I didn't want to spend the $ on the hunk of metal under the control arms either 1 because none of them properly cleared the exhaust, and 2 because I could just heat up and modify the stock ones to work just as good. I've been running the Nagi fender braces for about 2 seasons and I love it. Makes the steering a little less squishy, most noticeable in slower turns or AX'ing. The proper way to do it of course is to tie it into the roll cage and reinforce that whole shock tower area but that can be more expensive.

 

Like so:

 

The bolt on crap seems silly to me when you have a proper cage. Here is what we did:



Support the struts with the cage seemed stronger.

 

Yep, that's pretty much what mine looks like too. That pic above is the cage I've got in my car, you just sorta have to imagine where the front shock towers sit. Though I think on mine the bars may come in from a little lower down, but with those FIA cages, I couldn't make any modifications or they'd lose the FIA cert.

Dave

 

Kevin you *should* triangulate that point by coming up from your floor plate at the occupant's feet.

Balrok,
Did you really notice a difference from the fender braces? I'm a bit skeptical. Do you have to drill holes in order to mount it or does it pick up on pre-existing holes?

 

we looked at doing it, but it was very difficult to run a tube through the firewall like that. next one i do i'll starting with firewall modifications before welding in the rest of the cage

 

FWIW, I think mine has the triangulation all done behind the firewall...but the door openings are all taped off so I can't go look.

Dave

 

Even if it ends up looking more like a gussett, rather than triangulated at the node... I think it'll offer far better stiffness than a tube way out in space in bending. Ya know?

 

So sounds like based on opinions here that the fender brace isn't needed for a car that's already got bracing out to the shock towers.

Anybody have any thoughts on that Tanabe brace that ties in the front and back edges of the mounting points for the control arms? Worth doing, or should I just try to track down two of those stock bars that run across the bottom?

Thanks!

Dave

 

I'm under the impression that having less weight in the car at the sacrifice of some additional "functionality" may make you faster up the hill.

 

Dave, did you settle on a wheel and tire setup yet?

 

There's other regular AX/Racers that used to be on here that put the Nagi brace on and picked up time. Robi also was a big advocate for me to get it as he did some testing back in 08 and saw serious flex on corner entry. If you wern't to do it as part of the cage, or didn't want to spend the dough on the Nagi, what Robi basically did was weld rectangular/square bars in the same configuration. If they were fully welded i'd say they'd be even more stiff then my bolt in. If I were to do it as part of a cage I'd run the tube completely along the side all the way to the front tubular rad support etc. So then it's technically like a tube frame but the body isn't "mounted" to it. Only then would it provide the difference that R/T is referring to. But even with a bolt in or weld in, it still takes away from the sloppiness I hadn't realized it had beforehand. The other question is the Nagi's "bolt" in one location out front, and the door jam locations in the rear. The "center" part is a bolt with large washers that "clamp" onto the fender through that 1" hole, not optimal I know. I got a steal on them back when, mounted my Voltex fenders at the same time, haven't looked back. I'm sure there's some pics posted here somewhere.

There's a retarded % of weight in front of the firewall with little reinforcement, so anything to stiffen it up will only help.

 

Thanks. I'll come up with something for the fender bracing Appreciate the input

 

Post up what you come up with, cause we know you ....Tinker....quite well Just don't make it $$$ titanium

BTW pm me your rear control arm cause i'll be needing one.

 

Took today off to knock more body work out:



Was pretty happy with how it turned out on the last coat, so figured it was time to try a quick wet-sand. It may not be perfect, but I think I'm going to call it good enough for a race car.



Haven't snapped any pics of the passenger side, but I've been working on that as well. Here's a shot where I've done the primer, then gone back and circled any of the problem areas with a sharpie.



Dave