REMOVING REAR SUBFRAME
From above the engine bay, Chris removed the coolant expansion tank bottle and detached the coolant pipes connected to it to ensure they weren’t caught when the rear subframe was lowered.
The lid of the 11 air filter housing was unclipped and its connecting hose to the throttle body was detached before removing the two.
The air filter housing will remain inside the engine bay when the subframe and engine are removed.
The next jobs 12 involved the brakes and suspension. Chris removed the brake caliper by undoing two 13mm (sometimes 12mm) slider bolts and left it suspended inside the wheelarch.
Next, he undid the 13mm lower mounting bolt and 17mm 13 nut for the damper that’s threaded into the end of the upper suspension arm. He also detached the ends of the anti-roll bar using a 15mm socket and 13mm spanner.
The lock tabs were knocked back that 14 lock the upper balljoint’s 19mm nut in position. Then the nut was wound off with an impact driver before a balljoint splitter was used to separate the upper arm from the hub.
The 15mm
15 bolt securing the trailing arm to the hub was undone, followed by the nut that secures the end of the track rod to the hub. This allowed the hub to be removed, once the hub nut had been undone.
After undoing 16 the 32mm hub nut, the hub, including the brake caliper carrier and brake disc, was removed.
This helped to reduce the weight of the rear subframe assembly.
After removing both hubs, the 17 driveshafts were extracted. Both of them are pushed into position in the gearbox. If they are stuck, they can usually be prised out.
The gear linkage was detached at 18 the gearbox, followed by the final component to be removed – the anti-roll bar, which was clamped securely in position with 10mm bolts.
Chris started to loosen all of the 13mm 19 nuts and bolts that secure the rear subframe to the underside of the MGF/TF. There are two mounts at the front and another two at the rear. Unlike the front subframe, the rear mounts don’t tend to seize and shear.
With the
20 rear subframe supported on a wooden pallet and trolley, and the rest of the vehicle ready to be raised by the two-post ramp, Chris continued to undo all of the subframe’s mounts.
Carefully raising 21 the two-post ramp, Chris made sure nothing was catching or preventing the removal of the rear subframe. When it was clear, he moved the rear subframe assembly away.