R32 - Subframe Bush Replacement

[Cubes]

My Noltec subframe bushes are in. They can be had from Unique Autosports for ~$190.

Here's how I went about it.

In short the process of removal:

Wheels

Callipers and sat them on a box so they don't hang

Sway Bar (makes life easier)

Tail shaft

Exhaust cat back

Removed hicas lines from rear steer rack and tucked them out of the way

Disconnect Hand brake lines

The hicas wiring ran under the hand brake line, unplugged and replugged so it ran over the top

Diff (easy as, simply ran 2 ropes around under neath it (front and rear) attaching to the subframe and secured to my club lock on the other end, dropped the jack then let the ropes down slowly so it lowered the diff)

Placed a car jack (scissor) under each side of the subframe

Removed bolts and slowly let the subframe down.

Once it was at a reasonable hight I lifted each edge, kicked the jack out and placed the subframe back down

Dragged the subframe out and argggg... now for the bush removal.....

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Bush removal

I didn't have enough material on hand to make a solid support for the subframe when pushing bushes out.

The 2 rear bushes are really easy as they are just simple rubber bushes.

The 2 front silicon filled bushes are a pain in the arse as they have 3 parts that need to be cut and then pushed out in succession. I tried cutting all the way through with one but the bush just didn't budge. I had to remove each ring in succession.

It was quite easy simply drilling out the old rubber bush then using a hack saw to cut 2 small cuts completely through the metal shell roughly a cm apart. Then hit it with a suitable cold chisel and the metal simply peels back, roughly 3/4 the way down the bush starts to push out.

Doing it this way they take roughly 1hr maybe a little more to remove all 4 bushes.

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Bush Install

The 2 front bushes pressed in quickly and easily.

The rear 2 I was unable to get the press in without removing all the control arms etc so I grabbed a piece of 3" exhaust pipe, cut it down and smacked the sh*t out of it with a small sledgy. They went in fairly quickly to my surprise. Towards the end of the second the pipe began to fatigue and crush quickly with each hit.

The hardest part about the whole thing.....

Removing those damn tail shaft bolts.

Everything else was fairly straight forward.

It’s definitely not hard and can easily be done by one person.

The subframe with axles etc all attached is light enough to be lifted by a single person so fear not peoples.

It’s really not as difficult as one (I) would think (thought).

[Ronin 09]

good tute... now do mine! lol

once you've driven around on it for a while can you post your feeling with these (nolathane i think) bushes?

cheers!

[Cubes]

After driving the car for a while...

I bought a cheap Nolathane front end bush kit and a set of tie rod ends (~$21 each from Pedders, the bloke was kind enough to give me trade so bonus) that I put in before the subframe bushes.

The caster rod bushes didn't increase NVH at all, the upper control arm bushes simply increased the road feel, i.e when cornering close to the gutter you can feel exactly and sharply when the wheel rides close to the gutter. If that makes sense.

It has just firmed everything up. No actual increase in noise or vibration but you can feel the road more. Its not a harsh or uncomfortable feel but rather sporty and quite nice.

The Noltec subframe bushes... My diff whine is louder over 80km/h and it has firmed up the feeling of the car.

Apart from the diff whine there's no increase in cabin noise transmitted from the road.

I can really feel when the rear tyre is cutting close to that gutter etc.

And interestingly it hasn't axle tramped once, it used to tramp a touch on long sweeping second or third corners just before the car would straighten up after giving it a bit of stick.

I quite like the feel the car now has. It gives more feedback without feeling harsh and uncomfortable.

Now lets see how long these Nolathane front end bushes last.

I've seen the R32 front end kits (adj. caster, adj. upper control arm, lower control arm & swaybar bushes) for as cheap as $314 + delivery. I bought mine a little more expensive at ~$375 delivered.

Wheel aligned up I had it setup with 0.5degree neg camber on the front, 1degree camber on the rear (couldn't get any less) and ~6degree of caster.

It drives dead straight now, absolutely no tramlining. The Caster bushes is what sorted the tramlining, I noticed that instantly.

[32 4whore]

I havent replaced the bushes but I have put cradle spacers into a cefiro rear cradle. Yeh it is easy to pick up but i wouldnt be doing it all day. Im a small guy and I was struggling picking it up to move around with a old mate.

You seem to be doing so much to your car.

I need to come over one day and do some work on ur car so I can do it to my car. LOL. HEHEHE Apprentice of Joels.

Anywho nice write up and dammmmmmmm i need to get some suspension parts for my car now.

*Edit* Just rememeered you didnt have the diff bolted to the rear cradle. Which will explain why it was easier to lift/ manovoure.

Smart boy you are

Edited August 21, 2007 by Cubes

[Cubes]

lol.

My diff is coming out again soon as the shim didn't work as expected.

Corner exit is excellent, both wheels twin up perfectly and give good drive or drift if you wish but straight line acceleration still buzzes one wheel through first and second. Once the diff is warm (30mins of driving) second gear hooks up ok providing I don't get over excited and slap it a little quick.

lol the weight.. With the diff bolted in I could only left one side at a time as I wiggled it under the car + I was stuffed from hacksawing the bushes out.

[turboedsloth]

is it possible to still stick pineapples on top of the new bushes? i cant see properly from the photo

[Cubes]

No not possible.

It 'MAY' be possible if your using the racespec subframe bushes.

