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MG MGF Technical - Shock absorber bush replacement

This weekend I attempted to replace the shocker bushed with poly bushes. I am doing all the bushes on the car. One weekend I was going to do the fronts the next the back. I am using the powerflex ones from mike.

I have adjustable avo shocks on my car. First problem was getting the lower bolt off on the drivers side. sorted after about 2hrs of drilling and banging!!

Easy peasy I thought from now on. Next problem was getting a 30mm poly lower bush in the lower shocker hole, which was 22mm. After nearly a day with a vice and jubilee clips I gave in. Luckily my dad invented a kind of funnel thing which went from 35mm to 20mm that the bush went in and with the aid of a bolt and washer and vice pushed the bush in the whole. The insert was easy to but in.

The next part (And this is the real issue I have) was the rest of the bushes for each shock the two that go on the strut bolt.

The old bushes fitted into closed cub washers. The new poly bushes don’t so using a drill to rotate the bush I used a file to chamfer the ends so they fitted nice. I then put the shock back on the car. To my disappointment I couldn’t actually get the top bushes on at all. It looks like the powerflex bushes compared to the old bushes are nearly 1 1/2 times taller!!! There should have been at least another 10mm on the top bolt. I had to trim and chamfer the bushes on the top so I could but the top bolt on to bolt them down. They then bolted down loads and there is a nice squish around the washers probably 5mm or so thick on the top in the bonnet bay.

I’m wondering though have I chopped off too much on the top bushes. Do the top bushes do that much or is it the bushes at the bottom. Because the bushes in the bonnet bay have been hacked about a bit. Would it affect the handling???

I’m really wondering whether or not to do the back shockers now with all the hassle this has caused. In total it has probably took me 24hrs to do the front shocks.

Could this be a problem to do with using the avo shocks instead of standard ones?

Answers please!!
Chris Glen

My immediate thought is that all the problems you are having with these bushes are because - as you have already said - you are using poly bushes designed to be used with OE standard shocks on a completely different shock absorber.

Sorry about that :o(

Maybe worth going to the folks who supplied the shockers originally to see whether there are poly bushes available for them (or indeed contact Superflex or who ever manufactured the replacement bushes). Otherwise, it may be down to modifying the bushes you've already got, or not using them at all (possibly the preferable option?)
Rob Bell

Ive been driving the car now for two days. As ive only done the front I can only comment as it stands. The shake through the steering wheel as you go over potholes etc has been greatly reduced and everything feels more precise. I need to get the tracking sorted but that will happen once I finish doing the back.

Im not sure what to do about the top strut bush though (the one that is in the bonnet bay). Should I remove the cutup polyflex bush and replace it with the oe one or not.

After trawling through the archives im surprised this hasnt come up before!!!!

Do people that have modified shocks not go down the poly bush road??? If someone were thinking about doing this on non-oe shocks I would make sure that one would budget plenty of time whilst doing them.
Chris Glen

<<After trawling through the archives im surprised this hasn’t come up before>>

On of the problems with the archive is that thread titles are not always meaning full. We have all done it - get a bit uptight at work, car not well, dog threw up on carpet so we start a thread like "RANT". Contents may be meaningfull but you try and find it in 6 months time.

Also, we all come on here with questions but not everybody comes back to the thread with their solutions.

Both of these make finding suitable search criteria a bit difficult.

Having said all that, I'm suprised that this hasn't cropped up before ---

@Rob what do TechSpeed do as part of their suspension rebuilds? Do they do full car bush replacements and non-MGR shocks etc? Might Chris be pointed in their direction for advice? I see he is in Northants and not a million away.
JohnP

Typically, Techspeed don't fit poly bushes to road cars unless you go in specifically asking for them. Roy has a pragmatic view that is based on cost benefit: for the cost of fitting, will you see that degree of benefit? It is refreshing from the perspective that you make you think about what you ask for rather than just take your money! I am sure that all the other mg specialists are probably the same, which is very reassuring to know that we're so well catered for :o)

Anyway, having gone way off thread, to the question - yes Techspeed do fit poly bushes - but I don't think that they put them on their Bilstein dampers. But I don't know that 100% for sure.

Chris, drop Marvin/Roy a line at Techspeed - their number is 01926 632066. They can advise you far better than I can: my anxiety is that your modified top bushes may not be up to the job.

As I mentioned earlier, perhaps contact the manufacturer directly with the dimensions of the original bush fitted to your AVO dampers: perhaps they have something in their catalogue that is a closer approximation than the bushes that you currently have?
Rob Bell

This thread was discussed between 14/09/2004 and 15/09/2004

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.