Del-a-lum bushings for 87-93 control arms! **update pg5**

[woody90gtz]

Ok I stand corrected, it is still a delrin material though. I'm curious on how well that would work seeing you need to put this aluminum collar in our steel sleeves since our sleeves are not removable like the camaro ones you posted above... Now is that aluminum part going to be held in place somehow so that the only movable part is the center sleeve? If not I see the aluminum wearing VERY quickly against that steel sleeve.

The Camaro ones are not removable either. The aluminum sleeve is press-fit in the control arm just like the stock steel one is. Press the old steel/rubber or steel/poly assembly out and press in the new alum/delrin assembly.

[3X00-Modified]

Ok I stand corrected, it is still a delrin material though. I'm curious on how well that would work seeing you need to put this aluminum collar in our steel sleeves since our sleeves are not removable like the camaro ones you posted above... Now is that aluminum part going to be held in place somehow so that the only movable part is the center sleeve? If not I see the aluminum wearing VERY quickly against that steel sleeve.

The Camaro ones are not removable either. The aluminum sleeve is press-fit in the control arm just like the stock steel one is. Press the old steel/rubber or steel/poly assembly out and press in the new alum/delrin assembly.

The sleeve is press fit into the control arm... AKA removable from the control arm... I work on a Metric chassis race car I know exactly how all of that suspension works. Our sleeves are NOT removable, they are PART of the control arm. My question is you have a stationary steel sleeve which IS our control arm, and then you have the aluminum part and then the delrin part and then the steel center collar... Now is the aluminum part going to be PRESSED into our current sleeve? Or how will it be secured? If not then that part has the ability to move, or need to be bolted in place some how, and aluminum on steel will wear quickly if not.

I know this is a 94+ one, but



The bushing sleeve is PART of the control arm. The bushing sleeves on a Camaro as you noted can be pressed out aka REMOVABLE and replace the entire setup.

I'm just trying to find out how the hell these damn things are going together. I'm not trying to argue application function or whatever the hell camaro guys do or how you referrer to that stuff, it's not even comparable.

[heavywoody]

I think you are confusing yourself Jon Then again, maybe I'm confused, but it seems pretty straight forward to me.

The aluminum piece (blue in Woody's picture) is pressed into the control arm.

The delrin piece goes in-between the aluminum piece and the bolt sleeve, which allows for the rotation of the axis of the control arm. The delrin acts as the "bushing" per say which is what allows the control arm to move with the suspension. I don't see the aluminum piece moving. Looks like with that setup that Eric posted, the delrin washers sandwich themselves between the control arm and the subframe, which is what prevents the aluminum from moving.

[3X00-Modified]

Geoff I'm not confusing myself... They are two completely different applications.

Here is a picture of a Metric Chassis Lower control arm, with the sleeve COMPLETELY removed, it gets 100% replaced by the aluminum part and as you can see the pics woody posted, there is also a hole in the new sleeve for a grease fitting to grease it. The Metric control arms only touch the replacement sleeves in two spots. You will be able to see the blue sleeve after its installed in the control arm.



Now if you were to install something similar into ours, you would NOT be able to even see the sleeve, it will be completely inside the current part of our control arm, so thats my question are those aluminum parts PRESSED into ours? The question is NOT hard to answer. If they simply slide in then they can move against the steel part. I'm just questioning how it's done because the application and method that Woody posted is not the same as ours since the sleeve is not replaced, your adding another aluminum part inside our already existing steel sleeve, at least thats what I would think.

Another example... When you buy our Poly bushings, you get ONLY bushings and steel collars for the center... When you buy ones for an older camaro, you get a steel sleeve that matches the bushing, the bushing and the center collar, because the steel sleeves are REMOVABLE.

[woody90gtz]

Ok, I had forgotten about that with the Beretta. Actually...I've never replaced them. My control arms already had the poly crap when I got the car from Shane. But anyway, it's a pretty simple solution...the aluminum sleeve would have to press inside the steel sleeve of the control arm. And since there would be no access for a grease fitting it would have to be greased before hand. Really not that difficult...the way the Del-A-Lum works would be the same. The alum sleeve would be stationary and the bolt sleeve gets sandwiched by the control arm bolt and the Delrin is free to articulate with zero flex and zero binding. It's not rocket science.

[heavywoody]

Jon, no-one can really answer your question except Global West. Now, with that said, since our control arms are completely different than a Camaro's or the Metric Chassis lowers, I'm sure it's safe to say that the aluminum is pressed into our control arms.

[3X00-Modified]

Well thats my point, I was kinda waiting to hear from who is having them made, I did not need a comparison to an application thats not similar.

[heavywoody]

Needs, wants... bah.

[woody90gtz]

It is still similar. There's a hole in the control arm where a bushing is installed and bolts go through it...I fail to see how one detail makes this so mind blowing. haha

[Chad91GTZ]

I thought my simplistic explaination pretty much summed it up. Del a lums are a bearing, that's a bushing. The aluminum piece does not move, the delrin rides inside the aluminum. Our control arms will need to be modified to accept a zerk. They need grease.

[3X00-Modified]

Two things about what you said Chad... I would agree 100% but no where has anyone verified the way the aluminum is put in place... therefore leaving that open to interpretation. Two, even modifying the control arm for a Zerk wouldn't work, there is no way to access that area of the control arm once in the subframe, so they would have to be taken apart periodicly to be greased unfortunately. I've already thought about that part.

Woody, the application makes a huge difference... One is a full sleeve replacement, the second is a sleeve within a sleeve so the assembly and how the inner aluminum sleeve is designed/made and installed is completely different.

Nevermind I asked, I'll just wait to see what is made and what 88_GTU ends up with.

[Chad91GTZ]

Well the grease zerk part you're mostly correct. There is enough room on the front, depending on the total arm movement, I haven't measured.

The part about the aluminum sleeve not moving isn't speculation. It's how del a lum bushings work.

[88_GTU]

Thanks for bringing that up Jon! Good question to ask. As soon as I know, I will pass the info on. They have pics of the prototypes in the article but I dont see any specifics. I'll ask Doug what the plans are. He's been pretty good about keeping in contact.

Any other questions guys?

J

[Chad91GTZ]

Cost. I'm looking at 2 or 3 sets, lol

[88_GTU]

Back from the dead! I had given up on Global West a LONG time ago as no one was responding to my calls or emails and I figured I was out a set of poly bushings and a control arm. Well today I recieved a call from Doug and he explained they had been extremely busy and he was very sorry for the delay but that he did find the old schematics!

We worked out a few things and I paid for 5 sets up front to get this moving. I should have these in my possesion by the end of next week. At that time I'll snap all the pics I can to answer all the questions that have been brought up. These will be $140 per set and I wont make a penny on them. If anyone is interested in a set let me know.

J