# B12 suspension bushings



## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

I'm in the middle of pretty much completely redoing my B12 and right now I'm wanting to replace pretty much all of the suspension related bushings. I would really like to get some polyurethane bushings but I can't find anywhere that sells them. Does anyone know a company that sells these or if using bushings from another car maybe B13 might work?


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## Regibus (Jul 8, 2006)

I ran across the same thing when I did my B12
remember that even new OEM bushings are better than 22 year old rubber...
try to get the fron sway bar from a 89 pulsar 
I ordered the lower control arms for my B12 an it came with some good stuff...

if you find anything, please post it here, I'll look around more as well.


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## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

Yea I guess there's not really any polyurethane bushings for this car. You can modify them from a B13 but its too much of a hassle and not worth it from what I heard. 

I'll definitely be getting OEM bushings instead for now, but I'll look into this some more and see if I can get any answers. 

Also I'd LOVE to get a sway bar from a 89 Pulsar but I can't find ANY Pulsar in California even if my life depended on it. If you have any extras that I can grab from any of you guys please let me know.

Thanks.


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## alleykat2020 (Sep 2, 2007)

You guys heard wrong. Energy suspension poly bushings for the B13 (1991 Sentra) work fine. Just don't buy the master bushing kit. Purchase the front control arm bushings kit and the rear control arm bushings kit separately.

All the bushing for the front control arm work. The really large bushing works fine even though it's a lot thicker than stock. You just need to apply some pressure underneath the clamp (I used a jack) to make the bolt up easier.

The rear bushings work for the four suspension links in the back.

All bushings came in halves so you don't have to get them pressed. I installed the bushings into all the arms sitting in my living room, using the supplied grease and a g-clamp to get the metal pins in.

IMHO, it's pretty easy and the benefits are more than worth it. I have a 1990 Nismo edition Sentra that now corners like a slot car (busted shocks and all). 

I ordered the bushings here. 

Energy Suspension 7.3109 Front Control Arm Bushings

Energy Suspension 7.3110 Rear Control Arm Bushings


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## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

Wow! This is very helpful! Thank you alleykat really appreciate the information. I'll be purchasing these soon and post pictures as soon as I get them installed as well!

I'm sure this will help many people who are interested as well.


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## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

alleykat2020 said:


> You guys heard wrong. Energy suspension poly bushings for the B13 (1991 Sentra) work fine. Just don't buy the master bushing kit. Purchase the front control arm bushings kit and the rear control arm bushings kit separately.
> 
> All the bushing for the front control arm work. The really large bushing works fine even though it's a lot thicker than stock. You just need to apply some pressure underneath the clamp (I used a jack) to make the bolt up easier.
> 
> ...


So I ordered both the front and rear suspensions a week ago. Got them today, and they don't seem or look so easy as stated...

The front control arm, as far as the halves that goes into the cylinder part of the control arm, the bushings are abound 2MM thicker than they're suppose to be...It doesn't even sit properly to a point where you can just press them in. I'm not sure if these have to modified or what.

The rear part of the control arm...they slip in and out very easily, i was thinking it'd have to be very tight and difficult to push those in but the ones I got aren't a good fit at all...

So I don't think these b13 bushings will work for the b12. The B12 Whiteline bushings is what I'm going to try next and I will return these back to energy suspension...

Any comments, suggestions, or ideas would be helpful. I heard NAPA sells energy suspension but I'm not sure if its exactly for the b12. If so purchasing these b13 ones were so pointless. :lame:


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## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

So, I decided to take the challenge of modifying the b13 Polyurethane suspension bushings as I listed above, I haven't tried the rear bushings yet or even looked at them but I completed and finished the front. 

It's honestly much more efficient if you have a friend helping you, otherwise it's not going to look so pretty.

Estimated Time: 2 hours Maximum

What I used:

Dremel, with the 80 Grit rolled sand paper. (As seen in the picture below)

Drill Machine, with this I used a long bolt that went through the Metal cylinder that slides in between the bushings, and used some washers and a nut to tighten that cylinder in the middle of the long bolt. Then I stuck that bolt in a drill, popped one part of the bushing on, and had a friend hold it in place and spun it slowly. 

