Show me your chassis strengthening

[DeanR32]

Evening all

 

im still plugging away at my 02 project when time allows, and am thinking about chassis reinforcement. 

 

I'll be running my Gaz coilovers (heard they're pretty stiff) and will be going with an M44 swap, with aims for a bit more power in the future. 

 

What at reinforcing do you recommend I do? And if you e got pictures, I'd love to see them. I'm looking at rear tower strength and front chassis leg bracing

 

cheers in advance

[Preyupy]

All suspension alignment is controlled by the mounting of the rear suspension arms to the cross member and the mounting of the cross member to the chassis at the bottom of the unit body just ahead of the rear wheels.  If you are planning on converting to "Coil over" shocks you need to think about reinforcement of the "shock" towers.  They were never designed to take the load of supporting the weight of the car.  The chassis was designed to have the spring support in the boxed section where the stock springs are mounted.  The only true advantage to "coil over" shocks is the ease of adjusting ride height.  This is helpful on a race car where there is often a need to change springs and ride height at different tracks as part of the set up for best lap times on a particular race meeting.  Most people on their street cars pick one set of springs (you get what Gaz sends you ) put them on the car and set the ride height you want.  Very few put the car on scales and set the adjustable springs (with the appropriate weight in the driver's seat and a known amount of fuel etc) to "Balance" the car.  This is obviously wasted when you put someone in the passenger seat or throw a bunch of stuff in the trunk. 

 

What I am trying to say is,  "Reinforcement" is not necessarily good (or bad) depending on what you are trying to achieve.  Unless it buys you strength in an area that might fail or keeps the chassis from flexing and hurting the tire's ability to hold traction all you are doing is adding weight.  Also look at the tires you are planning on running, if you are running 10" wide slicks you will put a lot more strain through the chassis than you can possibly generate with any tire you might run on the street.   

[DeanR32]

Thanks for the detailed reply

 

my main objective was to strengthen the rear towers, and box/brace the front legs to the bulkhead. I did fancy making one of the rear brace and battery trays myself though, which I've heard should be tied into the diff mounting under the car. Is this overkill for what I plan on doing with the car??? I'll do a few road trips and meets through the year!

 

The main objective of the reinforcement is to stop parts getting stressed and failing

 

Cheers for the help