MadaboutKitcars

Greetings all.

After a good few years of (ab)use my car now needs some new suspension bushes. Having measured one of the few top-hat bushes on my car that is in good condition, I've come to the conclusion that Marlin have used a rather quirky bush size.

I'm struggling to find an off the shelf replacement source, and a quick search on this forum hasn't assisted.

Has anyone found where Marlin obtained the polyurethane bushes from, or does anyone have a large stash of unused bushes they'd like to sell?

Cheers,

John.

Hi John,
Marlin use Ford Sierra inner TCA bushes on the Sportster, so there is a chance they used the same on the 5exi?


New wishbone bushes by marlinpeter, on Flickr


What size are yours?

...peter

Thanks for the swift reply Peter.

The measurements I've taken, are approximately:

internal diameter - 16mm
external diameter (narrow section of top hat) - 25mm
external diameter (wide section of top hat) - 33mm
thickness of top-hat flange - 4mm
axial length of one top hat - 22mm

I haven't yet found any dimensions for a Sierra TCA bush to compare with.

Thanks,

John

Nope, I'm afarid the Sierra bushes are bigger.
external diameter (narrow section of top hat) - 30mm
external diameter (wide section of top hat) - 40mm
thickness of top-hat flange - 6mm
axial length of one top hat - 25mm

I suggest you email Terry or maybe Jono Coombes would probably know.


...peter

the dimensions seem to be consistent with the powerflex PF99-113 which would make sense as all the bushes that came with the kit I have were from powerflex.

HTH

Thanks for the suggestion, but sadly the stainless tube is too short by 4mm, the bore 1mm undersize, and the flange thickness too great. It might be possible to fit the top hats with a bit of persuasion if I can't find a closer match.


Peter - thanks for confirming the Sierra part dimensions.

I think they might be these.....

SF397-1276


http://www.superflex.co.uk/products.php?cat=397

Look at the individual parts listing.

16mm crush tube diameter and 25.45mm diameter bush.
Seems to be close?

Do you have 7/16" bolts?

I think we might have a winner. Yes 7/16" UNF bolts (what remains of them after I had to grind the old ones off the car!). Thanks for your efforts.

Just mainly as an FYI, I'll look through my folders over the next few days and try to find the info as I had list of the actual parts from the supplier including Part no's.

Jono

Transpires the bushes are the same as those fitted to TVR Griffiths and Chimaeras, which helps when searching for supplies. It also opens up the potential to fit more traditional rubber and sleeve type bushes for anyone wanting better NVH (not really worth it on a car like the 5EXI which is noisy and harsh?!).