stifflers subframe connectors

[sportinawoody]

putting these on because i just recently raced my car and launching at 5500 on d/r's with no tire spin at 480 rwhp in a convertible was not very desirable. to the poin i didnt launch past 2800 the rest of the night. i have side exhaust so ill have to mod them slightly but they fit better and tighter than the other pieces on the market. heres pics for now with install pics coming saturday when i can get it in the shop. also i dont have the factory subframe braces due to the side exhaust as that kit came with different ones which wont be in the way of installation.

notice these will sit flush with the bottom of the subframe rails. really cool design

this is an older pic brfore parts upgrades like d/s , billet lowers ,etc,,, but you still see the layout with the different braces. and the rearend is unloaded before you ask about my driveshaft laying on the exhaust

 

[JDs Performance]

glad to see you got them so quick
Brian @ Stifflers makes great products and glad to be a dealer for his company

 

[sportinawoody]

couldnt wait til saturday, soo i put the car on jack stands in my basement and got going tonight. pretty straight forward. keep axle loaded, remove forward control arm bolt and e-brake cable bracket, slide brace in place , replace factory bolt with supplied bolt, support front of brace with a jack or stand. then mark your weld points, remove brace and clean of painted surfaces from frame. reinstall and start welding from the front going back. then torque the bolt to 125ft/lbs. ill give more pics of welds when i finish it tommorrow then hopefully ill have enough time to get it to the track tommorrow night and try it out.

 

[TGR96]

Sub'd.

Really interested in this upgrade. I recently started autocrossing in my 'Vert, and am interested in the best ways to stiffen up the chassis.

 

[sportinawoody]

well my , little mig wont lay a good bead nor will a mig i borrowed today that has no argon hook up so i just tacked them on and will just take it to a muffler shop to have it tig'd. one note, you have to cut a portion of the factory brace off, small portion but a portion none the less. i have a cervini brace that came with the side exhaust that is totally redesigned and relocated and is located inboard from the subframes. ill find a pic of underneath a stock vert for comparison to show what i mean.

 

[sportinawoody]

nevermind the cross braces. this is just a pic i found on the web. notice the facrtoy bracing at the rear.

 

[sportinawoody]

just a word to the wise, i tried 2 mig welders and neither would weld these although they were small machines but with argon. i wound up stick welding them on and the difference is night and day. ride quality, nvh, handling, i also lost a little tire spin. i could not recommend them enough for a convertible.

 

[TGR96]

So it bolts only to the rear of the car at the control arm mount, then you weld the rest, correct? Interesting that mig welding didn't work but stick welding did. I don't see how that could make a difference. Do you think that maybe you just didn't have a good ground with the mig?

Also, in the pic with the X brace, I was wondering where you found that. I don't think that I have seen that before. If you installed the stifflers braces in conjunction with the X brace, that seems like it would really make the chassis rigid.

 

[sportinawoody]

So it bolts only to the rear of the car at the control arm mount, then you weld the rest, correct? Interesting that mig welding didn't work but stick welding did. I don't see how that could make a difference. Do you think that maybe you just didn't have a good ground with the mig?

Also, in the pic with the X brace, I was wondering where you found that. I don't think that I have seen that before. If you installed the stifflers braces in conjunction with the X brace, that seems like it would really make the chassis rigid.

1 is correct. 2: neither welder was getting it hot enough to fuse ,it just stuck to the subframe and weld wouldnt fuse into frame rail. long story short. use a bigger mig . i used a stick cause that was my other option at the time. a 250 amp hobart so heat wasnt an issue there. worked great.
3: i found that on google images the other night, no info on the brace but it takes up around 1" - 1 1/2" of ground clearance from what i see.
to put my opinion in perspective, " my car being a convertible " the stifflers braces had as much impact on my chassis just on the drive home last night as putting on billet lower steeda arms " in conjuction with the blower " for traction, Neither solved the problem wholey but they both made huge , huge improvements. im gonna try for the dragstrip friday night, thatll be the true test on e/t's @ 5500