Hi there,
I bought some new rubber bushes to replace the old poly bushes in the engine steady bars, but they appear way to long, also the dogleg itself only just fits on the passengers side brackets as it is. Have my brackets closed up and need opening out somehow. Should I buy new steady brackets, or should I shave some metal off the dogleg ends to make them thinner. I gather I will just cut the rubber bushes back a bit.
The way my car is it’s probably mostly metal on metal.

Anyone got a good photo of how it should be?

I had the same issue with the new rubber bushes and I couldn't compress them enough by hand to get the steady in the bracket on the firewall or bolt it to the motor. By the looks of the pics, my steady location is different to yours but a similar problem.

I ended getting a set of urethane ones from Karcraft (part 2A5875) and they are good. Will be harder than rubber but I'll see how they go.

Another option could be to trim a whisker off the length of the rubber bushes. I did this with my lower control arm bushes as I was getting some Holden ones to fit (made in Australia and good rubber) and providing you take off a bit each time and then check how they compress up you should be ok. By a bit, I took off about 1mm at a time off each bush. I put some electrical tape around the bush as a guide for a straight edge and used one the cooks real sharp knives. I used the metal sleeve that goes inside the bush so the bush stayed in it's right shape when i cut it.

Can't help you with the actual steady bar - I don't know enough about them.

Rocky

Thanks Rocky for that info. I think the drivers side brackets look like they will have a bit more clearance. Sounds like a good idea cutting the rubber with the sleeve in to support it.
cheers

I added a steady at the radiator end on my mini and the bushes were way too big, but I wanted to ensure there was no metal to metal contact and didn’t want to cut them down.
I lubed them up with vegetable oil, and while it still wasn’t easy I did get it assembled.

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Great work Phil. Thanks for the tip.