996 C4 cab,my 2000, rear subframe / clutch job

[Andymuir]

Hi all

Finally decided to do the clutch. Raised the back of the car and removed plastic covers - all good so far. Then tried to remove the sway bar to fit an engine support brace. The bolts holding the sway bar bushes to the subframe all eventually sheared off - even with WD40, tapping with a hammer and heat. It's really frustrating to hit this kind of problem on step 1 of the process!

So now I think the only solution is to remove the subframes and get them to a machine shop to have the bolts drilled out.

The manual I have doesn't cover subframe removal. Is there anything to watch out for or can I just undo all the bolts?

Any thoughts or guidance much appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

[Dharn55]

The sub frame is held in place by four bolts. Not a big thing to take it off, but they say not to move the car around until it is pUt back in place.

You can find lots of these subframes on eBay for about $100. They are all the same for C2, C4, etc from '99-'05 I believe

[Dharn55]

Actually there is one on eBay right now for $55, free shipping. Probably less than having them drilled out.

[Andymuir]

Thanks for your inout. Different terms for different parts I think though. The sway bar bolts to the carrier for all the suspension links, I called this a subframe but I'm not sure that's the correct name. I think the part you are thinking of is what I would call a cross member. it's a shame because the cross member would have been much easier to sort. Anyway, in the end I drilled out the bolts withe the subframes in situ. Two of the bolts went very well and the original thread was preserved but on the other two the hole I drilled went off centre. I plan to put nuts on the back of all four bolts anyway as the threads are bound to be weaker now.

Apart from some tight bell housing bolts everything else went quite well with the removal. Hopefully put it back next weekend.