BMW E30 Rear Subframe, Trailing Arms, Prop Shaft & Differential Assembly + New Poly Bushings | 022
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2022
- BMW E30 Rear Subframe, Trailing Arms, Prop Shaft & Differential Assembly + New Poly Bushings | 022
In this BMW E30 Build episode I finally refit the rear subframe, rear trailing arms and differential with new polybushings.
It's been quite a long time coming and I've published multiple videos about the work done to remove, modify and refinish these parts, all culminating in this video where they all get refitted to the car looking brand new.
In actual fact, most of these parts have been refinished for about a year, and simply kicking around in the garage waiting for this day, luckily they've remained in good condition.
Here's the video where I actually removed this rear subframe from the E30, featuring the battle I had with the OE rear beam bushings: • BMW E30 Rear Subframe ...
I started off by fitting the new Flo-Flex Polyurethane Bushings into the E30 rear beam, which went in without too much trouble with plenty of grease and a hammer to help. Much easier than pressing in an OE rubber style bushing at least.
Here are the Flo-Flex Polyurethane Subframe Bushings I used: ebay.us/ZUP6ij
And the matching set for the rear arms: ebay.us/XQlTsl
These seem excellent and stack up great alongside the more mainstream Poweflex products. Time will tell of course, but my expectations remain high.
I decided to fit the rear trailing arms to the rear subframe and then lift the whole lot onto the car for fitting, pretty similar to the way I removed it all in the first place, as one unit (minus the diff this time).
The rear beam will not fit back up with the back half of the prop shaft in place. This is very strange to me as I'm 99% certain the prop was not removed when taking the subframe off the car. Luckily the prop shaft is very easy to slip off and back onto its splines.
Unfortunately, at the point where I had the subframe back in position, I realised the error of my ways.
The rear arm reinforcing braces I welded in a long time ago appeared to be interfering with that fuel pipe between the filler neck and the tank. Absolutely gutted to find that as welding those plates on in the first place was quite a task, and cutting them back off was not on my agenda. Not to mention the work done to get these things painted up in 2k black.
I ended up dropping the rear subframe again and getting to work adjusting my rear arm bracing with an angle grinder, which lead onto me cutting most of the heft out of them and leaving only a lighter version of my original design.
I did find out about the potential for these reinforcing bars to be an issue with the fuel pipe after I did the modification, but I was trying to stay hopeful about it not being an issue, unfortunately, I didn't get away with it. I must've been looking at people's E30 builds with a fuel cell in the boot when I got inspired to do such hefty reinforcing.
Luckily, as I'm not planning to run big power on this car, what I'm left with is probably a much more sensible reinforcing bar.
With that done, I even went ahead and repainted the arms and rear beam in black again, and second time around was a charm. Those reinforcing bars don't interfere with that fuel pipe anymore and the job is a good one.
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God I love your E30 vids cos practically everything I'm planning to do is covered by this series
Thanks Dallo, really hoping there's some useful information for you in these, so you're ready to take the job on yourself. There's quite a bit more to come so keep your eyes peeled! :D
Lovely little job there lad, great work! E30 resto’s are my favourite videos, can’t get enough!
Thank you Logan, glad you're enjoying the series. Plenty more to come! E30s are great cars to work on really, I'm enjoying the process at the moment.
Let's hope I'm still saying that further down the line. 😅
Motivation for my old Accord!!
I had two e30s years ago.
Loved em!
Thanks Rachel, get stuck in on that Accord! 😁
genius idea with the ladder! I have to do this on my own on my Z3 (same E30 rear end)..build it back up in situ on the ladder then jack the last few inches 👌
Cheers, it worked a treat despite it being an unusual technique. Hope it works for you on the Z3. 👍
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us!! Amazing video indeed!
Thank you John! Hope it's helpful for you 😁
The struggle is real! great stuff brother
Glad it worked out in the end, but I was fuming when I realised my error with the cross bracing. 🤣
Great stuff. I have a very similar car with a lot of the same work needed so this series has really helped. If you ever get to sorting the sticking throttle before the swap please include it in a vid!
Cheers Toby, glad the vids are useful for you. I gave the throttle mechanism a bloody good scrub with degreaser, followed by a good dowsing with WD40, and it seemed to have pretty much sorted it. Probably worth a go if you haven't tried already.
@@SPANNERRASH Ahh. Nice one. It was literally sticky! Mine's more of a dead spot when the car is cold that makes it feel like it's sticking. I'll get around to it once I've sorted the leaky fuel tank and knackered subframe bushes! Thanks and keep up the good work!
@@Doughman888 No worries, I hope you get that jobs list sorted out mate 👍
شكرا جزيلا ❤
مرحباً بك شكرًا😃
Love watching your videos. Do you have a trade background or learning on the go ?
