Day 32 – 16/4/11 Paint and bushes ....again

The gaskets have arrived so now I can restore the engine back to “operational”. But not until I have finished brushing, chipping and scrapping the rest of the hubs.  I also found some more minor pieces that also require cleaning and treating with the marine clean and metal prep.  The time it took to get in to all the nooks and crannies of the hubs I realised I spent most of the day doing it.  I finally managed to get the first coat of paint on by the rear hubs and end of the day.

 

The next problem is the rear sub frame bushes.  Getting the rear sub frame blasted and powder coated could have been a mistake.  The blasters pressed out all the bushes, not just the rear differential mounting bushes but also the bushes that mount the frame to the car body.  I did some searching online and managed to find the diff bushes no problem cost about £40 for the pair.  The real problem is the four sub-frame mounting bushes.  I couldn’t find them anywhere.  In the end I called Graham to see what he thought.  Graham was not in the office but Ben was.  I explained my dilemma about these bushes and he said he would look into it for me.  I sent a few photos of the subframe by email.  It turns out on the later sub frames V6 onwards the bushes are not required and it is a solid fixing.  Ben emailed me a day later with the actual Subaru part reference: BushRrear Cross Member, part number 20174AA020.

Back to the net and after a couple of hours of searching and numerous enquiries to jap car part importers resulted in very little.  Two possible solutions:

I have found a place in the USA that had them on their website but did they have then on stock. Carriage also made them expensive.

The alternative I found on a Scooby forum was a guy who did the same powder coating the sub-frame.  He was having the same problems sourcing the bushes too.  His alternative solution was a guy in Sweden who had agreed to machine some Aluminium pieces to press into place.  This may be a viable alternative if I can’t get the original parts.  I could get a local firm to make them for me.

I have decided to buy the parts from the USA.  Delivery is 2-3 weeks.

Meanwhile the painting continues....on and on, day after day, coat after coat.