[GTRsean]

Just finished doing mine using noltec bushes as well. They are great, car feels better and more predictable on the road now.

It took me a total of 12 hours from start to finish over two days.

Had the use of a hoist (godsend), forklift (to hold cradle up to 60 ton press), and some crappy trolly to wheel cradle assy around.

Front right bush was flogged out, left hand front just started to crack up and leak so they were over due.

Didn't need to disconnect ATTESSA, just cable tied it up to fuel tank bracket. And I have a lock bar, so no power steering hyd lines and rack to worry about.

We had no fittings for the hole saw, so we couldn't use it. After putting cradle in a vice, I just got a cold chisel and hammered the lips on the old bushes inward, so that I could fit a cylinder over them to press out. Took about 8-12 ton of force to crack em, then it was easy after that. Just be careful not to damage cradle.

Cleaned cradle, then primed and repainted any exposed metal. New bushes were just hammered back in using cylinder from earlier, with lubricant sprayed on bushes, block of wood on top of cylinder, to take the blows. Rear cradle had blocks of wood underneath to support, while hammering in new bushes.

Didn't take pics while I was doing it, but here's the finished product. I would never attempt that again!!

[Cubes]

After looking at your pics I've definitely come to the conclusion the Noltec R32 subframe bushes definitely are not suitable for the R32 GTST. Noltec state they are fine with the R32 GTST; they really are not as the stud simply does not have enough length, the nut only 'just' grabs with approx 3/4 of its thread.

In the future I will most likely remove mine and shove a set of Racespec bushes in as I'm not happy with how much thread the bolt has holding on to the stud.

[B0oStEr]

After looking at your pics I've definitely come to the conclusion the Noltec R32 subframe bushes definitely are not suitable for the R32 GTST. Noltec state they are fine with the R32 GTST; they really are not as the stud simply does not have enough length, the nut only 'just' grabs with approx 3/4 of its thread.

In the future I will most likely remove mine and shove a set of Racespec bushes in as I'm not happy with how much thread the bolt has holding on to the stud.

I fitted these bushes to my gtst today

The crush tubes in the Noltec bushes are about 12mm longer than they are in the stock gts/t bushes.

That spaces the cradle 12mm lower than normal below the chassis.

I'm not sure what effect this would have on driveshaft angle or rearend geometry.

Apart from not leaving enough thread for the nuts it also makes it hard to refit the support braces for the front bushes

I cut the top 12mm off the bushes with a hacksaw and it all bolts up perfectly now.

[B0oStEr]

There is no need to undo the hicas piping if you undo the tie rods and the three keepers on the steel pipes the rack will swing out of the way on it's rubber hoses.

I zip tied it to the handbrake cable bracket.

This saves on mess and avoids potential problems bleeding the system.

[Cubes]

I was unable to remove the rod ends from the hubs as I didn't have a tool suitable. (ball joint splitter or what ever they are called) Mine are jammed on and definitely not coming off without one.

So the reason for myself simply removing the hicas piping.

[dbo]

Nice tutorial. I've got the solid rear cradle bushes, and am not too sure on how to install these into my R32. Instead of creating a new thread I thought I would ask in here how it is done. I have done a search but nothing turned up that helped me out.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[GTRsean]

Nice tutorial. I've got the solid rear cradle bushes, and am not too sure on how to install these into my R32. Instead of creating a new thread I thought I would ask in here how it is done. I have done a search but nothing turned up that helped me out.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

If they have the split in them, then you just undo cradle enough to lower it then put in the spacers between the chassis and cradle, and bottom of cradle and bottom washer?

[dbo]

If they have the split in them, then you just undo cradle enough to lower it then put in the spacers between the chassis and cradle, and bottom of cradle and bottom washer?

They are the ones with the split in them. Sorry for sounding like a n00b but I haven't put these in before, so I was hoping someone might have sme pics or something to help me out..

[Rb30det_Gts-t]

sorry to bring up the old thread, but i also brought noltec subframe bushes which are also to long but also to big in the metal tubing threw the centre, by 1-2mm

[Rb30det_Gts-t]

also i was wondering if any one could post up a part number for these bushes of any brand, for a gts-t, cheers

[B0oStEr]

also i was wondering if any one could post up a part number for these bushes of any brand, for a gts-t, cheers

The Noltec bushes for all R32s is #N92447

They are right for gtrs but too long for gtsts even though noltec say they are ok.

For a gtst you just need to cut 12mm from the small end (top) of the bush.

Are you sure the hole in the crush tube is too big?

IIRC the crush tube locates on a slight taper at the base (top) of the subframe stud.

[Rb30det_Gts-t]

yeap i am sure the tubing is bigger on the noltec bushes than the factory ones as i used verniers, yeap i know about the cutting of the 12mm, however a guy measured noltec ones for an r33 and the lenght was correct for my r32, however the tube size was still too big, i am gettin the brand "nolathane" ones sent to work to see if they are any different, apparently they are 3 peice set, another option i was told about was to sleeve the tubing out, has anyone else had this problem? my car is a 1990 r32, from factory it was a rb20det auto, it has hicas (now dissabled and is rb30det manual) i have the subframe out at work and only took about an hour to get out, would of had it back in on saturday if the bushes are the ryt ones.

[Cubes]

I didn't measure the internal dia of the crush tube but once up in position it was rock solid; wasn't moving around anywhere.

Have you slid the bush up on to the stud to see how much movement there really is?