So, I did several mock-ups and test-fits of this thing, then I tack welded the washers and tubes into place and test fit again before gluing it all together.
My welding isn't anything spectactular to behold, but some of that is due to the crusty-ness of the base metal. I didn't remove the bushing sleeves, so as you might guess, there was some rust between them and the subframe itself. I cleaned everything as best I could with a wire wheel on my angle grinder.
I tacked the tubes in from the underside, but I wanted it to be fully sealed, so I spot welded around the tops and sanded them flush with a flapwheel.
Got another set of the gktech subframe braces, along with their RLCA drop brackets.
Tips when installing these: Grind down the factory welds so they can sit much more flush and symmetrical side to side. Factory S13 subframes are not that consistent, so you'll notice that each side fits quite different if you don't do this.
Also, when doing the toe arm mounts, you can actually trim a bit off the bottom after you've tacked the plate in, which is nice because that's the area the exhaust always hits.
Okay so these RLCA brackets were interesting. I think it's partly because I have wisefab, and partly just the way this goes, but be prepared to do a lot of fitting and triple checking. Also don't be like me and weld the inside seems without checking clearance first, I had to do quite a bit of grinding to get the heim joint spacers to fit back in
.
In order to get the rod end to not be maxed out, I twisted the bracket quite a bit. This helped a ton, and allowed me to not have to hammer the LCA or bolts into place, hah. I did also have to grind down the "seam" on the subframe pretty heavily to allow me to slide the bolt in easily.
Click for articulation video:
https://imgur.com/ICrxKoe
All braced up with the exception of the camber arm mounts:
Oh yeah, glued this on too:
And test fit time. I like that this solution raises the subframe a bit, but also leaves room for the camber arm bolt without having to smash or cut that part of the frame behind it:
Wisefab with dropped front pickup:
Fitment should be pretty nice, even with these second hand G35 wheels and maybe a few mm spacer.
I then proceeded to roll that fender. That was about 15 hours worth of work over two days. I still need to weld the drop bracket on the other side and the camber bracket braces in, but then it will be done and ready for de-rusting. I'm really stoked on how it all came out. It's definitely a mild press-fit into the car now as the tube I used actually has a smaller ID than the factory bushing. I really think this car is going to be something else.