Spyder uprated ARB

[Nick in Beds]

Hi, has anyone fitted a Spyder uprated ARB with the poly bushes they provide with it? 

I have been trying today without success - I can get the bush in the drop link but then cannot get the ARB through it - OR I can get the bush on the ARB but then cannot get the drop link on even with my "special tool"  !!

Any suggestions?

[EuropaTC]

I'm very tempted to say it's a job that's "driving you nuts" looking at how many you've got on there, but that's not something I'd do...   

I've not used a poly bush on there but I did renew the rubber bushes on mine not so long ago. I fitted the bush to the droplink and then pushed the roll bar through with a lot of force and washing up liquid all over the place.  My theory was that if you fitted it to the bar first then it would expand and not want to go into the link but you might just get it going the other way. I also rounded off the ends of the roll bar to get it started a bit easier.

When you fit poly bushes to wishbones the instructions I had said to fit the bush in the wishbone & then the crush spacer and not the other way round, presumably for the same reasoning.

After that, I'm interested in the roll bar you've bought as it's a possible on my to-do list. What is the one you've got, how much and what made you pick that one ?

Brian

[Nick in Beds]

Hi Brian, yes it did drive me nuts, ha ha, I only had long bolts that were partially threaded hence to nuts to space them out!!

I decided an uprated ARB was in order as soon as I saw the original - it just looks too thin to me ....

So, first I ordered the one from Kelsport as it looked good in the pics on their website and had modified droplinks with it that looked easier to fit.  But when it arrived, one side was 10mm longer than the other so that went straight back for a refund.  It was also hollow and just didn't feel good quality, the poor dimensions put me off anything else from them.

Now I have the one Spyder do - it is very well made and looks like it will be much stiffer than the original - if I can get the bloody links fitted!!!  It cost £128 plus VAT (about half the price of the Kelsport one) and comes with the bushes.

I'll try the washing up liquid and hot water tomorrow but I might end up sending it all to Spyder and getting them to do it - it really feels like it won't go on ...

[BDA]

I chickened out when I did mine. I had the ring at the end of the drop link cut in half and then had small tubes welded on them to house a bolt on each side of the ring (like the big end of a connecting rod). Then I didn't have to worry about pressing the bushings into the rings. I know I'm not the only guy who did that but pressing the bushes into the drop link is probably easier than I feared. I don't know if it would be easier or harder with poly bushes, but if ends up being more trouble than you think it's worth, you might consider that option (depending on how easy it would be to do that or have it done).

Good luck and let us know how it goes!   

[EuropaTC]

Hi again,

That sounds a very good price Nick, and very disappointing news about Kelsport. Given how you calculate the influence of a roll bar I'm amazed that one got through with such an error. That sounds like something they buy in rather than fabricate in house ?

But it sounds a good impression on the Spyder one and the pieces I've had from them (wishbone/lower link) have all been extremely well made. Apart from the plating wearing over the years they're still as solid as they were 25+ years ago.

Looking again at that photo, if you are trying to press the bush onto the bar and then into the link, how about compressing the leading edge of the bush with something simple like a jubilee clip ? That will reduce the front diameter and when you push on the back, rather than spreading out over the link it should be pushed into the swaged/belled end andif it's well lubricated the bush will slide on the clip.  I've used a similar technique when persuading a poly bush into the middle gearchange support bracket because it was really too big for the tube, but that got it in.

Finally - BDA's suggestion is a long term maintenance solution !   Other cars have bolted connections in similar places (our old MR2 for one) so I can only think it's economics that caused Lotus to go with what we have.

Brian

[Nick in Beds]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps - all good stuff I hadn't thought of.

The plan today is to round off the ends of the ARB and cover everything in washing up liquid (Brian's method) - I think I will put the bush in the drop link first and try to force the ARB through.

If this doesn't work then I think I will cut the link and weld on little tubes as per BDA - then the problem is gone forever!!

I will report back later ... first just need to convince "the boss" that this is more important than the autumn pruning ...

[Nick in Beds]

OK, so it didn't happen last weekend - taking it to a local engineering shop tomorrow to see what they suggest - looks like it will be the little tubes solution ,,, I will report back on final solution.

[Nick in Beds]

This update has been a long time coming as it hasn't been an easy thing to sort out 

I took the whole lot into a local engineering shop and explained what was needed and labeled the parts up to make sure they fitted them the right way round.  No problem they said - leave it with us.  So I left it with them and they kept it for a couple of weeks, eventually it was done.  I expect you can guess what's coming...........  yes, they fitted the drop links the wrong way round - even with my explanation, a photo and labels on the parts - quite a feat to mess it up!!

I decided to fix it myself so finally cut the drop links and welded in tubes (thanks for the idea BDA) - this is the best solution in my view and only took a couple of hours to do 

[EuropaTC]

A good solution and should you ever need to do the job again it's going to be a 2 minute thing rather than an opportunity to swear and cuss for the morning !

It's looking very neat there, nice finish on the suspension links.

[BDA]

As I said on your other thread, she is coming along very nicely! Keep up the great work!

[Bainford]

Nice work and a good serviceable solution.