Hot on the heels of the last project, we welcome in @Jack Daw and his very original 1997 1.9 Z3. Spent it's life on Jersey, so relatively low miles and almost zero corrosion underneath 
He got in touch with Lee to see if we could have a look over, and he joined us Saturday morning for the usual bacon powered project kick-off!
It's a simple remit, take it apart and replace what needs doing. No specific expectations of what needed doing, just leaving it to us. Jack stayed for the whole session, and got to see a little more going on that he'd expected - and a little quicker than he'd expected too
First job was to get it up on the axle stands, get the wheels off and then give it a good look over. Pretty much as expected it's in need of the "usual suspects", everything underneath looks original from the factory. As mentioned previously - apart from the mud in the arch liners, everything is lacking any kind of corrosion underneath. Almost a pleasure to strip down.
Once the rear wheel arch liners were removed it was pretty obvious that the beam bushes were on their way out. The rubber is coming away from the metal core, and there was a lot of play when a crow bar was levered against them. You can see this very clearly is in the difference from the first picture below, and the second.
As for the rest of the components it's the same picture, the shocks are weak, the drop links badly perished. Unusually the diff bush seemed really fresh, and no signs of deterioration. We've assembled a provisional list of things to replace, and then did this...
We are claiming this as a record. Didn't time it, but around 1.5 hours to get it on the floor A real testament to the lack of corroded nuts 'n bolts underneath.
A few other pictures whilst we worked.
We get this every now and then, where the pin which holds the rear beam against the chassis unscrews, rather than the nut undoing. We kept winding and let the pin come out completely, which helps a little with the dropping process anyway. At the point it's in the picture below it should be the smooth part of the pin, not the thread showing. When we put the beam back on the pin will get a new dose of nylock on it.
We tend to strip the brakes off before dropping the subframe as it saves a bit of weight when lifting it up on to the workbench.
Talking of which, up on the bench ready to have the beam separated from the swing arms and diff.
We can now get a closer look at the beam bushes, and where the rubber is breaking away from the core.
Once we have all the new parts in stock we will crack on and get it put back together again.
He got in touch with Lee to see if we could have a look over, and he joined us Saturday morning for the usual bacon powered project kick-off!
It's a simple remit, take it apart and replace what needs doing. No specific expectations of what needed doing, just leaving it to us. Jack stayed for the whole session, and got to see a little more going on that he'd expected - and a little quicker than he'd expected too
First job was to get it up on the axle stands, get the wheels off and then give it a good look over. Pretty much as expected it's in need of the "usual suspects", everything underneath looks original from the factory. As mentioned previously - apart from the mud in the arch liners, everything is lacking any kind of corrosion underneath. Almost a pleasure to strip down.
Once the rear wheel arch liners were removed it was pretty obvious that the beam bushes were on their way out. The rubber is coming away from the metal core, and there was a lot of play when a crow bar was levered against them. You can see this very clearly is in the difference from the first picture below, and the second.
As for the rest of the components it's the same picture, the shocks are weak, the drop links badly perished. Unusually the diff bush seemed really fresh, and no signs of deterioration. We've assembled a provisional list of things to replace, and then did this...
We are claiming this as a record. Didn't time it, but around 1.5 hours to get it on the floor
A real testament to the lack of corroded nuts 'n bolts underneath. A few other pictures whilst we worked.
We get this every now and then, where the pin which holds the rear beam against the chassis unscrews, rather than the nut undoing. We kept winding and let the pin come out completely, which helps a little with the dropping process anyway. At the point it's in the picture below it should be the smooth part of the pin, not the thread showing. When we put the beam back on the pin will get a new dose of nylock on it.
We tend to strip the brakes off before dropping the subframe as it saves a bit of weight when lifting it up on to the workbench.
Talking of which, up on the bench ready to have the beam separated from the swing arms and diff.
We can now get a closer look at the beam bushes, and where the rubber is breaking away from the core.
Once we have all the new parts in stock we will crack on and get it put back together again.
