Replacing your Bushes
 

*** Apologies to anyone whos posts are deleted from this thread. Any useful info on them will be added in here. The last thread on bushes cascaded to the point where it confused everyone, so I'm trying to make this one accurate and leave no room for over spending like I did (by about £150 lol)

BUSHES

After doing a LOT of research on bushes and spending a LOT of money that I didn't need to, here are the part numbers for all the bushes (front and rear) and where to order them from.

All are from the UK and arrive within 24-48 hours.

Supplier: Superflex.
Contact Name: Chris Witor
Web site: www.superflex.co.uk
Telephone: 01749 678152


REAR:

8 x SPF0903 - Rear Anti Roll Bar Link Pin Bush, 8mm ID - £1.98 each

1 x SPF1485/25K - Rear Anti Roll Bar to Body Bush, Kit of 2, 25mm - 11.02 per pair

1 x SPF0246K - Diff to Cross Member Bush Kit of 2, 1 only - £38.16

FRONT:

2 x SPF 1483K - Front Trailig Arm bushes - £89 per pair

1 x SPF1485/25K - Front Anti Roll Bar to Body Bush, Kit of 2, 25mm - 11.02 per pair *** TO BE CONFIRMED - THEY MAY BE 24MM ***

4 x SPF 0927 - Front Tie Rod (strut bar) Bush - £5.35 each (£21.39 total)

8 x SPF 2092B - Front Anti Roll Bar Link Pin Bush, 10mm - £2.19 each (£17.84 total)


NOTES:

The rear subframe bushes are not available from Superflex, to the best of my knowledge. I had some made for me out of Nylon. Shaun had some made for his from Aluminium.

I also did not buy the front trailing arm bushes off superflex, I had some nylon ones made for myself and Shaun. £98 seems a little excessive.


This kit http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PR...C06A/23-4100ZX does NOT fit the S12 at all. Do not buy it. I learnt the expensive way.

I think the rear ARB bushes are acctually 25mm not 24mm because I got the 24mm ones and they still had a couple of mill gap at the split with the bolts done up.

Nice one rich i just had my car motd this morning and got an advisory on my tie rod bushes so this will be usefull to me:)

Removing your REAR subframe to change bushes.

• Jack the car right up. I put the jack in the centre on the subframe.
• Use some good, strong axle stands.
• Undo the 2 bolts + 1 nut from the plates either end of the subframe.
• Remove the plates.
• Put your axle stands where the plates were.
• Disconnect the handbrake cables from the centre of the subframe (where you would adjust the cable normally)
• Undo and remove top diff bolt (top one of three). You will need a 17mm spanner and a 19mm socket to remove this. The bolt will slide out if you jack the diff up enough to take the strain off it.
• Undo the bottom bolts from the shock absorbers.
• Disconnect the rubber brake hoses (there are 2 sets. The set to disconnect is the set that join the subframe to the car, NOT the ones that link to the calipers).
• Disconnect the prop shaft where it joins to the diff. You'll need a 14mm ratchet spanner do do this.
• With the car on axle stands, lower the jack down. Would be advisable to have an assistant help balance the subframe as it comes down.
• Pull the complete setup out and now the real work will begin...

NOTE:

While you have all this apart, change the grease in your CV joints! Not on a laminate floor though like I did - the old grease pours out when you remove the rubber gaiters, pmsl!

Thanks for the product code for 25mm. Why they are 25mm I don't know, I was lead to believe they're 24mm. But what you say is correct, 24mm don't clamp round nicely.

Mine will be going back together this weekend Adz, I will do a how-to on changing the front bushes too :)

Additional Photos of bushes & changing them:

I'll add to this as I finish doing the front ones!

REARS

Jacked up, subframe removed:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/rear_up.jpg

As it came off the car:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/original_sub.jpg

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/old_sub2.jpg

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/trailer.jpg

Rear subframe bushes (made especially from nylon):

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/bushes.jpg

Half way towards re-assembly:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/axle1.jpg

Ready to go on:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/axle2.jpg

FRONTS

Tie Rod Bushes:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/IMAGE_054.jpg

Anti Roll Bar Link Pin Bushes:

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/random/IMAGE_055.jpg

Nice thread, good to know enthusiastic people who are willing to go to these lengths and find all this info and share it.

Mine passed MOT today, but advised on rear bushes so this info is perfect.

Keep up the good work guys this forum is great and I'm looking forward to JAE and meeting you all.

gota do my tca bushes very soon price is a bit steep thou but aint using standard bushes!

have we found any main subframe bushes that fit the s12 yet??? as i think mine are fubbered, and dont have anyone with a laith or a lump of nylon to make them for me????

cheers

noltec from australia made one. but from what I've heard from aus-s12, the built quality of their bushings are not so good.

I used a Prothane Total Kit for z31, thou it did not have the rear subframe bushes, and the ARB bushings didint fit at all (there was basicly any size except 25mm in the kit but:trout, and i can cofirm that both the front ant the rear ARB's are 25mm), everything else fit just fine.
Then i bought the subframe bushes seperately from MMR http://www.mmr-direct.com/. I also bought the front control arm bushes from them, because i didint like how the z31 ones fit (you have to remove the outer metal liner (or whatever you call that thing :D ).

i emailed MMR in the US about their subframe bushes, they said they will fit ours, they ship to the uk all in (exc VAT if customs see it) £45 they also recommended their diff bush be replaced with them coz of age i guess, all in about £60 delivered. (thats the diff bush and the crossmember bushes)

that to me sounds very reasonable.

i saw what bushes they sent rich, he ended up buying from superflex as they sent the wrong ones.:eek:

he got all the other bushes from superflex, and had the subframe ones made up didnt he.