Protective glasses

Protective Mask (Don't be stupid please) This stuff is like ash, you can inhale it without even knowing. 

(Have to be creative )

This is where your pottery skills come in handy! :loser: 

As I had my friend slowly spin the bushing, I set the dremel to a decently high speed and began shaving it off evenly. It will take a while but once you think you've shaven off a good 1mm all around the edges, pop it in your control arm and see how it goes with the first quarter of the bushing. If it's tight, begin making it even all the way around. 

Now, I'm sure there are other BETTER and EASIER way of doing this. But this is how I did it, and it came out perfectly. So I'm just sharing another way of making these b13 bushings work. 

Also, for the Front Control Arm Rear Bushing, there IS a Whiteline polyurethane bushing for our b12 Sentra. However it's $80 JUST for those bushings. Now I decided to say screw it, modify the kit I got for $40 instead. It's not hard and not much of shaving either. (Pictures below)

Dremel I used with the bit









The left one is the first one I attempted it on, came out ugly but got better as you can see. 









Nice and Even. And most importantly its tight in the control arm. 









As you can see, I shaved off a nice angle on both the top left and right corner. This is for it to sit well on your chassis without having to go through alot of hassle. 









Comparing the old rubber piece to the new one.


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

I just found out my front end link bushings are all missing !! I was hearing a noise that sounded like the coils were falling out when I went over speed bumps and yesterday I jacked the front end up and checked everything, that's when I saw the space between the control arm and the washer for the bushing.

I installed the Pulsar sway bar about 6 years ago with new end links, can't believe the bushings just broke and fell out the way they did.

Also the Pulsar sway bars you want to get need to be out of a SE with the CA18 engine, those are the thickest sway bars (front and rear).


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

So today I went to advance auto parts and had them pull 4 different part numbers of Moog end links for different vehicles, ( I looked them up and picked 4 that were cheap) and the one Moog part number for the end link bushings for the B12 sentra.

I compared the 4 Moog parts with the stock Moog replacement part, and I chose Moog part number K90308, this part is one straight end link with 4 urethane bushings and 4 washers ( the bolt, a spacer and a nut which aren't used for the sentra).

The reason I chose this part is the stock replacement part costs $8 for each side (2 rubber bushings, 2 washers and 2 nuts) and the part I bought has enough bushings to do both end links and cost $8, also the bushings look like they are the same size as the replacement part but the stock replacement part uses rubber bushings.

I had to do two things to get them to work:

1. was to drill out the metal washers and run a drill through the bushings, I believe the size was 25/64, it was just a hair larger than the holes, the washers out of the box would not fit over the Nissan end link stud

2. I had to cut the raised end off one of the bushings, because the stud on the end link was not long enough to get the bottom washer and nut on. It was easy to cut using a razor blade, than I sanded the end smooth using a rasp file. (you could cut the raised part off on both bushings if you wanted too)

Took the car for a test drive and no more noises !! 

So I saved $8 and got urethane bushings instead of the rubber ones.


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## Wesleyb12 (Jun 19, 2012)

SentraSuspensionParts.com - Nissan Sentra 1989 Suspension Parts


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## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

Wesleyb12 said:


> SentraSuspensionParts.com - Nissan Sentra 1989 Suspension Parts


Great website for the B12 Sentra, however they ONLY have the Rear Position bushing for the Front Control Arms. With that said, they're selling Rear Position for $80!!!

When you can just purchase Energy Suspension Front Control Arm kit for $40.00 and have a hell of a ride. 

But definitely recommend ball joints, inner tie rods, and all sorts of other stuff from the website given.


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

That site is nice as they have all the B12 parts on one page but some of the part the prices are double or almost triple what you would pay for the same parts from Rockauto.com, the Moog parts that is. Nice that they offer the Whiteline parts as well, don't know if the Whiteline parts are so much better to warrant being so much more that the Moog parts though.


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