My 96 has rust around where the handbrake cables exit the body. and between the lower bolts on the rear axle centre bracket. I've given the bolts plenty of penetrating fluid, but they seem to go into a closed box section. I'm a bit worried if the bolts shear off. Can anyone give me more insight into the mounting of the rear centre bracket?
If you reach through one of the round holes beneath the rear seat, you find a vertical panel in the same axis as the length of the car. The bolts are just the other side of said panel. I would imagine there to be a reinforcing plate with threaded holes behind. The rust holes aren't big enough to get a probe in, and I'm reluctant to begin invasive surgery in such a tricky area without a better idea of what I'm going to find
The bush is held in place by two separate brackets (left and right); iirc there are indeed two reinforcement plates in the "tunnel" that the brackets bolt onto.
Thank you both. On further inspection I found the other end of the bolts - just, and reinforcing plates. Pleasantly surprised when I managed to extract all 4 bolts without a fight. I expect to be cutting away the vertical panel just above the holes for the handbrake cables, and about the last inch or so of the floor. There's not a lot of room to work in this area
Just wanted to get the views of others on possibly eliminating the rear-facing flange at the rear of the main floor. ie. so that the bottom of the panel that the axle centre brackets bolt to is folded forward and butt welded directly to the floor. What effect might this have on water and other things being thrown up around the rear axle and boot floor?
Topic 
Rear axle centre bracket
Posted - 18 Jul 2018 : 01:02:29 
