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Any interest in a new part for the advanced suspension? Rear spring bushing

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  • Any interest in a new part for the advanced suspension? Rear spring bushing

    So I made a part to go with 'advanced' coilover setup on the rear and am looking to sell them if there is enough interest. Its a bushing to go between the rear spring and body so that all the weight isnt on that little piece of rubber or the upsideown spring perch some people use. It spreads out the load from the spring over a wide area so that soft bushing materiel can be used to provide a much smoother ride by damping the sharp jolts between the spring and body better as well as dampen any spring frequencys better. It also separates the strut and spring from having to move together and from the same bushing having to dampen both if you set yours up like mine was. It makes for a much quieter, smoother ride from the back depending on what you had in there before.


    So while I was building my festiva to be a car for towing I got coilovers for the rear but did not like how the top of the spring met the body of the car for towing purposes. What I had was a bit different than what I see most others do but flipping that spring perch upsideown doesn't seem like a great solution to me either. I decided to make something better for my application. Pictures are at the bottom of this post. Back in April I came up with a plan, made a casting of the pocket that the strut goes up into in the rear of the car and my employer and I measured and drew it out on the computer. Then we 3-D printed the drawing and I poured a mould of that 3-D printed part.
    My first version was a very hard shore A urethane but I decided that they were too stiff where they met the car and not hard enough where the spring met the bushing to be ideal. Julian Pascoal (festyfreak39) tested and confirmed that.

    I did quite a bit of research into the materials that were available to me and picked a softer shore A urethane for the top and a hard shore D urethane for the bottom where the spring meets it.
    I poured a set which turned out to be what I thought was perfect for a towing festiva like mine and installed them in my car in may of 2017 and by october i had 12,000 miles on them and they worked well and still look good.

    I believed that set to be a little stiff for a daily driver or racing festiva so I ordered some different material from California and made a pair with that for Dragonhealer (Ryal Greenwood) to test. He liked them and asked for softer ones yet to test so i made some more and shipped them to him. I sent Ryal 5 pairs of bushings and he tested 4 different hardnesses of the softer top urethane (40,50,60 and 70 shore A) and determined the 40 shore A materiel to be best for the track, for daily driving conditions and also good for heavy weight or towing. I had originally thought they needed to be stiffer than 40a, but apparently if it has squish in place, it has better spring frequency damping. There is a large surface area of the rubber against the car body and the the back end of our cars is light so the psi is pretty low.

    I made mine out of 70A which is pretty stiff thinking thats what i needed for a towing car since i will always have lots of weight in the back. I never drove on the rear coilovers without these bushings but with an empty car daily driving 150 ib/in rear springs it was very smooth, nice and comefortable in the rear. Absolutely nothing like any other car ive been in with stiff springs. I did a fair bit of towing and had some heavy loads in the back this summer and it felt great with that as well. But i daily commuted with this car 65 miles a day and did not find the 150 pound rear springs harsh or annoying. Ben Rogers also drove my festiva at the Westiva meet and commented on how smooth and quiet it was.

    This is what Ryal said when he got the first set of stiffer bushings:

    They are nicer than they looked in the photos! And holy crap, the railroad tracks seem like they don't exist for the rear suspension! All the rattles are gone in the rear even on those two sections of goat trail on the way to my house.

    Now that I've hammered around on these for 90 miles, I'd like to try the softer 40A.
    The car is still boringly stable at 160kph, dead smooth in the rear.

    So i sent him the softer ones and he said this about them:

    The soft pair has been in Ethel over 10K miles, last 6K mile was with 500 pounds in back of the car.

    Had to put the 150lb/in springs in the rear to tow a heavy trailer-around 1000pounds. It was suprizingly smooth, even over the railroad tracks empty. The soft ones take the harshness out, even with the 150 lb/inch springs!

    Hard and soft each have more than 10K miles and look perfect. For my needs, I'll go for the soft 40A.

    So since the soft bushings work well for heavy loads in the back for extended lengths of time as well as an empty car i plan to sell these with the soft 40a durometer urethane on top. If you want 50, 60 or 70 instead for some reason let me know and I will make them.

    So, now I want to offer these for sale if any of you think they would be useful.
    So you can see in the photos below that I made the test ones black and clear. They can be made any basic colour combination you want. The lower part is naturally clear so it can easily be tinted any of the colours. The top is naturally a translucent amber so white and yellow dont look that great but most other colours do. I have ultra black, red, blue, green, white, orange, medium yellow, gray and red oxide. The colours are pretty good, this printout and photo is kinda bad, but thats what I got.



