dub537h

1 hour ago, KZJonny said:

Possibly, yes. I think if you replace any/many of the worn out bushings, an algnment would be smart for sure. So might as well do all of the work that will throw alignment out at the same time. Finish it all up and get one alignment done to take care of the whole package. Good luck with the work, it's a bunch, and I bet you find a couple of things that fight pretty hard, but I also bet you'll have a car that feels and handles a bunch better when it's all done.

I'll do my best to avoid the issues! It all seems straightforward, but there's always that stubborn rusty bolt or 2.

Cant wait to get it done and off my mind haha

Thanks for the advice!

11 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

Yeah man. Sounds like a good plan.

I am almost sure I reused my tank straps, at least I can’t find an invoice for them. Believe me, if they’d been at all bad I would have tossed them….

I also did Whiteline control arms while I had the whole rear end apart, and some Spec B trailing arms, etc… Seemed easier to upgrade the hardware instead of installing new bushings in the rusty old arms that had been there for 17 years, etc….

But that is all budget dependant. I’d argue it will save you time, but certainly not money. It’s a big enough job to take everything apart, I elected not yo have to do it twice.

I actually have a set of whiteline adjustable lateral links to go on the car, might as well do those too. I'd probably need an alignment after dropping the subframe anyways, so why not! 

21 hours ago, KZJonny said:

Too late for the easy out, which is to NOT get the OE lines. Instead to replace them with CuPro lines, which will never corrode again and are much easier to work with and bend. Probably $30-40 worth would have been enough to do the whole job...

Most people just install replacement lines following the rear subframe across, or go underneat the rear seats inside the car, to avoid further corrosion. I don't know what condition your car is in, but many have caused more problems dropping the tank than they intended.

Anyway, if you are going to drop that tank and subframe, I would seriously consider a couple of things.

- trailing arm main bushings: at 14 y.o. yours are probably worn out... Makes a pretty big difference in ride quality.
- all the other bushings, except subframe mounting bushes and probably not diff mount bushes; you definitely can, but they'll add quite a bit of NVH and I doubt you'll notice the difference in compliance. Your call, maybe it's worth it to you.
- when I dropped my tank I did all the above + stripped and painted the subframe (not required) + replaced all the EVAP hoses and clips that were old and rusting/dry and cracking + rust protected everything I could spray with Fluid Film/Corrosion Barrier... 

-It might not be a bad idea to try and get some penetrant into/onto the subframe bolts where they fasten to the unibody, more than a couple of people (myself included) have spun a weldnut inside the unibody where they had rusted away. Not fun, and it means you'll cutting a hole into the body somewhere to remove the nut and replace it. <--Hopefully this does not happen to you, but be aware that at the age these cars now, it's a possibility.

Good luck! Take some photos.

Thanks for your info and advice!

Originally I was only going to replace the blown RR hard line from the junction block to the soft line connection, but figured that if that side blew, the other wouldn't be far behind, so I opted for both. In retrospect, I probably should have just gotten a roll of NiCo tube, but I figured something bolt-on would be less time consuming. The biggest issue I could encounter is breaking one of those mounting nuts for the subframe. I really dont want to deal with that, so I'll saturate the bolts in PBlaster each day before I hit them with the Milwaukee Impact. 

Do the fuel tank mounts/straps generally go bad on these? If I'm dropping the tank, I should probably check those too.

I do want to nylon brush, clean, and por-15 the subframe and any hidden parts that I probably wouldn't ever pull off the car or even see again. 

With all this in mind, maybe I'll take more time on this project to do it all and cover all my bases. For the mileage, the car is super clean and in my opinion, the vehicle that checks every box- turbo, manual, wagon, ground clearance, awd...so I'd prefer to keep up with degradation as best as I can!

Thanks again for the help! 

I understand that this is an old thread, but I had my RR hard line blow a couple days ago on my 09 obxt with 194,500 miles. I had no clue there was ever a recall, or even this corrosion issue, on these cars. I've owned over 30 vehicles so far (all in NH) and have never had a hard line go bad on any vehicle until now. I honestly didn't think that was even a thing! I've had a couple brake hoses go bad though...

Looking up my vin, it showed my car wasn't included in the recall for some reason. I ended up getting the LR and RR pre-bent hard lines from the stealership, figuring this was the easiest way to do it. They were only $130 total, special order.

I'm really not looking forward to dropping the subframe and fuel tank to get this done though lol. So is there anything else I should replace while everything is pulled out, thats a known issue as well? Maybe the fuel pump housing or lines running to and from the pump? Or maybe there is a stiffer bushing option for the bolts on the subframe?

I dont have the rear swaybar or interior in the car, so I do have some more room to work. Plus, I'm using my parents garage for this, so I have maybe a weekend or 2 to fully complete this job before they get impatient. I bought a flare wrench set, brake line flare tool, braided brake hoses, one man brake bleeder, and I'll be buying a new junction block for the rear this week. I also have plenty of gray and black POR-15 to use wherever I can.

Any advice or warnings before I go into it?

Page won't load so I'm bumping this to hopefully come back later for more info...

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