Stangman
Project car a.d.d.
Ok, so I've never done any sort of progress thread, so just throwing that out there. When I removed the subframe it was already dark and cold... and I wasnt taking my gloves off to take pictures. So I have the reinstall pictures. I will do my best to explain the whats and wheres in these.
I'll try my best not to forget anything along the way. I've edited this post 3 times already... :lol:
First off, You're going to need to find a solid spot to locate your jackstands.
Second, if you still have airride. TURN YOUR SWITCH OFF!!!!!!!
I bought a pair of 6 ton jackstands from Harbor Freight, they are tall and sturdy. Got me plenty of ground clearance.
I did this in my driveway so I took a thick peice of plywood as my base for my jackstands. I placed my stands on the frame rails of the car, roughly 10-12 inches behind the rear subframe to allow for plenty of work room. You may not be able to put your stands where I put mine if you ARE NOT straight piped or atleast have your mufflers removed. You may have to find an alternate point.
I removed my rear wheels and tires, sat them under the car in case anything happened, and the car fell. I had the car planted pretty firm on the jackstands so I didnt fear this.
Since I planned to get new exhaust, I just hacked my pipe and threw it to the side. You will more than likely have to separate the sections of the pipe at the resonator, or remove the whole exhaust at the manifolds, which, you would have to get the front of the car up off the ground first. If you have 2 sets of tall jackstands, more power to you. I didnt.
So after you remove your exhaust, you can now break your driveshaft bolts loose. They are, of course, a 12pt 12mm wrench. I find it easiest to break 2 loose, then put the car in neutral, spin the driveshaft, put it back in park, and break the other 2 loose. Done.
Next, you need to disconnect the ABS sensor wiring. Now, I couldnt tell what size hex or star the sensor bolts needed because of the amount of disgusting MUCK caked on them, so, I just got in the trunk and disconnected the wiring harness. Super easy and the wires push right thru the floor, after you remove sections of the wiring out from under the black mastic.
The wirng plug for the ABS sensors are behind each side of the trunk hinge brace.
then push the oval grommet thru the floor. Also cake.
After this, you need to disconnect the emergency brake cables. This was sorta tough, because they are exposed to the elements. You may have to soak them in PB Blaster for a while, and take a wire brush to them. You have to disconnect the main cable coming from the car, it's located just to the left of the center of the subframe, it comes into the spring block hanging down in the center. You cant just pull it apart. You have to bend in the 3 tabs that keep it from pulling out on it's own.
In this blurry pic I am pointing to it.
Now I also disconnect the cable just to the right of that junction, I pulled the left side cable out of this junction, because it is actually part of the main cable coming from the body. This has to be taken apart.
It was this cable,
Now you will also need to remove the brake calipers, so you can get them out of the way when you remove the subframe. In order to do this, you have to disconnect the ebrake cables like I did above.
Now this part is pretty easy, I didnt take any pictures of this. You pry the end of the cable out from the slot, then you will need to slide the metal sleeve thru the caliper, helps when you tap on it just a bit. You'll see exactly what I am talking about. Do this for both sides.
This allows you to tuck the calipers behind the shocks nicely. They are supported by the brake line junction (where metal line meets rubber line) and they are light so dont worry about your brake lines. I didnt take any pictures of the caliper removal because, well, frankly if you cant remove a caliper, you dont need to be removing your subframe!
Now this next part will vary for some folks. I converted to coil springs so, in order to remove the springs, You have to disconnect the sway bar end links from the control arm, that part is easy. Next you have to remove the bottom shock bolt. It's an 18mm and is easy to remove. The flag bolt will just fall off eventually, just take that hardware and sit it in the centercap of your wheel for later. Next, VERY carefully push down on the control arm, and you will be able to pop the spring out, there isnt much pressure on these.
*****IF you have airride... this can be tricky*****
You should have ALREADY turned off the airride switch in the trunk before getting this far.
I unfortunately do not have pics of this since I already converted to springs.
You need to disconnect the wirng harness that the height sensor plugs into, coming from the body. Fairly easy if yours isnt caked in grease.
Next, What I did, was disconnect the plug for the vent solenoid, and then w/ a pair of side cutters, I opened them, put them around the airline where it goes into the solenoid, and gently pushed up on the orange ring, pulling the airline out of the solenoid at the same time. Now once this is done, I had a jack under the control arm to keep a load on the control arm so the airbag doesnt hyperextend, and I just popped the clip off the solenoid and pulled the solenoid out, POOOOOOOF the bag is empty. Now you have to rotate the airbag to "unlock" it from the upper mount, and then squeeze all the tabs in at the same time in the lower control arm. Then you can remove the bag. Disconnect sway bar.
Now you can remove your shock absorber after the airbag is out, then drop the jack.
Okay, so, now we have E-brake cables disconnected, calipers hung, driveshaft disconnected, ABS sensors disconnected. (Airride wiring if applicable) And youve also removed your springs....That's all that will keep the subframe from coming down (besides the ensuing rust you're about to be cursing at!)
________________________________________________________________
Most of you will probably already have EXTREMELY rusty front subframe brackets. You can probably literally remove them by just taking the two bolts off that hold them to the body. If memory serves me, they are 14mm.
Now be careful, they arent encapsulated. There are holes in the body and they have been exposed to the elements and will be rusty and hard to get out. Very stiff. Soak them in PB blaster for about 20 minutes before trying to break these loose. You will see access holes to spray penetrating oil in there. Be generous!
Once you take those out, carefully... and not w/ an impact! You can probably now remove your subframe brackets if they were as rotted as mine.
Now, your subframe is freakin heavy. I almost gave myself a hernia moving it one afternoon, dont screw around, get some jackstands ready for this thing.
