Hi Folks; I'm in the middle of replacing the spring plate bushings on my '73 T1.
First some notes so far: I got the passenger side plate unloaded without too much fuss; it wasn't quite as easy as I've read but it's done and without too much additional ado. On an IRS Bug you must to remove the diagonal arm bushing bolt and you've got to remove the fender (which also means you've got to remove the bumper and brackets). This will allow you to carefully rotate and swing the arm out of the way of the spring plate. In my case, the spring plate is stuck to the outside end of the torsion bar; right now it's soaking in a bath of PB Blaster as the whole thing sits in the afternoon Georgia sun. I'm trying to figure the best way to remove the spring plate from the t-bar without damaging the bar.....any ideas? Apparently the factory was scrimping on grease the day they assembled my Beetle; there was very little if any grease on the inboard end of the passenger side bar and apparently not enough to keep the outboard end from sticking itself to the spring plate. Questions: I bought OEM-style bushings from WestCoast Metric....much to my displeasure they are Mexican in origin, appear to be cast of really soft rubber and are covered with some sort of mung that flakes off if you rub them. Has anyone out there used these bushings and how do they hold up? Is there a source of German or US-made rubber bushings? Has anyone tried using polyurethane bushings? Any advice is welcome..... thanks in advance. Mike 73T1 _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
