I got everything mounted and installed for the front a arms minus struts and torsion bars. It requires about 20#s of force applied at the ball joint to move the arm up/down. Driver side is half that. Both sides move without any tight spots. I've tried putting washers between the front bearing retainer/body and I've even got one of those front retainers mounted upside down so the bearing is closer to the body (this was a little helpful). FWIW this car has no evidence of any accident or rust. Is this too much force required to move them. Are there any negative aspects if I left it this way. Whats the deal with their low friction mounts? Will this benefit me or is there something else I can do?

So just to be straight, you installed the poly-bronze bearings and you are experiencing some significant friction?

Have your greased the bearings using the zirc fittings? Sounds like your've got some binding in the A-Arm mounts. Mine moved up and down pretty easily (prior to installing the struts and torsion bars). Or there might be the possibility that when you installed the brass sleeves, they went on at an angle.

Seem like a problem to me. Take everything apart, take some pics and please post close-ups of the brass sleeves.

Eric Read

This bushings are installed correctly and greased.

That should be fine...the car wieghs enough.
The purpose of these is not so much a low friction solution, as a solid and fixed bushing that does not flex. This limits the slop in the suspension and steering and makes it more tunable.

Roller Bearings are the closest thing to no friction, you are using bronze bushings, not roller bearings, some people might get confused if you flip flop the terms.

Put all the pieces in on both sides the same way or your geometry will be different on one side versus the other.

Rich

If it's just one side the arm could be slightly bent or bowed making it bind slightly.

It can't be bent, I already painted it.

Mine were tight too, but I agree with what Rich said, everything seems fine once I got it on the ground.

If the bushings rotate easily on the arm before the arm is a attached to the car that would suggest something is bent. If after the arm is attached to the car and it binds in one position this would suggest the arm is bent. If it binds in all positions, this would suggest the frame mounts are not inline (bent body). Try loosing the front 2 pivot bolts and swing the arm up and down a few times to see if the front pivot point can seek its "natural" position. The hole are a bit elongated to allow some adjustment. Does that tow ring on the front have elongated holes? If not, it may be limiting your adjustment.

For those sugesting it should be wrong I will have to disagree. The areas that are causing a little bind with wear much faster and cause a problem in the long run. You want these to be able to just drop to the groud when not attached to the ball joint. No pressure needed. Te centering stuff from Elephant is something that is very helpful in getting this perfect. Most of our little cars are not 100% right there. Remember they had rubber bushings that were forgiving. Now you are going with something not forgiving. Do it right the first time and you won't need to worry down the road.

Thanks Wilhelm and Jon, looks like I'll be taking another look at mine.

Might want to check the outer diameter of the arm where it mounts into the bushing. If it's an oval shaft fitting into a round hole, that could cause binding.

I noticed the same thing on my car after i assembled tyhe front using the poly bronze bushings. I am planning on buying these:
low friction mounts


drawings from the elephant racign website:
Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

My car had some evident front end damage, so i have to assume that the mounts aren't colinear anymore, and the hard polybronze bushings have made this an issue!

try lossening the attachment bolts, 'jostle' the car a bit and try again. with the strut assems detached, the control arms should swing freely with 0 bind what so ever.

I just did my bushings too. I spent a lot of time massaging it on there to get all 6 mounting points attached and aligned. If it still binds when all mounting points are loose, you may want to get out the wallet again and try those special mounts.
I understand that your pristine red body was not crashed, but are your A-arms the OG or another set from another car?
Good luck
I hope to be racin again in 2-3 weeks

This setup is for the 914/6 I'm building. These a arms are from an unknown source, but bindsin all positions. Lots of ideas to try this weekend. I'll report back. Hope we see you soon Chris.

Also try bolting down one end versus the other and see where in space the other unbolted end ends up. It may turn out you need to shim one mount a bit to get rid of the bind.

More babble to share
My 914 body was bent and new (to me) A-arms were from another 914. I JUST recently got all 6 points attached due to bent body on my 914, and while the A-arms are movin fine in their super duper needle bearings from Shine Racing, I know I tweaked the A-arms to the point in may use a shim (or 3) on one side so fill a gap that appeared (2mm) after it all squeezed on there. The front and middle mounts are spread farther than Dr Ferry intended due to PO wreck, and now that it is bolted on it "pulled" a little distance along the plane of the bushings. I am nervous that proper front alignment may not be possible w/o body work on the 914. I guess I don't really have a point, just that it ain't always easy or cheap
I am looking forward to a West Marin back roads cruise to shred some tire at Shultz soon