We are not immune to the infamous subframe issue that most E46's face. I thought I'd share the Repair and Reinforcement of the subframe mounting mounts on my ZHP. I knew this day would come. It wasn't a matter of if it would happen, but more a matter of when.
I normally have the help of Eurocentric with these big projects. Unfortunately they are backed up for weeks (which is great, I am thrilled that they are) and this is my only car. They will be building my High Comp S54 in a few years.
For this job I've reach out to the very talented Matt Gross and Justin Davenport. They are long time gear-heads and have each built some pretty gnarly cars. They are in the process of opening their own performance shop and agreed to fix my car out of their personal garage in their spare time. Keep an eye out for them. Matt's next personal project starts soon. I won't say much, but it involves a gutted E46 M3, a V8, and lots of boost.
They started after work this evening around 6:45pm.
Unbolting stuff....
Subframe getting ready to be dropped out
and it's out!
This setup worked beautifully to move the subframe around.
Subframe itself is cracking on the diff mount!
This is what we were greeted with.
Stripping the trunk out a bit
Parts pile is still small
Fuel tank has been dropped
I asked Matt to quickly clean the area up around the crack so I could see just how bad it really was.
We all left the garage at 9:30 to grab some Chick-Fil-A and head home. I'll be over there tomorrow after work to watch them start prepping for the welding portion of this project.