A Series Front Lower Arm Inner Bushes

[paul1393]

As far as I know it is not easy to get hold of A series bushes for the front lower arms, apart from Dr Manta that is.

I decided to have a go at fitting the Manta B lower arm poly bush to my spare A series lower arms.

After removing the old bush I enlarged the holes with a cutter in a pillar drill to accept the housing of the poly bush which was then welded in position.

Old and new bush below.

Manta B bush housing welded into position

Below notice the cracks in the rubber bush which has only covered around 5000 miles in 8 years.

Just need to paint the housing and arm before fitting the polly bush and inner tube.

I have been informed by the supplier that he can supply just the poly part for future re-bushing.

[johnboy]

Looks a good idea that , is the manta b bush housing bought with the polybush , available seperate or did you cut it from an old arm, i've been trying to work out a way of doing something similar with the other bush on the bottom arm, the track control/anti roll bar mount but no luck yet.

[mantasrme]

I remember hearing a long time back that the Manta A front suspension s the same as one of the lotus cars (can't remember whic though!)

Do the not do uprated bushed for the lotus?

[paul1393]

The Poly bush kit comes with the housing see photo below. All the parts in the kit are available seperately as far as I know.

The Anti roll bar/track control arm bush is a complete bugger to do anything with. I have only ever managed to remove the anti roll bar once from these bushes without distroying them. Dr Manta sells them. Anyone aware of another supplier?

The Lotus conection is interesting. I know the upper ball joints on a Lotus -not sure of the model- have the same QH part number as the Manta A ones. I seen this on an old stock pair of upper ball joints I bought at the Beaulieu autojumble.

Edited March 4, 2011 by paul1393

[Manta again]

Hi Opel GT in the USA also stock the bushes for the anti roll bar/track control arm, unfortunately the prices still make you wince. They also do complete poly bush kits for the 'A', front and rear suspension was well worth the wait. They also sell the arches to create a TE2800 replica would buy a set but the cost of shipping was as much as the parts, anyone want to ga halves.

[Shug]

ps autoteile do polyurethane bushes for the antiroll bar end.

Dr manta is the cheapest for the regular bushes. (that I've found)

[paul1393]

I have used the Opel GT Source supplied lower arm inner bushes (control arm to crossmember) before. The poly bush is the red grade (hard) and they don't work very well...well not on my car anyway.

The instructions tell you to remove the rubber part of the bush and insert the poly bush in the tube left empty in the arm, then insert the original inner tube. Trouble is the rubber bush works totally differently in opperation. The inner tube has teeth on each end which are held tight in the crossmember and the rubber twists as the arm moves up and down.

The poly bushes in my car allowed the control arms to twist on the securing bolt which then started "working" in the crossmember causing the bolt to wear the hole in the crossmember oval. Thats why I went for the Manta B ones.

Edited March 4, 2011 by paul1393