Hi its me again with more woes
I've been working on the Mk2 today, replacing the engine/gbox stabiliser as per Mr Clutches recommendation. Theres some creaking when applying throttle and i think Mr Clutch just noticed it was coming from this area and said 'replace stabiliser.' What they didn't notice is that the stabiliser is (was) fine, and its the mount to the subframe which was creaking.
I didn't know this at the time, but now i do. As i was unbolting the stabiliser from the subframe 'CLUNK!' a whole chunk of the subframe came out too (where the stabiliser mounts to.) Having looked at the gaping hole and the chunk still attached to the stabiliser, i can see that someone has obviously tried to repair this before and obviously done a rather shoddy job of it. The mount had be rewelded as there were big blobs of metal where the mount was.
Now Mr Clutch replaced the gearbox a while back and this may be when they damaged the original mount and had to reweld it, but theres no mention of it on the invoice, so i guess a complaint will get me nowhere.

So what do i do now? Replace the subframe? (could do all the bushes at the same time to make sure theres no creaking from anywhere else.) Pay a garage to weld me a new mount on? (don't trust the job to myself tbh on a part that takes so much stress.) How much am i talking for a new subframe? How difficult it the entire thing to replace? Could it be done in a day?
Questions questions

sounds like the clutch spot has messed up your subframe somehow (prob tried to bolt it up wrong or overtightended something) and patched it up rather than replacing it, then not told you about it.

just another example of a shoddy bit of garage work making another car unroadworthy.


no point trying to fix the bodged one, get a scrappy subframe and bolt that in. but you'll need an engine hoist or something to support it all while you change it

yeh, ive got an engine crane and what not, its just gonna be a pain in the ass to do
I had a proper look from the pit the other day and it definatly has been bodged. I think it may have been ok if they'd actually bothered to rust proof it, but not even a lick of paint was used.