the wheel is pushed forward ... meaning the arm doesn't go up as easy as the old one came out. I think in the end I put 1 of the lollipop bolts in loosely and gently (with a rubber mallet) tapped the inner ball joint up while keeping the outer one lined up.There was much wiggling, tapping, pushing and a bit of swearing. So that in itself keeps the 2 parts of the bush where they should be.
G

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:35 pm

Would they look like this when installed ?

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:42 pm

that is one seriously clean underbody

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:43 pm

Thanks, thats exactly what I was looking for, the instructions with the powerflex bushes are pretty useless.
I just neede a picture like that for piece of mind before I install them.

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:44 pm

Just noticed the latex gloves around the lift jacks!!!

Post Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:52 pm

The above pic is of a M3, so the control arm bush's you are looking at are standard M3.

The car in the pic was kept inside a bubble, it has never been driven.