Is it -bad- to buy some bolt-in SFC's, and weld them in? Just wondering. Seems like welding in some bolt-in's would be a lot less work, and might be easier to raise the car up with. What's the benefit of going with weld-in SFC's? Do weld-in's just tuck closer to the car? How low would a bolt-in SFC hang, anyway?

I'm sort of leaning towards buying a set of bolt-in's, bolting them in so they line up, and then welding them up. Specifically, I was looking at the ones from http://www.top-downsolutions.com ...

I always thought these things were heavy, too. 20 pounds doesn't seem that bad.

 

Those SFCs are the same as the Alstons. I am running them on my car. The nice thing about the bolt-on ones is that they hug the subframes. The weld-in ones do not do that. I SPECIFICALLY bought the bolt-in ones and had them welded in. I immediately threw the bolts in my spare parts 'bolt bin'. I wouldn't even worry about bolting them in. Just get them welded in. The eyelets in the SFCs where the bolts would go also serve as another place to weld. The bolt-up ones are a much better design IMHO than the weld-up ones.

Tim

 

Hm; cool, thanks for the info! I'll be welding them in myself; I'll probably use the bolts to keep them there while I weld. But good point about using the bolt holes as additional weld points... maybe after I tack the SFC's up, I'll yank the bolts, and weld inside the holes, and put thinner bolts back. Or maybe just weld another plate to cover up the hole, and grind it smooth.

 

TomP how do you like the TDS subframes?

 

i ordered the alston SFC from top dow solutions, are they the bolt in ones? im pretty sure they are but just curious.

 

Wow, old message! I haven't ordered them yet; I've got a quarter panel to replace- still haven't done that either. (For more info, a long discussion, and big pictures, <a href="https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108890" target="newwin">See my old message about my poor rusted out car</a>!)

But yeah you can bolt those in. Ideally they should be welded since the bolt holes can elongate themselves due to stress, but this way, you can bolt them in and drive to a body shop for the welding. Shouldn't cost much, probably just an hour's labor- and probably less (won't take them an hour). You might want to lift up your carpet "above" those weld points so they won't have to worry about extra heat.

I can weld them in myself but by bolting these in first, it'll help me out- I don't have a lift, just jackstands.