As stated, the next step is to install the ATS double shear coilover bracket. I've gotten the sense from some that this is percieved as a difficult task. I mean, it's one thing for Tyler to install these in his shop with a bunch of quality tools and equipment but perhaps another for someone to do at home. Tyler bills this thing as an easy to install upgrade. Well.....let's see.
Here is the bracket:
A darned robust little item if I do say so. 1/4" steel plate (how do you bend this stuff?) nicely mig welded into an assembly that I'm pretty sure could support the weight of the car a couple times over.
I have at my disposal a small Kobalt air compressor and cutoff tool. A cheap Sears Craftsman grinder (with cutoff, grinder, wire and flap-disk wheels), a sawzall, a Miller 175 welder and a little something I borrowed from work that we'll get to later. By no means professional quality stuff. IMO your basic homebrew fab tools.
Since this the install is done twice (left side and right) I've decided to examine two different ways of accomplishing the task.
Here is what we start with:
The sandblasted subframe and it's OE single shear shock mount and upper control mount.
The first step is to remove the single shear shock mount. At first I tried using the pneumatic cutoff tool......lesson learned here. Cheap air compressors and pneumatic tools are just that....cheap. The $200 compressor from Lowes (Kobalt brand) just does not have the ooomph to handle this. It couldn't keep up with the cuttoff tool. So I switched to ol' reliable. Sears.
The Craftsman grinder with a 4.5" cuttoff wheel made quick work of the shock mount.
But it does leave a lot of material behind. The lap-welded portion on the subframe arm partially surrounding the spring pocket and the portion still attached to the UCA mount need to be cleaned up.
No worries...I am using both hands on the grinder (with eye and ear protection). My wife leaned over my shoulder with the camera to take the photo.