Making custom strut brace

[puzzle man]

heres the web site i got if from....
http://cmy510.tripod.com/tech.html

[puzzle man]

this is what I'm going to attempt to make next week....

[mic*]

Excellente...

How many did you say you were gonna make next week ???

[Norbie]

Hey Norbie, thanks for posting those pics.

Just curious, is there any reason (apart from clearing the bolt hole for the strut) that the bar is more towards the rear of the car?

It was necessary for bonnet clearance. The bar needs to be pretty high to clear the massif 2JZ, but if I'd run it straight across it would have fouled the bonnet. There's more bonnet clearance at the rear of the engine bay, so the bar is designed to curve backwards and it all fits nicely (although it is very close).

I imagine you won't have any of these difficulties with your setup though.

[roadsailing]

had another idea for the rusty insides (this will only work if you seal the bar at each end)

get some silica gel packets/pellets and stick them inside before you weld up both sides, the pellets will go from one end to the other during cornering and suck up all the moisture.

i still vote don't worry about it though.

[Stefan]

If you make it adjustable rather than solid, use reverse threads on one end so that it is easilly adjusted ocne installed.

My bar is nuts welded into the end of some either alumn or steel tubing (can't recall which). Doesn't sound like it woudl work well, but it does. Has rosejoints too, but only becaause the end plates have no box sections welded on, so bar is bolted vertically through rosejoints and end plates. Don't recommend this way as it only just clears the engine in my car, but liek I said, it works, Noticeable improvement, even though only 2 point. Used to think 2-point braces were a wank before I tried one. Triangulated woudl be even better (ref T3 site). /rant.

[Enchanter]

It's funny you mention that considering Glen mentioned that bang for buck it was one of the best things he did for his car.

But the MA61 has no rear struts, there are no great forces exerted on the end of the rear shocks unlike the front ones.

I may be wrong but I really cant see how a rear brace would do much at all.

[Stefan]

Chassis brace. The coupes have a stiffer chassis than the liftbacks, and the idea of bracing the rear of a liftback there is to make it more like a stock coupe.

[ed]

3 things:

imho: having a solid bar, ie no rose joint at either end, is dumb. we know this thing is going to flex, and having a soild join isnt going to make anything stiffer. it is simply having the shock towers 'linked' that make the difference.

since we know the assembly is going to flex, you put a pivot in. simple as that.

as for triangulating... nut-serting a plate to the firewall will provide the same 'strength' in terms of reinforcing the friewall as will welding the plate on. there shear will be different, and possibly welding better in that regard, but considering the forces involved, i doubt it. if you can be assed pulling the dash apart right up to the cabin side of the firewall to move any wiring from possible heat damage, then id weld, otherwise nutserts are your friend.

and finally... rear bars in the ma61 arent designed to support the suspension, its a chasis brace. htach backs have zero triangulation, in the rear (esp if you dont have rear seats), and every little bit you can do helps

[Enchanter]

and finally... rear bars in the ma61 arent designed to support the suspension, its a chasis brace. htach backs have zero triangulation, in the rear (esp if you dont have rear seats), and every little bit you can do helps

Yeah I would have to agree with this, but wouldn't it make much more sense bracing something other than the top of the shocks.

I guess it all depends how intrusive you wish the rear chassis brace (not strut brace) to be in the end. And also how much interior you wish to pull out doing it

Cheers

[fade-e]

when i do the brace for the celica i am intending to do a triangulation brace. basically tower -> tower and tower -> firewal -> tower

with the triangle part though, i am going to mount it in front of the bonnet hook and not behind. if i do it behind the hook, then the bonnet will be off slightly and i really dont want that.

also i am considering making a plate for behind the firewall (in cabin) just to reinforce the bonnet hook section. probably gonna make it 2" longer either side, therefore if the bonnet hook is 4: then the plate behind will be made to 8" and welded to the firewall rather than bolting it

the only thing left for me to decide on is whether it will be an adjustable brace or not... if i do go adjustable not sure if i should have a 3 way adjusting system, ie, adjustable from tower -> tower and also from tower -> firewall (both sides) and hence the 3 way adjusting

if anyone has comments on what i want to do please mention it... i dont wnat to go ahead with this design if it is pointless, especially the 3-way adjustment

cheers

[TurboRA28]

ed_jza80 , hey just want to try and understand your point there on the rose jointing. You are saying its going to flex, but why help it flex by putting the rose joint in?

Sorry just don't quite understand

[RobertoX]

I think ed's point there is that it is meant to be a brace (ie a member that is in tension) and not something that is going to bend. If you have pivots on either end of it there should be no real bending in the bar.

In terms of chassis stiffening I think that if you have it welded you will be stiffening more degrees of freedom of movement of the chassis. The compromise is that when sizing your material you will need to have something a bit chunkier to accomodate the bending that will be present.

If you look at how a racecar spaceframe chassis is made you will note that all joints are welded connections and not pin joints. If I was making up my own bar I would be welding the whole thing. (it would also be triangulated to the firewall)

[roadsailing]

the way i see it, it isn't going to flex enough to break the bar, and 10 inches of mig wire is cheaper than a spherical bearing.

if you wanted to get technical, you could just run a cable/tnesion rod between the strut towers for virtually the same effect (according to the theory that strut braces only work in tension)

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Yeah I would have to agree with this, but wouldn't it make much more sense bracing something other than the top of the shocks.

Generally, most people make them to fit the rear seat latches. That pushes them right to the back of the boot (i.e. up against the seats themselves) and provides a decent spot to do it.

Ed, Is there any merit to my previous idea? Oh, and oil filter adapter.