Got the tipo up on stands yesterday to do the final job before the MoT - changing the front wishbones!
As any Tipo owner will know by now, the subframes tend to get pretty rusty. I found that out of the 8 bolts holding both wishbones onto the subframe, 3 were effectively rust welded on. NOTHING was shifting these, no sockets spanners, even a plumbers wrench would get them undone. In the end, I decided to just grind off the heads of the bolts, and lift the wishbones out. Sadly, this was not to be!
Grinding the heads off the bolts, no problem! Getting the bush carriers out with 3/4" of stud in them? Yeah, you know what happens next!
The rear bushes, there is a long and a short bolt. Short bolt stuck, no problem. Long ones? another matter entirely. the rear bush inner bolt (long one) almost fouls the anti roll bar where it is, so getting the bugger out without taking the whole subframe off is a bit of a pig to say the least. I found that undoing the both balljoints (wishbone and track rod end) before you start is a good idea, then the 2 13mm bolts holding the arb bushes in place on each side so the arb has got some give in it. Then the tricky bit comes - the only way I could find to get the bush out then was to cut the wishbone in half so you're left with as little of the thing as possible attached to allow a bit of manouverability, then inserting a rod into the bolt hole, and using the jack to use the weight of the car to force the stud out of the hole. You have to have big balls for this, and I hope i haven't caused any damage myself - don't try this at home kids!
That was the same on both sides for the rear bush, the n/s front one was stuck too, and this time its the gearbox in the way. The gearbox is a bit easier as you can put a jack under the box, unbolt the mounting around the end of the box (accessed via 4 bolts in the n/s wheelarch) and lift the bush out relatively easily.
Hope this helps somebody, as I would have been very pleased to have someone come up with this at about 7pm yesterday when I was upsetting my neighbours by swearing very loudly and hitting things with hammers!
As any Tipo owner will know by now, the subframes tend to get pretty rusty. I found that out of the 8 bolts holding both wishbones onto the subframe, 3 were effectively rust welded on. NOTHING was shifting these, no sockets spanners, even a plumbers wrench would get them undone. In the end, I decided to just grind off the heads of the bolts, and lift the wishbones out. Sadly, this was not to be!
Grinding the heads off the bolts, no problem! Getting the bush carriers out with 3/4" of stud in them? Yeah, you know what happens next!
The rear bushes, there is a long and a short bolt. Short bolt stuck, no problem. Long ones? another matter entirely. the rear bush inner bolt (long one) almost fouls the anti roll bar where it is, so getting the bugger out without taking the whole subframe off is a bit of a pig to say the least. I found that undoing the both balljoints (wishbone and track rod end) before you start is a good idea, then the 2 13mm bolts holding the arb bushes in place on each side so the arb has got some give in it. Then the tricky bit comes - the only way I could find to get the bush out then was to cut the wishbone in half so you're left with as little of the thing as possible attached to allow a bit of manouverability, then inserting a rod into the bolt hole, and using the jack to use the weight of the car to force the stud out of the hole. You have to have big balls for this, and I hope i haven't caused any damage myself - don't try this at home kids!
That was the same on both sides for the rear bush, the n/s front one was stuck too, and this time its the gearbox in the way. The gearbox is a bit easier as you can put a jack under the box, unbolt the mounting around the end of the box (accessed via 4 bolts in the n/s wheelarch) and lift the bush out relatively easily.
Hope this helps somebody, as I would have been very pleased to have someone come up with this at about 7pm yesterday when I was upsetting my neighbours by swearing very loudly and hitting things with hammers!
