Every structural juncture of the rear subframe is triangulated and gusseted so as not to sacrifice strength for the light weight. Here is the lower control arm mount, it is totally boxed in, triangulated, and has the bosses for the eccentrics needed to adjust the alignment.
You can see the triangulation bracing and the gusseting of the other suspension arm pick-up points here.
Most of the gussets are not simple, they are laser cut and skeletonized for less weight. Look at all of the details seen in this mount for the rear anti-sway bar.
You can see the triangulation of the cross member here and the elaborateness of the fab work. The Verkline cross member has all the tabs and provisions to mount the factory undertrays and rear diffuser so you don’t need to worry about that.
Here is the mount for the suspension’s leading link, note the triangulation and gusseting for the mount. Verkline subframes are made of T45 steel which is a manganese-moly seamless tubing. It is slightly stronger than the American standard 4130 chrome-moly. It’s made in the UK by Aerocom, a manufacture of aerospace tubing, and pretty similar to the famous Renyolds 531 tubing used in high-end bikes. For the gussets, S355 sheet is used. It is also a manganese-moly alloy steel like the T45 tubing. T45 and S355 are known to be strong but not brittle and will bend before breaking, unlike 4130 chrome-moly which can shatter with impact. All of the welding is tig and is of high quality. The Venkline rear subframe weighs 34.9 lbs vs the heavy 66.35 lb stamped steel stock part.
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Car weight reduction is such a satisfying modification. Whilst it can be costly, something that benefits handling, braking, and acceleration is well and truly worth it!
weight is easy to validate, easier to work is also pretty easy. but how is “not sacrificing strength” validated? just cause the company that makes it says so doesn’t make it true. Has the strength of this subframe been tested and compared to the oem part by anyone?
The subframe is validated using FEA and the design is sound. As an ME I would have no issues running this at all. Care to volunteer your R35 for destructive subframe testing?
It seems like it would be stronger than stock, IMO. Stamped steel subframe vs. tubular steel with triangulation and gusseting is going to be a nobrainer to an armchair engineer.
Of course, some actual torsional stiffness numbers would be awesome and probably not too hard to for Verkline to generate in FEA, and experimentally.
These are the kind of parts that I would love to spec, compared to a built motor. Should improve every performance metric on the car with absolutely no downsides.
The material is of a higher grade as well.
so the headline says “shaves 49 lbs” but the article says “Venkline rear subframe weighs 34.9 lbs vs the heavy 66.35 lb stamped steel stock part.” Thats a BIG difference between 49 and 31.4
Maybe read the whole article, there is a front subframe too! Also, read the headline, it says 50 lbs.
Mike- you are too kind taking your time to respond to the haters. This is such a cool piece if you are a GTR afficionado or track purist type. Definitely something i could have seen Nissan use on the Nismo.
Especially ones that are too lazy to read!
Hey Mike,
Great write up. I’ve been actively working on cutting weight on my R35 as well. 250lbs shaved so far. I’ve been considering doing this but have a real world application question for you, after installing this have you noticed a difference in center of gravity and handling through corners? Top weight and rotational mass reductions I’ve noticed a significant weight reduction however I’m more cautious of moving the center of gravity for the negative. Could you share your experience thus far?
To be honest, we haven’t tried them yet. Because of supply chain issues, we haven’t been able to get all the parts to finish our GT-R build yet, we are going to do the engine and drivetrain in one big swoop. Stay tuned, it is almost all there, just waiting on the backed up machine shop now.