Another Rear subframe refurb...
 

Apologies for the very long post…

Progress

I am well underway with a rear subframe overhaul, and though I would post with some pictures of the progress and a few questions…

It was looking quite rough:

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The process of stripping down has been generally been quite pleasant. The only real issues were some stubborn prop shaft bolts, a diff crossmember bolt seized in the bush (which had to be cut), a seized anti-roll bar drop link end (seized into the hub) and a very stiff n/s hand brake bracket bolt (the one done once the subframe has been lowered slightly).

I refurbished an A4 B5 (2.5 TDI quattro – what a lovely car that was) rear subframe a few years ago, and I seem to remember it being a real pain to dismantle!

I used some pictures from one of MikkiJayne’s old threads as a guide on what to strip off the subframe before lowering, and that worked very well, so thanks for that.

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The subframe looked very crusty, as expected, but after spending a couple of hours with a needle gun it was looking not bad, and actually seems very solid. The eccentric bolts guides (? – the raised bits that hold them in place) were all in great nick, unlike the ones it the A4 one I did (which had mostly rusted away!). Maybe this car hasn’t spent all it life in Scotland!

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I will give it a bit more of a clean, and then probably paint it (I have ordered some Rust-Oleum as per MikkiJayne’s recommendations that I have seen). I might look into getting it blasted and powder coated, but am not sure if this will be worth the extra cost? This may also depend on the subframe bushes…

Other stripped parts:

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Parts

Which leads me onto the then next bit, getting the replacement parts. The previous posts on this forum have been a great help, and I (think I) have got far more of the bits than I though I would through Auto-Doc, but would be happy for anybody to point out anything I have got wrong (or could get better elsewhere – the order has been placed, but I can always send back)!

Wheel Bearing Housings
4x FEBEST VWAB-039 (bonded rubber bush 4D0 505 171 L)

Trapezium Link / Axle Guide (lower)
4x Febi Bilstein 32226 (mounting 4D0 505 171 H) – I understand these are steel rather than aluminium
2x MEYLE 100 511 0007 (mounting 4D0 511 523 C)

Transverse Link / Wishbone (upper)
4x FEBEST ADAB-022 (bonded rubber bush 4D0 505 203 E)

Anti-Roll Bar
2x FEBEST ADSB-4FHR (mounting 4D0 511 327 C)
2x MEYLE 116 060 8240/HD (coupling rod 4D0 505 465 D)

Miscellaneous
2x MEYLE 116 050 0164 (Track Rods 4D0 501 529 H )
2x FEBEST 2329-006 (Eccentric Bolt 4D0 501 387 A - these were probably fine, but for the cost I thought just get new)
2x FEBEST 2329-007 (Eccentric Bolt 4D0 501 387 B - these were a bit rusty though might have cleaned up okay, but again for the cost I thought just get new)
1x FEBI BILSTEIN 25282 (Coupling Rod (left) 4D0 505 547 C)
1x FEBI BILSTEIN 25280 (Coupling Rod (right) 4D0 505 548 C)


Missing Bits:

The items that I have not been able to get (so far) are:
4x subframe bushes, which I understand can be the D3 bushes - Lemforder 27312 01; these are out of stock everywhere (though I have not tried the local Audi dealer yet)

2x bonded rubber bush 4D0 505 203 G - from the middle of the upper links/wishbones; this does not seem to be available anywhere (I was actually surprised to see the other 4 bushes on the links were available, as I though I read none of these were available)

2x lower spring support 4D0 512 297 E - these are really rusty so it would be good to replace, but – as expected - this does not seem to be available anywhere; I might just look out for some reasonable second-hand ones, if such things exist!

2x upper spring support 4D0 512 297 G – again I did not expect these to be available, and they actually look fine so I do not think this will matter.

1x gearbox support bonded rubber bush 4D0 599 381 E, which I understand can be replaced with the D3 version - 8E0 599 381 B; these are out of stock everywhere (though again, I have not tried the local Audi dealer yet)

I also need to replace the diff crossmember support rubber bushes (especially as there is still part of a bolt in one of them!), and have sent a pm to MikkiJayne to see if she can do the refurb (as she mentioned she might be able to start doing in a previous post).

Shocks & Springs

So what does that leave? Well, shocks and springs…

The springs seem pretty good, though quite rusty at the very bottom. I think the shocks might be done though, however to be honest I don’t really have enough experience of testing them to be sure, as I am not sure how stiff they should be.

