Yeah, let me know what you come up with for a source. I do think there has been discussion about the bushing orientation in the past and I think I was involved, but it's tough when you can't even find your own stuff. 

In the meantime, I dug up some more pics. This is what I believe is the correct orientation for the rubber bushings:

And I based that off these old bushings pulled off a 260Z and pictures from other peoples cars. I'm relatively confident that they were original factory and they were installed like this:

Another shot where you can see the indent from the convex side of the washers on the rubber side:

Sample size of one, but that's all I got.

This thread is just brilliant. I love it! 

@Captain Obvious here is the source for the rounded side of the insulator to the body.  It's the Chilton's manual, bold type on page 8-8.  Not sure if it's the best source, but it's all I could find.

Edited May 30, 20195 yr by motorman7

So, didn't the North American 260z with flat tops not come with a heat shield, apart from the small ones under the carb?

10 hours ago, motorman7 said:

@Captain Obvious here is the source for the rounded side of the insulator to the body. 

That's interesting. First time I've seen anyone actually recommend a direction in print. Although.... They also say the tension rods are designed with a right an a left which is incorrect. So the accuracy of the source is in question. And... If you look at the pic, it sure LOOKS like they have the thicker rubber section next to the washer, not the body:

So now that the waters are really muddy?

I did a little searching on the forum and here's what I came up with.

This guy had bushings with the thinner section towards the body like my 260:
https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/44860-my-two-swiss-s30z-fairlady-restoration-build-thread/?page=18&tab=comments#comment-541674

This guy had one bushing each direction (which is clearly a mistake):
https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/47472-uhm-i-think-thats-supposed-to-be-attached/

 

54 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

That's interesting. First time I've seen anyone actually recommend a direction in print. Although.... They also say the tension rods are designed with a right an a left which is incorrect. So the accuracy of the source is in question. And... If you look at the pic, it sure LOOKS like they have the thicker rubber section next to the washer, not the body:

So now that the waters are really muddy?

More muddy waters...Another item that comes into play are the mounting features/cups on the body that the bushings insert into.  The feature is rounded inside.  It would seem odd to put the squared end of the bushing into the rounded cup.  The bushings from the energy suspension kit look like the red one in the pic above; rounded on one end, square on the other.  Because of this feature, I am going with the rounded side toward the cups.

It's a dilemma.

1976 Fsm

Carpartsmanual #20

 

Nissanpartsdeal  54776

 

Does anybody have the micofiche CD?  Might have more drawings.

1982 280ZX

33 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

1982 280ZX

Interesting

 I can't figure out the bushing orientation in the pic.

I always thought it was the flat side to the frame and the rounded side to the washers.