Driving Impressions: Lower Stress Bar

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by insite

axial load is what i'd worry about. if the car twists, the inner race will pop out of the heim joint fairly easily.

PM me if you need race duty drop links; i still have a set on hand.

Sent ya a PM.

Yeah, I can see your concern. I'll give these heim joints a try and see how they hold up. I'm getting new wheels next Monday with 20 mm wider rubber and super sticky Falken 615 tires. Once I get those on the car I'm SURE the new stress bars are going to get a real workout. I know I'm going to be having some fun and pushing the car to the limit.

I think the aluminum heim joints like this are perfect though for the side bars. I may just need to go to a steel heim joint and hollow steel tube for the main bar.

[Kirk]

Here are some quick photos of my new lower stress bar setup using heim joints. I've installed the main bar and two secondary bars. The install was MUCH easier with the adjustable heim joints compared to when I did my home-made stuff. The side bars literally install in just a few minutes. The main bar was a bit tougher, but still relatively easy to do. All you need to do is adjust the length with the heim joints to get a perfect fit and then bolt them in place and tighten down the locking nuts. So far they are holding up great and performing very well.

BTW, if anyone is interested I've got a spare main bar with heim joints that's brand new. Plus I've got the home-made side bars that you can see photos of in my earlier posts that are used. I'm going to hold onto my old main bar though because I think I can use the 1" aluminum material. If anyone wants these bars just drop me a PM. I'll take $65 for the main bar and $49 for the side bars (two of them), plus $10 shipping. I'd prefer to sell together as a set.

Kirk

[j.fro]

just letting you know I've sent a PM

[Bobiam]

Well, I made and insrtalled my LowerStress Bar today. Used alum 7/8" hex stock and correct sized metric automotive grade bolts/nuts. Hex made it easy with built in flats. Had to unbolt one sway bar mount to slide the bar in (probably since the hex stock is 1" dia. point to point).

24" bar, 22 1/4" between the holes. 3/8" drill will work with a minor tuning with a round file (if the better fitting metric bolts are used).

At 38 degrees here in CT I can't take it very hard on corners to test this thing without the summer tires sliding. Do, I'll go on faith that the bar helps as allof you say it does. Total price with materials from on-line vendors around $33. Rather pay shipping than waste gasoline (and my time while searching)!

Bob

[HB.]

Now that I have the front and middle upper bar installed, I will be looking into adding this mod in the next couple weeks. I'm still curious as to how the 2 shorter bars will help chassis flex? Can someone explain how they make an improvement, I'm always up to learning something new :dance:

[Bobiam]

Originally Posted by HB.

Now that I have the front and middle upper bar installed, I will be looking into adding this mod in the next couple weeks. I'm still curious as to how the 2 shorter bars will help chassis flex? Can someone explain how they make an improvement, I'm always up to learning something new :dance:

I have doubts that the 2 extra bars mean much. If you look at the rear of that alum plate where it is bolted in, that's a fairly light duty drop section of framing. It can't possibly be designed to do much in the way of providing controls of stresses regardless of what framing you attach to it. That triangular shape of the plate is likely to prevent a twisting motion but I doubt it has much work to do. I'll call 'em "Can't Hurt Bars"!!! Just one guy's opinion.

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by Bobiam

I have doubts that the 2 extra bars mean much. If you look at the rear of that alum plate where it is bolted in, that's a fairly light duty drop section of framing. It can't possibly be designed to do much in the way of providing controls of stresses regardless of what framing you attach to it. That triangular shape of the plate is likely to prevent a twisting motion but I doubt it has much work to do. I'll call 'em "Can't Hurt Bars"!!! Just one guy's opinion.

Yeah, the lower side bars certainly can't hurt. They're something simple to install (easier to install than the main bar) that can further reinforce the stress plate.

As for the drop section of framing in the very back, it was loose and almost falling off on my car when I bought it used. I assume the mounting bolts just vibrated loose. When I tightened it up (this is before I installed stress bars) I immediately noticed a difference in cornering in the car. So I do think it does something in tying the back of the stress plate down solid, and like you said, probably preventing some twist. I think that adding the side bars and triangulating the whole thing certainly would help with this function.