opelmantagsi Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 thought i would share my experience of refurbishing a front subframe in a Manta B. Spec is generally all new suspension bushes, ball joints and track rod ends. Media blasted and powder coated LESSONS LEARND would not recommend powder coating, if I was doing this again I would either blast and 2 pack or blast and ceramic coat would not use Powerflex bushes, I ended up not using a number of the Powerflex bushes, I was not happy with the fit so had Superflex sent over instead, they were much better. There are other options for the Manta, I chose to do this one as it was the easiest one for me in NZ. Everyone has an opinion on this subject, I am only posting this to share my experience after finding it very hard to find any decent information I hope this helps anyone thinking about undertaking a similar mini project and simply needing to see what can be done. 1 Quote
opelmantagsi Posted February 6, 2014 Author Posted February 6, 2014 I have moved to ceramic coating which is more expensive but seems to be a lot more resistant to chipping 3 Quote
Julian Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 WOW! Now that does really look good, I've never done work like that on a car, but I did with a series 2A Landrover, changed it from a breakdown truck to a showpiece, makes you proud to see the finished article, took nearly two years to complete! So I'm following all what you are doing. Great stuff. Quote
Rick-Manta Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 That does look good enough to eat.. I've seen that ceramic coating done on exhaust manifolds and it's expensive for just that, I'd hate to think how much a majority of your suspension components would cost! Quote
robah Posted February 8, 2014 Posted February 8, 2014 I have added my picture of the size of bolts etc. which I used on my front subframe. Please don't take as gospel as I may have made mistakes building this list. Where did you get the washers from for the picture below. I could do with some myself, for my other subframe rebuild http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee427/opelmantagsi/Front%20Subframe/120815_004.jpg I used superflex bushes, good firm but comfortable ride. I think I will be going different to powder coating, like the finish on the ceramic coating 1 Quote
opelmantagsi Posted February 9, 2014 Author Posted February 9, 2014 (edited) ^^^ that's extremely helpful information! pure gold mate :-) Look up the German word from the pic on eBay Germany Thomas, very nice guy Edited February 9, 2014 by opelmantagsi Quote
Retro Power Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 very nice Derek! Ditto re. powder coat, we use 2k polyurethane industrial paint which seems much better. Re. bushes, in our opinion, you have the best manufacturer not so far away in Australia, SuperPro, we try and use them on everything now, much better thought out and better made, little things like billet machined sleeves for the lower arm bushes on the manta. 1 Quote
robah Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 ^^^ that's extremely helpful information! pure gold mate :-) Look up the German word from the pic on eBay Germany Thomas, very nice guy When I was clearing out old sites from my favourite sites of my computer I had a link to the site....Doh... Thanks again for the Info Quote
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