Criscobath
Well-Known Member
What's the time frame for your prototype?
Because the major suspension loads on an A body Mopar are not taken at the shock absorber mounting points (like most Fords and some Chevrolets), and there are NO actual shock towers, bracing the shock absorber mounting points is redundant. Front suspension loads in an A body are taken at what is essentially the center of the chassis through the torsion bar crossmember and ultimately the passenger compartment floor.
After the addition of frame connectors and torque boxes, what IS important is bracing the engine box to keep it rigid, preventing the K frame and front subframe longitudinals from moving around and thereby keeping the front suspension pickup points in alignment with the main chassis.
Wow!! Those are some pidgeon crap welds on those Rumblefish braces! Who's doing the welding over there? Ray Charles? Geez!!
http://www.rumblefishltd.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/100_1025.jpg
http://www.rumblefishltd.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/100_1026.jpg
They're pretty proud of them, too!
The trianglulated bars are the stock 74 a body bars and the cross bar is 1 1/4 tubular bent to clear the aircleaner. I used 1 1/4 x 4 by 1/4" flat stock. I drilled 2 mounting holes through the inner fenders. It does make a difference. I'm sorting out the power steering next (a little slack in the box). I have KYB's on the front and 892/893 TBs. I'm building this on the GM design..light springs and big sway bars. I'm not sure if I won't step up on the bars though. Lots of winding roads here and it's fun to drive. I'm having trouble loading Pic's.
The cross bar he has is 1 1/4" tube. The factory cross bars are much smaller.
this is not a GM design... suspensions are designed a certain way... each part has a purpose... excluding t bar cars (front end springs act differently under cornering) the springs, front or rear are only to keep the car at ride height and to keep the car from bottoming out on a bump
a sway bar is designed to keep the body level thru a corner... therfore you need the correct spring rate for the vehical and the correct sway bar for the weight and handling desire of the vehicle...
now where t bars can act a little different is that they will slightly act as a sway bar, thats why the solo racing bars are 1.04+ in diameter...
I saw the first part of this thread and thought of theseand then thought about my inner fenders that were wasted from a fenderwell header setup. I took the entire things out and now have a floating shock mount. These "hoops" would take care of the shock mount, but do nothing for the bracing the inners afforded, even though they were made of lightweight sheetmetal. They sure did pop when I broke the last spotweld. Ill look forward to those exoskeleton looking under the fender braces, make 'em for a 65 too, eh?
I think the firewall to frame bars are called "J bars" in cage building lingo, EZ to put a tab/triangle on them for the shocks.