Subframe Spacer Install Write up PICS

[kuramaya]

Well Today I installed Sub frame Spacers and a Rear Strut Tower Brace. I picked up the Kazama Aluminum Sub frame spacers for 7,800 Yen and The guy had Rear Strut Brace that was used he let me have for 5,000 Yen. Not a bad deal.

Tools/Parts Required:
12mm Wrench
17mm Wrench
Air Gun (the Sub frame bolts would not budge)
Jack and Jack Stands (Used a Lift and Mission Jack)
Tin Snips
WD40
Sub frame Spacers
Rear Strut Tower Brace
Pry Bar

Well let’s do the Spacers first since any moron can install a Strut Brace. These were the easiest MOD I have done except for maybe and Intake or something. This is what the Spacers look like out of the box, the ones with the slots go up top against the car and the cup shaped ones go on the bottom:



Step 1. Get the car off the ground and the weight off the wheels. You could do this at your house with a floor jack and jack stands. I am lucky enough to have a lift available so I use the Lift. Once the car is off the ground and supported by Jack stands, Use you floor Jack and place it under the Rear Diff. Don’t jack it up, just make it touch so that it is flush. If you have a Lift like me, go ahead and jack the car up, then use a Mission Jack to hold the Diff up, remember just flush like this, then spray some WD40 on all the bolts I talk about in this write up:


Step 2. Let’s do the ones towards the front of the car first. You can see in this pic, that the Sub frame has this bracket held on by (2) 12mm Bolts. These come off quite easily and my car is 10 years Old so the ratchet works fine. Go Ahead and take these two bolts out and remove the bracket you see in the PIC….You can do both sides now:


Step 3. Now you can take out the sub frame bolt itself. It is a 17mm Bolt. I tried like hell with a ratchet and it just wouldn’t budge. I coulda used a breaker bar, but since I had air tools at my service, I grabbed the gun..go ahead and take the bolt all the way out:


^^^ Note in the Picture above the Bracket is still in place…I found out after that I could have just took the bracket out as per my instructions above…so follow the instructions above not the pic…I did it the better way on the other side.

Step 4. Now that you have the Bolt out. You can put the first spacer in. Use the Spacer with the Slit in it. The flat side goes up against the car and the side with the lip goes facing down. Lower the Jack that your Diff is on just a little bit, then use a pry bar to make room for the spacer to slide in like this:


Step 5. Now you can put the lower Spacer on. It will slide right in just like in the pic below.


Step 6. Now just tighten it back up, it will take a bit of torqing of you don’t have a gun, everything will have to seat back together, make it 80lbs of Torque:


Step 7. Now put the bracket back on and it will look like this when it is done:


Now Do the Other side!!!

Step 8. Okay now lets do the Rears. Go ahead and lift the jack that is holding your Diff up a little bit so that it is nice and snug. Now take out the Sub frame Bolt, this one was a PITA also for some reason. After you get the bolt out, remove it and the little cup like this:


Step 9. Now here is what I learned…Jack the Diff up a bit and then lower it down, this helps to get everything a bit looser. Now lower the jack that the Diff is on so that there is about an inch of empty space between the Diff and the Jack, this is your play space. Use a pry bar again as you did up front to make room for the spacer to fit in like this:


Now do the other side up do this point again.

Step 10. Now you can put the bottom spacer in, just slide it in, then put the cup back on like in the pic below. Then tighten everything down to 80lbs. Check to make sure all bolts on the front and rear are torqued down correctly and you can lower the car.
You are Done!!!!

BONUS:
As I mentioned I picked up a rear strut brace yesterday as well. Well this is easy, but we all like pics so here you go. All you do is cut out space for the Brace:


Loosen the four 12mm bolts and slap the Brace in. Then torque everything back down and your done!!!

[neilsan]

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[Jonnie Fraz]

Nice job man, good write up and good pics.

[Irukandji]

haha i love your write ups because I can never tell if you're being serious/ being pissed/ or just plain muggin the camera when you throw the shocker.

I always thought this install was pretty much common sense but hopefully it'll help others in the future.

Good write up as always

[OdessaS13]

+1 into the archive, nice writeup

[mr_240sx]

awesome write up bro! i got some kazama spacers (red) and cant wait to puit them in!

[2iv0 sx]

..as always

[Nan Desu Ka?!]

Nice writeup. +1 for jooooo. HELLA mean muggin

[Thrill Capsule]

Good right up, ill get some of these once I finally get coilovers.

On a side note; all the rust in those seams would drive me nuts. I find it kinda odd there is no factory undercoating.

[kuramaya]

Thanks Fellas, Next up will be 550cc Injector install writeup ...I am waiting on a new Manual Boost Controller "GReddy TVCR" my profec is being a b1tch...My buddy is running the Greddy manual and it is the way to go...constant boost all the way up to redline...

[silviasichigo]

Yeah thoes are some nice Pics you got there.

[kuramaya]

Originally Posted by silviasichigo

Yeah thoes are some nice Pics you got there.

Yeah thanks for taking the pics today Mike...Finally I didnt have to clean my camera after an install

[Lith]

man, that seems fairly easy to do, but knowing my car, there will be 10x the rust on it, LOL

[g6civcx]

Originally Posted by Lith

man, that seems fairly easy to do, but knowing my car, there will be 10x the rust on it, LOL

Soak it overnight with PB Blaster. Spray liberally, and tap it lightly with a hammer. Wear goggles so nothing falls into your eyes.

