32gtr Upper Control Arms

[Beer Baron]

if you seriously did ALL the suspension bushes we are talking thousands of dollars in parts and labour. there are heps in the rear end (diff mounts front and rear, UCA, LCA etc).

[ali-turko]

yes im expecting a few thousand but i think it would be a good idea to do them all, maybe not all at once

[Beer Baron]

yeah start with the basic ones like castor rod bushes, front upper control arm bushes, if you have GTR then front lower control arm doesn't have bushes, do the steering rack mount bushes, and swaybar mount and link bushes. then move on to the rear, rear upper control arm, rear lower control arm, rear traction rod, then the 4 big subframe bushes and do the diff cradle mount bushes and the diff mount bushes and the rear swaybar bushes too. that's most of the key ones. car will feel like new after that. it adds up pretty quick, just getting all the diff bushes is something like $400 or more, subframe bushes for the 4 proper replacement ones is about $180, and then there's the labour of removing every arm and the rear subframe and diff. if you can do a lot of the work like removing the bits yourself and just take the arms and subframe somewhere to get the bushes done that will save a lot of $. subframe ones are still tricky as they are basically burnt/cut/pressed out and can be a bitch to do. most of the others are just press out, press in.

[ali-turko]

thanks richard

iv just bought sway bars with new bushes along with camber bushes for front and rear

im pretty confident that i change most bushes on my own

[Beer Baron]

yeah best just to do it piece by piece as time and funds permit. also doing it that way you'll get to see which ones really do affect handling/nvh/feel etc. and which ones you cannot even tell you changed!

[Zardos]

To give you an idea i'm spending around 6 - 7k including suspension , and that's pretty much all bushes including new wheel bearings, rebuilding drive shafts ect..

The rear ones are hell expensive by the way.

Oh and all the cleaning and painting was done by me to help bring the cost down

Some pics

[bozodos]

well apparently all the rear in mine are stuffed, and some in the front. I'm getting the cradle bushes first, and the others as I can afford them I guess, not really going for anything adjustable though (not sure just how much of the suspension components are common to GTS-4 and GT-R either), seems like it would almost be cheaper to get a whole new rear subframe etc!

[Zardos]

well apparently all the rear in mine are stuffed, and some in the front. I'm getting the cradle bushes first, and the others as I can afford them I guess, not really going for anything adjustable though (not sure just how much of the suspension components are common to GTS-4 and GT-R either), seems like it would almost be cheaper to get a whole new rear subframe etc!

GTS-4 and GTR stuff is all the same, ( someone please correct me if i'm wrong )

Ok i was quoted $1000 from Nissan for a new subframe ( through my mate who works at Nissan which he get's trade price and then a further 10% discount )

So i hate to think how much it would really cost.

The labour alone in the subframe is about $1000.

[bozodos]

AFAIK in the R32 GT-R has diff bushes and GTS-4 dosen't? they do use the same springs/shocks though.

I was thinking a used subframe in good condition lol, labour isn't really a factor for me as much, but either way its gonna be a prick of a job - nearly to the point where I was thinking about selling rather than fixing, but with the current market for Skylines as it is I don't really think thats a viable option.

[Zardos]

AFAIK in the R32 GT-R has diff bushes and GTS-4 dosen't? they do use the same springs/shocks though.

I was thinking a used subframe in good condition lol, labour isn't really a factor for me as much, but either way its gonna be a prick of a job - nearly to the point where I was thinking about selling rather than fixing, but with the current market for Skylines as it is I don't really think thats a viable option.

Can someone please confirm "AFAIK in the R32 GT-R has diff bushes and GTS-4 dosen't?"

If Labour is not really a factor then it would be better just to replace the sub frame bushes.

Or you can go the pineapples which will not cost anywhere near as much to do, however i can not say how long they last.

The thing is if you go the route and pull out your subframe and replace the 4x floor mount bushes and any others that NEED replacing you may as well ditch the four wheel steer as well.

[bozodos]

Yeah HICAS is already locked out, and I think it's an R32 thing to not have diff bushes, there was another similar thread not long ago about that... I've got alloy cradle/subframe bushes on the way, thank god, since the car is driving like a VN at the moment!

I'm weighing up my options still - since I'm poor and can't really afford to replace all the individual components, I'm trying to get away with just doing what really needs to be done right now.

[Zardos]

Yeah i don't know about the gts-4 diff ,

I suppose you will find out once you start pull the rear end out

[Duncan]

yeah I've done every single bush and joint on my 32 (except the 2 front LCA ball joints) and its like chalk and cheese compared to when it started.

so if you want that brand new tight handling feeling, I think it is worth it. I'd rather spend 5k on bushes than turbos thats for sure.

[Zardos]

I couldn't agree with you more ,

totally looking forward to it

[bozodos]

Yeah I'm starting to lean more towards the handling side of things, especially after seeing how much of a dramatic difference to how quick a car with a fairly standard motor can be!

[Zardos]

You will enjoy your car more that's for sure

[bozodos]

btw any tips on where to start apart from cradle / subframe bushes?

[Zardos]

If you mean in terms of removing the subframe i can not give you any tips as to where to start as i didn't do mine

The guys who are doing the suspension work are pulling it all apart,

As they pulled out the Arms ect.. ect.. I go pass and get them, sand / clean and paint them and bring them back.

All i used was 400 sand paper to sand/clean them back

Paint used engine enamel gloss , few coats over each part

To clean the parts before painting i used prepsol

Pain in the ass really , but then again removing the whole lot at home on stands would be a killer.

I'm just too lazy too do that

[ali-turko]

you would start by taking tail shaft off, wheels, rear brake disks to be to undo the hand brake cable

and after that start undoing all bolts thats holding the subframe to the chassis its pretty straight foward

[Zardos]

Ok i have a question , we are taking out the hicas system and we were wondering if you can remove the solenoid from the engine bay?.