Advice on rear shock tower reinforcement

[Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo]

I am in the planning process of upgrading the back end of the 02 with e21 323 rear trailing arms and discs and converting to coilovers front and back.

I'm keen to see what others have done to get this to work, and to hear of any other problems I haven't thought of.

At present the rear towers are in great shape, but I realise that I want them to carry more load than they were designed for so am open to ideas.

[AceAndrew]

I'd say there are 3 realistic options, depending on what you're intended use is.

ok

1) Weld (not just bolt brace) some bars between the rear shock towers (top bar then X-braces below).

http://www.iemotorsport.com/gallery/v/Race+Cars/DSC00006.jpg.html

Better

2) Some type of U-bar (with bracing), connect the shock pickup points to the bar itself. Here's a picture...

http://www.eurotuner.com/featuredvehicles/eurp_0709_1969_bmw_2002/photo_03.html

Best

3) Tie pickup points into roll-cage.

I don't have many photos to pull from at the moment... here's one example from Heist....

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,352783/postdays,0/postorder,asc/topic_view,/start,210/

[TobyB]

As long as they're not rusty, the rear towers are hell- for- stout.

The 'cans' that hold the shocks can use reinforcement on the tops, but

that's about it.

I used 320 trailing arms on the race car, and extended the mounts to

let me use longer shocks. But the stock 'can' is plenty strong to do

the job if you spread the load on the top of it.

hth

t

[AceAndrew]

Yep, just make sure to spread the load. Here's an example of one with the stock tower tops tied into the cage.

[Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo]

At the moment the car is primarily a road car that sees a few track days a year.

What I've been thinking of doing is either welding a thicker plate to the top of the can and a bar/brace between the two, or removing the cans completely and welding in new thicker walled ones that are taller, allowing for a longer travel shock. If I go the section option I'd incorporate a collar at the base of the can that was within the wheelarch. Again this option would have a brace between the two cans.

Something like the one below: