waimaks Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Hey guys, I'm trying to track down suspension bushes for the GSR currently, and am not having much luck. There are no listings here in NZ, and the bushes don't match anything in any catalouges size-wise apparently. Looks like I may have to get them custom made, which I'm not so keen on (read-pricey) The bushes I desperately need are steering rack mount bushes and the rag joint between the steering colomn, but if anyone knows of a supplier with a good price I'll be getting basically everything. Any help is appreciated. Thanks very much John B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi subbie Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Im kean to know this too. Alot of my rubber bushes etc need replacement before I can put it back on the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm also interested to know about what people are doing for shocks too. I thought the fronts were shocks with replaceable cartridges inside. But alas it looks otherwise now I've looked closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 The rag joint is the same for all (flat four) Subarus until the release of EA82 engined cars in '84/'85. You can also use the rag joint for a '60s - '70s VW Beetle. I believe you just need to change the four metal spacers in the joint for the Subaru ones as the VW pieces are a different size. SUBARU3 has done this and it works fine, you may want to search his posts about this. As for the steering rack bushes I think the only option will be to have them custom made, unless you can locate some NOS. Having removed the steering rack from my '74 sedan I can tell you the rack bushes are simple in design (just round in shape - unlike the later steering with the square bushing on the passenger side) so I cannot imagine they would be too expensive to make. My '78 wagon needed a steering rack bush made for the (round) driver's side. It was made out of urethane which was frozen in an industrial freezer and then 'machined' in a lathe. I think it cost around A$60. The square shaped bush on the other side of the steering rack moved around but was OK and reusable. The biggest problem on the early Subarus, such as your GSR, will be the bushing for the transverse link where it mounts to the engine crossmember. This is the weirdest shaped bushing I have ever seen! I assume the only way to replicate this would be to make a mold of an original piece and make copies. I hope some of this may be useful! Cheers Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 That definitely will be useful, 'Autoline' in Tauranga claim that no rag joint matches the sizing of the one I removed. I shall make some more phone calls.... I'm not sure if I quite get what bushes you mean by transverse link? Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm not sure if I quite get what bushes you mean by transverse link? Cheers, John The transverse link has the ball joint for the steering knuckle at one end and attaches to the engine crossmember at the other end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Ah of course, the bushes on the crossmember end look fairly new on mine (red nolathane looking), so I hadn't planning on touching them untill later perhaps unless they were readily available. I just remembered something though about the steering rag joint, about 12 months ago when I noticed it failing I pulled the rag joint out of my '81 Brumby assuming it would be the same, The ragjoint in the GSR was roughly 5mm or so smaller diameter. So I'm not too sure there anymore. Cheers for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostamojen Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 By rag joint do you mean the reinforced rubber pice with 4 holes for bolts that bolts between the joint and the rack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Most certainly yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostamojen Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) I used the Gen 1 part number (631338000) for that bushing for my FF-1, the part number is still valid and available, and currently installed: Edited January 18, 2011 by Kostamojen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Cheers Kostamojen. I dug up my 72-75 parts book that I forgot I had, and emailed a few numbers off to a dealer here. Apparently all I sent to him was NLA out of Subaru Japan. I will send him that part# you gave me now. Thanks mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 NLA also? I will try a bit more with some aftermarket stuff, will post up part numbers/brands if I have any more luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostamojen Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 NLA? Don't know what that means. They are still in a couple warehouses here in the states. Like 4 or 5 in the country total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi subbie Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 NLA= No longer availble. I had to look that up yesterday :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waimaks Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 Just some closure for this, I ended up getting the two rack mounting bushes custom made, and the round 'rag' joint bush the same. Just had to very carefully measure EVERYTHING, they came out pretty good. Company here called 'Autoline' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4brat Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 if you need help machining some from raw urethane let me know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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