front shock tower reinforcement

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spikekid999

MOPAR OR NO CAR!!!
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what have you guys done to reinforce the front shock tower areas? I've seen the shock hoops, along with a tube that goes from the front frame rail to the firewall. anyone done anything else? post pics of what you've done
 
putting hydraulics in my dart, and the hydraulic cylinder and mini coil spring is gonna go in place of the shock, so I'm gonna have to reinforce that area pretty good
 
spikekid999 said:
putting hydraulics in my dart, and the hydraulic cylinder and mini coil spring is gonna go in place of the shock, so I'm gonna have to reinforce that area pretty good
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ah geeze... your going to need to do some serious bracing, a J bar AND a inner fender support would probably be enough.
 
yeah that's what I was thinking, but wanna see what others have done to help get ideas.
I'm not gonna be doing any hopping or anything with this. just a simple up down setup with some old skool aircraft pumps which are slow. just something to get it down on the ground and keep it traditional
 
spikekid999 said:
yeah that's what I was thinking, but wanna see what others have done to help get ideas.
I'm not gonna be doing any hopping or anything with this. just a simple up down setup with some old skool aircraft pumps which are slow. just something to get it down on the ground and keep it traditional
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oh ok. you might think of bending some 1/4" plate to follow the shock tower but from the wheel side. Then you can clearance for anything and spot weld it from the engine side. then with the hoop in there i think you should be alright.
 
Add a pair of Firewall to inner fender/apron braces just for giggles. 73 up A-bodies have them from the factory. Also helps keep the engine bay square!
 
CUUDAK said:
Add a pair of Firewall to inner fender/apron braces just for giggles. 73 up A-bodies have them from the factory. Also helps keep the engine bay square!
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Those 2 pizzy little pieces of tubing from the factory do nothing more than change the way the body bends in a collision.
 
I figured I'll put in a pair of j-bars in Frome the fire wall, weld em to the shock towers, and down to the frame rails, them plate the shock towers. and figure I'll add a couple more braces in somewhere
 
RedFish said:
Those 2 pizzy little pieces of tubing from the factory do nothing more than change the way the body bends in a collision.
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Sorry but they do more than just that! I personally have seen the difference with and without them. Driving hard into corners will eventually crack the welds there were the apron meets the cowl area.

To each their own I suppose!

I would also look into a brace the bolts to the top of the shocks and back up to the center of the firewall/cowl. Something similar to a strut tower brace. Something similar to this,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Strut...ies&hash=item33733523b6&vxp=mtr#ht_2121wt_736

Easy to fab that up!
 
I could, but I won't have front shocks, and I don't want any breaching that can be seen with the hood open
 
spikekid999 said:
I could, but I won't have front shocks, and I don't want any breaching that can be seen with the hood open
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Your call bro!

Be sure to stitch weld a 6"x6" 1/4" plate to the firewall and the framerails on both sides. Something to weld the down bars to similar to the bars on a roll cage. I am sure you have seen the way it has been done in the forums here.

Good luck!
 
Yup, already planned on welding plays to the frame and firewall for the j-bars

I'm surprised, almost 150 views and no pics, figured a quite a bit of people on here have reinforced this area
 
I installed J bars and plated part of the shock tower uprights on my Duster. This is from a little while ago, I can get a few more if you want. The bars use landing plates on the firewall and and frame, and there's a small extension and another landing plate that ties the J bar to the shock tower. This set is from Dillinger Chassis while he was still operating.

I also ran the tubular radiator support (also Dillinger) behind the stock radiator support, which put it below my J bars so the landing plates for the J bars and radiator support are both welded to the frame and welded to each other. So the J's tie the firewall, shock towers, radiator support and frame all together in the front. The car also has 1.5x3" subframe connectors and torque boxes. Now that its on the road its amazing how solid the car is. Very few squeaks and rattles, just feels solid and predictable.

But, if you're looking for something that you can't see with the hood open, this ain't it...

IMG_1215_zps6e2c28a4.jpg
 
I know people have done the j-bars (or similar) in the wheel well, which is what I plan on doing. But I also like the idea of the tubular radiator support behind the factory one to help hide it.

I indeed plan on doing frame connectors and torque boxes myself, and since I'm putting t-tops on it I'm thinking on running a 1"x2" rectangle tubing on the inside of the rockers
 
For the inner fender brace I'd contact Hemidenny on the board, he's got a few braces for the the shock tower that should work for your application. The other way would be a brace like XV makes, which just runs from the cowl to the shock tower. I have pictures somewhere, I'll see if I can find them. I have that style as well, but not installed yet. They're for my more stock appearing GT.

The tubular radiator support is still visible, in order for it to clear the radiator it has to hang down below the original. At least mine did. About half of the tube is visible below the original support.

The valve covers are Cal Custom pieces, or maybe a knock off of a Cal custom piece. I think I bought them off of one of the forums, can't remember anymore I've had them for a few years.
 
thanks. looking at the hdk ones, I have a pretty good idea on how im gonna make em, just a matter on figuring it out when I can get to working on it
 
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