I spoke to the Jag dealership this morning, they did not recognise the part number, even though they had fitted it to both sides, perhaps the marking on the item did not match up with the marking on the packaging when they ordered and fitted it.

I also get the feeling that there are different part numbers for the arm with and without the ball joint.

Googling the part number throws up a few sites showing the part being used for both left and right, so the part number shows up for second hand parts but not for new.

Bildelsbasen.se - Sveriges strsta utbud av bildelar

 

Davy the welder came over this afternoon and waved his magic wand, he welded in an inner plate and and this outer one. £50 all in!

 

I put the anti roll bar back on to the subframe tonight and noticed that it is not completely even, when one side touches the floor, the other side its up by about 10mm, Should this be a concern.

I also need to find some rubber grease for the bushes but cant find any locally, is there an alternative?

 

That is less than ½” not sure if that is normal. If it is not how did it get bent? As for the rubber grease I NEVER use it.

 

Plumbing supply carries a product for rubber valves, o rings and such that is water proof. It should serve nicely.

 

I just checked a spare sway bar. Both ends rest flat on the concrete. Yours is bent. Given the sway bar links are NOT adjustable, using the one you have will pre-load the springs one side of the car. e.g., It will add spring pressure to one side and reduce it on the other. Not sure I'd want to do that.

 

I agree with Gordo!

 

Thanks for the comments and help guys, I found some red rubber grease at a local merchant today.

Gordo, where you able to check with the sway bar attached to a sub frame? The bend was not noticeable to me till I fitted it to the the sub frame, but perhaps I just did not check, I will do tonight as it needs to come back off for the bushes to be lubricated.

I am not sure I can wait or stomach the expense to get another one before starting the rebuild.

 

I was thinking about that last night. The frame or the mounting along with the position of the car or floor could cause this to seem uneven. I would check the obvious like the position of the car first.

 

I truly admire your tenacity. I think you're nuts, but I like your courage. Hang in there....

 

And he is doing it on the ground with the car on jack stands not a lift! Got to love it!

 

I checked sway bar straightness off the subframe, on flat concrete. The only way I can imagine a bar would become bent is because of an accident. Regular usage would not be enough twist to distort a half inch.

My gut feeling is the problem is more likely the way your car is supported on the ground; that it is not flat and level, eg., there is a 'twist' in the body because the jack stands are not in the same horizontal plane.

I would try to use the bar. First mock fit so insure there is no pre-loading. If you can insert the sway bar link bolts on all four attachment points without lifting one of the lower control arms (which will compress the spring on that side); then there is no pre-load. Our sway bar links are not adjustable so there is no fix to be found there. Good luck.

 

Guys, the subframe and sway bar are not on the car yet so the position of the car is definitely not the problem

Tonight I took the sway bar off and had a good look at it on kitchen worktop, it looks like there is a 2mm twist in the bar.

I refitted it to the subframe using the "red rubber grease" on the bushes and again measured the result on the flat worktop, with one end of the sway bar touching the worktop, the other end sits 2mm above, but with very light pressure it can be made to touch the worktop too.

So it was a false alarm, I think that the sway bar was not correctly seated in the bush last night, with the application of the red rubber grease the sway bar moves freely and is snugly fitted in to the notch in the bush.

 

Given the problems that the Rev Sam had with these British Car Parts, aftermarket upper arm bushes, I decided to fit them to the subframe before its fitted to the car.

The fit is extremely tight and almost impossible to get all the top hat washers and spacers fitted, I ended up using a chisel to get the last one in.



But finally it was in, but.....



I think I have got the top hat washers the wrong way around, can someone confirm which way they should go.




I am not sure exactly where the bearing surface is supposed to be in these bushes?

 

Since I am still missing two shims which I pick up from Jag tomorrow, I decided to to have a look at a job that has been bugging me for the last 6 weeks but had been ignoring, the wheel arch, I decided to give it a quick fix for the summer rather than leave it to next winter which was my original plan.

The problem.



I sanded it back and put on some rust converter.



Then painted with epoxy mastic, once dry I will sand flat, prime, basecoat and clearcoat.

 

Regarding shims. Two (2) thin, and Two (2) thick per side. The JTIS has writeup showing their distribution based on the location of the car. US models have different caster setup than GB and the ROW (rest of world). My shim set up tight, but everything could be inserted w/o using force. Double check the number of shims and washers you have on each pivot bolt.

 

I used the JITS setup recommended for the UK, the problem is with these aftermarket bushes which just seem to thick, Rev Sams video shows him taking an entire day to get them fitted. But I am still not sure which way round the top hat washers should face, but I get the feeling mine are round the wrong way.

 

As I recall, the hat (or raised side of the the larger 'top-hat' washers) goes against the face of each bushing (there is is metal washer embedded into each end of the bushings). This arrangement provides more space for the caster washers to be fitted w/o compressing any of the pieces between the tubular flange ends of the A-Arms.

 

I took the wishbone off tonight and sanded off a mm or so from each inner poly bush (which was protruding beyond the inner sleeve), that made refitting with the top hat washers and shims much easier. Same for the other side.

 

As for the part # I use the parts pages and illustrations listed at the bottom of this link.
Link JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource