Repairing the first subframe bushing

bushing holding car and repair plate — New bushing sitting on repair plate with alignment

Now that I have all the parts I set the repair plate on top of the subframe mount. Then I put the new bushing on that and bolted it in. I ran my large drift into the alignment holes at the edge and put the weight of the car on it to keep it still. Then I traced it with crayon.

wider angle view of the bushing repair plate traced — Wider angle view of the bushing on the repair plate with the plate aligned and chalked out.

This picture helps orient your view. This is the left front, that’s the firewall, and the subframe to the left.

Crayon marks the line I'll cut. — Note the size of that hole. The crayon marks where I’ll cut first

This shows the rusted subframe. The car was a daily driver for its early life and lots of salt accumulated and rusted under the bushing.

metal cutting disk cutting into the subrame mount — To get the cut started I ground in with this tool.

After jacking the body up and removing the new bushing and plate I cut in along the line to get access for my body saw. By the way I conferred with my friend the smart old guy and tried and tried to talk him into telling me to use torches for this cutting. He suggested everything else except torches. I finally gave in and listened. It’s good to have smart old guys as friends.

A body saw poking up through the subframe mount which has been cut out — After some time and work with the body saw I have the bad metal cut out. The hole needs a little smoothing.

This air body saw worked quite well in the confined space I had to work in. I wanted to leave the original alignment hole.

Clamping the repair plate against the correct spot on the subframe — After cutting out the bad metal and some filing to get things lined up right I’m clamping the repair plate into position to mark it.

It’s easier to shape the repair plate to fit the hole I made. I’m clamping it into position so I can go underneath and mark it with my sharpie.

Repair plate clamped into the hole in the subframe — This is the bottom up view of the repair plate clamped into the hole

With the repair plate clamped into the hole and the front edge clamped against the edge for butt welding I’m ready to mark. I used a sharpie to trace around the hole to find the parts of the repair plate that don’t look like my hole.

Sized and shaped repair plate clamped in for butt welding all the way around

Test fitting the cut and ground and tapered repair plate. I’ve beveled the edges for weld penetration. The fit is excellent

Welded in and wire brushed repair plate — Welded and cleaned up some

I’ve welded the repair plate in and brushed it down with a wire brush. You can’t really tell except for a little overspray but I shot it with weld through zinc primer to keep it from oxidizing as I welded.

Showing the bottom of the welded plate with some slag hanging off — I had the power up a bit to burn through some stuff and created some slag

The bottom of the weld isn’t perfect but it’s pretty good considering the conditions. The alignment hole and bolt hole are a little off. The entire front subframe is off some.

Fresh black paint on the repaired subframe — Repair finished and painted

The repair plate is welded solidly. I cleaned it up with a wire brush, cleaned it up, and painted it with Rustoleum. I’ll shoot a little undercoating around too to keep the paint from being chipped off. Next step is to put the bushing in and bolt it loosely while I do the rest.