Inner Fender to Front Shock Brace Stiffening?

[Demonx2]

I have a question for some of you out there that perhaps know more about this one than me. When I got my car, I noticed it had some bolts attaching the inner fenders to the u-shaped brace that is underneath it that the front shock absorber attaches to. As this was always a drag race car, and typically launched with the front end a bit in the air (ran 10.60's), I'm wondering if this is a common thing to do to help when the front end comes back down. Here's a shot of the RH inner fender where you can see the bolt on the vertical as well as the horizontal part of the inner fender.

This car doesn't have any damages or anything so I'm just curious if this is something anyone has seen done before. When I look in the fenderwell, that shock brace really just seems to be hanging in mid-air so perhaps it could use some "help?" I took a snip of a pic of another members car on here just to show the shock brace I'm talking about:

I'm cleaning up/painting the engine compartment and trying to decide if I should put those attaching bolts back in or just weld up the offending bolt holes and leave it as it was originally when built. Also, is that shock brace actually attached underneath to the inner fender by design somehow (where you can't see it)? Seems like it would be pretty flimsy without some type of attachment.
Thx for your input!!

 

[harrisonm]

Those bolts were not there from the factory. If you can weld, plug them up. The plug weld will actually fuse the pieces together.

 

[72bluNblu]

The upper shock mount is spot welded to the inner fender in multiple places from the factory. If you look for them you can usually see the dimples where the spot welds are.

Also, keep in mind that the weight of the car and the suspension forces from the torsion bars are carried by the K member and torsion bar/transmission crossmember. The shock uprights only support the shocks, which don’t carry the weight of the car, just dampen the action of the torsion bars.

 

[famous bob]

I have a question for some of you out there that perhaps know more about this one than me. When I got my car, I noticed it had some bolts attaching the inner fenders to the u-shaped brace that is underneath it that the front shock absorber attaches to. As this was always a drag race car, and typically launched with the front end a bit in the air (ran 10.60's), I'm wondering if this is a common thing to do to help when the front end comes back down. Here's a shot of the RH inner fender where you can see the bolt on the vertical as well as the horizontal part of the inner fender.
View attachment 1715493398

This car doesn't have any damages or anything so I'm just curious if this is something anyone has seen done before. When I look in the fenderwell, that shock brace really just seems to be hanging in mid-air so perhaps it could use some "help?" I took a snip of a pic of another members car on here just to show the shock brace I'm talking about:
View attachment 1715493411


I'm cleaning up/painting the engine compartment and trying to decide if I should put those attaching bolts back in or just weld up the offending bolt holes and leave it as it was originally when built. Also, is that shock brace actually attached underneath to the inner fender by design somehow (where you can't see it)? Seems like it would be pretty flimsy without some type of attachment.
Thx for your input!!

I NEVER SAW THAT BEFORE, AND THEIR NOT FACTORY, THAT BEING SAID, I`D PUTEM BACK IN , DONt SEEM LIKE A BAD IDEA TO ME , WOULD ADD A LITTLE FENDER STRENGTH TO THE SHOCK TOWERS .------------JMO

 

[Steven190]

Years ago that was a mod some did to stiffen the shock mounting. I think it was started in one of the Hot Rod magazines.

 

[Demonx2]

Thx guys. I always wondered if the shock brace came welded to the inner fender but had never looked for it before (I will now!).

I just wanted to see if anyone had seen or heard of this mod before - apparently some of you have. I know it looks like it would add some stiffening...and probably doesn't hurt. But for now, I'm going to remove the bolts and weld the holes up while I have the chance. Thx for the input as always!!

 

[RedFish]

I can't see tying that to what is no more than a sheet metal shroud creating any additional strength. Only reason for the shock mount was extended to there was to support the sheet metal shroud. Bump stops catch suspension travel. Shock absorber wouldn't put tremendous push/pull there.

 

[leblanc]

in other words don't bother!!

 

[jbc426]

The factory spot welds between the inner fender and the shock tower were tearing apart on my '68 Barracuda convertible. The inner fender had nearly 1/2" long rips in the sheet metal at the spot welds.

While installing the US Cartool Chassis Stiffening kit in the car, I also welded the shock towers solidly to the inner fenders and repaired the rips. I drove the car between the installation of the US Cartool kit pieces starting with the subframe connectors, then the under fender braces and finally the tie between the two front frame rails.

The subframe connectors made a noticeable improvement, but the car still had cowl shake. As I added the under fender braces and tied the front frame rails together, the cowl shake was reduced, but was still detectable.

I fabbed up a Monte Carlo brace and bolted it into my engine compartment. That eliminated the remaining cowl shake. The brace I made was for the Slant 6 I had in the car, so I removed it when I installed a 5.9 Magnum. The triangulated brace doesn't fit with the Magnum in there and I never modified the brace since then. It did make a noticable difference with the /6 though.