Front suspension bracing

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classicswede
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Front suspension bracing

Post by classicswede » 28 Oct 2005 08:59 pm

Well I have been busy over the past couple of weeks.
I have been taking a very close look at the 300 suspension set up and thought out how to stiffen up the front end.
The idea of bracing is to hold the wheels in the correct positon (angle) at all times especially when under load.
On many cars the strut top has a lot of flex(they push in closer to each other) so the fitment of a stut brace greatly reduces this problem. In the case of the 300 this tends not to happen as the strut tops are very close to the bulk head , so at this stage I wont be fitting one.

Ok now that is out of the way there are two more things to look at
1 the crossmember this is what I am looking st here
And 2 the strut leg, will need reenforcing to stop it from flexing also the damper plays a part - I will cover this in full later.

Ok as I said I shall cover the front crossmember here. The purpose of strenghening here is to keep the wishbones in as best a position as possible and prevent the stress of heavy load damaging the suspension.

To start you will need the crossmember removed
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The main area of problems is where the wishbone bolts on
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You will need to bolt on the wishbone to hold things in the correct position while welding
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You now need to clean up the area below and cut a peice of 40x40 angle
This will help to stop twisting in the area
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This is where the special tools come in a welder a mig is best but as it was near by I used the arc. Fist off tack
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And then make sure the wishbone is free to move and does not get obstucted by the angle

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You can then fully weld
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And then do the other side

Ok that is step 1 completed now for part 2

Look at the pic below. This area needs reenforcing to prevent the bottom part of the x-member pushing up
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A bit of 1" (25mm) angle should do the trick
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The final part that is not done yet is to sand blast and paint.

To take this further you could brace accross from one side to the other. I hope this has got some of you thinking out of the norm!

Dai
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Post by bogbasic » 28 Oct 2005 10:09 pm

Looks superb. I've been trying to contact you about my front struts! Have left private message on this site, otherwise can you possibly drop me an e-mail on bogbasic@yahoo.co.uk so I can post the stuff up to you.

Many thanks, bogbasic
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Post by classicswede » 29 Oct 2005 11:40 pm

Received reply. If I get time I will show everyone how it is done.

When do you need your stuts back by?


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340GLT
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Post by 340GLT » 29 Oct 2005 11:48 pm

I'm watching this and this is the type of thing i'm doing to mine, evertime i do a bit of work on it, i end up restoring and improving things!!!! lol
Cheers Adam
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Post by classicswede » 29 Oct 2005 11:58 pm

Hi Adam
If you intend building up an ultamate suspension set up I would suggest obtaining a full car to strip all the bits off and sort out. Then you can paint them etc before fitting.

Dai
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340GLT
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Post by 340GLT » 29 Oct 2005 11:59 pm

Exactly!!! i havestruts as a start!!!!
Cheers Adam
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Post by jtbo » 30 Oct 2005 04:29 pm

This would be great, but it will fail MOT in here, it is not allowed to weld suspension parts at all. :(
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Post by classicswede » 30 Oct 2005 07:14 pm

Well if that is the case you just have to be very clever about it. If you made the bits out of 2mm plate and spot welded them in repainted everything them they probably would not notice.
Mot's is one of the only good things about the UK compared to some places where you are not allowed to modify!

Dai
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340GLT
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Post by 340GLT » 02 Dec 2005 12:03 am

Dai i have noticed another weak point!!! I caght my alloy on the kerb the other day in the ice!!! :oops: I am not ashamed to admit it!! And i thought it had done no damage apart from the mark on the wheel. The incident was at like 5mph in a car park anyway. I noticed the tracking was out so i did that tonight but noticed that the wishbone has bent!!!
This really did suprise me it has bent exactly where it joins the front crossmember!! Any ideas mate?
Cheers Adam
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C208 CTR - 340 1.8 16v
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Post by redline » 02 Dec 2005 09:27 am

This is purely a laymans observation and I may be talking out of my rearend here ( i am not an engineer or anything like that )and I am certainly not criticising any thing you guys are doing , ( I have the utmost respect for Dai and Adams work )

But could it not be a case of these parts were made to be not " quite " so rigid to allow for absorbtion of minor knocks ?,

surely by strengthening some parts of the suspension you are in fact making other parts , not exactly weaker but perhaps more vulnerable as now they are taking the abuse that was previously spread across the whole set up.


As I said I could be totally wrong here but I am interested in this subject and wondered what others thought
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Post by 340GLT » 02 Dec 2005 04:43 pm

I can see what your saying Mick and yes in some aspects i will agree. You also have to take into consideration all of these cars are at least 15 years old and parts deteriorate over time and although a car can look mint on the body underneath it could be a bag of nails!! As i noticed one of the supports on the front crossmemeber on mine is starting to rot!!
As for the wishbones at like a 15-20mph crash yeh i guess but like 5mph???? I dont think it should have bent at that speed!!
Cheers Adam
F559 LFE - 340R 2.0 16v
C208 CTR - 340 1.8 16v
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Post by classicswede » 02 Dec 2005 10:43 pm

Mick you are spot on bracing parts does transfer loads to other areas.
In Adams case this has nothing to do with any bracing but the manufactures intended design. The wishbone is designed to bend under impact to help prevent chassis damage. A wishbone is a simple bolt on job.

You could box in the bottom of the wishbone as I have done with my part built up front end ( just a biit a 2mm plate) But as said if you do hit somthing very hard then the frorce will get transfered to the crossmember.


Dai
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Post by Fuse » 03 Dec 2005 12:26 am

redline wrote:This is purely a laymans observation and I may be talking out of my rearend here ( i am not an engineer or anything like that )and I am certainly not criticising any thing you guys are doing , ( I have the utmost respect for Dai and Adams work )

But could it not be a case of these parts were made to be not " quite " so rigid to allow for absorbtion of minor knocks ?,

surely by strengthening some parts of the suspension you are in fact making other parts , not exactly weaker but perhaps more vulnerable as now they are taking the abuse that was previously spread across the whole set up.


As I said I could be totally wrong here but I am interested in this subject and wondered what others thought
Well then you just have to strengthen/replace the other parts too until the whole suspension is solid. :mrgreen:

What comes to the ultimate suspension, these are my inspiration. 8)

http://www.tuff240.com/gpagalleryindex.htm

and

http://home.hia.no/~askrip03/Volvo/DSCF0881.JPG


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Post by redline » 03 Dec 2005 09:43 am

[quote="classicswede"]Mick you are spot on bracing parts does transfer loads to other areas.Dai quote ]

oh its nice to be rightt for once , someone tell the wife LOL
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Post by Ronnie » 04 Dec 2005 09:47 pm

Fuse wrote:What comes to the ultimate suspension, these are my inspiration. 8)

http://home.hia.no/~askrip03/Volvo/DSCF0881.JPG
That is very, very nice - A Dutch Mad Max?
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