Shane! Australia
Hi Shane, really glad you're enjoying the vids. I'm learning on the go really, not in the trade, just a background of tinkering with things as a fun hobby. 😁
@@SPANNERRASH Good to know, considering something similar. My electrician trade background doesn’t help with the mechanical portion though. 🤔
@@shanechiddy4303 With some patience, and plenty of research, you'll have no problem doing a project of your own. You're already a big step forward as an electrician, as electrical issues are the worst to solve! 😂
Hi! From which model did you get the rear arms with the disc brakes? I heard that e36 compacts have the same arms. Love the vids! Cheers!
Hi, glad you're enjoying the vids!
Not 100% sure which model it came from but I believe most of the 6-cyl cars came with rear discs, and of course any sporty models such as the 318is.
You can often find E30 disc rear arms on ebay or on FB marketplace.
@@SPANNERRASH Okey! Planning to restore my FL E30 316i with a 1.8i engine. Almost the same color as yours, but probably will paint it black.🤠 Very useful info on your channel. Hello's from Latvia!
@@reinisbicans2299 Nice sounds like a good project, I hope more of my videos are helpful for you. They should be!
What about painting/power coating the prop shaft ..
As I'm planning to do an engine swap I'll hold off until I have the right prop shaft for the final build. But definitely will do in the end. 😁
The new poly bushings lasted 15 MINUTES after a test ride before I ripped them off my beautiful car, it just destroyed the BMW smoothness, hated it. And all the work to put them on, I felt like a fool.
Well that's worrying! I'll report back on how I find these ones, hopefully nowhere near as bad as you describe. Which type of polybushings did you use?
If they're awful I will switch them out for OE rubber bushings.
Take off the exhaust!!
Better to renew it later
You're absolutely right Ash, its was getting in my way throughout! 😂 I just really didn't want to saw it just in case.
trying to fit my rear arms with powerflex bushes today, and after 2 hours gave up! bloody things wont fit the subframe by about 2mm... going to wait for another sunny day and give it another crack!
Damn that sounds frustrating. The cheaper Flo-flex ones went in for me but it was definitely fiddly and I remember getting annoyed off camera. 😂 Are you fitting a stiffer powerflex type?
@@SPANNERRASH powerflex purple, just doesn't seem to have enough gap, I think my next plan is to bend the tabs back slightly to fit them, they'll pull back in once torqued up anyway 😂
@@Keats.Garage Not a bad idea to be fair, should work. Plenty of grease won't harm either. 😁
Does it matter if the prop shaft isn’t the same way it came out? My came out when I was dropping subframe but wasn’t able to mark it. Not sure if it needed to be in the same splines or not..
Hi mate, look for the two white dots on the halves to find out where they are balanced. Hopefully you can spot them on yours, they're from factory.
Even my rusty prop has them visible still so fingers crossed for yours.
Some say its a big deal, but to be honest I'd be surprised if its even noticeable if its not quite right.
@@SPANNERRASH awesome! Thanks good to know. Keep the videos coming! Been loving them.
@@Poptheboard123 No problem, and glad you're enjoying the vids! 😁
Can you not reroute the fuel line ….
I saw a guy rerouting that breather line through the boot rather than the wheel arch, Practical Enthusiast I think! Strongly considered that, but I can always come back to this at a later date. I'm really keen to push forward with the build so trying to avoid mission creep where I can. 😂
It is far easier to put on all components on one by one.
In hindsight, you're probably right, but those rear arms with the new bushings are a bloody tight squeeze onto the rear beam brackets, hence my wanting to get them on first. With standard bushings it probably wouldn't be an issue though. Not to worry, it's back on now. :)
@@SPANNERRASH i’ve done all of that on my e36 and it’s a workout for sure.
PU bushes are too hard. this can be bad for the body and may result in cracks of the body. imagine two very hard parts shearing and rubbing against each other and one will way. it is cheaper for bushes to give way. if this is too hard, then body will crack!!
unless you want to use this for racing purpose, stick to factory standard ones which are pliant. they are designed that way for a reason.
Don't worry I've picked Polyurethane bushings which are on the soft end of the spectrum. It's not going to be a dedicated track car but I do want it to have sharper handling than standard if possible. I've found previous e30's I've driven in stock form to feel a bit too soft for sporty driving so I think the PU bushings will help improve things.
I'm not planning to abuse it on rough terrain, or drive very high miles in it. So I'm pretty confident the car body will stand up to some slightly firmer bushings.
I think you are overly concerned about this. If it were riddled with rust or a convertible without a roof I'd be more concerned.
Oh noooo.. huge mistake dude.. with poly you will absolutely destroy and obliterate the legendary smoothness that car is known for. Tears, tears, cry, cry... say it isn't so Joe, say it ain't so. :( also, why not powder coat the subframe instead of black paint?
Surely with the softer Polybushings it wont make it ride that badly! 😅
I am trying to sharpen this car up a bit as a fun weekend b-road blaster though. I'll have something else as a comfortable daily.
Powdercoat would have been better for sure, but I've been impressed with 2k paints and I had it already so went ahead and used it. Hopefully it lasts as long as I think it should!