    Just a warning that these wont be coming out super fast if people want them. The first mould I made was just cheap, quick and dirty and only intended for me to get 2 parts for myself out of. It ended up making 14 test bushings but it is done now, I have to make another mould before I can sell these. If there isnt much interest i will make the quick mould again. If there is lots of i will make a mould that should last for 100 or more parts.
    These also are quite time consuming to make. I have to spend an hour and a half at work after my regular day is done to make one bushing and 3 days is the fastest one pair can get made with one mould because they have to be heat cured and stuff after. And thats only if the machines needed are available at my shop, they are in use reasonably often. I'm a bit busy at home and cant spend that much time after work every day.

    So for price I had a paper with what I needed to make to cover my costs back in april and I cant find It right now. I'll try to find it this weekend and edit this post once I do. Its an amount in CAD that I need and at the exchange rate back in June it worked out to about $15 each or $30USD for a pair. That should be around what I can do them for depending on which style of mould I make and what the exchange rate is if I do them at my own pace. So if the dollar makes a big swing that usd price will change but its been pretty stable for a while I think. Im making this post now before I find that price paper because there was some interest expressed on facebook today and I don't want that to die away
    Then the shipping will be on top of that and I cant tell you what that will be as I dont know how many I will be shipping at once, but it cost $21 to ship 7 bushings to Ryal in Arizona which ends up being $6/pair to give you a rough idea.
    Shipping from Canada to the USA is a little pricey. I think if a bunch of you want these that the best bet will be to ship them in one box to someone who is going to a car meet that everyone else is going to.

    If you have any questions or comments please reply to this thread, I may not have explained this all very well.
    If you want a pair or 2 just say so and ill start a list below. Include the colours you want and specify if you want a stiffer one. If nothing is specified you'll get a black/clear 40 shore A pair.
    These will each have a number stamped on them. I keep track of what day they were made, colour, materials used, who it went to and so on. That way if you forget if yours is a soft or stiff one or sell/buy them you can message me for any info about them. I believe i did enough testing, they are still in perfect condition. According to Charlie if they survived Ryals driveway for this long they should hold up to anything They went for about 5 months or more of testing: daily driving and towing in Canada; towing, racing on a track and daily driving in the heat of arizona. Over 30k miles of testing and they look perfect.
    I liked what nate said about his camber plates and im going to copy his disclaimer:

    "DISCLAIMER: Improper installation can cause you to die in a fiery crash. Don't be a moron, I accept no responsibility for your actions. No warranty expressed or implied, bla bla bla."

    Any bushings i sell will come with installation instructions. If anyone ever has a problem with them even years down the road send me a pm. If its an installation problem ill sort that out and make instructions more clear to everyone, if something happens from something outside normal use i will warn everyone and see if i can change anything with how i build them. I dont know if the life expectancy of these is 5, 10, 20 or 30years. If im still around when they start wearing out i will let people know what the life expectancy is.

  • #2
    Photos of how my coilovers were:




    I made a clay master of the cavity, cut a slice out and measured everything.


    Made a drawing, printed it and test fitted it and ended up machining the center hole larger so the strut bushing would have more room to move around without touching the spring bushing.


    poured a quick mould


    parts photos








    I buy some fender washers and drill the centres to the exact size of the top part of the shaft.


    The washers go down to the shoulder and keep the strut bushing in place. I plan to supply 2 with every bushing so 4 per pair. If you want to do your own or want something different let me know.

    I didnt take proper photos, the washers are too high up here but its the only photo I have

    Comment


    • #3
      Fantastic work Ryan! I would say something else, but it's midnight and honestly those pictures speak for themselves!


      I would love to add myself to the interest list.

      Just one pair, in red and black (either order), with the softest hardness.
      Will Samet

      JDMSTIVA - Rest in Peace. Festiva of the Month, May '16 - Best Beater & Bad Luck Award, FMX - (Build Thread)

      JDMSTIVA V2 - Racecar, Showcar, Work in Progress - (Build Thread)

      1990 LX - B6D swapped, mostly stock.

      How to find me:
      Facebook messenger is the best way. m.me/willsamet
      Feel free to PM me anytime!
      Reddit / Snapchat / everywhere else: w4rky
      Instagram/Twitter: @WILLSAMET

      Comment


      • #4
        beautiful work. I would also be interested in a pair.
        black/clear 40 shore A sounds great.

        Comment


        • #5
          I want two sets
          John

          Comment


          • #6
            You and Mike should collaborate and have them added as part of the Advanced build service he has proposed. I'd imagine you could increase sales volume that way and help provide a more complete end product.
            Trees aren't kind to me...

            currently: 2 88Ls (Scrappy and Jersey), 88LX, 90L(Pepe), 91L, 91GL (Skippy) 93 GL Sport (the Mighty Favakk), 94 (Bruce) & 95 Aspire SEs, 97 Aspire (The Joker),
            94 Justy 4WD, 87 Fiero GT, plus 2 parts cars. That's my fleet.

            Comment


            • #7
              I will take 3 sets! Great looking product man!!! I cant wait to get a few in and on my cars.

