[86911TLCAB]

Well having finished the garage work for now on the E36, decided to start a long overdue replacement of the trailing arm and torsion bar bushes. Having watched Another one of our prestigious members clean and plate and coat parts I decided to do a little cleaning myself. While they won't be as good as my idol's work, they will work for me. Driver side is all off. Will get to the pax side today.

[86911TLCAB]

And the trailing arm.

[Trak Ratt]

At this point wheel bearings is cheap. You going to replace those wyait?.

[86911TLCAB]

They are fine, but let me consider that..obviously easier to do with the arms out. May even have one or two sitting around. Thanks Dave.

[86911TLCAB]

Probably to cold for perfect paint. But they will survive

[Vicegrip]

I find them easier to do with the arms in. The car holds the arms for me. some cars stress the bearings more than others.

[86911TLCAB]

if thats the case, then just as easy to do later. When they are needed. The bearings seem fine to me. Turn smoothly and no rubbing sound. Will flip a coin and decide later...isn't really that hard to take all this apart...as long as the axle bolts aren't stripped...only had one to deal with..

[86911TLCAB]

pictures from the Ipad don't come out very clear...also, they seem to get flipped when I look at them on the computer, but are as taken when I look on the IPAD...am I doing something wrong when posting them? trying to get better at taking pictures and documenting the work,

got all off the drivers side and cleaned up the parts (still need to work the messy part of the wheel wells...and most of the passenger side removed, and will clean it all up this week.

I flipped a coin and will do the wheel bearings also...probably just wait till I have the arms back on...haven't done one on the Porsche rear before...so will be a good to learn how.

[86911TLCAB]

So to get off of Engleberts thread and back on my own:

The disassembly is largely complete. will begin the cleaning up of the wheels wells and anything else I can (without taking it all down to bare metal...just get it clean). That rubberized crap is hard to mess with so, once clean, it is going to get a covered with another shot of black rubberized stuff, just not the thick stuff that is on there now...

I intend to use some aftermarket bushes, Neatrix on the torsion bars, URO trailing arm bushings, the car isn't a race car and so hopefully they will last a while. shocks are Bilstein and seem ok (I can push them in with some effort and they come back out and don't appear to be leaking). The existing drop links look fine, rubber is intact, so will reuse them. Have thought a bit about the wheel bearings and frankly the bearings are smooth and don't make any sound, so I think I will just hold off. I can get to them when they go...hate replacing parts unless they are needed...eBrakes are fine, will replace the brake pads.

The one thing which I need to research a bit is what should the angle of the spring plate be when it is close to having the car at the correct height. My plates were at 34 degrees on both sides and they were way off because when we did the engine swap we pulled the ac and other stuff off the car, so as it lightened the back end went up. I figure it will take more than one try to get it right, but having it close would help. I have the adjustable plates, so if I can get it close should be easy to get them tuned in after.

all in all, should be relatively easy to get everything cleaned up and back together over the course of the next month or so...if anyone has an interest in seeing how some of the stuff comes apart or goes back together you are welcome to coordinate a visit and see what it all looks like in pieces or as it goes back together...

[Trak Ratt]

Setting the initial TB angle is always a hard question. Lots of recommendations on Pelican and here for 1st try. Once you get your banana arms back on. Mount your wheels and lower car to your ride height. Then using a straight edge of spring plate measure the angle. You still using stock TBars?

Did you remove the ~1" spacer from the top of the front struts? Best to remove before you try and lower car to ROW ride height or lower. Porsche put those in for US bumper height requirements.