first of all i know this has been beat to death but ive never paid attention to any discussion about them cause ive never thought i needed them. anyway, i did a search and didnt really see anything.

i know this is a loaded question, but who makes the best sub frame connectors for a third gen? i dont want to sacrifice a lot of ground clearance, but a little bit wont hurt.

thanks in advance

 

other then the Competition engineering ones that require you to cut the floorboard, noone makes bad ones.

 

just get some that weld on. bolt on ones are junk. i know cause i bought some bolt in ones and i still ended up tweakin stuff. (big*er* power with lots of traction makes things flex) so i welded them in and added bracing too to help keep the flex to a minimum.

 

From what I hear the bolt-ins suck.

I got Spohn weld-in SFCs on my car. No ground clearance loss whatsoever and I definitely noticed an increase in stiffness, and decrease in squeaks. This is on a street car.

 

im guessing the competition eng ones are for the more "hardcore" racer in mind?seen pics of them and there beefy think im gonna go with those.

 

the comp eng sfc's don't do near enough. Plus they're $20 worth of material with 2 welds...... For HD and nothing else the UMI's would be it, but they're a bit over-kill in my book.
IMO sfc's should be put in any of our cars, modded or not, even a stock V6. They help soo many things.....

 

You have to be careful using words like best around here, lol. That's really subjective. That said, I think Kenny Brown makes the best SFCs for our cars.

 

no.

they're two metal bars that they didnt even bother to bend. they dont fit the car. you cut the car to fit them in.

any of the other weld in connectors, doesnt matter what style, are helpful and work...

i prefer the permimiter style connectors, but the others work.

 

lol, i know thats why i said it was a loaded question

anyway, i think im gonna go with the spohn ones

 

I bought a set of Hotchkis sfc's and paid around 200 for them and I absolutely love them. Mine handles like a rail car now and highly recommend them. In fact Hotchkis is the only manufacturer ill buy from as far as suspension parts go for my camaro.

 

Global West's version is another option.

JamesC

 

I got the spohn ones. I knew nothing about installing these things and did it myself with a few jackstands and a cheap welding machine. I fit and tacked them and the muffler shop charged me about $20 to weld them out. Best mod I have done.

 

I have both Kenny Brown's and Global Wests on different f-bodies, the Global Wests are easiest to jack the car up on. They probably work just as well.

 

I absolutely love my Alstons. Install was easy and they work pretty well.

I have installed both Alstons and Spohns. While I like most Spohn products, I hate their SFC's. While I think the design is decent, installation is a PITA. Mainly there is a lack of material on the car where they weld to and with the material being round, its really difficult to effectively weld in.

Thats my opinion.

 

Well most of us have to take them to shops to get them welded in anyway. So...not my problem.

BTW: The shop I took mine to welded little metal brackets to the front ends of the connectors to help hold them on.

 

Yeah but I am the shop.

 

- the worse the install PITA, the higher the cost.......

 

I made custom SFC's out of 1 1/2" square tubing and they are great. Regardless if you buy them or make your own, DO IT! This was the BEST mod I've made on my car to date. Period.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything from UMI. They are great to deal with and their products are top notch.

My vote = UMI Performance.

 

someone go bitch at UMI until they make convertible SFCs.. lol.

 

Just be sure when you weld in your SFCs that your car's suspension is loaded (the car is sitting normally or on a hoist that raises the car by wheels not the frame). That's the car's natural stance you want to reinforce. It's also the way your steering geometry is set, etc.

 

Thats a very good point. I did mine on my alignment stands I have at work. I set it up at night, bounced the car a few times and welded them in the next morning to make sure I 100% have the right stance.

 

Yeah, thats how I did mine too, so I found it funny that when I was watching one of those "car shows" today on tv, that they welded theirs on a mustang supported only by the frame. It didn't eaven have the wheels on it. Go figure!

 

Mustang? For some reason I don't feel to bad.

 

i like my jegs bolt-in ones that i welded in. their bolt on brackets made for more area to be welded up to the floorboard.

 

I keep seeing this said although I don't believe it's that big of a deal. There are plenty of guys out there that strip a car to the frame and then start with the chassis reinforcement such as SFCs, roll bars/cages and they are just fine. Sure, it may be better to have the car on it's wheels with the suspension loaded, but practically, I don't think it'll make a bit of difference. If there is proof otherwise I would sure like to know.

 

When I did my "sfc's" I had no acces to a lift, so I pulled the front tires onto the tail of my trailer, them put the tongue of the trailer on the ground, thus raising the front as I high as I could. I then jacked the back up from the diff and placed jack stand under the axle, so yes my suspension was under load at this point, but then I used two hi-lift jacks centered under each door to "pre-load" the car. - My door are now aligned better and my top works better, but tha sag my vert had may not be as bad with a hard-top or t-top.
- We did Dans87GTA's with jack stands under the front crossmember and a floor jack under the diff, so technically not fully loaded....

No issues with either set-up, but both were homemade connectors.

 

I have them also and like them alot!

 

I also have Hotchkis SFCs - but I'm a little bit irritated... Not the fault of the SFCs, but something to be aware of...