Driving Impressions: Lower Stress Bar

[insite]

blinkwatt -

the jack stands go under the boomerang plates that retain the sway bar. they don't leave any indentation. i'll take a pic tomorrow as i'll be doing some work.

a word of caution to the others: for street duty, a solid lower stress bar might be okay. if you go to the track, you'll definitely want something with heim jointed ends, otherwise you risk breaking the bar mid-corner, causing sudden camber loss and a certain spin.

[blinkwatt]

Originally Posted by insite

blinkwatt -

the jack stands go under the boomerang plates that retain the sway bar. they don't leave any indentation. i'll take a pic tomorrow as i'll be doing some work.

Thanks I'd appreciate it.

[insite]

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

Thanks I'd appreciate it.

blink -

here's a pic of the jack stand point. if you have the GT3 or RS brake ducts, you have to remove them to use this point. if you have the standard ducts, you can leave them in place.

[blinkwatt]

Thanks insite. I was under the car this weekend and I was wondering if that was the spot you were referring to. I noticed that that piece of metal is VERY strong.

Thanks again for the picture.

[roadracer311]

So, I was thinking about doing this mod, and it occurred to me that aftermarket tie rods are probably everywhere. Turns out that they are.

You can buy threaded tubes of just about any length (reverse threaded on one end and forward on the other end), and heim joints here:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/m/105_Rod-Ends-Heim-Joints-Sleeves.html

If you buy the good stuff, it looks like it would cost about $45 + shipping.

Now that I look at it again, I'm not sure they have the right combinations of shanks and holes in the heim joints. I'm going to spend more time on it later. I'm sure someone makes something that just screws together out of standard parts and fits.

[edevlin]

"You can buy threaded tubes of just about any length (reverse threaded on one end and forward on the other end), and heim joints here:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/m/105...ts-Sleeves.html

If you buy the good stuff, it looks like it would cost about $45 + shipping."

Hey, that is a great site, does anyone know what size parts (tube and ends) we need to get for our cars?

Ed

[roadracer311]

Originally Posted by edevlin

Hey, that is a great site, does anyone know what size parts (tube and ends) we need to get for our cars?

Ed

From earlier posts, it sounds like the center to center measurement for the holes needs to be 22.25 inches and the bolts that hold the plate to the bottom of the car are 3/8" in diameter (roughly, since the original ones on the car are metric).

The web site says that the heim joints add 1.5 inches to each end of the rod, so it sounds like a 19" long rod + a total of 3 inches of heim joint would be 22" (the adjustability would take car of the last 1/4 inch.

Now there's the question of which diameter rod to use, which heim joints. And then, jam nuts will also be needed to keep the thing from adjusting itself after it's installed. The one dimension I don't know is how long the new bolts need to be (the ones that bolt the heim joint to the car).

Given the amount of time involved in figuring all of this out and then not knowing for sure it's going to fit I can see the value in the Canadian-sourced one. Then again... it's sort of fun to figure out.

[HB.]

Originally Posted by insite

blink -

here's a pic of the jack stand point. if you have the GT3 or RS brake ducts, you have to remove them to use this point. if you have the standard ducts, you can leave them in place.

insite,

How tall are your jack's base? I believe I have similar jacks, mine are craftsman. Problem is I can't fit them under the car. Did you have to temp. jack one of the ends using factor supplied jack or what?

Edit: Disregard this post

[Kirk]

GREAT news!!! I finally got in the 3rd iteration of lower stress bars and the parts look really fantastic. I got them test fitted to the car and they go on just fine – very easy install.

Here are some pictures to compare the new parts to the old parts from the 2nd iteration I did. The main bar is 3/4" steel tubing with very heavy duty heim joints. The steel heim joint for the main bar is the one to the far left in the picture comparing the heim joints. This heim joint is rated to handle over 9,000 lbs in static load, more than enough for the application. The main bar in the photos is unfinished steel because this was a one-off prototype/sample I had made. The regular bars will still be custom made to my specs, but I will have them yellow zinc chromate plated for corrosion resistance. This is a very good, strong bar, much better than the aluminum main bar I had used for my 1st and 2nd iterations.

The biggest change is with the side bars. After some careful measurements I determined that I could use a spacer to step up to a much larger bar. As you can see in the pictures comparing the side bars from the 2nd to 3rd iterations that there is a significant change in the robustness of the bar and heim joint. The new side bar heim joint is the one in the middle of the comparison picture while the 2nd iteration (red) is on the far right. The new heim joint and bar for the side bars are still aluminum, but this more robust heim joint is rated for almost double the static tensile strength at almost 8,000 lbs – again more than sufficient for the application. You’ll notice that to achieve this, the shank (threaded portion) of the heim joint is larger than the red, 2nd iteration piece. The main bar heim joint has an even larger shank than the side bars. To get the side bars to fit I used a special conical spacer (pictured) that goes perfectly with this heim joint.

Again, I’m absolutely tickled with these parts. I made some home-made bars at first and then switched to some aluminum parts. These 2nd iteration aluminum parts were okay, but I wanted to get something still better and stronger. This latest iteration is pretty much spot on what I wanted to achieve. Robust, strong, and a cinch to install.

So, now that I’m satisfied that I’ve taken this as far as I can I’m officially moving ahead with the group buy. Details will be posted in the Classified section of this board.

Kirk

[Kirk]

Here are a few more photos of the lower stress bars.

Kirk

[Franco]

Hi Guys, Love The Passion

Take Care