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I have attached a video of me pushing and pulling them, which is easy enough with a couple of fingers – I would have assumed it would be harder than this?

If they do need replaced then the question is with what. The one thing I do not want to do is lower the car, and I don’t want it to be particularly stiffer – mainly because I live a long a track. I guess I could get some decent 2nd hand ones from the forum sponsors, or go for something like the Bilstein B6s (if these work with the standard springs; or even the full B12 kit if not, or if this would be a good thing to do anyway), as long as these don’t lower it etc. Or is there any other recommendation?

Subframe

As noted above, I have not been able to get the subframe bushes yet, but like the shocks, I am not to sure to tell how worn out these are. I have attached another video showing how much (what is probably) the worst one moves. Does this look bad good? If they do need replaced then hopefully I can get them somewhere, and I might look more seriously at blasting/powder coating too.

Tools

And the last thing for now, with regard to installing all the new bushes. I have access to a 10ton press, but I have seen some comments about using the right tools (assuming big sockets sets won’t do the job!). Would anybody be able to rent these out for a reasonable fee and postage costs?


Thanks for reading this far and I look forward to any comments and feedback, good or bad!

Scott

I managed to get a set of 4 D3 bushes for £60 from poland, they now appear to be sold out everywhere.


You can be the first one to try the poly subframe bushes if you want:

https://poliuretany.olkusz.pl/pl/aud...lnej-1szt.html

they also have all the other bushes you are missing in poly version, no one has tested them though

Thanks, that looks interesting. A bit more research led me to an older thread of yours with more useful stuff about them - http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15680

I will probably look at the front subframe after this, so it might be worth getting a full set for both subframes to match. Fortunately I replaced all the rest of the front suspension (except the shocks) about 7000 miles ago, so I hopefully won’t need too many more parts for that…!

If I was to get the poly bush for the front diff mount, do you think it would it be better to get the rear bushes too to match?

https://poliuretany.olkusz.pl/pl/p/P...1szt./23111969
https://poliuretany.olkusz.pl/pl/p/T...2szt./23111307

Look like it will be about £80 including delivery for the full set, and likely some import charges to get it into the uk.

I think I will avoid using poly on the wishbones though, so I will have to keep looking for 4D0 505 203 G from the upper wishbone, or just leave it in place.

the last 2 of febest ADAB-021 or 4D0 505 203 G have sold on ebay in australia. Febest was the OEM for audi on this and after emailing them they said it won't be back in stock 'for a while' however long that means.

Usually those 2 bushes are fine and don't need changing, I've witnessed this yesterday when I removed the whole rear suspension with another forum member.

If i was you I would also get the 4 camber bolts from autodoc as they are cheap and still available, the part numbers are somewhere in on of the threads too

Given the lack of the main subframe bushes, I'd suggest sandblasting the subframe and painting it which is what I do with the fronts.

The OE shocks seem to last pretty well, and tbh there isn't really much in the way of alternatives. The Bilstein B6s should work with stock springs, although they are quite stiff. The B12 kit doesn't lower an S8 at all. It rides quite firmly but is acceptable on 20s, but is pretty expensive.

I made tools to push the bushes in from the outer flanges which works fine on the OE parts and the B5 steel ones, but the metal on the Febi alloy ones is so thin the flange isn't strong enough. For those I just had to push them in on the mounting face, which did work ok. Doing it like that needs a sleeve on the opposite side as the second bush has to go over-centre to get it to seat, which pushes the first one out slightly. I've not seen the Febest ones though so I don't know how they would behave. I'm not going to buy any more of the Febi versions.

Thanks Ronin, I have the camber bolts already on order (I saw your old post about them) – as you say, they are not very expensive.

And thanks MikkiJayne; with regard to the subframe, are you saying you would probably just keep the bushes as they are and save on the £200 odd for the poly bushes and hassle of removing them? That sounds like a good option to me if so! The existing bushes do not seem particularly bad. For reference, the car has 123K on it…

You note the Bilsteins ride okay on 20s – would they likely be okay on 18s too? I have a set of both, but haven’t really used the 20s yet (they have terrible tyres on them, and I have not got round to replacing them yet; I put good tyres on the 18s after getting them refurbed, and they also feel a bit safer with the potholed roads up here!).

That would just leaves the diff bushes. It looks like I have three options:

1. Get you to do the rear bushes and just keep the existing front bush (do they tend to go?; it has a fair bit of movement when you leaver it with a big screwdriver – I could post a video?)
2. Get you to do the rear bushes and get a poly bush for the front.
3. Get the poly bushes for the front and rear.

