Anyone tried fitting the large insulator bushes on the sierra rear beam ( the large donut bushes). I have been trying all day with no luck

I fitted the poly bushes from Chester sports cars to my Cat E1 as follows:

1. Swore loads cutting the old ford ones out !!!

2. Made a "press" as detailed in the picture below, using 5mm steel plate, M10 stud and some nuts. The spacer tube was an old "pipe coupling" slightly wider than the hold in the beam. I got this from the scraps bin of the local steel supplier. It has a wall thinness of about 4mm and is threaded on the inside. I sure a piece of thick walled pipe would do the same job though. I'll take a picture if you need further clarification.

3. Lubricated the bush with a little GT85 teflon spray (could use washing up liquid).

4. Tightened the top nut until the bush popped into place - very scary like loading up a crossbow, keep yourself well out of the way of the ends of the stud in case it breaks and launches it self at you.

PS - when you fit it to the car make a soild steel plate (4mm or 5mm) to cover the entire top of the bush. This will stop the bush pulling through the beam under extreme loading. I use the same plates as I made to pull the bushes into the beam.


Rescued attachment bush.JPG