New Spring Plates, New Bushings

[croSSeduP]

I recently purchased a pair of Empi adjustable spring plates from a known vender. I also purchased new bushings for the whole set up. I CANNOT get the spring plates on the new bushings, and the new bushings in the housings to bolt on the torsion bar covers and lift the spring plates onto the mountings to save my life! Suggestions?
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[modok]

use silicone grease to get the bushings to slide on the spring plate. Can be found in the plumbing isle, or, possibly in your bedroom?

[croSSeduP]

[jpaull]

I did exactly that. I have the grey empi adjustable, and ended up using some slightly longer bolts, and little at a time tightening them down.

In the picture below is most likely what you have, I just painted mine black. I used the red polyurethane and greased them with the green waterproof grease.

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[email protected] MPH 1/4 Mile & 8.1 @ 83.7MPH in 1/8 Mile with Mild Type 1 VW Mag Case 2234cc commuter engine in stock weight bug w/only .491 total lift(CB2292 Cam), 42x37 heads, 48idf's, Street tires, Belt on, Mufflers, Pump gas, video of the run here: https://youtu.be/M3SPqMOKAOg

Transmission by MCMScott:
Rhino case, Klinkenberg 4.12, Superdiff, 002 mainshaft with 091 first idler. Weddle 1.48 Third & 1.14 Fourth.

[56Cabrio]

[croSSeduP]

[KTPhil]

Yes, a pair of longer bolts to get it started is all you should need, then replace them with standard bolts when done. VW recommended talcum (baby) powder to avoid squeaks (same for door rubber).

[[email protected]]

Adjustable spring plates usually have larger inner diameter bushings that need to be used with them. Usually a 2 inch, and a 1 7/8 to accommodate the extra diameter of the adjustable portion. Did you get the adjustable spring plate specific bushings? If so, I've never seen them in rubber, so they are most likely urethane. Powder is used on stock rubber bushings, but urethane ones need urethane specific lubricant. If you don't have any, Summit Racing has it from Energy Suspension. Depending on what preload you are trying to achieve, most of the time the spring plate cap can be loosely bolted up before you preload the torsion bar. I've known many with urethane bushings to bolt the spring plate up without the torsion bar, and check for binding. Sometimes the edges of urethane bushings need to be trimmed/ground to fit in the irregularities of the cast torsion housing, or aftermarket caps to allow smooth movement of the spring plate.

[67jason]

I have these adjustable spring plates on my short axle 67

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ACC%2DC10%2D4010

I used these rubber bushings

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C16%2D113%2D245%2DLR

and as mentioned above, longer bolts to get things started then replace with stock ones once the cover plate gets snugged down.
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67 bug x3
67 ghia
64 bug

[56Cabrio]

[croSSeduP]

Ugh. What seemed like a fairly easy job has turned into a royal PIA.
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[mark tucker]

you do know there are different size &disine bushings for diferent vehicles.... I get the small id ones and machine them to fit the way I want them to....I dont like the stickey greese/goo that comes with the bugpoop stuff.

[croSSeduP]

Mark, I just got the OEM rubber ones for my vehicle. The ID of the inner bushing is a TIGHT fit on the spring plate. Once I get the bushing squeezed in the torsion housing it constantly wants to squish back out. I can BARELY get the spines of the spring plate to match up to the torsion bar splines. As soon as I take my hands off of it, after pushing it pretty hard, tapping it with a hand sledge, and grab the cover, place the cover over the outer bushing, it squeezes off the splines.

Also, I greased the bushings, not powdered them. I've read of both ways. Is greasing them "bad"? I tried the powder method, but there was NO WAY I was going to get the plate on the bushing without a more slippery surface. Used silicone spray, too, because that stuff is really slippery.
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[modok]

If the new spring plate is larger diameter, use a sanding drum (1.25 or 1.5 drum, in drill press) to make ID of the the rubber bushing an equal amount larger.

Urethane.....no thanks, but, some people think it's ok, which is fine. Some people like adjustable spring plates. Not me, I can adjust it right the first time Just kidding. You want to DROP it so ti looks cool for the car shows eh?

[croSSeduP]

[modok]

I just took the caps off my 60 and the rubber bushing just falls off.
Dam. Only been in there 2 years. good news, I did find the source of the clunk sound.
we should trade bushings

In my experience the urethane bushings don't stay snug any better than rubber, and they also squeak and transmit more noise. I've seen them have 1/8 of play from just sitting, car just sitting in a garage for a few years. That's really sad.

My old daily driver the rubber bushings lasted near a decade, but, it was a IRS rear, and quality varies ect ect. Yeah, quality varies.

The way it's supposed to work is the rubber stays stuck to the surfaces and just flexes for all small movements as the car goes down the road. You hit a big bump and it does slide, and makes a funny sound too but you usually don't notice because of all the other sounds the car makes.
Urethane doesn't have enough flex to do that. It's not a "bearing"
Good for some thing tho, things that flex but don't slide. Actually liking my urethane front bump stops. They are 15 years old, and blue. I think they used to be available in different colors

Setting the torsion bars gets easier with practice. I like the idea of the adjustable ones but then again simple is good. I'm looking tonight for where the play is causing this clunking, and at this time I'd rather not add any additional potential sources of play, but I would like these bushings to be tighter!

[[email protected]]

It took 22 years, and around 80k miles to finally show some play in one of my swaybar clamp bushings from Energy Suspension on my Super. The control arm bushings from that original set, installed in 91, are still in use. I have a set of their torsion grommets, but never got the chance to put them in yet. With Adjustable spring plates, you're kind of limited to Bugpack's Prothane, Empi, and Sway-A-Way for 2 inch urethane bushings. Energy Suspension was one of the pioneers in urethane, but they only make the stock replacement sizes. Rubber components have changed a lot within the last 15-20 years. Ever had a boot on a new tie rod/ball joint split on a few year old joint, regardless if it was Chinese, or German? Unless you're getting NOS rubber grommets from the 70's, what's to say your new Brazilian OEM VW, or their Chinese replacements aren't going to crumble in 5-10 years?

[jsturtlebuggy]

I use the SACO/German Auto yellow spring plate grommets on both the SwayAway and Chinese copies adjustable spring plates.
Since the SACO yellow grommets biggest size is a 1-7/8in they have to be open up to 2in size. What I do is put them in the freezer for awhile, then chuck them up in the lathe and machine them out to size.
Freezing them makes them easier to machine.
Also I use Super Lube synthetic grease on them. There is very little noise from them.
I am also using the SACO/German Auto yellow IRS pivot bushings with the Super Lube. On one car, I do develop noise from the pivot bushings over a period of time, this is from suspension having 14in of wheel travel.
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Joseph
Fair Oaks/Orangevale, CA
Elrod Motorsports
Motion Tire Motorsports
Having fun with Dune Buggies since 1970
Into Volkswagens since 1960

[croSSeduP]

UPDATE:
After some consideration I am seriously considering just using the stock spring plates with new rubber bushings, and just setting them at the height I want, which should be easy. Installing these Empi $100 Chinese adjustable spring plates has proven to be more trouble than it's worth. My car has (had) a bad driver's side lean. I have not touched the driver's side yet, so I'm thinking of just doing the one spline one way, one spline the other thing on the driver's side to lower it just a bit, measuring the angle with protractor, and setting the passenger side to the same measurement.

On that subject, is there a protractor that any of you would recommend for this job? I found a digital one on Harbor Freight's website for $35 that looks like it will do the trick.
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Please check my '67 sedan project progress!
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