What would you be likely to do (not worrying about any cost differences)…?!

It looks like fitting the bushes will be a bit of an experiment then. I have done plenty of that before, so will report back!

Scott

I've been leaving the upper arm bushes alone. I dislike poly in suspension arms as it sucks at both ride comfort and longevity -I'd rather have used OE in this application than poly, until we can find an alternative source.

My experience of Bilsteins with 18s is that they are are very bouncy - think of an F1 car where the tyre does 90% of the suspension travel. This is, I'm sure, partially down to my Goodyear tyres which have very soft sidewalls, and so 20s make the suspension work better than 18s, but I've had B12 kits on a couple of other cars and they are always very firm. If you're running on 18s tbh I'd stick with the stock suspension. Big Red has 150k on stock suspension and rides and handles great.

Diff bushes you could do with poly as the joints aren't static, rather than rotating. It'll transmit more vibration and noise in to the subframe, which with stock subframe bushes will probably be unnoticeable. With poly subframe bushes though it may increase nvh in the cabin. I'd be inclined to only do one set. Personally I would do the D3 bushes on the diff and poly on the subframe, given the limited available options. The D3 front diff bush should still be available from TPS - I don't think it is expensive. I can check today.

WD40 is the secret sauce for getting all these bushes to go in by the way. It stops them galling up on the aluminium castings.

With the subframe out it's also a good idea to do the fuel tank straps

Mikki - That is very helpful information about the Bilsteins / 18s; that could have been an expensive mistake! I am happy to keep the existing shocks (especially as I am not really looking to stiffen up the car or anything), but was just a little concerned that they were a bit worn (what did you think of the video clip?). To be fair though, other than the terrible creaking from the rear, the car felt absolutely fine handling wise. Hopefully I can just give them a paint and be done!

I called my local TPS today for the first time and it turns out they sell to the public, so that is handy, however they don’t think they will be able to get the diff bush. I also spoke with the local Audi dealer, and they say they can get it from Germany, and will be about £30ish.

If you can get it from TPS though I could just send you both the housing and you could fit all three?

Ronin – I was looking a those, and the hose clamps to… they all look very crusty. Working on old cars is always like opening a can of worms… It would be mad not to do them at this point though. I have not looked at what the process for this will be yet – is it a tricky job…?

The following PDF gives details on the removal of the fuel tank. Not sure if it's possible to just replace the straps one by one with everything still in situ:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...8&d=1420350463

I'm doing it right now :D Tips coming later +++

I look forward to seeing how you got on!

Another source of all the bushes needed found:

https://www.strongflex.eu/en/catalog...owe-audi-a8-d2

That is interesting – they are about £30 each (before import/postage etc), vs about £42 for the ones from the other site, but they are a little harder – 80 vs 75sha. Same deal with the fronts.

For a full set front and rear it would be about £230 vs £350.

Does anybody know if you are likely to feel much difference between 80/75sha?

Oh, I have also looked into getting the subframe blasted locally. I have a quote for £90 for glass blasting, and around the same (depending on the time taken) for sand blasting. Does that seem reasonable in people's experience?

I'd say this is a bit pricey, i paid £144 for blasting and powdercoating of rear subframe, roll bar and about 3 small brackets and stuff, £90 just for blasting seems a bit much but nothing extreme

I really doubt you can feel the difference between 80 and 75 hardness, 60 would be closer to normal rubber bushes so they would stiffen up the car vs stock for for sure, old rubber (in our old Audis) stiffens up and hardens with age too..

No one on the forums has done the rear in poly so its a bit of a gamble on your part, some people on the european audi groups have done this and say they could not feel the difference between rubber and poly

Well, I have ordered a set for the rear. With the way VAT/import fees work, it is about the same to order front/rear sets separately as it is together, so I will see what the rears are like before ordering the fronts (it will be a while before I get to that anyway). It was £129 in total, and there should – in theory - be no further import/VAT charges from the delivery company.

that's really cool, let us know how you get on with pics and everything :)

Thoughts and tips on the tank straps halfway down this post about the barnfind

TL;DR - clean up the threads on the tank strap studs with a spare nut, before loosening the main nuts. You do not want these studs to break out of the body and start spinning.

https://shops.audi.com/en_GB/web/tra...ategory=118665

Tradition have added rear bushes at an astronomical price :-(

That is punchy! Hopefully the polys work out okay :)

Didn’t get much time on the car this weekend, but did get the subframe bushes out, and the new poly bush ones have already arrived – quick delivery (from Poland I thick), as I only ordered them last Wednesday!

