DIY rear suspension brace

[j.fro]

A while back, someone posted that he had made a brace to link the lower parts of the suspension. It was made from a piece of aluminum bar that had the ends machined flat and drilled for mounting. Has anyone got photos of exactly where this was mounted??

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by j.fro

A while back, someone posted that he had made a brace to link the lower parts of the suspension. It was made from a piece of aluminum bar that had the ends machined flat and drilled for mounting. Has anyone got photos of exactly where this was mounted??

What you're looking for is what they're calling an Ernie Bar. Here's the original post:

Driving Impressions: Lower Stress Bar

I just finished doing this mod and I took some photos, but they're not ready to upload yet. Basically you attach the bar at the furthest rear-ward bolt on the last suspension piece. It's mounted DIRECTLY in front of the rear anti-sway bar. By removing the plate there and one sway bar mount I was able to fit a 1" bar up in this location (the other post talks about putting in a 3/4" bar). I used the same method of cutting a solid aluminum round stock bar and then drilling holes and filing flats (hand filed, not machined). However, in addition to that I used some 3/4" round stock and custom modified eye bolts to further tie this mounting point to the two most rear-ward mounting points on the metal plate. This basically beefs up the whole rear suspension and ties everything together nicely where there is normally just that thin, metal plate.

Again, I'll dig up that original post and add some of my pictures with the modification that I did.

Kirk

[Kirk]

Here's the location of the bar just forward of the anti-sway bar. The Ernie Bar is the clean, new one in the picture.

[blinkwatt]

Kirk did you notice any difference after you installed the brace?

[j.fro]

Thanks!! this is exactly what I was looking for.

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

Kirk did you notice any difference after you installed the brace?

I'm sorry, but it's really hard for me to judge the difference due to my circumstances. I got hit on my motorcycle back in May and have been laid up a bit since then with a broken foot. I hadn't been able to drive my Porsche (manual transmission) until two days ago. While the car was not being driven I put it up on jack stands in my garage and did several projects, including Gemballa lowering springs and the lower braces. I can't push the car hard yet because I need to get it aligned from the spring install and because my foot isn't quite up to that yet. I'll have some better impressions later, but still with mixing in another suspension change (lowering springs) with the braces, it will be hard to tell which change had what degree of impact.

Kirk