Poly strut rods - more junk

We did a fiberglass spring with poly cushions last month on a '72 'vette. All of them (4) have completely disintegrated. No more poly anything goes on my customer's cars until the vendors address this obvious problem with poly. parts.:bs:
 
big_G said:
We did a fiberglass spring with poly cushions last month on a '72 'vette. All of them (4) have completely disintegrated. No more poly anything goes on my customer's cars until the vendors address this obvious problem with poly. parts.:bs:
Click to expand...

So, what's with the poly? Is it just a bad compromise for rubber? the only poly I have on the vette are the strut rods, diff snubber bushing, motor mounts and trans mount. New rubber on all other original rubber pieces. Absolutely no problem or degrading of any of the rubber pieces.

The strut poly is junk. The driver's side energy suspension poly motor mount almost looks like it is melting(is that possible?). When it comes time, the motor mounts are going to solid, the trans mount going back to rubber and the diff snubber either solid aluminum or rubber.
 
good poly is better than rubber in some applications, differential for example. I had to cut the poly bushing down to achieve the best possiblt driveshaft angle, this would not have been possible with rubber.

body mounts: I started a separate thread about my dry rotted, detirioated mounts.... need to be replaced again....

once i pull my trailing arms im going to start another thread with photos of those bushings, im sure they're not any better ... those will be replaced with JohnnyJoints to fix it once and for all....

i have not heard anything about poly motor mounts failing but I have a set of solid mounts on my shelf.....
 
Polyurethane materials are pretty easy to cast. However, it has a shelf life, post molding processes and is suseptable to moisture and other thing will processed. I suspect that someone is making these parts that dosen't know what they are doing. Maybe made halfway around the world!
 
Well shit! What about poly motor mounts? I have been planning to replace my rubber motor mounts with poly because the torque twist fucks with my shifter linkage because the exahaust pipe hits it. I'll leave the rubber trans mount,
but also my poly bushed VBP rear strut rod lock nuts will not stay tight so I'm planning on heim joint arms soon...
Luckily I guess I went rubber on the trailing arm bushings but I was beginning to learn by that point and it was purposeful for that reason....

But then that begs the question....What is the quality of 'rubber' now days?
Is it coming time to revert back to leather?
 
I've got rotted VBP poly bushings in my 68 and a customers 75. I ordered replacements from VBP, but they are giving me the run-around. Nothing but excuses. About done with these guys.
 
SmokinBBC said:
big_G said:
We did a fiberglass spring with poly cushions last month on a '72 'vette. All of them (4) have completely disintegrated. No more poly anything goes on my customer's cars until the vendors address this obvious problem with poly. parts.:bs:
Click to expand...

So, what's with the poly? Is it just a bad compromise for rubber? the only poly I have on the vette are the strut rods, diff snubber bushing, motor mounts and trans mount. New rubber on all other original rubber pieces. Absolutely no problem or degrading of any of the rubber pieces.

The strut poly is junk. The driver's side energy suspension poly motor mount almost looks like it is melting(is that possible?). When it comes time, the motor mounts are going to solid, the trans mount going back to rubber and the diff snubber either solid aluminum or rubber.
Click to expand...

I was reading several threads on speedtalk about oil pumps. Seems these days Melling (which is the only one surviving untill now and supplying all others...) has thinned the castings of the oil pump. With solid mounts there is a warning out there it somehow breaks the pump...

Just in case...
 
Belgian1979vette said:
I was reading several threads on speedtalk about oil pumps. Seems these days Melling (which is the only one surviving untill now and supplying all others...) has thinned the castings of the oil pump. With solid mounts there is a warning out there it somehow breaks the pump...

Just in case...
Click to expand...

correct, the standard Melling M55 has a much weaker housing than the HV55
.
Dynageardm55a.jpg
.
2006.jpg
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4new-m55-lessthanseason.jpg
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and here's the M55HV going into my 383 (see how thick the area between the mounting bolt and the housing is?):

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100_1956Small.jpg
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I would stay away from those solid mounts Mybad. It's not fun needing to tear into an engine because of something like that.

I changed all the poly stuff on my car for rubber again. The only thing that remains is the spherical joints of the rear struts and those do not have poly. I put a small rubber bag over the joints to protect them against moist and debris.
 
MYBAD79 said:
Belgian1979vette said:
I was reading several threads on speedtalk about oil pumps. Seems these days Melling (which is the only one surviving untill now and supplying all others...) has thinned the castings of the oil pump. With solid mounts there is a warning out there it somehow breaks the pump...

Just in case...
Click to expand...

correct, the standard Melling M55 has a much weaker housing than the HV55
.

.

.
and here's the M55HV going into my 383 (see how thick the area between the mounting bolt and the housing is?):

.

.
Click to expand...

That Melling pump M55HV is still the newer thinner casting.

The thicker older castings are sold as Melling "Select Pumps"
They also have doweled locators, self locking socket head bolts, 3/4" suction port, screw in relief instead of pin and available in 10% or 25% more flow than oem.
Much heavier casting than the m55hv. Comes with several springs and steel collar shaft.
10552 is a good choice if your clearances are fairly snug.

Here's the link
http://www.mellingselectperformance.com/Products/CastIronOilPumps.aspx
 
Looks like I see cracks in that first housing

I was lucky enough in that my housing predates the change in the pumps from Melling (2004). However mine seems to have the powder metal gears as well. I've seen pictures of the gears breaking.
 
It's very disappointing to see all of these "disintegrating poly" pictures. I've used Energy Suspension parts on several vehicles over the past decade and never had a problem.
 
I've used EnergySuspension poly bushings for at least 3 years and 30k miles on my z28. .. Never had a problem with them , apparently not all poly id the same ...
 
Sam Cogley said:
It's very disappointing to see all of these "disintegrating poly" pictures. I've used Energy Suspension parts on several vehicles over the past decade and never had a problem.
Click to expand...

As I recall, my front A arms on my '72 were rebuilt with ES poly in '95, the lowers are just now recently showing wear and cracking, some years ago the uppers were replaced with stock type rubber parts...the rear struts from VBP had the poly in them, and so several years ago..I rebuilt them by using smaller poly inserts and building up the outer diameter with some tough as hell plastic cut to size and forced into position, been some years now, and sure enough they are failing, but like the lower front, not enough to drive me krazy just yet....:search::gurney:
 
mrvette said:
Sam Cogley said:
It's very disappointing to see all of these "disintegrating poly" pictures. I've used Energy Suspension parts on several vehicles over the past decade and never had a problem.
Click to expand...

As I recall, my front A arms on my '72 were rebuilt with ES poly in '95, the lowers are just now recently showing wear and cracking, some years ago the uppers were replaced with stock type rubber parts...the rear struts from VBP had the poly in them, and so several years ago..I rebuilt them by using smaller poly inserts and building up the outer diameter with some tough as hell plastic cut to size and forced into position, been some years now, and sure enough they are failing, but like the lower front, not enough to drive me krazy just yet....:search::gurney:
Click to expand...

17 years isn't bad. How many miles did you put on in that time?
 
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