I used a large 6 ton craftsman jack and placed it under the differential housing.
This next part is the b*tch....
I'll try my best not to forget anything along the way. I've edited this post 3 times already... :lol:
First off, You're going to need to find a solid spot to locate your jackstands.
Second, if you still have airride. TURN YOUR SWITCH OFF!!!!!!!
I bought a pair of 6 ton jackstands from Harbor Freight, they are tall and sturdy. Got me plenty of ground clearance.
I did this in my driveway so I took a thick peice of plywood as my base for my jackstands. I placed my stands on the frame rails of the car, roughly 10-12 inches behind the rear subframe to allow for plenty of work room. You may not be able to put your stands where I put mine if you ARE NOT straight piped or atleast have your mufflers removed. You may have to find an alternate point.
I removed my rear wheels and tires, sat them under the car in case anything happened, and the car fell. I had the car planted pretty firm on the jackstands so I didnt fear this.
Since I planned to get new exhaust, I just hacked my pipe and threw it to the side. You will more than likely have to separate the sections of the pipe at the resonator, or remove the whole exhaust at the manifolds, which, you would have to get the front of the car up off the ground first. If you have 2 sets of tall jackstands, more power to you. I didnt.
So after you remove your exhaust, you can now break your driveshaft bolts loose. They are, of course, a 12pt 12mm wrench. I find it easiest to break 2 loose, then put the car in neutral, spin the driveshaft, put it back in park, and break the other 2 loose. Done.
Next, you need to disconnect the ABS sensor wiring. Now, I couldnt tell what size hex or star the sensor bolts needed because of the amount of disgusting MUCK caked on them, so, I just got in the trunk and disconnected the wiring harness. Super easy and the wires push right thru the floor, after you remove sections of the wiring out from under the black mastic.
The wirng plug for the ABS sensors are behind each side of the trunk hinge brace.
then push the oval grommet thru the floor. Also cake.
After this, you need to disconnect the emergency brake cables. This was sorta tough, because they are exposed to the elements. You may have to soak them in PB Blaster for a while, and take a wire brush to them. You have to disconnect the main cable coming from the car, it's located just to the left of the center of the subframe, it comes into the spring block hanging down in the center. You cant just pull it apart. You have to bend in the 3 tabs that keep it from pulling out on it's own.
In this blurry pic I am pointing to it.
Now I also disconnect the cable just to the right of that junction, I pulled the left side cable out of this junction, because it is actually part of the main cable coming from the body. This has to be taken apart.
It was this cable,
Now you will also need to remove the brake calipers, so you can get them out of the way when you remove the subframe. In order to do this, you have to disconnect the ebrake cables like I did above.
Now this part is pretty easy, I didnt take any pictures of this. You pry the end of the cable out from the slot, then you will need to slide the metal sleeve thru the caliper, helps when you tap on it just a bit. You'll see exactly what I am talking about. Do this for both sides.
This allows you to tuck the calipers behind the shocks nicely. They are supported by the brake line junction (where metal line meets rubber line) and they are light so dont worry about your brake lines. I didnt take any pictures of the caliper removal because, well, frankly if you cant remove a caliper, you dont need to be removing your subframe!
Now this next part will vary for some folks. I converted to coil springs so, in order to remove the springs, You have to disconnect the sway bar end links from the control arm, that part is easy. Next you have to remove the bottom shock bolt. It's an 18mm and is easy to remove. The flag bolt will just fall off eventually, just take that hardware and sit it in the centercap of your wheel for later. Next, VERY carefully push down on the control arm, and you will be able to pop the spring out, there isnt much pressure on these.
*****IF you have airride... this can be tricky*****
You should have ALREADY turned off the airride switch in the trunk before getting this far.
I unfortunately do not have pics of this since I already converted to springs.
You need to disconnect the wirng harness that the height sensor plugs into, coming from the body. Fairly easy if yours isnt caked in grease.
Next, What I did, was disconnect the plug for the vent solenoid, and then w/ a pair of side cutters, I opened them, put them around the airline where it goes into the solenoid, and gently pushed up on the orange ring, pulling the airline out of the solenoid at the same time. Now once this is done, I had a jack under the control arm to keep a load on the control arm so the airbag doesnt hyperextend, and I just popped the clip off the solenoid and pulled the solenoid out, POOOOOOOF the bag is empty. Now you have to rotate the airbag to "unlock" it from the upper mount, and then squeeze all the tabs in at the same time in the lower control arm. Then you can remove the bag. Disconnect sway bar.
Now you can remove your shock absorber after the airbag is out, then drop the jack.
Okay, so, now we have E-brake cables disconnected, calipers hung, driveshaft disconnected, ABS sensors disconnected. (Airride wiring if applicable) And youve also removed your springs....That's all that will keep the subframe from coming down (besides the ensuing rust you're about to be cursing at!)
________________________________________________________________
Most of you will probably already have EXTREMELY rusty front subframe brackets. You can probably literally remove them by just taking the two bolts off that hold them to the body. If memory serves me, they are 14mm.
Now be careful, they arent encapsulated. There are holes in the body and they have been exposed to the elements and will be rusty and hard to get out. Very stiff. Soak them in PB blaster for about 20 minutes before trying to break these loose. You will see access holes to spray penetrating oil in there. Be generous!
Once you take those out, carefully... and not w/ an impact! You can probably now remove your subframe brackets if they were as rotted as mine.
Now, your subframe is freakin heavy. I almost gave myself a hernia moving it one afternoon, dont screw around, get some jackstands ready for this thing.
I used a large 6 ton craftsman jack and placed it under the differential housing.
This next part is the b*tch....
Last edited:
