188 replies to this topic

[polarisman14]

Yeah buddy. Lionking, you are added to the list--I'll assume you need a MK1 bushing?

Great news, I'm buying the lathe from my buddy so I'll have it right at my house. Hoping to pick it up this weekend or after work next week. Then the real production work can start!

[hopefull noob]

I'll take one or two of the stedebani/ oem style.
Hn

Edited for my fat fingering.

Edited by hopefull noob, 30 July 2016 - 08:43 AM.

[polarisman14]

^^Sounds great, I'll add you to the list as well.

I'll be perfecting the MK1 units first as that's what I have here, then the stedebani/GNT/bain/OEM pieces.

Anyone have a stock shifter (doesn't even need to be the whole shifter, just the ball section that the bushing pops on to) that they'd be willing to donate to the cause for cost of shipping? I'd feel a lot more confident selling those if I had one to test fit stuff on and mine is long gone.

[Malykaii]

I had a shifter that snapped in half while parking.., if I find it, it's yours.

Put me in for one Mookeh shifter bushing. I can buy two if it helps make or break this deal.

[polarisman14]

^^Thank you. If you can find it please shoot me a PM. I'll put you down for one (or 2)!

Great news....Lathe is paid for and my buddy and I are moving it into my basement on Tuesday. I plan on turning one for myself then and driving the car for the next week or two with the new bushing, then I can start producing them.

Edited by polarisman14, 01 August 2016 - 04:30 AM.

[polarisman14]

Quick update, the lathe is in my basement now (what a bear to move!!! had to weigh 500lbs including the table...) and operational. Threw the kid in the baby carrier last night and strung some lights up above it, ran extension cords etc...We're in business. I plan on making my bushing today after work if I can get some time to myself and logging some miles on it. My hope is to start running the MK1 production run sometime around the 20th of this month after some real-world testing is complete.

[polarisman14]

Had a productive last couple hours. Finished setting the lathe up and lubricating everything (no idea how long it's been since that was done) then proceeded to make my first piece.

I decided to stay on the simple side at least for this one with no flange on top, basically a copy of the MK1 piece but with more dimensional accuracy. First two pictures are of the lathe in the truck and in its final resting place in my basement, third picture is with my new bushing installed on the shifter and the MK1 one in my hand.

With the dimensions more accurate the shifts/gates are more well defined and have close to 0 slop. Feels like the way it should have been to begin with. I'm gonna put a couple hundred miles on it in the next week with a bunch of hard shifts thrown in there and see how it wears. If I am happy with it by next weekend I'll start producing them for sale then. Thanks for your patience and continued support!

[Preludedude]

Nice.   Does the delrin feel different in hand than the nylon?  Feel stronger? Harder? It's looks the same....

[polarisman14]

It actually feels softer to the touch then the nylon, surprisingly. I would think this would lend itself to fewer catastrophic failures which is a lot of what we see with the MK1 bushing--a crack or snapping in half, etc.

The properties aren't too much different between the two but where nylon is brittle (and more susceptible to failure from temperature cycling and chemical exposure) that's kinda what the Delrin was made for. Supposedly more dimensionally stable as well so heating and cooling won't have an effect on the size and it has a long wear life. I can get black Delrin too if you guys would prefer but honestly the pricing is the same, you can't see it and I can't for the life of me figure out the difference other than the color.

I'm gonna put it through its paces this week and report back. As long as it holds up well we're in business.

Edited by polarisman14, 04 August 2016 - 04:32 AM.

[BC_99]

Great job bud. Well thought out, researched, and outstanding results.

BC

[polarisman14]

Thank you very much. I figure there's no sense in releasing something to you guys if it's not gonna be any better than what's already available.

[BC_99]

That's the exact approach anyone should take when developing parts for the community.

BC

[polarisman14]

Well, testing is on temporary hiatus. Life hasn't been treating me particularly well lately, and last night/this morning's cherry on top is losing the keys to my Starion. Wife's car is broken down, I've got the truck so she's at home landlocked with the kids. Terrific.

[polarisman14]

OK. Thank God that the keys were in the door pocket of the rental car we had while my wife's car was in the shop...It had to go back to the shop and we ended up with the same rental car the following day. Whew! Time to find some key blanks and get some spares made!!!

Headed to the basement to make a couple more MK1 bushings and see if I can get my production process/time a bit more fine tuned.

[BC_99]

Glad it worked out.

BC

[polarisman14]

Mass production. lol.



Going to send a couple to a buddy of mine for evaluation and use so I can get an outside perspective and product validation. I will not be having a flange on the finished non-MK1 product, it was a "scrapped" MK1 piece that I reworked into an OEM replacement and didn't have enough room to remove the flange. I may try and do that anyway but don't want to risk jamming the tool post into the lathe chuck in the process.

[Malykaii]

I was trying to make a bushing out of brass for myself. I am so far 10 hours in and no closer than where I started. Watching you actually get somewhere is amazing. I can't wait for one!

[polarisman14]

Yeah I bought an oillite bushing through McMaster-Carr (ended up being too large in ID anyway) but you really don't want to use metal for this. Wearing the shifter itself or the hole that the bushing plugs into would facilitate a much more expensive and time consuming repair especially on the trans side. Not to mention at that point you've got metal particles floating around in the gear oil doing premature wear to everything in there. Thanks for the encouraging words!

[polarisman14]

Shipping my first couple bushings out today for outside evaluation. I'm still happy with how mine is performing in my car but will continue driving the car whenever it's nice for the next week and a half and log some more miles before calling it good. Then I'll go through my list and ship them in the order that they were requested.

Thanks!

[polarisman14]

OK guys. Sunday marks a month since this thread has been started and I should be ready to start shipping them then. I updated the first post. Putting 25 more miles on the car tomorrow then pulling the bushing to inspect and make sure things look OK before selling them. At this point I have enough material on hand to fulfill the MK1 orders and a few of the stedebani ones. Once I receive payment from someone I can buy more Delrin and keep the ball rolling on it! I'll reach out to those of you who expressed interest in the MK1 bushing this weekend.

Edited by polarisman14, 12 August 2016 - 06:58 AM.