Which front bushings should I use to replace the rubber ones. Forget Mike M's needle bearings for now. I use the car for street and autoxing. Seems to be a few choices out there but I thought I'd ask here first.
Geoff

It may come as no surprise that I have a set of poly bushings just sitting around....the racing compound from GPR.....only fitted once, never "used", dyno time only, with the lube, yada,yada.
.......cheep!

Sounds like a plan, I like "cheap". Still have to get some new "sticky tires" for the next season.
Geoff

Can't help with tires.....except.

I do bidness with a local Amercia's Tire.
He gives me Tire Rack prices.

With our light cars, the Kumho Vracers hold up very well.....cheep, too. Prolly not the ultimate in grip, tho.
I have prolly 50 passes on this set and they aren't half used.....our low traction surface is not very abrasive, apparently.

If ya want Hoosiers, our local hotdog uses the road race tires. He says (and I believe him) that they are just as quick and last for a whole season or more.

Be advised that both of these tires like lots of negative
camber.....they work without it, but you only use half the tire. I'm trying for -2.5 deg at both ends.
When Brad comes thru with the new bits for the front, I'll be a happy camper, but poorer

Glad to know someone will put JP's old bushings to use.....


Don't discount the needle bearings for street use...the biggest drawback is that they are an item that will need to be inspected at least once year, but I don't see that as a big deal...not a bad thing considering it'll force you to inspect other parts of your car as you should for a 30 year old vehicle.

Mueller

I didn't have to resort to or to get the polys on.

Hey, if was that easy anyone could do it

Now, if any local to you early 911 or 914 guys need help, they have a "professional" to help them out

Actually Jeff..

I install the street bushings when I dont install the bearings. JP will shoot me.. LOL

B

Hey, sok with me. A good talking point.
I have heard that the Welt pgraphite "street" bushings don't hold up well.
Don't have any experience with them tho.
Those sold by GPR are not the Welts, nor are thay hard as rocks.....a *bit* of give to them.

I have the Welt p-g race jobbies at the rear. They are hard.

I'm looking at the same choice right now. When I installed my Weltmiester front sway bar the bushings that came along weren't anything special. They had about .010" clearance on the ID of the bushing mount. So that experience hasn't left me feeling good about buying Welt A-arm bushings.

Here's what I see for choices:
GRP - poly-graphite (frankly I don't know what poly-graphite is)
PP - poly-unknown
Welt street (from Performance) - poly-graphite mfg w/poly-preservatives
Welt (race?) more poly-graphite, higher durometer than the street I assume.

So, how do these rate?

Have fun,
Kevin

I think the poly from GPR should fit the bill for this car. I am trying to make it competitive in the class I run (GTU). Kumhos Vracers are where I want to spend my money as with street tires I was running in the middle of the pack.
While I am welding in the new front trunk panel, I am taking the front end apart to replace the Ball joints and install new a-arms bushings. If business hadn't been so slow I would pop for Mike Mullers needle bearings. Already started taking off the rubber bumpers too.
Who has the best front fibreglass bumpers again Brad? (for under $300 please)
Thanks
Daag
Geoff

I got a stock (early) style front f/g bumper from Hank at GT Racing. His stuff is not cheap, but he very recently made new molds for the front and it's a clean part.

FWIW it dropped something like 25-30lbs off the front of the car ditching the 73 chrome bumper w/tits, foglights and grilles, and ABS LE spoiler. The f/g bumper and spoiler combined are only like 7lbs. The stock rubber bumper tops are surprisingly heavy.

I even kept my horns because the car is still streetable and you never know when some SUV will try to lane-change right at ya.

As you can see, I haven't painted 'em yet. (Curiously, the GT rear bumper came in black...significantly older part shipped from inventory I think).

I like all of GT's stuff ..if you can buy it. He only answers the phone from 8am-Noon. I tried 3-4 times to contact him.

Bolt on Fiberglass bumpers will run you more than the race ones. My price list at the shop.

I'll have 914club prices tomorrow.

B

Also Geoff and/or anybody who doesn't know already....virtually any f/g part you buy will need "work" to get it installed. Even the relatively primo stuff from Hank required some tweaks with the cut-off wheel, grinder, drill, hacksaw, file...you get the idea. And they are basically race parts, you're on your own to figure out how to mount them, where to drill, etc. No instructions. It's pretty easy, really, but you're on your own.

Measure twice, cut once, as they say

Chris,

Only 7 more sets left

I hear ya, but my wallet is just about bled out...the car has run somewhat "overtime and overbudget", which I prolly coulda predicted.

I'll check and see if you still have any after a couple more paychecks trickle in...

Umm Chris,

We have direct bolt on bumpers that are ready to go. The edges are smooth.. seriously.. do nothing but bolt them on. They are even test fit on a 914 front clip prior to the glass drying.


B

Yeah, from what I can tell, Hank has never actually test-fit his stuff on a 914. The front was a lot closer to bolt on, but I had to trim the built in brackets/tabs a little. The rear needed serious trimming just to mate up to the car.

I may be in the market for lids later in the year. I have to be careful with the car's weight. It looks like the target is 2029lbs with the six. If I go under that, I will have to ballast it back up.

If anyone's willing to take a set of bronze Elephant Racing a-arm bushings off my hands, I'll buy a set of these nifty mueller-bearings

I guess they're somewhere between poly bushings and the mueller-bearings
Price-wise too (they're $190 from Elephant)

Someone make me an offer and send the check to mueller as a downpayment
(the set was only testfitted, not used)

Cheers,

Jeroen

PS pics of the bronze bushings can be found either on my own website or at the Elephant Racing site

...hmmmm.... I am not very interested in about those needle bearings. They are fine, but I think they are not for me. I have thought I could make my own bronze bushings, but if you Jeroen have a set of them for sale here on this side of big water..... <_<

This is a great BBS! Now we are recycling our unused parts Internationaly.
Way to go Brad!

Geoff