"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
10/18/2014 at 16:39 • Filed to: None
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"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
10/18/2014 at 16:39 • Filed to: None | 3
| 11 |
Through the magic of washers I got my hood and strut tower brace spaced so nothing hits anything else! Well, almost. The hood still seems to be binding on something, and the driver's side panel gap is HUGE compared to the passenger side panel gap. Which is odd.
Also got the trunk cleared of the massive amount of crap I had in it, and ditched the carpet that would no longer fit because of my full-sized now-spare tire.
I was testing the clearance by rocking the engine back and forth by putting it in drive, going around to the engine bay, and revving it. Unfortunately, I revved beyond the parking brake's ability to hold it and the driver's side front tire ran over my right foot. Nothing broken, everything still works, but damn it hurts. Oddly not swelling up, and I'm not sure how.
Next up: rear strut brace.
Tohru
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/18/2014 at 16:55 |
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Unless the brace attaches to at least two bolt holes on each side, it's not adding any structural rigidity to the chassis. All you're going to do is ruin the underhood liner with that "brace" rubbing around.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Tohru
10/18/2014 at 17:02 |
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It's still resisting compression and expansion, even if it's just going to one bolthole. The only thing I can think of it's not doing is preventing the car from twisting torsionally.
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Tohru
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/18/2014 at 17:11 |
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If it was a straight bar between the bolts you could say that. With the angle on the end brackets any force going down the bar will bow it towards the front instead of transferring it to the other strut tower like it's supposed to.
In my opinion as a mechanic, that bar isn't doing anything useful for the car.
Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/18/2014 at 17:21 |
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Like mentioned, the bar isn't doing much of anything if it's only attached to one bolt. Now, the car probably has more tendency to twist rather than flex inward.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Tohru
10/18/2014 at 17:30 |
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I'd be surprised if that 1/4" steel managed to bend in that direction. Maybe if it deflected upwards slightly, but I actually *tried* bending it with a press and it's some sort of ridiculously strong steel.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2
10/18/2014 at 17:30 |
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BUT IT LOOKS COOL.
I could always weld on a bit to go over to another bolt, though.
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Tohru
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/18/2014 at 17:32 |
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There's the potential for a lot of force. Big heavy car, leverage at the joint where the center bar is welded to the mount arm...
Like I said, it's my opinion. It's your car. If you wanna do it that's fine.
samssun
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/19/2014 at 18:49 |
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Can we get a picture of the engine bay to see the whole bar? One bolt doesn't necessarily prevent the bar from reducing a lot of the flex, but I'd probably want that second smaller washer above rather than below the bar.
This would help spread the bolt's force on the bar, and increase the bar's surface area against the strut tower (or big washer you have). A bolt isn't supposed to work like a pin, with the bar pushing/pulling against the side of the bolt. It's supposed to be tightened enough to stretch slightly, clamping the metal between it (bar and strut tower) tightly enough that the friction won't let them move any. That's harder to do with smaller surface area.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> samssun
10/19/2014 at 19:06 |
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The way it is now is tower surface -> HUGE washer -> brace -> bolt head, and it's tightened as tight as I can get it with my large ratchet.
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samssun
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
10/19/2014 at 19:10 |
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Your other picture shows tower, huge washer, smaller washer, brace, bolt head digging into paint. Moving the smaller washer up between the bolt head and brace would, I think, distribute the bolt head's load better, and give you more surface area where the brace meets the huge washer.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> samssun
10/19/2014 at 22:37 |
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Yeah, I changed it after I took the picture. The new bolts I'm using have integrated washers (at least, I think one of them does)