Sway bar poly bushing modification

A couple years ago I put a tubular F-car front sway bar on my '69. I've been using the stock rubber bushings, and now I'd like to put poly bushing up front. The bar is 1.185" (OD), but before I spend the money on new bushings I remembered I have a set of 1.25" poly bushings from years ago when I tried out a boat anchor weight 1.25" bar (I tried the soft spring/big bar combo and didn't like it at all). I thought about modifying the poly mounts by slicing out a section at the parting line, but am concerned that it won't fit straight into the mounting brackets again. So while I'm working on that possibility I was also thinking about just shimming the ID of the bushing. A 1.185 OD bar in a 1.25" ID hole would leave .065" slop. I was wondering if I found some (brass?) shim stock (.o32"-.035") and placed it in there would that work (assuming I greased the bar interface)?

Thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike

What year f body? 3rd and up bars are in mm and most are hollow.

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Twin_Turbo said:

What year f body? 3rd and up bars are in mm and most are hollow.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

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It's apparently a 30 mm bar (1.185" tubular off a '93 Firebird).

I started grinding a bit off the bushing parting line. Looks like I can get the ID down to 1.185"/30mm and get it squeezed back round when I put it in the bracket and shim the space between the frame and the bushing.

Call me cheap, but wth, a half hour of grinding and filing, and I ought to be able to save myself twenty bucks by not having to buy new bushings. :yahoo:

69427 said:

Call me cheap, but wth, a half hour of grinding and filing, and I ought to be able to save myself twenty bucks by not having to buy new bushings. :yahoo:

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and while you spend some quality time in the garage filing and grinding you can have a cold beer :thumbs:

MYBAD79 said:

69427 said:

Call me cheap, but wth, a half hour of grinding and filing, and I ought to be able to save myself twenty bucks by not having to buy new bushings. :yahoo:

Click to expand...

and while you spend some quality time in the garage filing and grinding you can have a cold beer :thumbs:

Click to expand...

If I was still in Orlando that would be a great idea.
Unfortunately I'm now in Missouri and it's 45 degrees in the shop. :crap: (I'm still rounding up parts to get the stove operational out there.)

69427 said:

MYBAD79 said:

69427 said:

Call me cheap, but wth, a half hour of grinding and filing, and I ought to be able to save myself twenty bucks by not having to buy new bushings. :yahoo:

Click to expand...

and while you spend some quality time in the garage filing and grinding you can have a cold beer :thumbs:

Click to expand...

If I was still in Orlando that would be a great idea.
Unfortunately I'm now in Missouri and it's 45 degrees in the shop. :crap: (I'm still rounding up parts to get the stove operational out there.)

Click to expand...

Drink 6 of them and you won't CARE if it's 45f or even 20f....

:crap::bounce::bump:

or just squeeze a piece of lemon in the beer, that's what I do and because of all that vitamin C You won't get a cold.....