rear end rebuild

[mt1104]

Hello,

today I took delivery of the last on the list of bits to make the rear end as stable / predictable as possible.

I have -

- New bmw rear beam bushes, with a set of plastic void fillers to go in from the states.
- Set of SuperFlex trailing arm bushes
- z3m diff bush
- 4.27 diff
- hydraulic handbrake

Planning to fit the handbrake while the rear beam is off, as the rear brake circuit will need emptying anyway.

Just wondering if any one has any tips / stuff to know to make getting the rear beam off slightly easier?

I read that sometimes knocking the bolts out from under the rear seat is required - can someone expand on this please?

[Chris]

Studs can be knocked up into the car from below.

Take weight of beam on trolley jack
Take off the strengthening plates (two allen head bolts)
Remove the 22?mm nut from the bottom
Lift rear seats and carpets
Spin the nuts back on a couple of turns
Knock the studs up into the car
Wrestle the beam down
Remove broken bits of aluminium bush centre from reccess in floor pan.

Good luck

Chris

PS: Whats with the hydraulic handbrake then? Any links. Is the car not used on the road?

[mt1104]

the hydraulic handbrake is going next to the original, perfectly road legal.


so are these bolts meant to be knocked up into the car or is it possible for the beam to drop down off them?

[stonesie]

I had to knock mine up into the car, and lever the beam down with a long length of 1" box section, about 5 feet iirc.

[Chris]

You may well get lucky and the beam will drop down, but they usually put up quite a fight.

The 'studs' that drop down have a round head with a short splined section which holds them into bodywork.

If you lift the seat base and search for a roughly 20mm circle in the paint above the beam mount. This is a deep plug of sealer that covers the head of the stud.

Prising it out will make the whole bashing up from underneith thing a lot easier.

Cheers
Chris

[mt1104]

ok brilliant, cheers for your help

[toecutter666]

You may have to cut the handbrake cables, these get rusted into the tubes running through the shell, even cut and with the rear beam out the way mine were a complete bastard to get out

[mt1104]

nah I think they'll be ok, the shell actually isn't rusty amazingly - just the passenger door is a bit rotten. Plus the cable handbrake works ok - just isn't all that reliable at getting the rear end round unless its wet.

[toecutter666]

Same as, my shell hasn't hardly any rot but where the handbrake outer cable slots inside the tube it was stuck solid, the handbrake worked fine though.

[mt1104]

ah ok, that'll be another thing for me to watch out for then. Thanks for the heads up