240 help

[marzzoh]

hello all, i have a 1990 240sx and i have hopes of putting her back on the road one day. Has surface rust on the rear underneath, rusted subframe, needs new rear axle, suspension bushings are old and shot. I figured getting the whole rear axle assembly from a junkyard would be ideal, could anyone give me tips?

[SX APPEAL]

Kinda depends on if you think you can find one in a junkyard in better condition than what you've got already. By rear axle assembly I'm assuming you mean the whole subframe, suspension, differential and halfshafts? To be honest if the donor car has been sitting out in the elements for any period of time its likely that is going to have the same surface rust and rotted bushings as what you have already. I'd recommend pulling the subframe from you car and looking it over to see how bad it really is. Used, good condition stock VLSD's can be had for a couple hundred bucks, stock open diffs can be had practically for free. Energy suspension sells a master bushing kits to replace every bushing in the whole chassis which costs around $150 IIRC. Basically the point is that it'll probably be less trouble to just replace components and grind out the rust than to try to find a whole new subframe and hope for the best. Good luck

[Hijacker]

Unless it's completely rusted through, just have your current subframe cleaned up and repainted to protect it. As for the bushings, I'm not a huge fan of ES poly. You can spend a little more and get hard rubber from Megan Racing, which will give you a better ride quality, and better performance. Are you certain that the rear bushings are shot? They're not silicon filled like the T/C rod bushing, so unless they're rotted out, they're more than likely fine. What you're considering slop in the suspension may be a bad hub bearing or failing ball joint. Now if your rust is pretty extensive, then I would definitely recommend getting a new subframe. If you re-use your old subframe, but feel that just enough metal was lost from rust, you can get some reinforcement plates from GKTech to add some strength to the subframe.

The real question is how far do you want to go and how much do you want to spend? Either way, you can end up spending more than you'd like. Arms can be fairly affordable if you go the knock off route, and bushings can cost you just as much or more once you factor in shop time for the press.

[marzzoh]

Well my rear is rusted underneath, most of it looks like surface rust but there's about 3 parts where the sub frame is rusted through and my axle looks like it has a -1 camber. I was guessing I would have to replace the whole rear end.

[SX APPEAL]

Pics would help at this point