2G effective bracing

[Ludachris]

A very well respected suspension tuner told me the under fender bracing makes a huge improvement on evos and 2g eclipses handling-wise due to deflection in that part of the frame from it being so flimsy.

And which tuner would that be? Just curious.

 

[endeffect0]

^ A valid question..


GOOD NEWS!
I finaly have a two car garage at my disposal! which means this will no longer be a weekend project at my friends shop. Which means I can finally make some progress on this. stay tuned this week.

That is all.

 

[ApexVIII]

^ A valid question..


GOOD NEWS!
I finaly have a two car garage at my disposal! which means this will no longer be a weekend project at my friends shop. Which means I can finally make some progress on this. stay tuned this week.

That is all.

any updates?

 

[endeffect0]

Sadly no. I had an electrical issue to sort out.

Now my lap top shit out and i lost my tune on DSM link V@2 so i need to borrow some ones so i can get rid of this ####ning misfire again. can any one is PA help out

 

[rampridersrider]

This is a subject that greatly interests me. I am by no means a road racer, autox'er or none of that stuff, but just doing trivial things like driving my car around and you will notice how rediculously sloppy the car is. The 1g's seem to be a much better built car as far as handling goes.

I recently this past year repainted my engine bay. While I was in there I fixed some strut tower rust that was getting fairly rough on my driver side tower. I cut the old rusted metal out, welded in a good patch panel, grinded everything smooth and put a small amount of filler putty over it to get rid of any roughness to it. There is maybe 1/16-1/8 of filler on a small 4x6 section of my strut tower. It sat like that for a good 4 months until the car was finished and looked great. After driving the car for a small 5-600 miles I've noticed small cracks and bubbles from where the filler is, telling me that the strut towers are flexing so much that its actually popping the filler out, at least thats my theory.

I like the idea of the under fender bracing, that seems to be a design that can easily be replicated on our cars and I fully plan to do that next year when I decide to tear the engine bay down again and redo some things.


This is just my concept, but I plan on welding a large 1/4 steel plate (around 6x6) to the firewall, then welding another plate to either side of the strut towers, welding some heavy duty tabs to the plates, and connecting them with some tubular/square piping.

Check out the first picture for what I'm talking about.

I can do this as my engine bay is completely tucked and the battery is on the subframe. Shouldn't be a problem. I think with that setup, a strut tower bar, and those under fender braces, I should have a much more solid front end.

After looking at a few pictures its looks as though the front end gets a good amount of its support from the bumper reinforcement, cause the only other thing connecting the two sides is the core support which IMO looks fairly flimsy. There are a lot of DSM'ers that remove the bumper support for weight/FMIC's. I could imagine that that would make a huge difference in the way the car handles.

What are your thoughts on making a cross brace from frame rail to frame rail? Putting it directly in front of the radiator on the engine bay side, and maybe also doing some small square tubing and outline the radiator support on the bottom side so its hidden? Heres a couple ideas I'm thinking of, check out the last two pictures.

Now, I know my paint skills are crude, but you get the idea. The front support bars I would tuck as close to the radiator as possible as my fans are on the front of the radiator. I like the support bar going straight across from frame to frame the most. I think I could easily pull that one off with my setup.

What are everyones opinioins on beefing up the rear of the car? Again, these are all concepts that I really enjoy and with a welder and some power tools I can pretty much make anything I want.

 

[eclipsh]

This Raliart brace for the front is awfully nice.

JDM Ralliart 4 point front underbrace INSTALLED!!!!!!!!!! - The Galant Center

I'm thinking of making something similar that incorporates the factory front/rear brace to help tie the front end together. Doing a ladder brace down the underbelly of the car which ties in to the k-brace and a rear subframe brace would really rock.

 

[endeffect0]

Hey All!

Made some good progress in the last few weeks, well not really given how long its been but what ever.

I started seam welding various parts of my car and thats been the minor side project of the day.

I created two front strut tower braces, this last one requires a slight revision before i call it good. I can post pics of that if anyone would be interested.


My big question today involves the rear strut towers. i started stitch welding the rear brace down to firm that up and i was planning on making a large cross brace going from between the two strut towers to stock rear bracing. But in looking at it, i am not sure if this is necessary. how good of a job does the stock rear bracing do? should i just create a normal 2 point strut tower brace and leave the strut to floor bracing to the stock parts?

 

[eclipsh]

You could always build something like what Rick made.

<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/5/0/6/5/5/5-10-07028.jpg" alt="rear strut tower cross brace" />

The extra bracing can't hurt and the weight isn't much.

 

[tsiboostin]

^^^That's really nice! I wander if you could also use that as a harness bar?

 

[snowborder714]

I started seam welding various parts of my car and thats been the minor side project of the day.

Any pictures? Or just tow it to my place and I can look at it in person

 

[endeffect0]

Thats actually very similar to what i was thinking. I was trying to find a way to incorporate two bars along the top that would be gusseted together becuae i am working with smaller stock than that for mockup.

but yea thats pretty much it. I will attempt to bolt mine in, their are multiple places i cold do that on the stock lower bracing. but they will require a pretty thick plate to ride on top of the lower brace due to the thinner steel.

^^^That's really nice! I wander if you could also use that as a harness bar?

well you wouldn't want to... I don't consider the two bolts on the shock towers to be strong enough on their own without reinforcement.
aside from that. you Never want to use a harness without a roll bar. Period. If you were to roll the car the multi point harnesses would hold you in-place when the roof came down. without a roll bar to hold the roof up harnesses are just going to break your neck.

