Hi, again, Haroon!

In Sept. 2000 I bought an '87 244 which 'had issues'-- it needed a new cat, a new exhaust system, and new r.t.a. bushings, among other things. I quickly zipped an order off to FCP/Groton. The cat and exhaust (Starla) went on just fine. The r.t.a. bushings were German, as I recall, and were of a different design than the ones I've seen before. The central bolt bore was much larger in diameter than stock/IPD/RPR bushings, and there were three bosses inside each end to centralize and hold the mounting bolt. The bolt fit was sloppy, but I went ahead and installed them in order to get the car past inspection and get it registered. I replaced these bushings with some from IPD this December. The FCP bushings ultimately chewed up the mounting bolts, and they clunked right from the start.

On each of these occasions I rented 'the tool' from Duane Hoberg to extract the old ones and install the new. The FCP bushings when they were new went in like butter -- very little resistance. When it came time to extract them, I kid you not, I was able to press them out with my fingers -- I didn't even need the tool. That suggests to me sloppy tolerances, and I'm thankful that the slop in their fit didn't chew up the mounting 'ears' on the axle.

Lesson learned -- I'm sticking with r.t.a. bushings which IPD/RPR/Volvo sells. They cost twice what FCP charges, but the FCP r.t.a. bushings were unsatisfactory. That's no bargain.

Rob Kuhlman