Tie-bar bushes (engine stabilisers)

Replacement of standard items

They are called "stabilizer bar bushes" or "tie bar bushes" - not to be confused with suspension tie bar bushes ;) They are easily found in those little purple-cardboard backed bubble packs you find in car accessory stores.

For some reason, it is only ever the engine end which wears, not the bulkhead end, but on the 1275 cars you have to undo the bulkhead end to get the stabiliser bar out. On 998's this is unnecessary. BTW, I have never worked on a fuel injected model, but I guess the following instructions will apply [Ed: yes, it does, but you either have to remove the servo or the clutch housing breather to allow access...].

Undo the single bolt at the bulkhead end by the brake master cylinder. This MAY have a nyloc nut underneath and MAY hold the engine earth strap too. Undo the small bolt at the front of the engine end bracket and remove bolt. Undo longer bolt which passes through bush. On 1275s the bolt cannot come right out the bush as the clutch breather gets in the way - hence the need to undo the tie bar bulkhead end. Again, watch out for an engine earth strap which *may* be bolted on here. There is (or should be) a large "penny washer" between the inner bush and the engine block - don't lose this. Remove the rod, complete with bushes. This may require some wiggling to dislodge it from the bulkhead end as the bushes tend to stick.

The old bush will have a metal spacer tube up the centre. The new bushes come with plastic cone-shaped spacers. In my experience, the cone spacers grip the rubber much tighter, but need changing FAR more frequently as they overtighten the rubber which soon becomes destroyed - therefore I prefer to re-use the original metal spacer. It is also *much* easier to fit new bushes
with the metal type spacer.

Re-fit in the reverse order of removal, starting with the long bolt that holds the bushes to the engine end. You will need to place the bolt through the bushes before placing the tie bar into position as the clutch breather will get in the way. Do not forget the engine earth strap (if applicable) or the penny washer (most important to bush life). Just fit this bolt loosely.

Then fit the small front bolt, and finally the bolt that holds the rod to the bulkhead. Do not forget the engine earth strap (if applicable). Finally, tighten both engine end bolts evenly. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. Job done!!!

There MAY also be another bar underneath, either from the left hand side of the gearbox forward, right hand side forward or right hand side backwards. Bushes in these can be replaced too, although they do not seem to wear much in my experience. BTW, uprated bushes are available, but they transmit A LOT more noise into the car. I tried them and didn't like them, BUT some people
prefer them. Pay your money and take your choice. Uprated bushes are about GBP34 or so at shows.

Fitting one-piece uprated type (ERA turbo etc)

By Shaun Murray...

Spent most of Sunday replacing engine tie bar bushes. ERA's have 4 tie bars! James @ Minispeed wasn't lying when he said I'd need a vice to get the new poly bushes into the tie bars. Developed quite a knack for them in the end. Line the tie bar and bush up, put an open ended spanner on the bush and then squeeze in the vice. Rotate the spanner around the bush until it slips into the tie bar. It doesn't matter too much if one side slips in first. Take the bar out, stick a socket on one end that's just bigger than the bush but not bigger than the tie bar, stick a socket on the other that's just larger than the hole and squeeze again. The lip pops through. Then stick the metal insert in. Use grease the whole time. Tried WD40 and hot water too but grease and the above method worked best.

The lower drivers side tie bar is impossible to get at without some weird spanner combination I didn't have and I gave up in the end. I'd already taken most of my knuckles off on the other three. Played around with the adjustable top bars but settled back on the original setting. The engine is still too far over towards the radiator by about 1cm.