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Now that the subframe bushes are out, I have the option of powder coating. Is this generally considered better than just paining? I have a quote for £150 cash for blasting and powder coating, and might get them to do a few other wee bits too if I go-ahead with it.

Ronin – did you cover up any of the threads or holes when you had yours done? Looking at the pictures in your ‘Rear Subframe Refurb’ thread it looks like they have powder coated inside the subframe bush holes too. Did this all work out okay?

Powdercoating is faster, but better is entirely dependent on who is doing it. Powder tends to wick away from edges as it melts (the same as some paints do), so it takes some dialling in of the settings to get a decent coating on sharper edges. My local powdercoater does pay attention to this because I'm happy to pay extra for better results, whereas other places I've been to who are simply interested in throughput don't bother with this and very quickly the coating splits along all the sharp edges and simply peels off.

Another thing to bear in mind with powder is that it doesn't always get in to all the little spaces, because it is electrostatically attracted to the metal. It tends to coat around the little gaps and not go in to them, but with something as big and complicated as a subframe, the guy holding the gun is not going to be flipping it around and upside down to check all the nooks and crannies. I tend to go round stuff like this afterwards with a paintbrush and make sure there's no bare metal left in the corners etc.

Painting gives you full quality control over the job, but its messy and time consuming, especially at this time of year if you don't have a heated work space. Rustoleum for example needs more than 24hr to dry at current temperatures, and really needs a good week to cure.

I went round the inside of the bush holes with a drum sander and made sure it was nice and smooth, but the thickness of the powder wasn't a problem for the D3 bushes. I'm sure it won't be for poly since thats flexible anyway.

I did but they took the tape off anyway (it would probably have burned in the oven)

I did however put 2 bolts into the arb bolt threads so that the thread inside didn't get damaged.

I think if i used a proper masking tape for this like a lead tape or something it would have worked out better and they wouldn't have removed it.

You can use kapton tape to cover things up as that is heat resistant within the scope of a powdercoating process, although its an arse to get back off once the powder is baked on to it. I also put sacrificial bolts in to threaded holes, and either nuts or tape on to studs.

The people doing the coating may have silicone bungs and covers for threaded components as well.

Thanks for the comment on powder coating!
I have been thinking about this quite a lot, and I think I am going to go with the painting option. Mikki’s comments about quality being dependent on who is doing it backed up my own concerns, as I really do not know what any of the local companies are like.

They are also all quite far away, requiring a min 1.5h round trip to drop of and then collect.

I had also (quite ridiculously) forgotten that the son of the farmer whose farmland we live right in the middle of restores old tractors, and will be happy to sandblast the subframe (when he has finished ploughing!). His shed is about two fields away… 😊

This mean I can make sure it has been properly cleaned up before refinishing it. He would even be able to spray paint it after, but I will have to see what paint he would be using and what cost that would be. I will be happy to coat it in rustoleum combicolor myself (on that note, is it worth using an additional undercoat when painting bare metal with this stuff?; I have been looking at Rustoleum CombiPrimer Anti-Rust Primer 3369 or the Clean Metal Primer Spray).

The Autodoc order of bushes etc arrived yesterday but I have not dived into it yet – that will be some fun for the weekend.

Any progress?

Not as much as I would like unfortunately! It was always going to be slow progress…

The subframe is now away to get blasted and painted. Meanwhile I have started removing the old bushes and cleaning up and painting the various rusty parts.

I bought a small pressurized sand blasting pot to use outside and that has been very useful for smaller parts. Don’t fancy doing the whole subframe myself though – and I don’t think my (smallish) compressor would thank me for it either!

Next is fitting the new bushes and getting everything ready to re-fit. I will be addressing the fuel tank straps and the brake pipes before refitting the subframe though. I also need to get the calipers off for refurbishing at my local-ish brake specialist too.

I did come across a problem with my lift though (http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16565); the steel beams prevent me from getting to the screws to remove the plastic undertrays - I should have removed these first. I think the easiest solution at this point is to just cut them out and replace them later when the car is back off the lift. Luckily someone on ebay was selling both sides and I got them both for £30 delivered. I will wait until I have them before doing anything to the existing ones though. The screws are pretty rusty so getting them out is not going to be fun (I looked at these a while ago when servicing the car to change the fuel filter and decided to leave them for another day…).