ill paste in the email they sent me

basicly i think the rear subframe is the same as the z31, the front tie rods are 280zx bushes, and link pin bushes are universal, front are 10mm rear are 8mm holes, and D bushes are universal, 25mm iirc.

checking on fast z31 and s12 dont share subframe bushes, im not really that worried bout all the other bushes, they are avail from superflex, but the subframe bushes dont seem to be available from the uk at all, the guy at the top of this page got MMR subframe bushes, and he hasnt said they dont fit, so i can only assume they do, but mine are gonna be MOT failiure this year, and they rattle like a goodun when the car is unlevel i.e bumped up a kerb etc.

has anyone else got MMR subframe bushes for the s12??

aah, i see what you mean, i would like poly bushes for the main subframe, i have ally ones, they maybe to hard for what i want, so if they are ok let me know, i wun't mind the diff bush as well, let me know if you order, i would like to order them at the the same time if poss.;)

I've got some that aren't fitted, they aren't for sale but I could maybe look at getting them copied? Also got the tophat bush for the diff.

Datdrift brought some in the same order as me and fitted them up without issue AFAIK

that would be a great idea, only worth doing if they can be copied for less than £60 for both, do you know anywhere that can do this??

There's a small engineering company five mins down the road from my work, I'll do some googling but there's loads of places around.

What do you want them made from?

The MMR subframe bushes fit jus perfectly (thou you have to remove the metal collar). They are like solid plastic, as oposed to the Prothen ones, which are more like hard rubber (made of urethane i guess).
But the diff mount did not fit, it was totaly wrong (maybe they sent me the wrong one :D) so i left my old one, as it still looked good.

Has anybody else actually used this? I'd ordered one but it's nothing like the actual nissan bush.

The nissan bush is 63mm diameter and 65mm long. The SPF0246K is50mm diamter in the centre with 60mm flange at either end and only 62mm long. Anybody able to shed any light on this?

Did they send you the right thing? We ordered some SPF0917's the other day and acctually got SPF0927's. Should be written on the card sealing the bag they were sent in.

Yes it has the correct part number on the bag.

So has nobody apart from me actually tried using these?

If anybody fancies resurecting the idea of a beam-bush group buy I'd be interested as mine need doing also. Probably not MOT fail but it handles like crap and the back end feels like it's leaning on the springs.

Unless a supplier has been located since last year ?

I've managed to find proper superflex front trailing arm bush sets

SPF1009K £73.67+VAT for the kit

Can't find any for the rear trailing arm bushes, does anyone know if they are the same as Z31's etc?

exactley the same as the z31 rears mate, you just need to burn the bush out, but leave the thin coller inside.i have them on mine.

Guys, I work for an engine specialist. We have an engineering firm to the rear of us that fabricate a lot of our parts.

My S12 just failed her mot in spectacular fashion due to rust - long story short, I'm gonna have to drop both subframes and clean up both them and the body - not something I've ever done before but hey how hard can it be? :D Anyway, these rear subframe bushes, is there a reliable place to get them from now? If not, how many of you still require them? What's the best material for them to be made out of? Does anyone have the dimensions?

If there's no reliable place to get them from, I'll ask the guys behind us to knock some up - I wouldn't imagine they'd cost that much.

oooh! Group buy! Group buy! :D

ok, just spoke to my guy, wont be a problem. just need numbers and dimensions :)

also, the metal collar that goes through the bush, i assume the OD doesn't really matter? coz if he could get tube at the right ID and just machine the nylon to fit the OD of the collar, it will make things cheaper.

no interest?

also, prolly a silly question but are spring compressors required to remove the rear subframe?

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=3707

for Z31 sub frame bushes, some say leave in the metal outer ring, some say remove it, all we know is, try it with the ring in, then remove it if needed. :D

if you have lowered spring in the rear, then you shouldnt need compressors to remove them, if you have std springs in, then jack up the rear onto axle stands, then put the jack under the spring and jack slightly, undo and remove the lower shock bolt, and then lower the jack to release the spring.

yeah, as above, with the trailing arm bushes you usually need to leave the outer metal part of the bush in, so best burn the bushes out.:)

awesome, cheers both :D

yeah mine drags its arse along the ground like a goodun so i think it's safe to assume it's been lowered:

http://nedge2k.com/images/silvia/mk2-s12-2.jpg

umpkin, have you got spacers on your rear alloys?

saw that on ebay,:cool:, y you not put pics up b4 matey ?:)

no, i dont have any spacers.

as for that matal ring thing, was a bit of confusion on my part, i thought shaun was saying leave the metal ring in on the rear subframe bushes, didnt realise he meant the trailing arm bushes.

that colour is really nice, looks very tidy.

i did :D

http://www.nissansilvia.co.uk/vbb/sh...&postcount=280

yeah from afar she looks great....unfortunately the arches aren't, the paint is bubbling in certain areas, back of the sills are fudged and oh yeah, check out my speed hole:

http://nedge2k.com/images/silvia/mk2-speed-hole.jpg

i also have no idea what the colour is....although it does look VERY similar to some old rover 200 series colours so i might get lucky when trying to match...fingers crossed!

holey rear arch batman lol :D.

Bloody hell. Is that a reflection of the work put into fitting the bodykit ?
Still, nice car. Seeing that really makes me want to put the Mk1 grille & sidelights on mine!

Bear in mind spacing the rears will, in-effect, exageratte the camber, possibily leading to heavy inner tyre wear.

the kit isn't too bad, there's a couple of paint issues but it seems well fitted enough. the spoiler doesn't feel overly secure.

as for the lights, if you've got a mk2 grille and sidelights, i'll do you a straight swap if you want?