Robbie there’s absolutely nothing wrong with conventional oversized bronze bearing, it’s been done that way for decades and much more convent. It’s just my personal preference to go down this road for numerus subtle reasons, and of course for the fun! Under the right circumstances modern polymers can offer better performance than PB, particularly in situations like this with light loads and no thermal considerations. As mentioned the low COF and the ability to run unlubricated is an advantage. Also should the tubes have distortion though welding I may achieve better axial alignment by floating the bushes in adhesive and using the pins to align them during curing.
Re the sizes… Please don’t copy mine as they are my best guess given that I never got to strip down the originals to investigate and should anything be wrong it might be a remake. However the length is 63.5mm and I have circa 0.07mm clearance on the pins (the Mulfab pins measure Ø25.38). The bush OD I was expecting to finalize when I removed the originals and inspected the tubes. I believe the tubes start out as 1-7/16” OD stock with a nominal 0.1” wall, oops imperial, sorry! So my final bush OD is dependent on the actual tube ID (if machined or not), if the axis has been distorted from welding and the recommended adhesive gap of the type to be used.
I made an enquiry on the website to purchase the raw material. It was a few years ago now. I don’t think there was any other UK supplier at the time, I think it came from South Africa.
Its a little academic now as the car has long gone. Hope it helps.
