Parts used.
Full Track Rod Ends: Lemforder 27090 01 / OEM 32106777479
Track Rod Gaiter Boots: Lemforder 33615 01 / OEM 32102454428
Front Thrust Arms: Febi Bilstein 40314 & 40313 / OEM 31102348046 & 31102348047
Front Rear Control Arms: Febi Bilstein 40361 & 40362 / OEM 31122347951 & 31122347952
Front Hub Carrier: OEM 31216760953 & 31216760954
Front Drop Links: Delphi TC1389 & TC1388 / OEM 31306781547 & 31306781548
Front Pinch Bolt and Nut: OEM 33176760343 & 33326760668
Rear Upper Control Arm: Febi Bilstein 28291 & 28292 / OEM 33326754561 & 33326754562 (There is two type of ball joints for this arm. Ball joint and Conical. Supposedly early cars came with conical which mine did.)
Rear Drop Links: Febi Bilstein 26130 / OEM 33506781540
Brake Dust Shields Front: Febi Bilstein 174920 & 174921 / OEM 34116767647 & 34116767648
Heater Control Valve: Febi Bilstein 171944 / OEM 64116906652
Rad to Water Pump Hose: Febi Bilstein 100691 / OEM 17127508011
Expansion Tank to Rad Breather Hose: Febi Bilstein 100692 / OEM 17127519247
Expansion Tank to Rad Main Hose: Febi Bilstein 103374 / OEM 17127545653
Engine to Water Pump Hose: Febi Bilstein 103912 / OEM 17127519251
Rad to Water Pump Main Hose: Febi Bilstein 45818 / OEM 17127519248
Auxillary Water Pump: Borg & Beck BWP3001 / OEM 64116988960
Hose Clamp: 11-16mm for Febi Part 100692.
Rear Anti Roll Bar Bolts and Nuts x4: OEM 07119905374 & 07119904137
The mechanicals.
Covering over 100k miles, the suspension components had done well to make it this far. The front thrust arms were in need of replacing because of the bushes showing signs of perishing along with a few parts including the track rod ends which were quite rusty.
Over the course of winter, I started to gather parts ready for the summer to start the overhaul. Along with that, I managed to bag a set of Bilstein B12 Sportline Kit for a steal. So here's how it started with the issues I had along the way.
First thing was removing the covers that shield the track rods:
Drivers side, you have the headlight level arm which needs disconnecting from the arm:
Bilstein Sportlines. Gave these a clean to remove the old grime. So supposedly they lower up to 50mm and the person I bought it off reckoned they went pretty low.
The strip down starts:
Drop links out and these were completely gone:
The front pinch bolt came out relatively easy on the passenger and the first thing I started to work on was the front thrust arm removing the nut with the ball joint end. Here is where the problems start. I managed to undo the nut to a point where the ball joint starts to move with the nut. So you would use a torx socket, insert in the thread to counter hold it. Unfortunately, being as the arm was old, the thread was corroded to the point of rounding off which meant I could not counter hold the ball joint. Not a great start:
Drastic measures meant having to use an angle grinder to slice through the threaded part of the bolt which is what I ended up having to do. The drivers side luckily didn't require the same treatment. Here's the old thrust arms showing signs of wear:
Front rear control arms removed and yet more angle grinder action on one side:
Next was the track rod ends. Again the same issue with the nut not coming off and seizing up tight once it got to a certain point. The angle grinder had become the tool of choice:
Then it was on to removing the track rods from the rack:
