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Engine Compartment Bracing


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I'm drooling, John! rockon.gif

 

That looks really sweet! Nice workmanship!

 

Just wondering about something though. You said something a while ago about the problem with the strut towers being that they twist (I'm assuming about a vertical axis?) If so, I was wondering if it was better to mount the strut bars so that they intersect the top of the tower more like tangent to the top circular form, to react the moments. That is, instead of in line with the strut cartridge end.

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Guest zphreek

thats so...so...beutiful! eek2.gif i am going to build a set of those one of these days to replace the ones i have on right now. that guy must have the steadiest freakin hands! wonder how straight he can cut with a torch? heheh... (zphreek dreaming to himself... someday i will be able to weld like that...)

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The strut towers don't twist in a perfect circle around the strut axis. They kind of wallow in, back, out, and then forward. The amount of movement is very small and the forces aren't that great - as long as spring rates are kept "reasonable." Most anything rigid and braced well will stop the movement.

 

My old strut bar had rod ends (which are designed to allow axial movement - something wrong with that huh?) captured with washers and a lot of bolt torque. It was a bad design "fixed" with brute force and it worked well enough to keep the front camber stable even with 275 lb. in. springs.

 

The pictures don't do justice to Bill and his assistant Dave's work. Its a shame to have to paint the mounts, but I can't spend the rest of my life scrubbing them with Scotch Brite and spraying them with WD40.

 

Bill did my fuel cell mount. I'll have pictures of that posted in the appropriate forum in a day or two.

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Bummer, I thought we were about to get some welding lessons. :D I sure could use some. I have just started using a mig and they look nothing like that but i am getting good penetration so they wont fall to pits. I have one roll cage tube going through the fire wall to the strut on my corolla. I have been pondering running more tubes to the strut like a lot of modern uni body race cars but the fabrication was going to be a nightmare for me. I then had the idea of using 2ml sheet to make up gussets from the srutt to the fire wall and the inner gaurd. I think it will work very well and it looks good as well. The cage and the body now act like a super strong monocouque(sp) bonk.gif . I might even fill it with structural foam. lets see if that baby twists. Are you not allowed to run the cage to the struts?

 

Douglas

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Guest Anonymous

Thats what I think it looks like as well Terry, the pools are so evenly sized and evenly overlaped, which is way slower, but the result is stunning when a guy can wield a tig and us it like that. (if its not tig that I'm even more impressed!) I must learn tig and eventually get one, if I could weld aluminum half as pretty as that steel is welded, I'd be happy as a punk in a pickle patch.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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Its TIG. I work with a couple fabricators (Bill Savage and Andy Bondio) and all they will use is TIG. They feel MIG welders are for welding trailers - which goes along with a common welder put down, "You're a good trailer welder."

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Douglas,

 

The class I'm building the car for does not allow the roll cage/bar structure to pass the firewall. Technically, what is welded to the firewall is also illegal but, 1) since there's no structure behind it in the cowl and, 2) I'll run those sanctioned events without the fore/aft bracing I don't think it will be an issue.

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Guest Anonymous

A welding putdown in our shop was motioning with your hands that your squeezing a pigeon and dropping welds which look about as pretty. The name pigeon $hit welder got tossed around alot. :D

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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I guess a $500 investment in a high frequency converter for my crackerbox is looking more viable everytime I read these posts. Oh, by the way: "punk in a pickle patch, and "pigeon $#it welder"? Some day I'm gonna meet Lone and most likely enjoy the colorful conversation.

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