who has made their own subframe reinforcement tabs?

[devon.818]

i have a subframe that i am refinishing(sanding, painting, poly bushings) and figure as long as i have it out why not make some reinforcement tabs.

places to reinforce;
sway bar endlink mount
trailing arm mounts-possibly?


i saw the turner kit, but it looks so simple im just going to make my own.
who's done it? success? worth it?


thanks

[jlevie]

The trailing arms or their attachments neither or will benefit from reinforcement. If you use a bigger rear sway bar the pickup points for the end links must be reinforced. The Turner parts are the best solution as they triangulate the loads. You can buy the parts from Turner or make up your own equivalents. I make my own equivalents but that is mostly because I'm cheap.

While the subframe is out welding in the new style IE camber and toe adjusters would be a good idea. Especially if you will be swapping to other than the OE springs.

[devon.818]

i will be running IE3 race springs.

i might be doing the updated camber/toe kit.


but will definately be making my own endlink tabs.

thanks

[bubbajan21]

By "new style" do you mean the Posi-lock kit?

[Holland]

I just ordered the new posi-lock style from IE. I can't wait to install them but I wish they had a writeup.

[jlevie]

By "new style" do you mean the Posi-lock kit?

Yes, though I'm not convinced that they eliminate the loss of alignment.

My first look at the new IE adjusters suggested that they would be an improvement. But as I have found out more about them I'm not sure that they are an improvement. Adjusting camber wouldn't be too bad as you can pry on the subframe or car to move the adjuster in a controlled fashion. Adjusting toe is going to difficult. But worse than that is that nothing restrains the bolt from rotating. In every case where an adjustment changed I found that the bolts had loosened. Once sensitized to that I started checking the bolts after every track/race session and always found that the toe adjusters had loosened, even though the adjustment may not have changed..

My theory, and what my locks are intended to prevent, is that the thrust loads fore/aft in conjunction with the motion of the trailing arm applies torque to the bolts. That torque loosens the bolt. Because the lever arm is much greater the camber adjusters don't see as much thrust load and don't loosen. The new IE design will be just as susceptible to this as the eccentric adjusters.

[bubbajan21]

/\ so what would you recommend? Is there something out there that will hold its alignment better than the IE Posi-lock kit?

[jlevie]

As far as I know there is nothing on the market that results in positive control of toe and camber adjustments. The latest IE adjusters come close but field use will tell if they really work. I know that the solution (for the eccentric adjusters) that I am using do in fact work.

[SkiFree]

Yes, though I'm not convinced that they eliminate the loss of alignment.

My theory, and what my locks are intended to prevent, is that the thrust loads fore/aft in conjunction with the motion of the trailing arm applies torque to the bolts. That torque loosens the bolt. Because the lever arm is much greater the camber adjusters don't see as much thrust load and don't loosen. The new IE design will be just as susceptible to this as the eccentric adjusters.

It certainly stands to reason as a good theory, but in practice that simply hasn't been the case so far. I've made it pretty clear to everyone who has purchased these so far that if there are any actual issues that they come across to please let me know.

There's always more than one way 'to-skin-a-cat' (my vet-tech wife can show you that), and certainly plenty of decent theories (not many keeping cost-effectiveness in mind). If you'd like an independent view from someone who would currently have the most actual real-world experience, I'd get in touch with Midnight Oil Motors down in San Diego, since they're running them on a number of spec-e30 cars.

It will be interesting to see how it goes over time as more real feed-back is acquired.

[Holland]

It certainly stands to reason as a good theory, but in practice that simply hasn't been the case so far. I've made it pretty clear to everyone who has purchased these so far that if there are any actual issues that they come across to please let me know.

There's always more than one way 'to-skin-a-cat' (my vet-tech wife can show you that), and certainly plenty of decent theories (not many keeping cost-effectiveness in mind). If you'd like an independent view from someone who would currently have the most actual real-world experience, I'd get in touch with Midnight Oil Motors down in San Diego, since they're running them on a number of spec-e30 cars.

It will be interesting to see how it goes over time as more real feed-back is acquired.

Have any write ups for installation on these yet? I'm fine with cutting and welding, just don't know exactly where to do it.

[SkiFree]

Have any write ups for installation on these yet? I'm fine with cutting and welding, just don't know exactly where to do it.

Haha you're too fast for me, you've got a PM