grinding serrations off control arm bushings

need some help guys.. modifying oe style rubber front upper control arm bushings, I know the old school racers do this.. but I've never done it. Please let me know exactly what you guys do..

grind the serrations of both sides of the bushing?
use a washer?
both?

any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks
Eric

 

What's the reason your looking to do this???

 

To help with the front suspension travel.. For a bracket race/limited street car

 

Just loosen the upper & lower control arm bolts when racing. After tighten them back up. Remove the front sway bar or put in longer end links. Remove the upper a-arm stops. This will increase upward front end travel to help plant the rear tires. Costs little to nothing to do. Unless the car has been built up & has MORE power than stock this is all that is normally needed.
Just my thoughts.


Tom T.

 

Tom's correct - thats what I do and it works beautifully. I'd also suggest a set of Calvert 90/10's

 

Before I put mine back together, I'm grinding off the serrations. Just my .02

 

You guys that are grinding them off, are you doing it on both ends?

 

Well, I'm not really sure that grinding them off on mine would be necessary; I'm using new poly bushings that are pushed together by hand. I haven't looked at the original style, but I would imagine the sleeves are set in the rubber pretty stiff. If that's the case, grind both sides. JUST enough to get rid of the serrations, don't go too crazy.

 

Why not just get new nonserrated ones? That's what I did back in the day.

 

I looked for some- couldn't find any exact matches per vehicle search, but didn't go as far as looking them up by dimension.

 

I did find some poly ones made by Prothane. Pictures show no serrations on the upper shaft bushings.

 

When I raced in the early 80s I ground off both sides and put studs in the ends and double nut the bushings as to not lock down the bolts on the bushings.Tighten nuts on control arm so arm is not sloppy loose on bushings.Check the arm swing,should swing up and down nice and free.Install second nut and lock the two nuts together.Put a little grease on bushings before you install .I also lossened the lower control arm bolts just enough so the arm would swing freely then double nut.I installed adjustable upper control arm stops to limit travel to keep wheelies in check.

 

my car has the big lock nut style shafts, so I don't have to worry about the bolt backing off..

thanks for the info guys! do you run the factory "bumpstops" under the upper control arm? remove, cut down, etc..?

 

check these out.. never knew these were available. direct replacement.. no serrations.

Comp Eng #3166

 

If I recall (getting harder every year!) those are the ones.

 

They are a poly bushing with no serrations.. Do you see any problem running those in the uppers and Moog rubber in the lowers?

 

why do yo guys like without serrations?

 

Shouldn't be an issue.

Front end lift/ easier travel off the starting line.

 

Thank you John. I ended up grinding the serrations of the Moog rubber bushings. You didn't mention anything about the upper control arm bumpers. I cut them down to approx 1/2" tall