nylon bushes

[danny_p]

just looking at the price and possible lack of avaliblity for polybushes for the arse end of my syncro.

so thinking about makeing them,  has anyone used nylon ?   iirc its sort of halfway house between poly and bearings 

[Dave_IOW]

http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_spares_Bush-Rear-beam-mount-Powerflex-Golf-Rallye-G60-Syncro-WC50185260_act_shop.product_pID_16409659_lang_EN_country_GB.htm

Any good? 

[Diamond Hell]

That's what I have on mine, but I think Danny's talking about making himself something stiffer, Dave.

[DOA]

Not familiar with the layout but going to assume there are 2 bush locations/pivots... As long as the two pivot points are in line on the arm, nylon (6 or 66) or delrin/acetal will be fine though dont run it direct on the bolts as the nylon/delrin will wear the bolt out (not that I would think you would anyway), amazingly resiliant stuff nylon.... If the pivots are not in line, dont bother, it wont work and Polybushes wont either as the arm will bind up/the bushes will break up. Expect spherical levels of noise and harshness...... Also make sure not to get glass filled nylon as it will chew through anything it runs on! Its not that common but you never do know lol.

[Diamond Hell]

Maybe look up the layout first, then you could make a relevant post?

[DOA]

 

[Diamond Hell]

My sentiments entirely.

[VW BUSH]

Nylon absorbs water.
It will shrink and grow with the weather causing it to bind if you require a sliding/moving fit.
You will need to have so much clearance that it will be a sloppy fit when "dry"
If you machine it across the grain it can crack, if it dries out it can crack, if you do both it will crack.
Other plastics can be used but you always get a trade off against other failure modes, elastomers are used in the suspension of cars for this reason along with natural rubber


Polyurethane can be bought in different hardnesses shapes and lengths and fashioned on a lathe or Mill.
I take by wanting to make Nylon bushes you have access to this sort of equipment

2 secs on google found me this, although I have a supplier in West Sussex
http://www.bonaprene.co.uk/shop/13_Polyurethane_Tube__Rod

I suggest maybe looking at the quoted harness of Brands like Power flex and selecting where you want to go from there.
The softer you go the harder it is to machine, practice on a little bit first

[danny_p]

i was thinking of making inserts or tubes to go trough the bush  out of bright bar  or possobly even stainless depending what i can get my mits on at time of construction.

- VW bush 

thats some usefull infomation on the downsides of nylon,  i've heard of it been used but not haveing any direct experiance of useing it for such appications  thought it would be good to ask.  by the sounds of it poly is quite a sutable material for some of the bushes.

was considering sperical bearings but i can't be arsed with the ballache they cause lot of work doing the conversion right and unless it's kept warm dry and never played with in the wet and allways cleaned  they seem to have a sub optimal life   and stuff cracks so allways inspecting for fatigue

as for the lathe and mill i have a crappy lathe of my own thats good enough to do bushes on got accses to a better one and a mill,  but it's more to the point i cant bring myself to spend £50 on a pair of bushes ,  chould put that towards a fat bastard size seat

[VW BUSH]

Don't get me wrong Nylon is great stuff, id just go for PU as its proven and has some give.
Anything solid as a bearing/bush will give you a rear beam with no give or twist, which will require a cushion in your seat but may give you something desirable on the track or piles