              1 red/black (40a)
              1 red/black (50a)
              1 red/black (70a)

              I would like to try out a few different ones next year in autocross.
              I will also try them out in my daily car.
              Last edited by mikemounlio; 12-22-2017, 08:52 AM.
              1990 (LUCIFER 2.0) fully built BP+T with E153, Fueltech FT500, traction control with hopes of 600hp (i drank to much of the KOOL-AID)
              1990 OverKILL BP+T, evo ecu system, coilovers, aspire brakes, full advanced suspension, Garrett! The Autocross toy!
              1989 (BRITSTIVA 1.0) B6T and sold
              19?? 150$ burnout car SOLD
              1991 (STRESS RELIEF)SOLD

              Comment


              • #8
                Hooray! I've been awaiting this day since I first tried them out at Westiva!

                1 white/black (40a)
                1 primrose yellow/black (40a)

                Thanks for doing this, Ryan!
                Ben Rogers, Admin of the
                Facebook Group


                '93 Festiva GL "Frito" (Travelled in 36 US States & 4 Canadian Provinces)

                '91 Festiva L "Barry Bluejeans"
                '95 Dickmeyer Aspire SE "Dortmund" (SOLD to jbibb1)
                '91 Festiva L "Fermina" (SOLD to Hulspowered)
                '93 Festiva L "Tallsmallcar" (SOLD to Stretch and Skeeters_Keeper)

                Watch "It's a Festiva", my short film!


                It's better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hmm, I'm probably down for a set. I have a set of coils that were made by Charlie, going to check out what's on them when I get home


                  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                  1990 Flat black Festiva...Mostly stock...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I'll take 3 sets. Shore 40 A blue/black.

                    If you need a set of aluminum moulds made PM me on FB and we can work a trade out!
                    Last edited by skeeters_keeper; 12-22-2017, 03:16 PM.
                    ~Nate

                    the keeper of a wonderful lil car, Skeeter.

                    Current cars:
                    91L "Skeeter" 170k, Aspire brakes, G15, BP, Advancedynamics coil overs, etc. My first love.
                    1990 Kawasaki Ninja 250 - my gas saver, 60+mpg - 40k
                    2004 MotoGuzzi Breva - my "longer range" bike - 17k

                    FOTY 2008 winner!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I'll take a set!
                      40A Orange/Blue
                      1990 L Plus Stock B3 automatic -scrapped- My First Festiva - RIP
                      1991 GL - B6d, g-series trans, aspire brakes, Advanced Suspension coilovers, Miata 7 spoke rims, '98 Prelude seats, more to come!
                      2005 Focus ZX4 SES - purchased from original owner, my grandmother. Currently my wife's daily. 210k

                      You can follow me on instagram @twfodor

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I'll take a set in black/clear, whatever firmness you think is best for a mostly street driven car that will see occasional track usage.


                        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                        1990 Flat black Festiva...Mostly stock...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! I really wasn't expecting this much interest! Between the forum and facebook there are 34 sets spoken for already!
                          So a question came up and there is some stuff i forgot.

                          I wish I had taken better photos, if your happy with how they look in the pictures youll be really happy when you get them!

                          these are not limited production-they are slow production, thats all. 30 pairs would take me an hour and a half every day after work for 3 months to make with one mould, ill likely make 2 moulds. I plan to make and ship as many as I can by May, then im gone on a cross country trip until mid september. Once im back we have to get our oldest into kindergarden, get adjusted back to home life and work, and then i can start on these again and have some coming out maybe by november 2018. And with this much interest i will likely talk to Ben from the festiva store about stocking them there instead of selling them myself come the end of next year.

                          For colour i forgot to mention that since the bottom half is naturally clear i can try for translucent colours. The top has to be a solid but i can attempt to make the bottom translucent if anyone likes. With varying amounts of pigment you can have say translucent blue, light blue, solid blue, dark blue.... obviously translucent black isnt gonna happen and blue may not work either but i can try if anyone wants that.

                          The other thing that needs to be said is that dragonhealer (ryal greenwood) had a lot to do with this. I was talking to him about just machining a plastic or metal top hat for myself and he mentioned he had been wanting to make a rubber bushing. I didnt think it was worth the cost at the time but he said he would buy some and he was convinced other people would buy them too even though i didnt think so. So i made them and he did a lot of testing for us to come up with a good product. And it turns out he was right about people wanting to buy them, wow!

                          Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

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                          • #14
                            Thanks for putting in the effort to make this happen, myself and I'm sure many others appreciate it.


                            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                            1990 Flat black Festiva...Mostly stock...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by ryanprins13 View Post
                              ... And with this much interest i will likely talk to Ben from the festiva store about stocking them there instead of selling them myself come the end of next year.
                              I would be honored to sell a quality product like this in the store!
                              The Festiva Store
                              Specializing in restoration, tuning and custom parts.

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