bowtie6’s new frame gets a new differential.  In order to handle the power of the ECOTEC – remember boost is in the plans – we needed something that would not break.  Furthermore, one of my requirements for the new drivetrain is to have full posi-traction (and by this I mean the real deal and not viscous).

In the following gallery, you will see the following:

• The rear axle is a narrowed 9″ Ford.  Yes, it might be a little overkill but again, this is all being built so we don’t have any unexpected “failures”.  The solid axle in this application will by far surpass the IRS as originally implemented.
• The diff is a Motive full posi-traction unit.  It is set up with a 3.80 to 1 ratio – it is a bit tall in first gear with the Solstice’s AISIN gearbox but you have to remember this:  I am not building this to be a drag car.  With this ratio, the car is extremely quick and nimble at speed.  From the setup in my cousin Jim’s TR4, we have determined this rear axle ratio works fantastic with the engine in second, third and fourth gear; with fifth being even more fun at speed.
• You can see in the pictures the special order Moser axles.  These were custom made with the correct length in order to handle the narrowed housing.
• The rear axle is held in place as a four point suspension.  The control arms are fitted the special Heim ends.  These were quite pricey and come with special seals to keep dust and grit out.  Why Heim ends?  I’ll have an article about this later…
• Finally, take a close look at the driver’s side axle:  the rear brake rotor is fitted.  Yes, we will be re-using the disc brakes we had previously used.
• Not shown in the pictures is the all new, custom made brake lines.  We are using stainless tubing this time and it has all been hand made, and bent just special for this frame.  I’ll have a future article about this because the mounts that Jim made are real special.

With the new custom frame finished, it is time to start putting things back together. Yesterday, the front suspension was fully disassembled and I found some interesting surprises. When I first put bowtie6 together, the front suspension was completely overhauled and of course, the a-arm bushings were replaced with what I thought to be high-quality state-of-the-art  components. Well, after 15,000 miles I have found the bushings deteriorated and they did so severely.

The bushings mounted on the lower a-arms survived fairly well. I did not take any pictures of them, since they damage there was not as dramatic as the top a-arm bushings.  Suffice to say there was a bit of slop and the bottom bolt did not fit tight.  The top bushings though, were in very bad shape.

Take a look at the images in the following gallery.  Basically these were taken before we removed the worn bushings and as you can tell, there is significant wear.  In addition to the bushings actually coming apart, there is quite a bit of deformation in the overall shape of the bushing.  Not what I have expected from these bushings, but then again such is life.

For replacements, I have sourced a different brand this time.  The new ones come from a high-performance supplier in the UK.  The new set was actually quite pricey but the design is far superior.  The bushings I replaced were of a two-piece design.  The new ones are basically one piece, but they are a bitch to put on.  It took two of us, a good vise and a bit of cursing to coerce the new bushings in place.  The new bushings are polyurethane and have a little bit more “give”.  I’m hoping this might help prevent them from breaking apart as severely as the others did.

The point of all this is for you folks thinking that these type bushings are the final solution – think again!  These things do wear out and in my case they did in only 15,000 miles.  Of course the high load that the compressed front spring puts on the front suspension is in part responsible for the wear, but nevertheless these bushings do wear out.  For you folks running V8’s (LT1, Fords or whatever) keep this in mind:  the V8’s weight is much higher than the original TR6 tractor engine or (in my case) the V6.