When you go to remove the bolts, the easiest way is with an air impact wrench, although I prefer to use a good 6-point socket with a large breaker bar because it's easier to control how much force you apply. Hold the ratchet securely and have someone gently turn the breaker bar to break the bolt loose. If it's still stubborn, you'll have to apply heat. Just make sure that you know thread penetrants are flammable.

After you successfully remove the bolts, clean the mating surfaces with some good brake cleaner, and clean out the threads as well.

It's a good idea to order new nuts and bolts any time you remove them from the suspension. Chances are the old ones are dirty, rusty, and damaged to some extent. So go to the dealer and get new OEM bolts.

Apply antiseize compound to the threads of the bolts to help prevent rusting and seizing. Handtighten first to make sure you don't crossthread. Then use a good high-quality torque wrench and torque it to manufacturer's specs. Some suspension components have to be torqued with the suspension laden and the wheels on the ground. So check with the FSM for proper torquing procedures.

[kuramaya]

Originally Posted by g6civcx

Soak it overnight with PB Blaster. Spray liberally, and tap it lightly with a hammer. Wear goggles so nothing falls into your eyes.

When you go to remove the bolts, the easiest way is with an air impact wrench, although I prefer to use a good 6-point socket with a large breaker bar because it's easier to control how much force you apply. Hold the ratchet securely and have someone gently turn the breaker bar to break the bolt loose. If it's still stubborn, you'll have to apply heat. Just make sure that you know thread penetrants are flammable.

After you successfully remove the bolts, clean the mating surfaces with some good brake cleaner, and clean out the threads as well.

It's a good idea to order new nuts and bolts any time you remove them from the suspension. Chances are the old ones are dirty, rusty, and damaged to some extent. So go to the dealer and get new OEM bolts.

Apply antiseize compound to the threads of the bolts to help prevent rusting and seizing. Handtighten first to make sure you don't crossthread. Then use a good high-quality torque wrench and torque it to manufacturer's specs. Some suspension components have to be torqued with the suspension laden and the wheels on the ground. So check with the FSM for proper torquing procedures.

Thats good info brother....
Suprisingly, if you look at my pics above...the subframe bolts were in great shape, even at 10 years old...
Late
daryl

[kuramaya]

Well After having them on the car for a day I guess I should give a recap...the car feels a hell of a lot more stiff... I probably should have put the Strut Brace on a different day so I could tell the difference each made...I am sure the spacers are attributing to the stiffness. There is a sh1tload of Diff noise now...it is all together louder...I dont care since my car is loud as hell anyway..I just have more interior noise now than before...It handles like it is on rails if I don't induce oversteer, and when I slide wanna kick the ass end out, it is a really smoother transition than before... As for launching, my wheel hop has been cut by at least 80% and I can now get a nice catch all the way to 3rd Gear...I give thumbs up to the spacer/bushing mod...not bad at all.
Late
daryl

[g6civcx]

It probably took out a lot of the slop in the subframe and rear suspension area. The suspension reacts a lot more quickly with the spacers in so that's a good thing.

I don't know how much the rear brace helped you since the S14 is already much stiffer than the S13 in terms of chassis stability. You can probably take it off and not notice anything, but I guess every little bit helps

[kuramaya]

^^^Yeah its all together pretty damn stiffer....

[mrmephistopheles]

Nice work Daryl.
Just so you know, you could've installed that brace without trimming the interior panels. It IS a pain in the ass though.

[kuramaya]

Originally Posted by mrmephistopheles

Nice work Daryl.
Just so you know, you could've installed that brace without trimming the interior panels. It IS a pain in the ass though.

Thanks man, I cleaned it up since the pic. I cut the holes to match and sliced some vacuum line in half and lined the holes...Looks a lot better...you have a pic of one installed without cutting that stuff out?

[mrmephistopheles]

nope. I have that exact brace (Cusco OS with triangle bar) on my 240sx back in CA though, and my panels are uncut.

[kuramaya]

Originally Posted by mrmephistopheles

nope. I have that exact brace (Cusco OS with triangle bar) on my 240sx back in CA though, and my panels are uncut.

Im looking for a cage right now, so all that stuff is gonna have to come out anyway...I cant decide if I want a full cage or just the Back half though

[brokeAs240sx]

Hmmm, the subframe spacers I got (polyurethane), the top one doesn't have a slit - so that means I have to lower the subframe all the way to put it on correct? Or cut the spacer?

p.s. I like how you so casually threw the shocker in your 2nd pic, haha.

[Dousan_PG]

yes drop the subframe or cut it
i would obviously suggest cutting it. its easier.

[kuramaya]

Well I noticed the spacer/collar inserts raised the back of my car a little bit so I went ahead and dropped it down last week...I cant wait to get it on the track, it is stiff as hell

[kuramaya]

BUMP it up for purpose

[dopeassjackson]

just so you know WD-40 is no penetrating oil so even if you didnt spray it on the nuts/bolts they would have came out. it will only help if you have to work the nut/bolt in and out to get it off.
nice wright up

[Neejay]

Originally Posted by kuramaya

BUMP it up for purpose

Thanks a lot man. Also, good pics.