As long as the nut is on the subframe side, and the bolt is on the brace side, at first it sounded the opposite way.

Did you have any wheel hop prior to installing this or at any time in the past?

 

 

Why would that matter?

I'm thinking of replacing those two small nuts & bolts with SS, so they don't turn into hunks of rust. Maybe Titanium... IDK.

 

That makes sense. Do you have an A/T or 6MT?

I think I did my first session or two at the 1st track day with the VDC on as I got comfortable with the limits of the car. After that I have always turned it off as it kicks in just a bit too early and faster lap times can be had with just a bit of tire slip. You should try it. I think you will enjoy driving it better at the limit.

 

It did make sense when I read it too. The AT is always engaged, making changes like this brace more significant for the MT crowd.

Anyway, look at his sig line.

 

I always look to the info. on the left instead of the signature line. One of these years I will remember.

 

Summer tires + cold weather = hard not to invoke the nanny system.
This only pertains to the "finned" diff brace. The bolt head (and thin washer) is fairly small and could pull through the subframe with enough force. I could be wrong, but I think that is why the large thick metal is welded to the nut. That welded metal makes the force more distributed (larger) and would not be prone to bending (thicker). When the bolt is on the brace side, the brace acts like the thicker washer, in fact, the brace and the welded washer seem to be made out of the same stock.

Top pictures is the welded washer thing.
Bottom left looks like the bolt head could pull through, bottom right is correct.

 

If you have the nismo Diff there is grinding involved. Found out the hardway. After that it fits like a charm..

 

any more details on this? what needs to be grinded?

 

Installed my OEM brace on my Q40 AWD yesterday. Pretty easy install, but the hidden nuts in the subframe are a bit of a pain if you don't have a 13mm angled wrench. Also seems impossible to use a torque wrench on the upper diff bolt but i'm confident they are close to correct.

 

I still haven't done anything with my diff brace, because winter. Well, I did grind down a couple of high-spots in the welding and touched up the paint, but that's all.

thezinfan, explain the subframe bolt situation more, please.

 

The subframe bolt locations are "hidden" on the nut side. The nut sits inside the subframe member. You can see the nut when it's in place, but once you put a wrench in there, you can't always tell if you have the nut engaged. I didn't have a 13mm wrench so I was using an adjustable wrench. If you have a normal 13mm wrench it's probably no big deal. In the attached photo, you can see the brace bolt head. The dark area is where the nut is hidden inside. Easy to see if you shine a light in there.

 

You are correct. I also couldn't figure out a way to get a torque wrench in there.

 

Took me a few moments to get oriented in your pic, but I'm there now. Can't really see the subframe hole to figure this out, but how come you went bottom-up with the bolt, instead of top-down?

 

I'm not sure why I went that way. I figured it didn't make much difference since you have to get a wrench or socket on both ends anyways. I also think someone mentioned in this thread having a shop install it and epoxying in the nut, so i went with that same orientation, just without the epoxy.