Then it’s on to replacing the driver door skin (there is a big hole under the handle which leaves lovely white stains running down the door when it rains; I have a replacement in the same colour from Prestige), fixing a leak at the near-side driveshaft, and fixing the front valance which is badly split.

I replaced all the front suspension arms/bushes etc with a full Meyle kit a couple of years ago, but I would like to do the actual subframe at some point too. Plenty to keep me busy 😊

I will keep this thread updated, but it will be sporadic!

Can’t believe it is almost a month since I last posted in this thread…

Things are moving slowly but surely. I have got the subframe back and it is looking great – it has a really good finish. I have popped the poly subframe bushes in and they fit very well 😊

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I also replaced all the bushes in the arms and hub carrier over the weekend. They all went in perfectly except one of the upper control arm bushes, which collapsed ☹. A different bush went in the hole no bother, so not sure what went wrong. I have ordered another and fortunately they are not too expensive…

Reassembly beckons, but while I wait for some final bits and dwell on what to do with the shocks (I am leaning towards getting the Bilstein B6 with the standard springs) I am going to take of the front subframe and get it blasted and painted too…

Looking good. +++
Very interested in ride and handling with the new bushes.

Looking good man!

Progress on this has continued to be slow but steady… long gone are the days when I got to spend all my evenings and weekends playing with old cars!

The front subframe is now off and away to get blasted and painted (along with the front springs). It cleaned up well with the needle gun and looks solid enough, but we will see if the blasting picks up any issues.

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(Apologies for the weeds; I haven’t had time to get the roundup out yet!)

I have also now got a full set of Bilstein B6s, and the brakes are finally on their way back from Bigg Red. I also got that last bush that I wrecked replaced and pressed into the upper link, so these are all ready to go.

So I am now looking at the final(ish) items I still need to get for the rebuild. There are a few mounts/bushes and bolts which I am unsure whether or not are worth replacing, and thought I would see if anyone had any thoughts on this 😊 (for reference, the car has about 123K on it, and I assume these are all still original bits).

• Top mounts and ‘rubber buffers’ for both the front and rear shocks. These all seem in pretty good condition, but I obviously don’t have new ones to compare with. Are these typically worth replacing? Front mounts seem pretty cheap and available, but rears might be hard to get/expensive? The buffers look fairly cheap.

• Engine and gearbox mounts. How do you know if these need replaced? They look intact, but are reasonably ‘flexible’. Do they typically ‘go’? Availability seems to be questionable.

• Subframe bolts – do people typically use new ones when refitting? Are these stretch bolts? An online search suggests they are not particularly available, but I have not spoken with Audi/TPS yet.

I have also been wondering if there is anything else that I should be looking at while the subframe and front suspension is all out? I am changing both the output seals as they are both leaking (the left side badly). Is there any known issues that are worth addressing?

Thnaks, and sorry for all the questions!

Front top mounts are cheap and available from Febi. Rears are NLA as far as I know.

Engine and gearbox mounts are NLA. They settle slightly but rarely fail.

Subframe bolts get reused. They are technically stretch bolts (150Nm + 90) and the manual says to replace them but I never have. They're used on the D3 so should still be available if you do want to replace them. N 90711602

the subframe bolts can be reused, be sure you thread them in properly when you put them in as some people have been known to cross thread or strip them ;)

The left output flange will also need a replacement bearing 6007C3 and a square-section o-ring 01V409133.

Thanks for that – very helpful as always! I already have the o-ring on order, but I had not noted the requirement for the bearing. I now have that on order too – thanks for the link. :)

I have also ordered the front top mounts (as you say, they are pretty cheap), but will reuse everything else.

I am very much looking forward to putting everything back together. :)

I'll get on your bushes n stuff next week while Andrew's is getting polished +++

Brilliant - thanks MJ :)

And six (!) month later it is thread update time – sorry for the long post but it has been a while… it also diverts a bit from the subject of the rear subframe, but I guess that is the way working on these cars go…

The blasting of the front subframe revealed no further issues and it looked great all newly painted with the new bushes. I got the front springs blasted and painted at the same time and rebuilt the struts with the new Bilstein dampers (but forgot to take pics).

