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Strut tower braces ready - any comments before welding?
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:55 pm
by Pete K
Hi Guys,
Finished all the pieces of the strut tower braces and they are now ready to weld. Does anyone have any helpful hints or comments before I make it "permanent"?
Hopefully the photos will be below (I'm still figuring this out), but if not, they are aslo at
http://team-orange.blogspot.com/
Cheers
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:03 am
by tacomagabe
The braces look really cool nice work! Maybe this is a dumb question but what would stop someone from just making a straight tower brace for the rear of the car that bolts on to the top of the brace just like the one in the front? Just curious. And I didn't know about your e12 blog! I'll be bookmarking that for future ref for sure.
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:06 pm
by Pete K
I thought about doing one for the rear that bolted on to the top, but ditched it in favour of the side bolt on one. It was looking too complicated once I put the diagonal braces on. It would have needed more bulk on top to stop the plate bending. If I was doing a road car, I'd just go for the straight across type for sure.
Cheers
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:38 am
by bkbimmer
It looks pretty good, but I would add some gussets in the corners of the rear bar and add a plate where it will be welded to the floor, for added strength.
Oh yeah, don't forget to make your welds look pretty
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:20 am
by Pete K
Well, I didn't manage to make the welds look pretty. I'm not that good a welder! They seemed to do the trick though. I managed to drop 1.4 seconds off my best time at Oran Park (Sydney) with nothing more than strut braces and the battery moved to the boot. Came almost exactly mid field which is bloody good for an old 4 banger! Managed to stay ahead of 9 M3's so was pretty excited.
Still can't tell exactly what difference the braces made, but there was something.
Photos are at
http://hak.gwc134.net/Cars/BMW/20090412pjk520.htm
Cheers