Day 11 ~ Rear Subframe Bolt-On

  Hoo-rah! Got the rear subframe bolted on tonight. It seems a bit simpler than it ended up being, but we got 'er done. Not all the holes line up necessarily, but they're pretty close. I have a couple pics that should show this and it's remedy.

Don't force a bolt through that.

Pin a jack here...

  The lower threaded rod support is nice to be able to adjust the subframe to the right height, but you

Protect that finish!

My lower right was too far back.

Ratchet it at a strong point on the
B-pillar. Remember you're on jack
stands, so don't push or jerk!

cannot adjust it while still attached. So I got the 4 (of 8) front B-pillar bolts in  to hold it in place, then took the laser-level to check the height. You'll find the pics in Mark's facebook album that say the tow rings (at the far rear) are going to be about 3-1/2" below the laser line that's level with the lower door-sill. Once the crane was holding the subframe at the right height, I held the lower mount connector (with the through-bolt in place) up to the bottom of the threads and counted the number of threads that should be exposed when I screw it on. In my case, 14 seemed perfect on both sides. Upon putting it all back on (I took the whole thing off because I couldn't get clearance to turn the rods on but keep reading as you won't have to do that), the right side is perfect, but the left is about 1/8" low. Instead of removing the whole subframe again, I'm going to loosen (slightly) all the mounting bolts to allow natural flexing and stress equalization, unbolt the left "rear axle" through-bolt, and then remove the 4 bolts holding the stock rear axle mount to the frame. This should allow me clearance to make my 1 thread out adjustment which will hopefully raise the left rear just enough.
  It's time for some sleep, so I'll make that quickie adjustment tomorrow and move on to other parts. The G3F is taking some shape with that subframe attached! I'm going to call it the G3F officially now, as it's now quite a bit less Jetta, and as of tonight a big step toward the final product.

Bolt too short for washers. It's really fine here without them
anyway (lower left B-pillar mount viewed from inside).

  Oh, one other note...I'm going to recommend that 2 of the 4 bolts Mark provides for the B-pillar mount be just a 1/4" longer or so. With the washers on and the thicker material at the bottom pillar mounts, the bolt didn't reach all the way through the lock-nut, effectively making it useless only holding by 3 unlocked threads. I remedied it by removing the 2 washers on either side. In order not to damage the finish on the subframe, I just stabilized the bolt with a wrench and used the socket to turn only the nut (proper procedure anyway, but critical here). There's plenty of surface area with lots of meat, so there's almost no real need for the washers, but it does look better with them.