The design of the bushing is such that every axis the suspension sees meets with the Del-A-Lum material.  This means that as the suspension moves through its travel, there is never any metal-to-metal contact, no rubber or urethane deflection and zero stiction.  In the end, this means that the shock absorber becomes the only controlling factor in the suspension system, and that's definitely good.

Aside from expensive custom machining and equally expensive spherical bearings, there is definitely one other excellent option, and it might not be near as labor intensive or as costly as my backyard engineered bearing system.  Better still, it's readily available for

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countless applications (early and late, GM, Ford and others) and as a result, there's no need for one-off fabrication.  What I'm referring to is the "Del-A-Lum" bushing manufactured by Global West Suspension Components.  Global West is one of the few "turn and burn" street suspension companies I've personally run across which truly understand that shock absorber control is the key.  In order to make the suspension work as designed, you have to eliminate the compliance or deflection from the bushings and make them as loose (in terms of stiction) as possible.  In turn, the shock then controls virtually all of the suspension movement.  If you don't like the way the car works, then you adjust the shock, since it's the only real variable.  At least to me, that seems quite logical.

If you take a close look inside the aluminum bushing housing, you can see that it is radially machined, which allows grease to travel the full distance of the assembly.  In addition, the Del-A-Lum insert is designed with radially drilled holes along with a groove in the center.  Again, the purpose is to allow grease to pass along all moving points.

The key in the Global West system is the way the front control arm bushings are made.  Del-A-Lum is an advanced, extremely dense, extremely hard plastic material (I'm using "plastic" for lack of a better word, because that's what it resembles -- in truth, Del-A-Lum is a proprietary material). Basically, the material does not have cold flow tendencies, and as a result, it has the capability to maintain alignment over time.  In construction, the bushings are multi-piece affairs.  For example, the first generation Camaro bushings shown in the accompanying photos consist of an aluminum bushing housing.  Inside is a Del-A-Lum insert.  On either end of the bushing housing, a large diameter Del-A-Lum washer is installed, sandwiched with another large diameter steel washer.  This provides what Global West calls "six way surface isolation".  In other words, every direction the bushing is stressed (up, down, forward, rearward, to the left and to the right), the forces see the Del-A-Lum material.    Because of this, there is zero bushing deflection, no matter what axis the forces represent.  When you take a close look at the photos, you'll see that the extra thrust washers are designed to control fore and aft movement without binding up the suspension. Additionally, (and perhaps most important for a drag race application), there is absolutely no suspension bind or galling of the bushing material.  Because of these properties, the vehicle alignment is always maintained, even under hard acceleration, braking and cornering (which of course, has little consequence in a drag car).  What these properties mean is the suspension travels freely, all of the time.