Week 17 update......
As the festive preparations start, car building has slowed down but here's a small update and hopefully useful for any other Sierra based kitcar builders.
The Sierra suspension rear cross-member, or beam, is mounted to the chassis with too very large rubber bushes that are nearly 4" in diameter.
You can see them here at the top of the picture...
Rear suspension by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
The Haynes manual doesn't cover how to replace these bushes and a trawl of internet forums suggested that these are notoriously difficult to remove with suggestions ranging from drilling them out to burning them out with oxy acetylene torches!!
Now normally I remove rubber bushes with a large socket, a length of threaded studding and some nuts and washers. Obviously I don't have a 4" socket but I did have a length of 4" ventilation pipe left over which is just the right size.
Cross-member bush removal by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
An old crush tube and a nut on the other side.....
Cross-member bush removal by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
Just wind up the nuts and the bush just popped out without any effort.
Note: new Internet folklore = these bushes are really easy to remove!!
Here's a picture of one of the old bushes and a new poly bush version.
Rear Crossmember bushes by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
So as this is my last update before the festivities begin, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and and a productive kitcar building and driving in 2013!
Christmas 2012 by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
The Christmas card is courtesy of the Royale Owners Club - nice one!
.....peter