Re: Shine anti-sway bar, anyone? Some figures...

[Ron Pieper <rapieper@yahoo.com>]

I did a little research, wrote a quickie comparison
spreadsheet, and found, for a given material, the
following:

1.25" square tube vs. 1.25" diameter tube., both with
wall thickness of 0.100"  the round is 17% stronger
and 46% lighter.

1.25" solid square bar vs. 1.25" dia. round
(solid)bar, round is 17% stronger and 20%
lighter...but both are very heavy.

1.50" square tube, 0.120" wall thickness vs 1.25" dia
solid round bar, the square tube is 4% stronger and
1/3 the weight of the round bar.  (Dimensions of the
square tube are a commerically available size, BTW). 
Clearly that's the way to go...and it weighs only
2.25lbs/foot.

Of course I need to know the specific dimensions of
the Shine bar before I could make a calcuation at what
the correct dimensions for a Cheapass brand bar would
be.

My thoughts are to also obtain some square bar stock
and cut "plugs" that would fit into the ends...I'd
place the plug into the tube near the end, drill
through both the tube and the plug, and run the bolt
through the both when mounting.  This way I'd avoid
crushing the tube and distribute the stresses better. 
I don't know why Shine uses two bolts/end, so I'm
figuring one/end.

Price for the tubing?  Central Steel & Wire says (with

company discount!) it's $3.95/foot in 20' lengths. 
That's mild steel, welded.

1.25" bar stock for the plugs is $5.49/ft in 20'
lengths (5.3#/ft).

So if a Shine bar is 2.5' long (again, need
specifics!), and I use two 2" long plugs, that's 6.5#
for all parts except bolts, and material cost (minus
transportation and cutting) are only $11.70 minus
bolts.

Worth doing?

Ron
Cheapassing again

--- Michael Abatzis <abatzis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> i have a shine bar on my car, but if you're using a
> square stock i wouldn't
> think the ID, OD dimensions would be relevant. you'd
> be getting "twist"
> resistance (or whatever the real term is) for the
> same dimensions, no? if
> you're still interested, i'll take the measurements
> tomorrow. except for
> weight, cause i ain't taking it off.
> -michael
> (possible xmas miracle 88 rocco... more in next
> post)
> 
> > ...because Cheapass Ron has had another idea.
> >
> > What I'm after is the following data re: the Shine
> > rear anti-sway bar:
> >
> > -OD
> > -ID (if tubular)
> > -Overall length
> > -distance between outermost mounting points
> > -distance between innermost mounting points
> > -it's weight
> >
> > The idea:
> > Cobble up a cheap version using (hopefully
> stainless)
> > square tubular stock.  OK, for a given c/s area,
> > square is not as strong as circular in torsion,
> but it
> > would require only drilling (no welding) and
> > off-the-shelf grade 8 bolts, nuts, and washers to
> > attach.
> >
> > I'll try to determine a square tube (or poss.
> other
> > shape) that is as stiff, and see what it costs to
> get
> > one from the local steel supplier.  Should be
> cheap.
> > If it works out, I'll provide all the info so you
> can
> > be a cheapass too!
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > =====
> > Ron
> > '87 16V (Victor, the Famous Cheap Scirocco)
> > '93 Cab (soon for sale)
> > many, many, miles and busted knuckles on about
> seven or so past
> watercooleds...
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
> > --
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> >


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