Hello. My name is Dan, and today I doomsday prepped

[YoungCR]

Very nice! Love the bench top design

[B C]

This is satisfying and inspiring

[HipMF]

Very nice. Only things missing are a vice and a cold beer.

[Jdesign]

Etsy is a hell ova drug. 

JK. Nice work man, I love the PVC holders!

[straight6pwr]

HipMF said:

Very nice. Only things missing are a vice and a cold beer.

 i've been trolling for a good solid vise from yesteryear, but havent had any luck finding something local, so i bit the bullet and ordered a cheapish Dewalt. I don't think I'll really abuse it to where Ill need something heavier duty.

Jdesign said:

Etsy is a hell ova drug. 

JK. Nice work man, I love the PVC holders!

lol, i think you mean pinterest.

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

lol, i think you mean pinterest.

Or This Old house, whatever you and Bob Vila feel is best for inspiration. 

[straight6pwr]

Jdesign said:

Or This Old house, whatever you and Bob Vila feel is best for inspiration. 

Tim the Tool Man is my inspiration.

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

Tim the Tool Man is my inspiration.

EEUUUUUHHaaa??!!

[gilber33]

Jdesign said:

EEUUUUUHHaaa??!!

I can only assume that everyone read that in Tim Allen's voice in their heads (or outloud).

[HipMF]

straight6pwr said:

 i've been trolling for a good solid vise from yesteryear, but havent had any luck finding something local, so i bit the bullet and ordered a cheapish Dewalt. I don't think I'll really abuse it to where Ill need something heavier duty.

I hear this. I recently started looking for some vintage woodworking gear (chisels and planes mostly). Anything that's decent is priced like it's gold, which is fair I guess. I think you have to be in the right place at the right time to get a deal on that kind of stuff now that anyone with a pulse can look up how much something is worth in 30 seconds.

[Jdesign]

HipMF said:

I hear this. I recently started looking for some vintage woodworking gear (chisels and planes mostly). Anything that's decent is priced like it's gold, which is fair I guess. I think you have to be in the right place at the right time to get a deal on that kind of stuff now that anyone with a pulse can look up how much something is worth in 30 seconds.

Sad and true. Good deals are harder to come by. I spent months looking for a good vise. Gave up and bought a harbor freight one to hold me off. had it two months and it literally cracked in half. 

[straight6pwr]

bench done with the addition of a vise. havent reefed on it, but construction seems good for the price of less than $100. the reversible jaws, and top anvil surface are are nice bonus. i consider this car-related because i used BMW head bolts to attach it to the bench. 

[KaiserRolls]

This is super random but did you toss your original carpet?

[straight6pwr]

KaiserRolls said:

This is super random but did you toss your original carpet? 

Nope! I actually just pulled it out and looked at it the other day. I shampooed it this summer before storing it. It cleaned up well, but will need to be dyed black to hide the seat rust stains. there is one tear that could probably be fixed and not seen. You can have it if you want it. I have the separate vertical piece too that goes under the rear seat.

[KaiserRolls]

straight6pwr said:

Nope! I actually just pulled it out and looked at it the other day. I shampooed it this summer before storing it. It cleaned up well, but will need to be dyed black to hide the seat rust stains. there is one tear that could probably be fixed and not seen. You can have it if you want it. I have the separate vertical piece too that goes under the rear seat.

Consider it had! Not sure when I’ll be down there next, but I need to ditch the beige

[straight6pwr]

she's up!

still lovin these cribs I built for the e34 trans swap. yeah they take up more space than a jack stand, but they are more stable and easier to use

almost everything went smoothly with disassembly.

small snags - 

when i went to hammer the subframe pins up through the chassis they wouldnt budge. took a closer look inside the cabin to find that the holes had been filled with body filler when the car was originally painted. i've removed these pins on two other e30s and have never seen this before. *shrug*

nice to see 30 year old hardware that looks like the day it was assembled. 

also had one of the subframe bushing sleeves stuck in the body. i've "been here done that" so I tried the first stage of removal - putting a lag bolt through the side of the sleeve (i did not have a big enough bolt to run up through the hole.)

first i grinded a flat on the sleeve so I could drill a hole. make sure you drill through both sides of the sleeve. 

then i ran a concrete lag bolt (hardened) through. then just put a long screwdriver or other sturdy pokey object from the cabin down through the hole and give er some hits. 

after a bit of wrestling, the subframe is out! 

not a bad process. i'm a pro at removing my exhaust and driveshaft because of my driveshaft woes, so this only took about 4 hours. i also got lucky in that the rear ABS sensors and ebrake cables just popped right out of the trailer arm without a fuss. 

is anyone out there in the land of wibimmers still powdercoating parts?

[Boris3]

Interesting, I've had filler in the bolt holes of both of my e30s when I did the subframes. The bushings had never been done before so maybe that's the difference?

Great suggestion on removing the sleeves if you've got enough sticking out. I've tried the big lag bolt approach with mixed results, and when it didn't work ended up using small flat bits and other drill bits just to ream out the sleeve.

[B C]

I had the same type of clay stuff above my mounting pins also.
 

I like those cribs!

I ended up just doing POR15 with a topcoat on my rear frame+ arms.

which bushings are you installing?

[straight6pwr]

Boris3 said:

Interesting, I've had filler in the bolt holes of both of my e30s when I did the subframes. The bushings had never been done before so maybe that's the difference?

Great suggestion on removing the sleeves if you've got enough sticking out. I've tried the big lag bolt approach with mixed results, and when it didn't work ended up using small flat bits and other drill bits just to ream out the sleeve. 

I was thinking early/late models for the difference. I know one of the other e30s never had the subframe bushings done before I did them. The other two were 87 and 88 models

B C said:

I had the same type of clay stuff above my mounting pins also.
 

I like those cribs!

I ended up just doing POR15 with a topcoat on my rear frame+ arms.

which bushings are you installing?

I may do por15, but with the car not driven in the winter it seems pointless. Look how clean they've stayed for 30 years on their own. 

Powder is for odds and ends like the diff cover, subframe support brackets, etc

I got revshift 80A poly bushings for the subframe, trailing arms, and diff

[straight6pwr]

a little more progress today.

in my haste to remove the subframe bushing pins, i forget I borrowed mike's homemade puller tool which is a through-bolt style. this required me to backtrack and take that lag bolt back out lol

was worth it, as the tool worked great, thanks @HipMF !

fully extracted, no burning or mess.

the workbench is now full of mini projects.

the "subframe overhaul" consists of: 

clean everything

replace passenger side rear wheel bearing

replace subframe/trailing arm/diff bushings

reseal differential (output seals, rear cover gasket, sensor gasket and fill plugs crush washers) 

install new ebrake cables

install rear brake lines (body to subframe SS soft lines) 

install new rear sway bar bushings and end links

install ebrake rebuild kit (shoes and springs) 

maybe powdercoat odds and ends