I was driving the speed limit down the turnpike in a borrowed car when a LCA let go and the car rolled. the roof came down, if i was wearing a harness without a roll bar i wouldn't be typing this.

fortunately it was just a honda.. and i was let go after a few days in the trauma unit. and i wasnt even doing anything fun or stupid to have that happen, just bad luck.

Quote:
Originally Posted by endeffect0
I started seam welding various parts of my car and thats been the minor side project of the day.

Any pictures? Or just tow it to my place and I can look at it in person

of the seam welding or the bracing?

my cars not out of action right now. aside from the fact i toasted another alternator, number 5. having fun in the snow last night.

 

[snowborder714]

of the seam welding or the bracing?

my cars not out of action right now. aside from the fact i toasted another alternator, number 5. having fun in the snow last night.

Both? I like pictures, so anything would be good

 

[endeffect0]

well the stitch welding isn't the prettiest thing in the world because i am just flux core MIG'ing it, but if your curious i can snap a few pics for ya.

I have some pics of the strut tower brace mock up. ill shoot one or two more and shoot them to ya.

 

[psycho]

I would also like to see pics. My next door neighbor has a MIG he's letting me borrow to get some practice in on.

 

[Nati0nalxCrisis]

Both? I like pictures, so anything would be good

Don't we all love pictures hah.

Yeah please post some, I was reading through this and you got me really interested in this. I don't have a dsm yet but when I get one I deff know what I should do with it now. Great Idea!

 

[tsiboostin]

well you wouldn't want to... I don't consider the two bolts on the shock towers to be strong enough on their own without reinforcement.
aside from that. you Never want to use a harness without a roll bar. Period. If you were to roll the car the multi point harnesses would hold you in-place when the roof came down. without a roll bar to hold the roof up harnesses are just going to break your neck.

I was driving the speed limit down the turnpike in a borrowed car when a LCA let go and the car rolled. the roof came down, if i was wearing a harness without a roll bar i wouldn't be typing this.

fortunately it was just a honda.. and i was let go after a few days in the trauma unit. and i wasnt even doing anything fun or stupid to have that happen, just bad luck.

After posting that I was thinking more about it and figured it probably wasn't the best idea. Thanks for the reply.

 

[greengoblin]

Would live to see some pics of what you do. I've been looking into doing fender braces (may just tie cage into the strut mounts) and I have been prepping my chassis for seam welding for some time. I like to see what you are doing to compare.

Kevin

 

[endeffect0]

ok i see pictures are very popular with every one!! i will get some up. i swear it. .

Would live to see some pics of what you do. I've been looking into doing fender braces (may just tie cage into the strut mounts) and I have been prepping my chassis for seam welding for some time. I like to see what you are doing to compare.

honestly kevin, just tie it into the cage. I am making an attempt to do the best i can with Bolt on only. but that will always pale in comparison to what i could do with a cage to tie into.

the fender braces have yet to come, they are on the list right after the rear brace.

After posting that I was thinking more about it and figured it probably wasn't the best idea. Thanks for the reply.

i also have pics to demonstrate the reason why. (no gore ) pics seem to be popular after all.

 

[habitatguy187]

So I was at Menards today and looking at their metal tubing. I found the anodized steel to be pretty cheap and not too heavy, so I was wondering if anyone had suggestions/opinions on it? I think that the 3/4" round piping would be strong enough, if not I"ll go with the 1". Let me know what you think.

I'm thinking of just making a rear strut brace, single bar from tower to tower, something like the one in the pic below, minus the rest of the cage.

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Do you guy's think this would be helpful or would it need to connect to the bottom of the car like the brace a few posts above? Also I was thinking that maybe it would be more helpful if the bar was connected higher up on the strut towers

Also I went to the library today and a couple bookstores looking for a book on car suspension/chassis strengthening and couldn't find a single thing. Does anyone know of any good reads on the subject? The net doesn't seem to have anything helpful really besides pics of what other people have done, I can't seem to find a site that helps explain things in depth.

 

[MattE]

Im planning on makin me some fender braces as well. It seems like a very good idea.

 

[knochgoon24]

I'm thinking of just making a rear strut brace, single bar from tower to tower, something like the one in the pic below, minus the rest of the cage.

Welded in???

Rear bolt on strut tower bars are crazy cheap and will do pretty much the same thing. Just check ebay. All it is, is a metal bar and 2 brackets.

 

[habitatguy187]

Welded in???

Rear bolt on strut tower bars are crazy cheap and will do pretty much the same thing. Just check ebay. All it is, is a metal bar and 2 brackets.

Yeah welded in. I haven't found any rear braces for a 1g, and I figured that a solid bar would be more effective than a flimsy strut tower bar.

 

[habitatguy187]

Well I did it yesterday. it's hard to say if there's a significant difference since I never really pushed my car very much during cornering, but I do plan on doing some scca autox this year.

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Welds are a little nasty but I can't complain, a buddy did it for free using a flux welder when he's used to a gas one. He got better pretty quick but there wasn't much welding to be done. As I said, it was free .

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I think that the rear was a little more solid as it came out on a couple hard turns in a flat parking lot, and it just plain seemed to feel a little stiffer back there, but I have no hardcore evidence as to just how much it helped since I never pushed the car much before. I'm also still on stock wheels/suspension, so maybe with other upgrades this mod would be more noticeable....that's probably the case.




EDIT: My buddy brought me the bar from his dad's house and it only weighs about 3-4lbs + it's really stiff.

 

[snowborder714]

Just take an angle grinder to the welds to clean them up.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Looks good for free. To bad Spyders have an X brace back there already...