Front suspension limit straps

[Nate Crisman]

I thought I would share pics of the front limit straps I slapped onto my 1g this morning as people often ask about this but don't get much info/pictures.

The strap is simply two of the "crotch belts" from old out of date 5pt harness sets. (you can likely find a set of two of these for free by just walking around the pits at the track and asking, as EVERYONE should have atleast a couple laying around from years past that are utterly useless).

The top L shaped bracket goes to one of the top strut hat studs and is sandwitched between the hat and strut tower. It's made from the pre-drilled strapping steal that's found at pretty much any hardware store. Not 100% sure if this will be strong enough to hold up long term, I might need to go to a thicker steel strap if this stretches or cracks,but only one way to find out I guess.

Top hardware is (2) 8mmx1.25 oem grade 4 bolts & nuts
Bottom hardware is (1) 10mmx1.25 oem grade 7 bolt & nut

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[97gst_spyder]

This keeps the front from lifting during drag racing?

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

This keeps the front from lifting during drag racing?

Yep, that's right.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Does it help a lot? I have full Prothane bushings, and the Tokico Advanced Handling kit (Tokico whites with the AWD matched springs). Would it help with my setup? If it would help, I'll have to look into this.

 

[dsmrollerz90]

What do you use to stop the back end from squatting? i installed GVR4 struts on mine, it sits taller but it doesnt squat or lift at all.

 

[knochgoon24]

People usually run heavier springs. The struts are for damping, but the springs are what should be doing most of the work.

 

[Nate Crisman]

I'm hopefully going to find out how well these work this weekend. I don't think they will be of much use on street tires simply because you don't have that much traction to work with anyway. These mostly keep the alignment straight so the front tires are maximized (you set camber and toe to 0 ideally at the suspension extension your limiting to with these straps). They also should make the car just a tick more efficient at the 60' in that your not wasting engine power moving the suspension around and lifting the body up.

I could see these putting to much initial "hit" to the front tires and causing traction problems on street tires. but on 4 slicks, these should make the launch tuning a little more consistent and allow a bit more power to be applied.

 

[forcefed86]

If your straps aren't string enough we always had good luck with garage door cable and crimps. They are cheap and don't take up much space. Good luck!


On this same topic you can add pre-load to the front wheels by installing pipe spacers on your shocks like so....

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Information taken from the junk yard turbo legend Gus mahon's website.

gus's

Here's a simple way to stiffen a worn or weak bobble strut to keep the engine steadier under heavy loads. Common worm gear clamps hold on a split-down-the-middle iron tube. Mine's holding up great.

I measured the extension of the strut at rest (the length of the shiny rod) and then cut a thick little metal tube to about 1/4" *longer* than the measured extension. I then took the strut off, split the tube lengthwise, and clamped it on the strut extension. This made it necessary to jack up the rear of the tranny a little to get the strut back on. Now my tranny is "pre-loaded", and is much more stable.

Drawback? Yes, vibrations only during clutch engagement. Otherwise, no vibrations are felt while driving around.

Gain? Yes, I went from severe wheel hop on street tires, when popping the clutch out, to no hop. (with a pair of long smooth black marks left on the road) At the track, on sticky tires, the wheel hop went from severe (10 on a scale of 1-10) to mild (3 on a scale of 1-10).

 

[Killa_dsm]

Looks good, only thing that I am worried about is the top bracket. If its the same thing I'm thinking of from Home Depot aren't they pretty flimsy? I would be worried it would either bend or break.

 

[Nate Crisman]

Looks good, only thing that I am worried about is the top bracket. If its the same thing I'm thinking of from Home Depot aren't they pretty flimsy? I would be worried it would either bend or break.

The bracket can bend all it wants, all that matters is how strong it is in tension (being torn end to end). Granted, Im not even sure what kind of upward force is generated on launch to even begin to make a guess on strength vs force, so that means the only way to find out is to go try and break it and see what happens But my gut tells me it will be fine.

 

[Killa_dsm]

Well keep us posted on how it goes!

 

[91tizzy]

How did these work out for you?

 

[1qkfwd]

My setup is totally different. How much limit did you use? I have mine set to 1" of travel at the moment.

 

[RichardB]

I tried them on a FWD and hooked up better without them.

 

[richard33]

Nice I did the same thing a while ago. It seems to be working.

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