Another update! Got the arch welds ground out, filled the ends in and seam sealed, so that's sorted. Shifted my attention to the rear subframe. Plan is to get the rear suspension pieces powedercoated, then they can be reassembled, whilst they are out being coated, my plan is to paint any baremetal with POR15, undercoat it with something, and then paint it beige. The shop has a bunch of Wurth Underseal, not the SKS variety, so I thought Id spray some as a test, see if it is acceptable or if I need to order some SKS. both are black, so would have to have a top coat laid on so it looks close to stock.
Back to the subframe. I bought a bracket kit from Satisfied Incorporated, the Ireland Engineering kits just seemed a bit pricey, and arent without some fitment issues. So I thought I'd try these out. Overall, I'm fairly happy with them, but certainly needed some grinding and fitting. The Camber adjustment slots were not long enough to overlap with the factory height. My method of install was to cut off one bracket at a time, and fit the adjustable bracket in a position that mimics the factory location. Theory being I can always set it to the same place it was, and camber can go more positive from there, to cancel out the effects of lowering, and the toe can go either way. The brackets didnt fit very tightly to the subframe in a few places, necessitating either weld fill, or leaving a strip of old bracket to weld to. the slots are a little oversize, I would guess 1/2" rather than 12mm, and this means there isnt much of the bushing spacer in contact with the bracket. I think it will be fine, but I'd rather a tighter adjustment slot. My plan is to have large washers under the bolts and nuts, and once I have the alignment set, I'll tack the washers to the brackets so theres no chance of them slipping in the slots. Ramble over, on to the photos.
Used a spacer from an old trailling arm bushing to set the distance.
IMG_0677 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Tacked
IMG_0678 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0679 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Getting to this point, all 8 tacked in place, took far longer than I had thought! But even with a lot of adjustment available, I wanted to be fairly accurate with their placement. I'll admit, they arent 100% perfect, a couple were a bit tight on the spacer, and not 100% square, but overall I'm not unhappy with the result,
Also used my spare arm for confirmation of fit throughout the process. This arm is bent, but not between the bushings, but where the hub attaches to the arm, so it's fine for this function.
IMG_0676 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
Yesterday I got the reinforcement brackets welded on as well
IMG_0778 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0779 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
I decided to grind down the welds, they were pretty decent looking, but I had ground out all the other welds holding the brackets on, so kept it consistent. I ended up seam welding the bracing plate between the diff mount and the subframe. I think some peope add extra bracing here for big torque applications, but I just finished the welding where the factory left spaces.
IMG_0780 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0781 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
This is the lot of parts going for a nice semigloss black powder coat. Thought about painting them with POR15, but I'd use a ton of it, and my friend gives me a good deal on powdercoating Anyway.
IMG_0782 by
Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0597 by Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0599 by Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0600 by Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
IMG_0601 by Warren Tomlinson, on Flickr
