Torque Arm Bushing Install
| Tools you will need: |
| Floor Jack & jack stands |
| Ratchet |
| 15mm box |
| 15mm Wrench |
| Hammer |
| Chisel |
| Grease. |
Car: 1998 LS1 T/A
Installers: Z28MECH
Email: z28mech@yahoo.com
People who helped us from major tech talk to general advice:
Perform all these installs at your own risk. Know how to use all of your shop equipment and take necessary safety precautions when performing ANY modifications and or maintenance items to your vehicle. Seek the advice of a paid professional and do not substitute this publication for the advice of a paid professional. This product is how we accomplished our installs and is not meant to be carved in stone. We are not responsible for a mistake, misprint, or any other error found in this guide. This guide is intended as a supplement and not to be your only source of information.
Purpose:
Preface: Before you start into this install be sure you know how to use all of your shop equipment. Take your time and be careful.
Many people have asked if the rear suspension should be loaded or unloaded during the install. I thought that removing the TQ arm bushing while the rear is loaded would make the TQ arm shoot straight up into the floor pan. Luckily, this does not happen! The TQ Arm only goes up about 1-2 inches.
Since I’ve never crawled under an M6 car, I’m not sure if the bushing for M6 cars is the same. The install should be the same though.
On to the install. I bought my Energy Suspension bushing (Part # 3-1111) from Tom @ http://www.tbyrne.com for $18.99.
I am happy with this piece, but if you can find a bushing with a grease fitting I’d recommend that one instead.
Here is a quick photo of the instruction sheet.
Figure 1
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1. First, you need to support the car horizontally. I recommend either a drive on lift or a cozy pit. Craw under till you get to the back of the transmission. You should have the hammer & chisel in hand cause your going to do a helluva lot of beating now. I found that a few short sharp hits work a lot better than lots & lots & lots of softer hits. This is the hardest part of the install.
Start with the 2 on the drivers’ side (Figure 1), then the ones facing the passenger side (Figure 1). They are marked with Green arrows.
** If you have a grinder, I suggest removing the bracket from the car & grinding the rivet heads off (Step 5) **
I decided to remove the heads with the bracket still in place because I did not have a better place to hold it. You may have a good sturdy table type C Clamp to hold it in place, but it’s still awkward.
3. The stock rubber bushing is actually made of 2 parts. Each part is attached to a metal backing plate that cannot & need not be removed. They are just barely visible in Figure 1 (Yellow arrows).
4. After you have decapitated the 4 rivets, you will need to loosen the bracket from the tranny. You need to loosen just 1 bolt. The bolt is at the top of the bracket mounting & I could not get a clear picture of it since it was way to dark Be prepared to apply a lot of force as the bolt has been torqued down pretty tight. Do not loosen the middle bolt (Brown arrow, Figure 2) or the lower bolts (White arrows, Figure 1).
At this point, tension in the TQ Arm will be released & the arm will be free to move up. No problem here.
Figure 2
Figure 3
5. Now you are free to work the outer bracket out. Before you do this, reach up & you’ll find a vent tube running from the top of the tranny to the TQ arm. I’m guessing this tube is a vent tube anyway. Move the tube out of the way so it does not fall between the 2 brackets & complicate things.
Notice at the bottom of the bracket there is a tab (Purple arrow), you need to work the tab out of the inner bracket (Red arrow).
6. Once removed, sandwich the chisel between the backing plate & the outer bushing bracket (Blue arrow). Keep hammering until you have pried both rivet stems free of the bracket. The rubber bushing should fall away with it’s backing plate.
7. Do the same to the smaller part of the bushing that is attached to the inner bracket. The rubber should fall away with the backing plate attached to it. The 2 pieces look like this. Notice the backing plates. Keys provided for scale.
Figure 4
Figure 5
8. Take your bushing & cram as MUCH grease into it as possible. You will only feasibly do this once, so get in as much as you can. I’m not a stranger to the squeaks caused by using polyurethane bushings so I was very very generous. I filled the inside of the bushing until grease started coming out the other end ! Before putting the bushing on the Arm, generously apply more grease to all the surfaces that will contact metal. When putting the bushing on, find the number on the bushing. When installed, this number should be facing the back of the car.
I expected almost all of the grease to come out after pushing the TQ Arm through it, but surprisingly, less than about a ¼ came out. No matter, grease is cheap J
9. Get the outer bracket (which you were just cleaning) & fit the tab into the inner bracket slot.
10. Now the second hardest part. You need to pull down on the TQ arm & close the outer bracket over the new bushing. This was a bit difficult, but I used a crow bar for leverage & got the nut back around the top bolt & tightened to factory specs.
That’s it !!
Figure 6
Being honest, I didn’t feel much SOTP wise, but after looking at the pliable stock piece, I’m sure the new bushing must be doing something !