Oem bushings for moustache bar .

[fuzze]

Hello all , hoping for a little help from those who have installed Oem bushings . I removed all the old and now have the bushing pressed in at work one one side , but what do I do about pressing the lip over on the backside of the bar like it was from the factory . Any tips from those who have done it .

Thanks

Chris

[gnosez]

A hammer works fine or you can use a large socket and get all the edges to fold over at once.

[madkaw]

Well I am going this route myself as far as replacing bushing with OEM. My question is about the hardware. Since it was so long ago that I had a moustache bar with the stock bushing I can't remember what hardware(washers,etc..) is used when installing the bar. My urethane kit for my last r200 bar had huge washers on either side of the bushings, but I don't think that is the case with the stock bushings. Any help-pics

[Mike W]

On the re-install of the OEM bushings, I went through this same exercise about 6 months ago and had the same question about flaring over the other side of the bushing. This turned out to be a real PITA for me, but hopefully my experience will help everyone else.

I ended up finding a super machine shop in Austin and he actually made a tool for me that you can use with a large shop press to flare over the unflared end of the bushing. I did a write up on this that you can find here:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?41782-Installing-OEM-Mustache-bar-bushings&highlight=

I have already loaned this to another forum member in California and he had very good success using it. I believe that he went to the lengths of either hammering or further pressing the newly flared end so it was completely flush, while my install only used the new tool. In my case, it doesn't look flat but there is no way this bushing is coming out of the bar.

On the hardware question, yes there are large washers on both the top and the bottom of the moustache bar and I was able to purchase those directly from Nissan who still has them available (at least as of 6 months ago).

Here's a few pictures of how the finished product went together.

Finally, if anyone wants to use this tool, I will be happy to send it to you as long as you take care of shipping costs in both directions and return it to me as soon as you have finished with it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mike.

[GreenZZZ]

Kevin LeBlanc at the Austin Z-Clinic bought one too. I'm redoing the ones I hacked up right now.

The lower donut bushing below the flared bushing is no longer available. I'm going with a 280Z lower donut (I have an R200 which is probably the correct part anyway)...

[madkaw]

Mike,

So the washers also have rubber embedded in them? I'm not sure what I am seeing there. Damn, I wish I hadn't removed the bushing now and went urethane. If you have that part# for the washer I would appreciate it. Looking at your finished product I think I would want the flange to lay flatter, but your right-it probably won't go anywhere. I am thinking of trying a truck repair shop since these type bushings would probably be more common there or a suspension shop that installs suspension bushings. These bushings remind me of the bushings that were installed in my old 1969 chevy c-10 trailing arms-which I made a bushing installer out of some pipe.

Edited November 8, 2011 by madkaw

[Mike W]

Steve,

I am pretty sure that I purchased both the upper and lower "differential mounting stopper" new from Courtesy Nissan. Yes you are correct that they have rubber embedded in them and there are separate parts for the upper and lower mounts. I will have to check for sure once I get home this evening, but I believe the part numbers that I used are 55474-N4300 (upper) and 55475-N4300 (lower). Bear in mind that these part numbers from the MicroFiche CD that I have are supposed to be used on models after 12/74 manufacture date, but I assume that they would still be OK for your model.

I also wanted my flare to be flatter, but honestly it is cosmetic only. After the initial flare was completed I was going to use my shop press to flatten them further, but decided against it. Have not had any issues at all so far. I will also tell you that I went to just about every shop I could find locally in Austin to try and get this work done, including Inland Truck where I purchased my Spicer U Joints, and got nothing but strange looks when I inquired about flaring the bushing. The closest I got was a large brake shop in Austin that also does work on trucks but the tools that they had for their brake lathes were just not the right size for the diameter of the bushing I was trying to flare. That's when they sent me to Scotty's Driveshaft in Austin who they claimed could do almost anything. He ended up making the tool to the right dimensions and completed the flare for me. I'd be happy to lend you the tool if you end up running into the same brick walls that I did.

I will check the part numbers when I get home tonight and confirm the ones above are correct.

Mike.

[GreenZZZ]

Damn, I wish I hadn't removed the bushing now and went urethane.

Benefits of the Urethane is its much easier to install. Draw back is many have complained of a loud diff gear whine entering the car. I'm going with stock bushings and an RT diff mount for a smooth ride...

Motorsport has the upper 240Z and lower 280Z bushings...

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SDC03D

[GreenZZZ]

I also wanted my flare to be flatter, but honestly it is cosmetic only. After the initial flare was completed I was going to use my shop press to flatten them further, but decided against it.

Once the part is lipped over like yours, its easy to finish it off

[madkaw]

It was an error that I removed the bushing shell, so now I will have to finish the deal. I was running urethane before this on my r200 and it wasn't too bad. I think it does have a lot to do with the diff. I would prefer quiet but less work:)

Mike that part number looks like the bushing part#. I might need to call courtesy.

This STI diff swap is turning into more work than I planned- but doesn't everything

[madkaw]

Bushing is 554756-4300, so the numbers are different

[madkaw]

Put your numbers in Mike and they come up under courtesy as stoppers at 10$ each - ouch! Didn't say upper or lower, but I assume they are the same and I will 4'of them