Keeping the F...

[ZSx]

So after being messed around by a timewaster on eBay, who won the auction and then subsequently decided he had to wait till payday to buy it, then decided he had Covid and could not afford it anyway...

I then put the F up a second time and got tons of interest (30 odd watchers for example) but no-one even offering £100... I suppose the MOT had expired while the timewaster gave me excuses, which means most people wouldn't be interested?

Anyway I decided to throw the car at my local garage and see what needed to be done for the MOT, so I dropped it off and then 2 hours later got a phone call saying it had passed (actually it failed due to a missing wheel nut??? but they put one they had loose on and then it passed). Happy days

Couple of Advisories, which are no problem and a couple that are bushing related.

What is the current thought on suspension bushings? Should I just replace them with new OE rubber bushes? or should I go down the polyurethene route?

Also, since it is an early F and since the Nitrogen has pretty much completely gone out of the spheres (although luckily I have a spare set of spheres) I am thinking I should get them refilled. So does this make a difference to the above question? and Should I replace anything else while I am in there? I.E. is it worth replacing the shocks at the same time?

Thanks in advance

[Charless]

Well done on the MOT - missing wheel nut - tsk tsk, nice garage!
I would say regassing is worth it and the dampers less so if they are not leaking. But as it is an F I would not go for the orange hard polybushes - they are too harsh - go for the blue softer ones.

[MrNatural]

Hope you decide to keep it
I have a Trophy and I went for the orange polybushes and they made a big positive difference. But blue would be just as good I am sure

[talkingcars]

Well done Sam.

Even new O/E rubber bushes will better than the original ones.

When I did the subframes on my F I got some custom poly bushes made up with a hardness of shore 70 which is the hardness of natural rubber.

I had them made in lime green to compliment the forest green subframes on the HFF F.

And for the record the, colour of a polybush is subjective, it is a dye added to the mixture during manufacture and could be sky blue pink with orange polka dots. Each manufacturer decides their own coding.

[ZSx]

Mr Natural, thats one clean underside - Where do you get the drop link bushes? When I was looking yesterday I could only seem to get the drop links as one peice?

As talkingcars knows from another forum, I was trying to reduce down the number of vehicles in the household, but because of the issues selling the F and the fact that other than fuel and repairs its cheap as chips to run, I think its definitely being kept now.

The list of advisories are:

Repair as soon as possible (minor defects):
Battery insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (4.13 (a) (i)) - (I stole the bracket for another car's MOT a few months ago and forgot about it! - Easy fix)

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):
Offside frobr indicator slightly discoloured - (whats a frobr? and easy fix anyway)
Slight play in both front anti-roll bar link rods - (Bushes...)
Front brake discs in slightly poor condition - (Due to lack of use, but looking at Mr Naturals AP calipers... hmmm...)
Slight oil leak - (Needs a track down.. probably not a huge issue and will monitor)
Slight play in offside front wheel bearing - (Wheel bearings look like a pain in the ass... and I need a press...)
Slight play in both front shock lower bushes - (Bushes...)
Both rear tyres worn close to legal limit - (Typical will get this done at some point)

[MrNatural]

Mr Natural, thats one clean underside - Where do you get the drop link bushes? When I was looking yesterday I could only seem to get the drop links as one peice?

I have always got new bushes direct from https://www.polybush.co.uk

[Rob Bell]

Powerflex is another option - I think their PU bushes are purple?

There are also a number of cheaper aftermarket unbranded types (in orange) that I didn't get on with at all, took them off and fitted standard suspension bushes - which in many cases were stiffer than the PU items (note that these were not polybush or powerflex)!

If you are after standard ride characteristics, then the original bushes are the way to go. After all, the ones you have on the car are the best part of a quarter of a century old and are only now being replaced...