Page 1 of 2

Removal of T500 engine bushings made easy.

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:05 am
by Suzsmokeyallan
I'm sure this has given its fair share of grief to those wishing to take the darn things out.
Well necessity is the mother of invention for sure so heres a little trick to easily remove them.
Place the case into a drill press and open one side of the inner bushings to a 9/16 size, NOT the middle sleeve, so drill down in the bushing till you just miss it.
Then take one of the large head bolts from the engine and place it into the bushing you just drilled out.
Now using a hydraulic press, place the case in it with the bolt side up, while you have a suitable sized collar thats bigger than the bushings outer diameter on the other side under it for support.
Because the bolt is bigger than the inner sleeve it forces it onto the other side bushing and pushes it out into the supporting collar below.
Once one side is out you can get the other side out easily by also pressing it across.

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:20 pm
by Zunspec4
Hello Alan,

You got those new bushes in then :D . Great tip on getting the old ones out, glad I didn't have to attempt it when I did my engine.

Cheers Geoff

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:50 pm
by Suzsmokeyallan
Hello Geoff,
No the bushings are not in yet, i just took the old ones out the motor today. This is why i posted the technique i used because it had me scratching my arse for a few moments.
The two front ones had separated from the inner rubber sections so i still have the two outer shells to get out of the case,,, oh joy.
I also had to have the case welded by the chain section as a PO let it fly and it lost a piece at the top and cracked the flange there as well.
Now i have to clean up that welding, dress the housings of the molding flash, bead blast them for perfect cleanliness and get ready for some paint.
I expect that to happen before Christmas though, as ive got so many other things im trying to do.
I'll post pics of the cases with the bushings in as soon as i can.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:04 am
by CJF
Did you find a supplier for new bushings? I wanted to replace mine, but then I found out they were no longer available.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:38 am
by Zunspec4
Hi CJF,

Still listed by Robinsons Foundry

09319-12006 BUSH
£5.02 (includes VAT)

http://www.robinsonsfoundry.co.uk/shop/ ... index.html

I'm sure they will post overseas, and you should avoid the VAT sales tax.

Cheers Zunspec

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:39 am
by Suzsmokeyallan
Mine were totally shot so i had to look around for replacements and they are still available in the UK.
Geoff at the board here (zunspec 4) sorted out getting a set for me so thats how i got six new ones to install.
If i wasnt going the original resto route i would have opened that part of the cases and used GT750 bushings and sleeves which would give the engine much better dampening.
Now ive replied i see Geoff has just repied too and added the info you need.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:58 am
by Zunspec4
Hello Allan,

Hope you are well.

CJF, I can get them and post them on to you as I did for Suzsmokeyallan, but a direct order via their website is probably the way to go.

Cheers Geoff

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:08 am
by Suzsmokeyallan
Hi Geoff yup all is well. Ive got a load of work doing as always at present i've got one T500 and two Buffalo main cases looking at for cleaning and prepping before painting the bodies in silver.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:22 pm
by CJF
Thanks, I didn't realize they still had this part available.

Allan...I'm definitely not going for the stock rebuild with this project so I would also consider converting to the GT750 bushings. Have you ever installed the GT750 bushings in a 500? Can it be done without access to a machine shop? I'm also wondering how I would handle using the smaller bolts with the frame mounting holes. I have already painted the frame, so I would want to try and avoid taking out the welder again. I'm wondering if I could use a round metal spacer or bushing of some kind to eat up 2mm or so of space that would be created when going to the smaller bolts.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:42 pm
by Suzsmokeyallan
Chris what you need to do is to have some stepped washers made, these will fit into the hole in the frame and step over the face of the frame ear on the outside.
You should spot weld them in place, so you can tape off the frame and apply three welding tacks to the outside edges of the washers on each ear.
I know you did NOT want to hear this but its the sad truth.
I will be easier to have the engine apart for reaming the holes in the cases, they need to be opened up only where the old bushings were pressed in on the engine so its not a case of just boring at will across the case.
The easiest thing would be a fluted cutter of the exact diameter as the Buffalos case hole and drill it vertically down into the T500 case.
If you have a drill press all you'll need is the cutter to open the holes.
To answer your question, i did not do a retrofit to a T500 simply because i only have one T500 but i can see it would be beneficial to help dampen the engine better.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:29 pm
by CJF
Using a fluted bit with a drill press sounds like it should do the trick. Do you happen to have a spare GT750 engine where you could measure the bushing hole inside diameter? Or, maybe someone else on the board? I was really hoping to avoid messing up the paint, but I'm sure you are right about having to tack weld on the spacer.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:16 pm
by Suzsmokeyallan
The problem with just putting the stepped spacer in there is that theres nothing to hold it from vertically moving in the stepped hole. So eventually it will wear away at it and elongate itself from the engine vibrating.
In a worse case scenario you can repaint just the frame ears if youre neat with the welding tacks.
I'll measure up a Buffalo case and let you know whats the deal, diameter and reamed depth figures coming up soon some time tomorrow.

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:03 pm
by Suzsmokeyallan
The Buffalo case holes for the rubber bushings are 22mm deep and 24.8 mm in diameter.

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:08 pm
by CJF
Thanks very much for the info!!

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:32 am
by johnakay