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This post is a continuation of this closed one:

https://www.speedsterowners.co...c/red-urethane-decay

While working under the car today to install the new heater box hoses to the body I noticed that one of those red urethane camber compensator pads that I had swapped a few years back was missing. I thought how can a nylock nut (what it had) get loose. I checked on the remaining pad and tightened the 13 mm nut and saw that the stud that goes into the urethane was freewheeling. Not I know what happened; the stud just broke from the crappy thing and it ended on the road somewhere.

I wonder if there is a stock suspension part from any car make/model but rubber in a similar configuration that could be used. Gordon, Alan, Danny P or any of the other heavyweights here have an idea? The picture of the part is on the first post that is closed.

Thank you.

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As I mentioned in another post a few days ago, the same thing happened to me 10 years ago, when the EMPI camber compensator was first installed on my car. I got a replacement part from (the old) VS and it was identical to the part that had failed. It soon failed in the same way as did the pad on the other side of the car.

I think the only choice is to ditch the EMPI compensator and install the one from CB Performance.

FWIW, I never thought the EMPI piece did much anyway. It's supposed to push up against the axles, keeping them from tucking under the car in spirited cornering. But i could pull it away from an axle with just a pound or two of force applied, so I couldn't see how it was helping much.

About a year later, we put in a new transaxle with modified mounts that interfered with the EMPI compensator, so I removed it and have gone without one ever since.

I've had to learn the, uh, 'magic' point where the wheels start to tuck under in hard cornering on uneven surfaces (or in reverse camber corners) and now drive accordingly. I just think of it as one of the car's 'charming' peculiarities that could end in disaster, like the nonexistent crumple zones and airbags.

Getting there is half the fun.

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Last edited by Sacto Mitch

I put a red urethane front trans mount in my Cal Look bug some 40 years ago (they were the new thing and "so much superior" to stock mounts) and within 2? 3? months had replaced it with a new stock front mount.  I still have it hanging on the garage wall- it has a big rip in it.  I'll post a pic of it later.

These pads are approximately 2” x 3-3/8” x 5/16” thick. I wonder if I can find an equivalent, preferably in rubber. I paid $30 something for the red urethane replacement pair at CIP1 in 2020; now they’re $56 and on sale! Due to the bad experience with these replacements I am looking for options. If all else fails I’ll just spring up for a new CB Performance unit.

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@Impala , your photos recall some (not so) fond memories of my first struggles with this car.

Being a champion of inelegant solutions, I think I ended up just wiring (or taping?) the pad to the support bar.

As you've pointed out, this isn't a case of the urethane itself failing, but of whatever is supposed to attach the (unseen) bolt head to the pad. Judging by how little force it took to break it loose, I thought that must be some kind of glue.

At the time I considered fabricating a replacement pad out of wood (a short length of 2x4 might be a good place to start) and countersinking a hole on the upper side for a bolt head and lock washer.

Another option is to cut a slot in the end of the bolt for a flat-bladed screw driver so you'd have a way to keep the bolt from rotating while tightening the nylok nut. You could probably do that with a Dremel cutoff disk. Then, it would just be a matter of waiting for the urethane itself to fail in some spectacular way.

Arguably, there is much to be learned through correcting the flaws in substandard engineering, but I'm still voting for the CB Performance option.

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Black urethan(Prothane) is fine for this application. I have it as bushings in my custom front swaybar. They are commercially available "universal" type sway bar mounts, and are enclosed all around, which is the only way I would use urethane.

They've been on there for 5 years so far and are in great shape. The mounting bracket has a grease fitting that goes through a hole to the sway bar. I've greased it twice so far.

I will not use it for motor mounts or as a steering donut!

Last edited by DannyP
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