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SteveSr
Thanks to Jeroen's thread I decided to cut away the body seam sealer and have a look at how the shock towers are fastened (not fastened?) to the body.Brad & Jeroen I can see how they would tear away after a while with stiff springs and racing stresses. smash.gif Here are a couple of pics..........
SteveSr
Thanks for the tip!!!!! smilie_pokal.gif beerchug.gif

SteveSr driving.gif
Jeroen
Hey Steve,

Looks good.
Can you post some pics looking from the opposite direction (I'd like to see where you welded that lower xbar)

cheers,

Jeroen
SteveSr
Here ya go Jeroen,I fashioned a piece of sheet metal into a "U" shape and welder.gif over the exposed end of the double walled brace between the shock towers and then tied it in with tube.
My thought on the towers themselves was to stitch a bead all the way around the seams then welder.gif in a gussett like you did....... smilie_pokal.gif
Whata ya think???

SteveSr
SteveSr
Whoops.......forgot to post the pictures..................
SteveSr
and another......................
Jeroen
Steve,

I hate to be a critic, but I think you need to take another look at this pic

IPB Image

(or the other pics in this thread)

You need to cut out the last piece of firewall (marked in red in the pic below).
The part you left is what hides the crappy connection between the frame rails and the shock tower...

Also check for engine clearance on that lower x-bar. The stock firewall is higher in the center
(may not be a problem, but better check twice now biggrin.gif)

cheers,

Jeroen
eeyore
Could even more of that shock tower come off? Like the part in red, or even the green? Doesn't the x-member only need to tie the tops of the shocks together and just a little is needed for supporting the tranny?
Jeroen
QUOTE(Cloudbuster @ Aug 24 2004, 02:40 AM)
Could even more of that shock tower come off?

Yep, more could be removed
But if think the shock tower is double wall and it'll be a bitch to weld it up nicely again...
SteveSr
agree.gif at least the portion in red could come off,it doesn't really do anything now that the trunk floor is gone. Thanks Jeroen for pointing out Iwas looking at the wrong side of the shock tower pray.gif The tube I welded in across there doesn't interfer with the engine at all. But now I have to re-think the whole thing sawzall-smiley.gif welder.gif

SteveSr biggrin.gif
Jeroen
QUOTE
Iwas looking at the wrong side of the shock tower


Cut it out... you'll be shocked (no pun intended) what you'll find...

QUOTE
The tube I welded in across there doesn't interfer with the engine at all. But now I have to re-think the whole thing


Just the top bar should be strong enough
"thinking" is about half the time I spend on this car idea.gif
Got lots 'o stoopid ideas and then trying to figure out what would really work
Looking at what others did sure helps a lot to get you in the right direction
My theories seem to make sense (to me at least biggrin.gif) but only time will tell if they really work biggrin.gif

cheers,

Jeroen
SteveSr
Thinking too much is my problem headbang.gif I,m a toolmaker by trade and tend to over engineer things when I building something!!!! chair.gif

SteveSr biggrin.gif
eeyore
And now, for some unsolicited advice:

A problem the offroad guys found out is that if you weld tube onto another surface (even cromo), it will crack near the weld and eventually punch a hole through the material. It seems doubly the case for heavy tube into sheetmetal.

The drawing is very poor, but I would cut away a large piece of the crossmember bar (in green) so that both ends match the back/top contour of the shock tower (in red). This increases the welded surface area (blue), and decreases the amount work that is done against a specific piece of sheetmetal.
SteveSr
What about welder.gif a piece of sheet metal on the end of the tube first then weld to the body????

SteveSr
eeyore
QUOTE(SteveSr @ Aug 24 2004, 12:46 PM)
What about welder.gif a piece of sheet metal on the end of the tube first then weld to the body????

SteveSr

Yes, that works. You want the piece to be larger to distribute the load. However, in your specfic instance, the tower appears to be double walled, so if the weld hasn't penetrated to the 2nd wall, your work is done.

I threw in the drawing because I like how the top of the tower has lots of shape and surface area, which gives strenth, and is closer to the actual stress point of the shock mount.
Jeroen
Here's what I did on my previous chassis
The x-bar is as high up between the shoch mounts as I could get it
The shocktower has a nice curve, which adds strength to the original surface and also makes for a bigger surface to weld to

pic 1
Jeroen
way up there

pic 2
Jeroen
close up of the curve

pic 3
Jeroen
Here's the rest of the x-braces
The ones from the shock tower to the tranny mount are at a pretty sharp angle, so the impact this bar would create on the surface would be way less compared to e.g. a 90 deg. angle
And there's quite a big contact patch because of the angle too, so I didn't use scab plates here either

pic 4
SteveSr
I dove into the hellhole last nite with sawzall-smiley.gif in hand,air chisel and grinder and after about an hour and a half here's what I found..........the shock towers not welded to the frame rail!!!! What was the factory thinking confused24.gif
SteveSr
one more................
Jeroen
QUOTE(SteveSr @ Aug 25 2004, 04:36 PM)
here's what I found..........the shock towers not welded to the frame rail!!!! What was the factory thinking confused24.gif

I told you you'd be surprised biggrin.gif
Glad you took it out huh?
SteveSr
Yes! very surprised. Now on to the other side sawzall-smiley.gif

SteveSr beer.gif
SteveSr
Welded up one side lastnite welder.gif ,now to the other side.........

SteveSr
brant
Perhaps Chris or one of the other expert welders will chime in...

I'm certainly not an expert. But I've always understood that over-heating a weld joint will make the metal brittle and more prone to cracking....

Thus, you may want to stitch weld when you do the 2nd side.

brant
SteveSr
agree.gif I'm a toolmaker,certainly not an expert welder, any advice would be helpful.
All though I have been told that there is not enough carbon in mild steel to harden the metal surrounding the weld. confused24.gif

SteveSr
maf914
Steve and Jeroen,

Thanks for the photos and explanations. I think I might finally understand the weak point you and Brad have been talking about for so long.

I don't know if I'm going to strip and reweld my street car though! laugh.gif
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