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The front subframe went back on first while I waited for the final bits for the rear (thanks for these MJ!), and then it was its turn. I left most of the bits to be fitted once it was installed on the car, as I had to lift it up with a jack while balancing it and getting the bolts in, and I though the less weigh the better... MJ made some 3D printed alignment spacers to fit the polybush holes (which are smaller than the original ones) which worked a treat for aligning it.

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After all the suspension bits were re-fitted I was able to lower the car off the lifts and properly remove the plastic covers in front of the rear wheels. The bolts all had to be cut away as the u-clips holding them had all disintegrated and were just spinning. There was an interesting amount of dirt on these…

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This allowed me to finally replace the fuel filter which I have had for a couple of years waiting on the shelf! I also did all the fuel pipe clips as these had also disintegrated. Had to wait about a month for the clamps and plastic nuts to come from somewhere in Europe (Czech Republic, I think) but they got here in the end, and at a very reasonable cost.

Next it was onto removing all the fuel tank straps and blasting and painting them, along with the exhaust and handbrake brackets. Following MJ’s notes in one of her last WITWs, the nuts for the straps came off with no problem, so thanks for that!

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Car was then back on the lift for the gearbox service. The cats had to be removed to allow me to get to the ‘hidden’ bolts as these were not for moving, which added a fun bit of extra work…
I have had a ZF kit sitting waiting for a couple of years (bought a the same time as the fuel filter), so it was good to finally get this used too. It was very pleasing to see it included everything you could need (even new magnets), though I ended up having to buy another couple of liters of oil as the box took everything it had and still wasn’t overflowing at the correct temperature… I also replaced the o-rings at the harness connector which were leaking quite badly. The sump was pretty rusty so I cleaned this up and painted it too. I spotted what seemed like more good advice from MJ on a Facebook group about refilling via the cooler pipe and that worked a treat – so thanks again!

The next big job was a weird one. The driver’s door handle has always been corroded around the handle, but it was starting to get really bad, with the handle feeling a bit loose and stains running down the door…
I got a replacement frame from Prestige in the correct colour (which thankfully matches very well) and went about stripping down the door, which as has been reported elsewhere, is a fairly major task. When it came to removing the handle, once everything was disconnected it just pushed through the frame in one piece – no need to separate the parts!

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I had assumed it was just the frame that was corroded, but it turned out that the middle part of the handle was also in very bad shape, so it was back to Prestige for a handle, which fortunately they had. It was green, so I got my dad to spray the visible bits (mainly just the lock cover) to Dolphin Grey.

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Then it was just a mater of (not so) quickly putting everything back together…

Then it was brake bleed time. I did a pressure brake bleed (2bar) but still had spongy brakes. It turned out that one of the (newly refurbished) rear calipers was retracting too much. I suspect the new seal was still a bit tight. I extended out the piston, left it a while and then retracted it to just the right point, re-bled just to make sure, and tested it again. Still a bit spongy. So I then bled the abs pump. This released quite a few bubbles and resulted in a much better peddle feel. Finally I fitted Mikki’s lovely looking brake block. The brakes now feel progressive and reassuring, which is something I have never been able to say before!

The last big job was fixing the front valance which got badly broken when the car was parked over a sunken wooden sleeper when the ground was frozen. When I came to move the car the ground had thawed, which caused it to sink, and as I reversed away the valance got more-or-less pulled off by the sleeper.
A bit (well a lot) of plastic welding, fiber glassing, bumper filler-ing and painting and it is looking significantly better than it used to (there were already a few cracks and splits on it). I might need to tidy the rear one now to match.
It was then off for its MOT yesterday…

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…which I am happy to say it passed, though not with flying colours. It is showing as have a small oil leak for the second year running (both times the engine tray has been off) though I am not really sure where/what this is. There is certainly nothing dripping, even after sitting for a few days with the tray off. The headlamp washer pump needs replaced (I only realized this at the last minute and though it might have caused a fail; I have a replacement pump on order from Prestige). Both upper front arms have also been highlighted, but these have only done about 7000 miles… Fortunately the long bolt is still free, as I checked this when working on the front, so this should be an easy enough fix before next year.

The garage also performed a full Hunter alignment today and I should be picking it back up tomorrow.

Then it will be time to enjoy it for a while again before I do some major service work on the engine…

I will report back on any thoughts I have on the subframe polybushes and Bilstein dampers (though initial impressions are good) :)

Thanks for all the help on this thread, especially MJ without whom this would have been pretty much impossible. +++

good job for the work and not giving up, not enough people do their own work on these :)