July 2020

12th

The rear upper bushes arrived from MX5 Parts. There are six and they are all the same size.

The rear subframe needs to be cleaned up and shot-blasted clean before powder coating.

The rear suspension arms need the bushes removed before I can progress. Without the right tools, this is going to take a seriously long time :-(

13th

Ordered a bush extraction/installation tool. I've got nearly 20 to do before the replacement suspension parts can be cleaned up and powder coated.

20th

The bush extractor/insertion tool arrived. It's a very heavy box!

Yoko.

Yoko.

26th

Neither me or my Dad have used a bush extraction tool before but it was fairly straight forward. The quality of this tool is OK but the ball races are not very good and one of the ball bearings wasn't even round! We also found it worked much better with a big fat washer (as used on a mk II Ford Escort hub) behind the cup made it a lot easier to use. THe key is to use an extraction cup that the old bearing will fit into easily (so it can easily be removed once out of the suspension arm).

The front upper suspension arms are challenging because they have press-fit ball joints. They can't be powder coated with these in place. I found a cup that fitted over the top though and a large socket that sat nicely on the edge of the ball joint. After a few smacks with a lump hammer, they popped out :-)