Doing a suspension upgrade... question on rear subframe bushings.

[Naplm00]

Mines been done for a while..what a fucking bitch

[MIKe30]

uh oh...

[jduffett]

I just did mine yesterday... The aluminum insert in one bushing was already broken (split vertically), and I broke the other one off in the body. Air hammer/chisel + 7/8" drill bit got them out, but it was definitely a pain in the arse. I also filled mine new ones with a hard PU. I used a special bushing tool my boss made, which made the pressing in/out pretty easy, though it was designed around 318ti parts, so it needs a little redesign to work perfectly on E30s. All in all, replacing two stupid bushings took me longer than swapping the clutch on my miata!

Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metricf...57622345558603

[Jdesign]

I am pretty sure reading this is going to save me a lot of headaches tonight. Sorry to revive this old thread, but trying to figure this out on a vert is way worse than any of the other e30's.

[estoguy]

I did my rear stuff last year... I just went with OEM rubber all around. No issues. Didn't need a press for the subframe bushings... we just greased them up with some soapy water and used a mallet. Easy.

There is a homemade tool in the E30Zone wiki to help with removal and installation of the RTABs. Do the inner rear brake lines while you're in there. Check over your diff seals as well. I did the front and side seals on mine, since the front (driveshaft) seal was leaking anyway.

[Mwishlist]

Just have to post to say thanks! I honestly don't know what the hell I would have done if I hadn't seen this post about bending a big metal bar to pound the bastards out in the convertibles. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this thread. Finally got the subframe out using this and a BFH and it worked like a charm.

[doctorx]

I removed my subframe last weekend. I got lucky and it looks like the bolts are fine to reuse. One side came right off, and the other just needed a prybar (carefully) This is on a 87 vert. Took a while to get the subframe and trailing arm bushings out. I am going all PowerFlex bushings. Decided I would clean them up and repaint them. this isnt a show car, but something i have a little pride in. When I pulled out all my bushings, every one was cracked... although the subframe wasnt that bad. Kinda scary that the entire rear subframe is held together with just 2 bolts though. :D

Edit... doh... just realized i necro''d this thread... sorry.