Feedback requested: Fender brace design
Oct 14, 2008, 07:51 PM
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Feedback requested: Fender brace design
After reading about the benefits of a fender brace I thought I would make some in my spare time. I began with looking closer at one of the original designs out there for the Evo: Nagisa Gacchiri. I found a few others, and they all had a similar setup... they simply connected the front pillar to the upper frame extension.
After a couple hours of measuring and fitting I decided I could extend a brace to connect the front pillar to the upper frame extension AND the inner fender shield. One of the bolts will tie it directly into the support the holds the engine mount to the side member. If the Nagisa support (using what appears to be four mounting locations) provides noticeable results, then extending it further towards the side member and increasing the bolt locations to 8 should be better right?
I have attached a picture of both the Nagisa and my (incomplete) design. The red bar is yet to be competed. The blue dots represent the mounting points.
Does anyone have experience with this? I'm open to all ideas and input. Thanks!
After a couple hours of measuring and fitting I decided I could extend a brace to connect the front pillar to the upper frame extension AND the inner fender shield. One of the bolts will tie it directly into the support the holds the engine mount to the side member. If the Nagisa support (using what appears to be four mounting locations) provides noticeable results, then extending it further towards the side member and increasing the bolt locations to 8 should be better right?
I have attached a picture of both the Nagisa and my (incomplete) design. The red bar is yet to be competed. The blue dots represent the mounting points.
Does anyone have experience with this? I'm open to all ideas and input. Thanks!
Dec 6, 2008, 09:30 PM
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Doesnt seem like the mounting point that is further forward of the car would have any benefits in itself (its just extra weight). Seems like you really just need to triangulate that strut tower.
Dec 12, 2008, 10:00 AM
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Thank you for the replies.
As I understand the limitations of the unibody design, the purpose of any brace is to better connect the major structural components of the car. In this case, Mitsubishi put in the green colored piece to reinforce the front pillar (Blue) to the upper frame extension (yellow). The (few) commercially available braces I found essentially connect the same thing.
I guess when I started making these it seemed like a better solution would be to reinforce as much of the entire side of the car (structurally speaking). A complete boxed in structure representing the ultimate in rigidity. Obviously I cannot box it all in, but I took the brace all the way to the engine mount reinforcement (light blue) because it ties directly down to the side member (red). But it could very well be just extra weight.
I have not finished the other side yet, and I don't want to drive around with just one. I'll let you know how they feel.
Please keep the comments coming, especially if you have experience reinforcing the front end and have experience between reinforcing just the strut area vs reinforcing the entire front side.
As I understand the limitations of the unibody design, the purpose of any brace is to better connect the major structural components of the car. In this case, Mitsubishi put in the green colored piece to reinforce the front pillar (Blue) to the upper frame extension (yellow). The (few) commercially available braces I found essentially connect the same thing.
I guess when I started making these it seemed like a better solution would be to reinforce as much of the entire side of the car (structurally speaking). A complete boxed in structure representing the ultimate in rigidity. Obviously I cannot box it all in, but I took the brace all the way to the engine mount reinforcement (light blue) because it ties directly down to the side member (red). But it could very well be just extra weight.
I have not finished the other side yet, and I don't want to drive around with just one. I'll let you know how they feel.
Please keep the comments coming, especially if you have experience reinforcing the front end and have experience between reinforcing just the strut area vs reinforcing the entire front side.
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Jan 6, 2009, 08:38 PM
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UPDATE!
Finally got both sides completed. Both are installed, but as no one else seems to have done this before, I decided to leave off the fenders for some cautious road testing.
I did a couple hard brake maneuvers and tight turn radiuses to see if it rubs, but everything seems ok. Maybe I was just happy to get this far, but I swear it steers better now. In stock form she drove like a go cart, but now she's on rails.
I now need to work on getting the inner fender shield to fit. I thought I had enough clearance when I was mocking these up, but now I think I will need to re-form them a bit.
Does anyone know the normal travel of the stock suspension?
Finally got both sides completed. Both are installed, but as no one else seems to have done this before, I decided to leave off the fenders for some cautious road testing.
I did a couple hard brake maneuvers and tight turn radiuses to see if it rubs, but everything seems ok. Maybe I was just happy to get this far, but I swear it steers better now. In stock form she drove like a go cart, but now she's on rails.
I now need to work on getting the inner fender shield to fit. I thought I had enough clearance when I was mocking these up, but now I think I will need to re-form them a bit.
Does anyone know the normal travel of the stock suspension?
Jan 6, 2009, 09:33 PM
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It should not be too difficult. You only need to remove the wheels, loosen the side skirt, remove the fender liner, and then the fender. You can leave the bumper in place. The only tricky part is getting the fender off the first time. You have to be very patient because it bends very easy.
Also, Mitsubishi uses some sort of gasket material everywhere the aluminum bolts to steel. So after removing the bolts, you should run a putty knife along the seam to break the seal.
It should take only a couple hours to remove and then re-install both fenders. I cannot say how long installing a fender brace should take, because I made these myself. I am so sick of fitting and refitting these over and over. If you bought some from the vendors selling them, then it looks pretty simple once you open up the fender. Maybe 30 minutes.
Also, Mitsubishi uses some sort of gasket material everywhere the aluminum bolts to steel. So after removing the bolts, you should run a putty knife along the seam to break the seal.
It should take only a couple hours to remove and then re-install both fenders. I cannot say how long installing a fender brace should take, because I made these myself. I am so sick of fitting and refitting these over and over.
If you bought some from the vendors selling them, then it looks pretty simple once you open up the fender. Maybe 30 minutes.
