front roll bar and damper re-bushing completed

[Brakebuster]

i had a knock from the front

so a few weeks ago i did some minor investigations

these highlighted that i had worn ( but not terminal ) roll bar links and worn roll bar mounts, and the top damper isolation bushes have squished to nearly nothing , so i ordered up all the parts

given this is still my investigation period of owning the car the work went well, with the aid of two trolly jacks and some impact guns etc all the parts came off very easily , rather than new links complete, i opted to rebush the existing links , very easy with the use of a vice and some large sockets ,

then the the roll bar mounts, as i had one side jacked up this put pressure on the roll bar, so i used a jack to even out the torsion and removed the bush bracket, no corrosion or stuck bolts at all, so signs that it was well looked after in its early life, even though no so much in the last five years i would say

with the new roll bar bushes fitted all round i turned to the top damper mounts, again with two jacks i undid the top nut on the damper and then removed the bottom bolt , wiggled out the damper strut , while out i cleaned it up , painted it and put the new bushes on , and installed them both in the car,


now she rides really nicely with positive steering and no knocks from the front

i can now detect a very minor ' bobbling ' noise from the rear, so will probably be the damper mounts back there as well,

one job at a time

BB

[J44EAG]

Like a new battery, new bushes make such a difference to the way a car drives. Only when they are restored to as new condition, do you really experience that new car driving feel.

Bush bashing can be hard, dirty, sometimes frustrating work. It requires a highish level of physical grunt which can be painful. Having re-bushed an S-type and the current X350R, I`m in no hurry to do any more for a couple of years!

Well done our Vince.

Mike

[Brakebuster]

Thanks Mike

yes, grunt indeed , but necessary.....


currently in the middle of welding, done the near side, just setting up for the offside


BB


got welders rash already , lol

[naki]

so which brand of bushes did you opt for?
there such "mixed views" on these. OE vs aftermarket, vs PU?

[Brakebuster]

OE all the way...

great believer in fitting original to regain the original ' as new ' feel that was intended, and the originals lasted over twenty years, so these should be just as good


my only concession to OE is on the XJ steering rack mounts, as its a well known fact that the OE ones give too much side to side movement, even Jaguar admitted this and provided firmer ' sport ' bushes with the ' sports pack ' suspension setup , so i did fit Poly on my XJS , but have not done so on the '40 yet


BB

[naki]

Where did you find new OE drop link bushes?
I need some too, but JCP only list the complete drop link at £60+ Vat each (dreaming!)
i have fitted PU here before, but may try OE if I can find some.

Did you check the Vee mounts and upper wishbones yet? The other standard/ usual suspects of course.
Again makes a big difference in feel/ control.
Vee mounts being harder to asses as the weight of the body will push against it, making it hard to tell if they have separated. The only way is to release the two top bolts, and slowly lower (with a jack) the subframe on one side, just enough to take the pressure off them. Then it's easy to poke them to check for separation.