chassis re-enforcement v.101

[mkii@nycap.rr.com (Josh20V)]

ahh, Scott, I am dealing with a shop that specializes in building race cars.
He wants to run a full "cage", like what I first described.

"> I was planning on have tube run all around the engine bay, and then back
> through the firewall all the way to tie into the rear strut towers, it
> wasn't going to be a full cage since its a street car, it was just purely
> for re-enforcement."

There would be a rear hoop, just located further back than a "race" cars
version, since I have zero interest in bashing my head off of it.


Josh Able
www.JsHouseOfEuro.com
Carbon Fiber & Fiberglass fenders and hoods
the RSD line is HERE!!!!!!!
KW-Weitec-H&R-Bilstein
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott F. Williams" <sfwilliams@comcast.net>
To: "Josh20V" <mkii@nycap.rr.com>; <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 11:49 PM
Subject: RE: chassis re-enforcement v.101


> > I was planning on have tube run all around the engine bay, and then back
> > through the firewall all the way to tie into the rear strut towers, it
> > wasn't going to be a full cage since its a street car, it was just
purely
> > for re-enforcement.
>
> Lemme get this straight. You want to run tubes from the crush zones to the
> front of the strut towers and then from the strut towers back to the
> firewall? Is that the plan? Keep in mind that in an impact you won't have
> much of any crush zone. Also, you'll transmit the force directly into the
> firewall which will probably distort the unibody more than if you left the
> crush zone unmodified. I'd only do this if you had a sturdy cage to anchor
> this all to behind the firewall. That's my intuition at work, though, not
> the result of any vector analysis, etc.
>
> > Would it just be more practical to just run the tube in the
> > engine bay area,
> > tie down the front strut towers, and let it go at that? Or would that
just
> > make it so that car from the firewall forward would leave the rest
behind?
>
> Your chassis will break at the weakest point. Strengthening everythign in
> front of the strut towers will promote cracking and flex at the firewall.
> Bad. What you should do is speak with an experienced cage fabricator who
has
> stress analysis capability and mechanical engineering expertise. Chassis
> reinforcement is serious business. Stronger ain't always better.
>
> Why not just run the usual stress bars, the vaporware rad support brace,
and
> install a rollbar? Some seam welding in strategic locations is also a
great
> idea.
> --
> Scott F. Williams
> NJ Scirocco nut
> '99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
> Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
> Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
> ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."
>
>
>