E30 Zone

Took my car to a mates garage today that specialises in e30's for him to try and work out what some of the various clunks and grinds its making are..

Turns out all the bushes on my rear beam are properly f*cked. Its sat on the metal

So... rear beam has to come off, while its off all bushes will be replaced including diff mount one. And new handbrake shoes while I'm in there.

Is it worth getting poly bushes? (I wont be doing the front any time soon so will poly's on the back and normal ones on the front be bad?

How much of a pig is the job? How do I do it? How much is a poly set for the rear, how much is a normal set?

That is all.

ive got poly bushes on my rear trailing arms and they were a bit of a pain in the arse to fit , took about six hours to do the near side with beam still on car but the other side has to be dropped to let the outer bolt clear the fuel filler pipe at the tank, had to give it to a garage then to do the rest as the two small bolts that hold the bottom plate to the cill were rusted in, ive got normal rubber beam bushes fitted and normal ones on the front and it still handles better than before.
look on ebay under e30's for the poly bushes as new ones are well cheap, picked mine up for £4.20+p+p, garage charged me £225 to fitt all the rest of the bushes though!

Polly bushes rule and are a slide in affair, far easier than originals

Well worth doing

Powerflex also do the Diff mount bush

Andy

cant you ask your mate for a quote to do them, i found i couldnt get the car high enough when trying to do mine and had to use two trolley jacks as well,
some people on here say there easy to do and some say there a right pain, id go with the second opinion!

rubber bushes are cheap but a BASTARD to fit...
poly bushes piece of piss to fit, shame about the price. I have paid £17.50 for eccentric front poly's, £60 for rear trailing arm poly's and £55 for rear beam poly's unless they can be sold to me cheaper elsewhere.
I have fitted the bushes myself.. I am in the fortunate position of having everything off the car though.. makes life easier..

tbh I think I'll just drop the whole rear axle off and do it that way. Bit of extra work to save a lot of hassle by the sounds of it.

I was quoted 150 labour to do all the bushes on the rear, and replace the handbrake shoes by my mate but would rather spend more on the poly stuff and do it myself if its an 'easy' job.

hammer vice and screwdrivers should see them in, 150 is cheap

150 is definately cheap for the whole lot... I pay about £80 to get the rear subframe bushes done - that & rear wheel bearings are 2 jobs that aren't worth the hassle of doing yourself! If you've got time to drop the whole subframe though, there's nothing particularly difficult about it I guess... & you can get properly violent on the old bushes!

right... so here comes the obligatory stupid question...

Diff mount, trailing arm bushes, what else? As in what other bushes/rubber bits are there on the rear subframe that I should replace while its out?

and whats the procedure for removing the rear subframe?

Undo everything I can find and hope it doesnt fall on my head?

trailing arm bushes, subframe bushes, diff mounts...

And antiroll bar bushes...

How do I find out what size roll bar I have? (car was originally a 316 touring)

I might just buy a full kit if I can find a decent price.

munky30 wrote:and whats the procedure for removing the rear subframe?

Undo everything I can find and hope it doesnt fall on my head?

yep.

on the rear sill you have 2 alan key bolt sto remove the cover over the rear beam bolts.
one rear beam bolt each side (big mo fo's)
breaker bar needed! dont mess about.


bottome bolts on rear shock.
as the shocks and springs wil be off.

handbrake cables.

brake lines.

prop from diff


get a bar in place and rip the sub frame from car.


big job it will take time, esspecally getting the frame to drop as it will have been on there a while.

sounds like a piece of p*ss... NOT!

Ah well... cant be harder than an engine swap, time to get my hands dutty again.

good man.

i will be doing this on my 318i m30 and put the 325i stuff on.


its could take a while as there is plenty but it is straight forward.


oh and replace the bushes on the rear bar for the rear legs.


i hope you have a breaker bar? and you will learn a lot about the rear end.

i have not put one back on so i have no advice there sorry dude.


good luck

ric325i wrote: oh and replace the bushes on the rear bar for the rear legs.

do what now?

yeah i dont think what i wrote made sense


ok the rear arms pivot on the rear beam, replace those bushes.

number 5 on this

i think those are the trailing arm bushes... if so, they're in the kit. I'm getting the full ecentric kit from powerflex for the entire rear end, plus arb bushes if I can find out what size I need.

how much are you looking at in total?

£150 for diff mount, subframe bushes x2, trailing arm bushes x4, arb bushes x2.

which I think you'll find is an absolute steal

ouch but it will be a good move

did you go for the big ARB?




oops just looked at your other thread. keep the receipt

yup. ordered 18mm bushes.

Guess I'll find out if they fit when I get under there and get busy.

if its a touring no matter the engine it will need the bigger ARB for the extra weight under load?

i would expect but i know any 320i or below dont have them unless its a touring.

hum

yeah all tourings have the bigger struts so I'd guess they have the bigger arb's too... can but hope.

good luck.

get some big tools and strip it down.

it will look well funny when you take the entire rear end off

Funny ha-ha or funny 'oh my god how the f*ck do I put all this back together again'....

I'll be treating any rust I see and giving it a fresh coat of underseal while I'm at it. Then when I do the front bushes (soon ish, only 50 quid for the front set) I'll do the same up there too.

Holy crap... I'm spending money on my car and thinking about doing things to it that might preserve it and stop it falling apart... I feel ill... Think I'm gonna go take a shower.

oh dear boy, how you have fallen in love with the touring





to all e30 fans that love thier cars

whats next..............................gloss paint and polish?

Not a f*cking chance!

If I ever treat it to paint it will still be matt, but sprayed by a pro, not me in a garage with a crate of rattle cans