Skoda Rally Blog

So, the subframe arrived, and it was complete with steering rack, wishbones, anti-roll bar, the lot.  A bargain for £53 delivered…  It took a while to get it all apart, and there are some differences between the golf and Ibiza setup – the subframe and rack are the same, but the wishbones are different as they have a different ARB mounting, and the ARB itself is obviously different – doubly so as the Ibiza has a heavy duty Neuspeed item fitted, not the standard item, so all of that lot can go in the scrap bin, ready for the next “guess how much this will weigh in for” competition on Facebook.

Anyway…. once it was all apart, it was time to measure up.  What I was hoping for was that the new subframe would be wider at the front mountings than the current one, and that I’d be able to make mods to the new one (the old one had been strengthened and seam welded), bolt it on and away I’d go.

It wasn’t to be.  I measured it, and found that they were the same.  Measured again, and again.  No difference, still the same measurement.

Oh dear.  It wasn’t that.  But there was definitely an issue, so something had to be wrong.  Lots of measurements were made of the location points on the shell – now obviously I don’t have a complex jig or 3D measuring gear, but diagonals should be the same, and they were… which was odd. So after a couple of hours I decided to bolt the subframe back in place, refit the wishbones and see what happened.

And it’s all fine.  The only thing I can think of is that an impact made the subframe move relative to the mounting point (there’s some slack in the mountings) and that was the problem.  With them bolted up in place, it’s all as it should be.  Which is nice, aside from my modification of the front hub meaning I need a new one, and not knowing what hub it actually is – it isn’t a Golf one, as I’ve now found out….  the hunt continues!