Dennis , drill out the rubber and finish it off with a coping saw. A torch would be too messy. Then hack saw across both metal sleeves or Dremel the small one and they fall out. Freeze the new bushing over night and warm the short link in your BBQ grill or boiling water for a few minutes. Use a stack of washers on one side of the bushing so not to press on the center bush and press it in place using your bench vice (if you don't have a press) and build up with washers on the back side as the center bush comes through so not to put any stress at all on the center bush. A little Vaseline or grease helps. The outer bushing has a beveled edge to help get it started. It's a tight fit and start it straight and keep it straight or it will get stuck. You can heat the small link in boiling water with the new bush and now drive the center bush and small link on the sway bar holding it steady in a vice using a bronze mallet or a plate to prevent contact on the bush with a steel hammer. Use the old sawn off inner piece to finish the hammering home. Make sure the link is located correctly before starting this final step. PS the last time I did this the parts were faulty ( I can't remember why) and I had to return them. Check the dimensions on the old and new. Nothing should yield to torque on the link.

 

Thanks for the tip Rick, I new this is going to be elaborate. The old silent blocks are about half gone, so maybe I´ll be saving this job untill later when there´s not so much more left to do on the car and I´ll be getting bored, right now there´s still lots in order to get it driving.

Dennis

 

This may be peculiar to my car (750 spider), I think the bottom of the front valence is deformed upward, but I had the links installed on the bar then concluded there was no way to get it threaded into position on the car without lifting the front end a couple of feet higher. I had to remove one link and reinstall it after the bar was placed on the car.

Doug

 

Doug, your experience is not unusual. The removal and re-installation is facilitated by having the car on a lift and the radiator out with the front wheels off. I don't have a lift so did this job with the radiator and motor out on jack stands. It seems like it should just slide into place but it doesn't without some finesse-ing. It is one of the first jobs I do when the car comes out of the paint shop. It's one that gives a fuzzy feeling of accomplishment on a long road to reassembly.

 

I`ve been told that to prevent the new bushings from being under constant tension or to prevent them from being stressed beyond their rotational limits when driving, the links have to be installed on a slight angle in relation to the bar. To prevent this they should not be installed on the bar at right angles to the bar. This must be done before the links are pressed onto the bar as they cannnot be adjusted once on the bar. Does anyone know what that angle is or how to install them correctly?

John Viereg

 

John, obviously the source of this pearl of wisdom is the source of the answer. Uncle

 

That´s an interesting theory John, hope someone with knowledge about the subject chimes in here.

I went to check my stabiliser rod as it is out of the car, but the links seem to be installed at a right angle on the bar, but again, as dirty as they are doesn´t mean they are still the original ones.

Dennis