Hey guys. Seems like its been forever since Ive actually done much with my FD, but as of lately Ive been able to devote more time towards it, so youll be seeing some pretty cool things from me very soon. My little project this weekend is to get the rear subframe all sorted out. About 3 years or so ago (last time I really worked on my FD) I purchased a cobra 8.8 subframe kit, and just dry fit the diff up in the car, which is how its been sitting since. Since Im pretty much trying to redo as much of the car as possible, I wanted to yank it back out and try and refinish it as best I could. It wasnt in "bad" shape, but Im a bit of a perfectionist. Anyway, onto the good stuff. Yanked the subframe out, slight bit of rust on steel parts.




Wanted to clean it up as best I could, picked up this cheapie sandblaster from harbor frieght. Was only $20, and works pretty darn well. Goes through media a bit quickly, but it does what I wanted it to do. Subframe all disassembled, and parts cleaned up.






Thats about all for tonight. Stay tuned to the fun part, new part install

 

On a side note, my car did not feel to me like it had bad bushings. There is ~70k miles, so I had expected some wear and play, but the car was well maintained and near stock when I bought it. What I found taking it apart was that every single bushing was literally shot. There was so much play there may as well not even been bushings there. Point being, if yours are original they are most likely gone. Cant wait to see how it feels being better than new.

 

did you get the sand for the sand blaster at harbor freight? i almost bought a blaster at sears today but ended up putting it back. good stuff though keep us posted.

 

Thats awesome. Whats the operating pressure of the blaster? I've been looking at a few different sand blasting setups, but I need a compressor first.

 

Im using a soda to blast with instead of sand, but yes got it at harbor freight. I realize there are much better blasters out there, but for the time being didnt want to drop a ton of money. For about $50 between the gun and the bag of soda its not a bad deal.It says that it draws 7CFM@90psi.

 

Not as much progress today as Id have liked. Bushings were giving me a harder time than I anticipated.



But heres what I did get done. Finished blasting he subframe as good as I could. Re-installed the 8.8 mounting setup. Decided that for extra strength (and partially just because I like any excuse to break out the welder) I welded the setup to my subframe in a few places, in addition to just the bolts. Not quite sure why the pictures make it look so rusty, I literally just got done welding it and theyre pretty clean.





Hopefully within the next few days I can finish coating the subframe, getting all the new bushings in, then moving on to the setup of my 8.8. Ford racing 4:30 ring and pinion and a LPW rear cover to finish it all off

 

Got the subframe cleaned, primed and painted this morning. Drying in the corner until I get all the bushings in.

 

Very nice. Who did the cobra subframe for you?

 

looking bedazzleddddddd. whats the going rate on the pillow ***** these days?


if you dont mind dishing out more money, the HF 3/4 drive socket kit is AWESOME to use to pop bushings out.. (to arrange the control arms/etc in a position to pop them out)

 

The cobra cradle was the first kit that Jimlab had sold years ago. I installed myself.

 

The pillowballs and dust seals were ~$440 from Ray. And I may pick up that set, just this morning I ran out and spent like $30 on one 1 7/16 craftsman socket

 

its not bad after u use the 20% coupon, still WAY cheaper then getting a shop to do it. plus, how many people can say they have a 3/4 drive set

 

So between work and being sick past few days, not much progress. What I can report is that, like a dumbass I pressed out the rear inner lower control arm bushing, without first realizing that this was not part of the superpro bushing kit. To press this out, you need to cut away from the inner metal lip of the bushing, allowing you to support it from that side while pressing out from the opposite side.



(On a side note the flywheel socket makes a perfect receiver for this task).



I did find out that powerflex makes a replacement bushing for this, so thanks much to forum member "wan" who is a powerflex distributor. I had them 2 days after payment. Also, to follow along with Jimlabs "how-to" I ordered 4 1x1x12" pieces of steel from McMasterCarr to assist with the odd placements that will be needed to press in/out the upper control arm bushings. Also picked up the HF 3/4" drive socked set that muibubbles had recommended earlier. It was only $50.. just dont plan on actually using the sockets as sockets, as the chinese steel looks cheap as hell. Hopefully will have her all back together this weekend.

 

im not looking forward to replacing all my bushing lol.

 

looks like your already done but i also used the HF 3/4" socket set for this, and i put a 19mm 1/2" drive socket on the pillow ball to press it out.

 

oh. and the reason i originally bought the socket set... the 2 1/8" socket fits flywheel, suprisingly the alloy of "melted down soda cans" didnt break.

 

Yep.

Even if the car sat, the rubber still deteriorates (alot) in 18 years. Polyurethane is a massive improvement in regard to longevity alone. This is why the "keep it stock" myth is pure nonsense with these cars.

 

Slow but steady

 

Your not suppose to use soda in that type of blaster lol. Harbor freight has the soda blaster for 80 it takes the paint right off of the subframes.

 

At the time I purchased, that was the only blasting media they had, so I picked it up. It worked for what I needed, as you can see. But yes, you are correct it isnt optimal. Ill probably end up changing it up when i do the front subframe. Id like to get it all down to bare metal and POR-15 it.

 

looks like a retainer for a white shark . nice work!

 

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Everything is looking good

 

its not all that hard! that was probably my first major modification i did myself and wasnt hard at all, just get a 20ton press and the HF 3/4 sockets and just take your time.. pretty easy.

3/4HF sockets ftw!

sweetQ i didnt even know they had a size to fit our flywheel

bahahah i can see that now that you mentioned it..



looking good dude, keep it up!

 

Working a ton lately, even weekends..which means I can only do a little bit each day. But for now all new bushings are in, arms are cleaned up and ready to go. Front Spindles are POR-15'd and looking new. Cant wait to get her all back in

 

Gettin' there