25 Feb. 04
Approx. Time: 30-45 minutes

If you've heard anything about my S13 suspension saga, you'd know that I've had a severe traction problem when going over small bumps at anything over 20mph. The car would deflect drastically to either the left or right when going over a bump. It's almost like bump steer in the rear wheels. Shortly after I discovered this problem, I contacted Gabriel at TechnoToyTuning.com and had him send me a set of their S13 Subframe Bushing Collars. Here is their install...

• Car jack
• 2 Jack stands
• Ratchet with at least a 6" extension
• 17mm socket
• 12mm socket
• A big flathead screwdriver will be handy

Here are the pieces you will be installing. There are 4 mounting points you will be installing these into:

1. Driver side in front of the axle
2. Driver side behind the axle
3. Passenger side in front of the axle
4. Passenger side behind the axle

Each mounting point will get one of each type - one flat C-shaped large diameter one and one small diameter tall one. The large diameter collar goes on top of the bushing against the body of the car, the smaller one goes on the bottom of the bushing against the nut that fastens it. But more on that when we get to it.

Raise the rear of the car and support it with jack stands. Never use the jack as a stand! Besides, you'll need it later... Also remember to put blocks in front of the front wheels. You don't want the car rolling forward and off it's stands.

I decided to start on the driver side in front of the axle. You're looking for a bracket just in front of the axle between the driveshaft and the tire. It is held in by a 17mm nut with a 12mm bolt on the inner end (near the driveshaft) and a 12mm nut on the outer end (near the tire).

Remove the three bolts/nuts and set them and the bracket aside. Here they are pictured with the collars that will go on this subframe mount.

Once I got the bracket off, it occured to me that there was no way I was going to get the top collar in place without lowering the subframe a bit. So what we'll have to do is go to the rear point on this side and remove it's mount so that this side of the subframe can be lowered enough to get the top collars in place.

I didn't want to detach the entire subframe, so I only did one side at a time to make things easy. To make sure nothing got tweaked or dropped or smashed (like me), I took the jack and positioned it so that it was about 1/4" below part of the subframe near the axle. This way, when I detach the rear subframe mounting point, the jack will catch it and the whole driver side won't suddenly drop to the floor. I'm not sure that's even possible, but better safe than bent (the car) and squished (me).

Here is the rear mount. It's only held on by one 17mm nut. Here is where the "at least 6 inch extension" requirement comes into play. The rear mount is tucked up pretty far in there and the exhaust pipe makes things a little cramped on this side.

Remove the 17mm nut and the flange it's holding and set them aside. Pictured at right with the collars ready to go.

Now that I've removed the rear mount, the subframe sagged down onto the carefully placed jack... just enough to get the top collar in! The top collar is the C-shaped large diameter one. Remember, flat side against the body, tapered side goes into the subframe's rubber bushing. Try to get it as centered on the bushing as you can. That way, when you tighten everything back up, it seats properly and not crooked.

Just set the bottom collar on top of the rear mount's flange and it's ready to be installed with the 17mm nut.

I had to push the flange/collar into the bushing pretty hard with my hand to cinch up the subframe enough that the 17mm nut would grab the bolt's threads. But a little shoving did the trick and I screwed the nut on. Tightening the nut will start to get stiffer as the collars are pressed into the bushings, but you'll feel the nut suddenly stop when it's all the way in. Now the rear driver side mount is done!

Around to the front side again where we can start putting front mount's collars in. Removing both mounts allowed the subframe to break free and drop down like I had hoped it would. The rear showed plenty of clearance, but the front needed a little more clearance. I took the big screwdriver and carefully pried downward on the subframe a bit to loosen it up and let it hang down a bit further. This allowed for plenty of clearance to get the top collar in.

Putting the collars in the front side is exactly like the rear side. The top collar is the large diameter C-shaped one. Put it in with the flat side against the body and the tapered side pointing into the bushing. Again, center it as best as you can on the bushing.

Put the bottom collar onto the bracket and it's ready to be installed. 17mm nut for the bushing, 12mm bolt on the inside, 12mm nut on the outside.

The subframe was still hanging with a lot of clearance on top. Instead of fighting to push the bracket into place, I just raised the jack a bit more till the subframe was high enough for the nut to grab the threads. The 17mm nut tightens just like the rear mount. Stiffer as it goes then suddenly stops. Tighten the 12mm nut and bolt till they're snug.

Repeat the exact procedure on the passenger side and you're done!