Quote:
Originally Posted by 2hot6ft2
Yeah, wall thickness would play a part as well. Too bad there are so many obstacles in the way of just having a straight c-pillar type bar for the front.
Unfortunately I don't have either one. The fabrication ability or the materials to make a marketable one but I'll keep looking for a way to make one that will work.
Perhaps it would be easier if someone just came up with brackets that could replace the ones that come with the A Spec or Tanabe to make it attach to the strut studs. Naturally making them adjustable would be an undertaking of its own.
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Okay, 2hot-
Here is a simple,
EFFECTVE, design that any machine shop could make that would outperform
any front bar on the market. I do have the skills and the materials are available in any major city. The production cost for
one bar would be very high because materials cost less the more you buy, and labor is far less when divided among 50 or 100 pieces as opposed to one at a time.
Making a strut stud mount to replace the ridiculous tower brackets is simple-
just use a large washer about 1/8" thick with a center hole the size of the strut stud. The studs have at least 1" of threads exposed above the mounting nuts- they are presently covered by a plastic sleeve. Use the circular plates (washers) as the bar ends, permanently attached, as in welded. Take off the protective plastic sleeves from the studs, drop the plates over the studs, and tighten down another nut on top of the plates.
I would make the bar out of polished, solid (not hollow) stainless 3/4" or even 1/2" hex bar stock stock of high carbon 4140 stainless steel alloy. There is a reason for the solid vs. hollow--
my design would apply tension by drawing the strut studs together, toward each other.
Because the studs are recessed pretty far back from the position of the current design mounting brackets, the new s.s. bar would have to be bent into much more of a bow to clear the front edge of the center of the firewall. 4140 s.s. has a high degree of structural strength. Even in a bowed shape, and using it to draw the studs toward the center with tension, there is so little tension needed to keep the struts from moving during the hardest of turns that it would be impossible to bend the bar with strut movement.
The tensioning device would be a 1" to 1 1/2" length of hex bar that has threaded studs machined on both ends of it. The threaded studs on the adjuster piece would be about 1 1/2" long on each side. The bar would be cut in the center with drilled and tapped holes to receive the threaded studs on the hex adjuster. We would use fine threads on the adjuster and bar holes, so that one turn of the adjuster would move the bar ends together or apart, depending upon which direction the adjuster is turned, by about 1-2 mm. The adjustability of the bar length would be very easy both in length for installation onto the strut studs, and for pre-load tension.
I don't know what the current per pound cost of 4140 hex bar is from industrial metal suppliers, but my bet is that in quantities of 100 or more, the cost of materials (bar stock, s.s. washers, extra mounting nuts) and machining would be in the neighborhood of $25.00.
I would be in the process of making one of these right now if it weren't for my lack of belief that the front struts have enough movement to even worry about. If I had known in advance how poor the quality of the bar that I bought was, I would have saved my money and my time. Since I have solved the corrosion problems on my A Spec bar, I really don't see the need to throw it away and spend more money to make a better bar.
Also, my past experience in paying machine shops to do production work on my designs has been so negative that I have no interest in making mechanical products for sale anymore.