Made a rear strut tower brace for my classic

Peter Serwe peter@easytree.net
Tue, 19 Nov 2002 18:26:00 -0600


Omer already replied to the length question, since his account doesn't
have line
length filters :)

I've sent this one to the list twice, maybe third time's the charm.

Oh well, here it is again for the list, long line wrapped.

And a couple things I forgot to mention in the previous mail, I'm using
the DXF
directly into a CNC at my neighbors job.  My first one will be free, but
Steel and Marshall says
they can CNC them out super cheap in limited quantities, like 50-100,
and since I
already have the DXF off of www.seneb.net, I'm all set that way :)

The total length out to the ends of the bar in fact, are 50" with full
preload on
Omer's car.  If I made the bar 51 and had an extra half inch, that would
probably
give way more than necessary adjustment, and still keep of the 2" of
threaded 1
1/4" square stock on the bar, and be safe, right?  Or should I keep it
tight to 50"
and if there's a half inch variance, it'll end up as 1/4" on each side
of
unthreaded square stock.

There was yet another possible option, which is mount on the bar, and
tack weld to
the plates, 3 or 4 grade 8 nuts, evenly spaced, to allow for a super
solid,
extremely cheap connection.  It's quite a bit cheaper than bored,
threaded square
stock. I'm not even considering round stock as an option, the square
stuff is a lot
easier to weld on square and solid.

The weld quality should be fantastic, and I might be able to powdercoat
them for a
reasonable fee.

Hey all,

For grins, I just looked into doing this locally, I'll get prices
tomorrow, and
figure out what they'd cost but here's the outline, even simpler than
Omar's..

1 Turn ground polished steel bar with 6" of threads on it, righty on one
side,
lefty on the other.

I chose turn polished at the suggestion of one of the owners of a local
outfit,
Steel and Marshall, he claims the material cost won't be significant,
and it's
considerably stronger/stiffer than cold rolled, and he says it won't
cost hardly
any more.

I'm going to tack weld a grade 8 nut in the center, might be a little
slop, I need
something a bigger enough than 3/4, and attach the plates to a 2" 1 1/4
piece of
steel square stock, bored and threaded to 3/4 so it'll thread on to the
bar.

I'll put 1 grade 8 nut, and a lock washer on, thread on the plate, and I
should be
able to turn the nut in the center for preload.  I'm hoping to have a
selling price
of around $50-$60 if I can get them all done quick and easy, and I could
possibly
ship them by the first week of December.

Lastly, I heard the actual distance to span was 50", I haven't taken out
the tape
measure yet, but is that the total length for the bar, or the end to end
distance
of your bar from then end of one piece of the steel pipe, to the end of
the other,
including thread/brackets?  I'll get the tape measure out tomorrow when
it's light,
anyway, but I was hoping someone knew.

Thanks all.

Caio.

P.S.  So far, Omer thinks it's a cool idea, so I'm kinda interested in
checking it
out.

--
Peter Serwe <peter@easytree.net>
Cheaper, Faster, Better, pick any two.
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