Ärtsoppa and Smörgåstårta (part 2)

The last couple of evenings I only had a limited time to continue on Saabeth’s rear suspension. On Monday I removed the two last bolts from the support arms and got the entire axle out. As I earlier wrote – the right-hand side torque rod is difficult to get out. The fuel tank leaves hardly any space for a normal spanner. And because the bolt was really tight – I tried using an impact driver to get it out. Unfortunately, the spanner did not completely sit right on the nut, and I successfully rounded all corners of the nut.

I was able to cut the head of the bold off – but there is not even enough space to get the rest out. There was no way around it now: I had to lower the fuel tank. The fuel tank is held in place by two metal straps that have long threads attached at one end. But this I first had to take out the trunk floor, disconnect the fuel sending unit and pump – as well as to hose that connects the tank and filler neck. – the threads were rusted to a point that they would need to be replaced. While doing this I hoped that the penetrating oil and the wire brush would make it possible to just loosen the nut on the straps. But I had no luck – cutting the metal straps was the only option.

After I had all parts out and dissembled, I started removing the bushes. I decided to replace all – even though only the ones from the stabilizer and torque rods were clearly had visible faults. After I got home, I ordered PolyBushes and other spares from Skandix. As half of the bolts did not come off without fierce resistance – I decided to also replace all bolts. The suspension parts went off to blasting and powder coating.

As I mostly work on British cars, I was impressed by the speed that the Skandix parts were delivered. It did not even 48 hours!!! Powder coating also usually takes a week or two. This evening I was pleasantly surprised that I got (almost) all parts back. Inserting the PU bushes is really easy – the few rubber version ones I had to buy (did not find PU versions for the torque rod and stabilizer) took a few minutes. There are a few M12 bolts missing I ordered from Frantos.com but they should arrive soon.