Bolting Braces to Unibody

[Equinox]

Forgive me if I'm overlooking an easy solution to this. I have some stock braces off an S15 to fit to my S14. (One in the trunk which connects the two frame rails and one under the gearbox which braces the tunnel). These come stock on the S15 Silvia but the S14 Silvia despite having the same chassis does not have the threaded provisions for the bolts to thread into.

What's the best way to go about fitting these? I purchased some M10 Nutserts which I've read around the internet can be installed without a pneumatic gun by simply applying force on them with a high tensile cap screw and a couple of nuts but I'm not sure it'll work. Have I overlooked a simpler solution?

[Sleepy_Steve]

Weld the nuts to the frame?

[Equinox]

Sorry I should have been clearer. I need to bolt the braces to the frame rails and there arent any access holes anywhere close to the location so I can't get nuts in there to weld. The braces sit flush with the frame rails so I cant just weld a nut on top.

[Matt93SE]

weld the nuts to a washer. use a uni-bit to drill out the unibody where the nut needs to go. weld the washer onto the unibody there. you lose a tiny amount of clearance that wya- about 1/16", but it's probably the easiest way.

[cdlong]

Do they need to be bolted due to class rules? What class/series? Can't you make access holes? I installed a hitch on my Outback that used a nut with a tab that acted like a nutsert. I'll see if I can find an example for you.

http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.aspx?pn=36234 Check this out. The two forward bolts use the tabs i was referring to.

This makes me think. I can update with any 240, would any s13 vert braces fit on an s14?

[Def]

The nutserts will work fine. I've installed them without the tool, but it can suck if the insert spins in the hole instead of swaging down. It's basically ruined and half installed then, so break out the drill time!!!

I'd try to get nutserts with the largest bearing area on the back as possible since they are going to be in tension.

[Tower240sx]

Are we talking about "PEMserts"???

[Def]

Never heard the term pemserts - just search nutsert on mcmaster and it'll bring up the different types. They're generally not great in tension, but M10 is probably big enough.

[cazman]

Peter where did you find 10mm nutserts?
I've been using 6&8 because that's all I can buy.
A nitsert tool is only $89 too, and it reall isn't hard to make your own, even modifying a standard rivet gun is easy( as they are threaded you just make man m5 to m10 jack screw. Or just drill a rivet gun out to 10.3 mm and slam a bolt thru it.
Just use washers and a nut on the back end.

Does this make sense? When you see the real tool you'll understand

[Equinox]

Hey Dave. I'm sick of NS. :P

$89 is reasonable. I'll have to have a look later and see if I can visualise what you mean about making one haha.

I actually just got them from a local bolt shop! I had to call around a fair bit to find someone with larger sizes than M8. I ended up getting them from these guys:

http://www.costlessbolts.com.au/

[Def]

Check for cheap Chinese tools. Just saw the local Harbor Freight had a rivet gun + nutsert installer with all the usual sized threaded tools for $16 USD. Harbor Freight = cheap Chinese tools for the most part, so I'm sure that stuff is available somewhere over there.