WITW - Ricky's van attack

[MikkiJayne]

Lunchtime update - the subframe is back on

1°C in the workshop this morning, so the heater is working hard today. Thank you to all who contributed to that last year



The original clic-clips cleaned up ok in the end so I put them back on.



Mike helped me reassemble the subframe the other day so its ready to re-fit



The trolley worked well for the fuel tank so I'll use the same solution for the subframe



The diff heat shield is always corroded and loose, and of course NLA. I reattached this one with cable ties, but I may look in to laser-cutting these in the future.



Lower the car on to the subframe



Reattach the ABS sensors before the subframe is fully in place as they're easier to get to like this



I also reattached the prop to the diff, and the handbrake cable to the subframe





Lower the car the rest of the way, put the bolts in, and lift off the trolley



There's no obvious way to align the rear subframe, unlike the pins at the front, but the rear bolt holes have a quite deliberate machined recess in them so I suspect the factory used something in these rear holes. I made a pin which was a snug fit in both the bush and the thread and used it to align one rear bush then the other



The pin goes through the bush and centres it on the hole



Support the subframe with the transmission jack so it can't move, then remove the pin and replace it with the bolt



Bad pic, but you can see the bush is centred. I did this on the right first, then the left, then did up both front bolts. The alignment rig should tell if this trick worked.



About this time I realised I also should have put the heat shield in place while the subframe was down, as now I have to drop the propshaft again Luckily I didn't torque the bolts up so not terrible.



Brakes and springs back in next. Maybe back on wheels by teatime ready for an eyeball-alignment

[David's8]

That subframe looks in great condition now. Good job MJ ...... and Mike (as an ex-Navy man he should be good at painting stuff - usually grey, though)

[The_Laird]

That was serious subframe porn! Pleased to hear that you managed to keep warm enough to get the job done. I’m doing a few minor jobs in my garage - about 20-30 minutes at a time before I have to come back in the thaw out (my thumbs stop working first).

[Ronin]

Is it possible to remove and re-use those bushes if i wanted to go the powder coating route? they are veeeery expensive to buy new.

[MikkiJayne]

Unfortunately not. We cut up the old subframe to get the three good ones out to investigate and its pretty much certain they would be destroyed on removal which is why I painted this one rather than powdercoating it.

Big Red is next up for this job at the same time as the fuel tank swap and I will probably go for poly subframe bushes and powdercoat on that one.

[The_Laird]

And I think I’m on the waiting list too - just waiting for proof of concept with the bushes, I think. But I need an MOT first - my S8 is going in on Tuesday for the power steering pipes and an MOT on Friday (hopefully!). Without MJ, I think my much-loved S8 (I loved it for years before I even owned it!) would have been no longer with me.

[MikkiJayne]

I put the rear brakes and springs back on, and then put the wheels back on to get an idea of ride height and alignment. I wound the KWs all the way up before putting them back on, since its much easier to wind down on the car than up, and I need it at or around stock height to get a proper alignment. It needs to come down a little but all the wheels appear to be in the right place now

[Audifan]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

The D3 front subframe is completely different so no way with that.

The rear is almost the same, with just one bushing in a different place but that could be cut out and welded back in. That's been done before, but I'm not sure its worth the effort tbh. I don't know what the weight difference is, if any.

That's a bummer about the D3 front subframe being completely different.

Only reason why I asked about the possibility for switching to D3 subframes because they are aluminum which won't rust out like the D2 subframes do. I HATE rust!

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Audifan

That's a bummer about the D3 front subframe being completely different.

Only reason why I asked about the possibility for switching to D3 subframes because they are aluminum which won't rust out like the D2 subframes do. I HATE rust!

Front ones almost never rust as they are covered by oil from the always leaking engines. Rear ones on the other hand are always mega rusted, I bought a set of subframes for my car as a spare, and as soon as any of the bushes on them go, I'll be replacing them with new powder coated and re-bushed subframes.

[MikkiJayne]

V8 front subframes rot out frequently - at least 50% of the ones I get in the workshop are toast, usually just above the rear control arm mount so at least its easy to cut out the rot and weld in a new piece of plate. Its only the V6 which is protected by oil leaks