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SN95 chassis stiffening for coups and verts
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<blockquote data-quote="SlowSVT" data-source="post: 15071114" data-attributes="member: 20202"><p>OK now that we got the logistics out of the way the first topic I will cover are reinforcing the shock towers for coilovers. If you don't plan on running them and there are good reasons not to, I would skip this post because these mods are not necessary running the conventional K-member/A-arm springs in front and rear A-arm spring pockets out back. This job is actually not too bad and the welding can be done in one day depending how well the brackets has been fitted to the chassis before hand. Remember I said welding and not fabricating, that may require a weekends worth of work depending how proficient you are with fabricating the brackets. Plus it's easy to paint the finished bracing to prevent corrosion with perhaps exception of the shock towers depending how well you want it to match the factory engine compartment paint.</p><p></p><p>Bracing for coilovers is what started me on my odyssey before I decided to take it a step further ………. then further still until I was involved in a full blown chassis reinforcement effort. After this for most people you can stop and install your coilovers and have fun with your car again. It's likely you will want to take it to the next step after this and that can quickly become a slippery slope like it did in my case. Once you get the bug there is no telling how far you will go so <u>set strict limits for yourself and stick to that plan</u>. For others you may want to go further but it will require removing lots of stuff and before you know it your knee deep in a major project and a lengthy and costly downtime.</p><p></p><p>The reason for doing this is the shock towers were never designed to carry the weigh of the car, they just need to absorb the damping action of the dampers and locate the upper potion of the struts to maintain the correct suspension geometry. With the stock suspension the weight of the engine and ½ the transmission bypass the chassis entirely where it sits on the K-member supported by the springs then the A-arms where the load finally rest on the spindles and wheels. With coilovers the towers carry everything including the K-member and suspension, the load goes from the spindle, up the struts/shock directly to the towers. Without reinforcement the top of the towers assume the whole load and will “oil can” as the car hits bumps with the dampers transitioning from compression to rebound which is where people complain about creaking. From there the load is carried downward to the frame rail and transition to the next panel held on my a few spot weld which is where all the load will converge before propagating out to the next panel which is the frame rail. If you think about that thin sheet metal carrying the weight if the entire car it gets very frightening. It will hold-up the car but is taking a beating in the process I would imagine after many miles the metal will be so fatigued but by that time so has the rest of car before it's retired. What we are going to do here is add a second layer of very strong steel with a brace for added stiffness and seam weld the joint that will largely bypass the spot welds providing a nice even distribution of the load to the frame rail.</p><p></p><p>Best to take pictures of everything before you start taking things apart prior to starting the job. Be mindful of things that could catch fire near where you will be welding. Protect areas from the welding sparks using cardboard. Have lots of cardboard on hand. I usually go and ask a nearby business for empty boxes before they get thrown out.</p><p></p><p><strong>VERY IMPORTANT: Look things over well and make sure you account for the factory brackets and fitting can be reinstalled after your finished with the bracing. Don't assume I didn't overlook anything here this is were you start to develop a keen eye for detail and think beyond the bracing and consider assembly, servicing, corrosion prevention, ect ect. The more you do this kind of work the better you will become at planning which makes things much easier and you will start to assume a new mindset. Identifying potential problems before they occur will make you more confident when approaching a problem that would make most people draw a blank, freeze-up and get paralyzed with fear not knowing where to start. This is engineering not some schmuck installing bolt-ons. Not many things phase me anymore but don't get cocky either. I still make mistakes but always managed to dig myself out of the hole I dug. You learn more from you mistakes then from your successes which probably explains how I got to where I am now (that's good right?)</strong></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Time to kick the chocks out from the tires and throw some switches!</p><p></p><p>The picture below is the vertical box section column that will take up a good portion of the load to the frame rail. I added a doubler on the base of the frame rail to stiffen the K-member flange when you tighten the mounting bolts which are now in tension holding up the engine, tranny and K-member rather than compression as the car use to sit on this surface which is now doing the opposite (now everything will be hanging from it :uh oh<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />. </p><p></p><p>1. When cutting the cardboard patterns here have the strut and coilover mounted to ensure the springs doesn't interfere with the added braces you intend to weld in place. I ran the column brace as high as possible but make sure the studded bottom plate for the aftermarket CC pate is in place and can be installed and removed after it's all welded.</p><p></p><p>2. Position the top of the strut on the CC plates pushed inboard as far as they go to ensure you can have full range of motion the CC plates can provide without interfering with the new brace (I like the steel MM 4 hole CC plates I wouldn't do this with the stock OEM which won't have as much travel).</p><p></p><p>3. Use a sharpie to mark the line where the pattern will be positioned inside the shock tower.</p><p></p><p>4. Transfer the pattern and cut the metal (I would use .050 thk 4130 here) and grind it to fit snuggley</p><p></p><p>5. Paint the underside of the frame rail doubler with the K-member mounting holes drilled with weld-thru primer and locate it using the K-member mounting blots and weld it to the top of the frame rail.</p><p></p><p>6. Seam weld every joint inside the shock tower just remember to keep everything cool periodically with a wet folded towel.</p><p></p><p>7. Tape the 3 steel vertical brace in place using 3” wide masking tape to the sharpie line and reinstall the strut. Adjust as before and check your clearances. Make you leave some extra clearance for the spring to ensure you don't have interference problems. Tack welded the 2 outer brackets in place, double check the clearance with the springs, then remove the center vertacle bracket and seam weld the outer 2 brackets from the outside.</p><p></p><p>9. Take a wire brush on a cordless drill and clean the welds and inside the surfaces of the column. If there is rust in there clean that out as well. Afterward spray the inside of the column with weld-thru primer to prevent corrosion.</p><p> </p><p>10. There is a hole on the driver side tower used to mount the brake line distribution block which if I remember correctly uses a stud. Drill a hole in the vertical column face plate big enough to allow access for a socket to pass thru so the nut can be tighten after it's welded. Just make sure it lines up with the stud hole where you intend to drill the column face plate. Use a nominal size (5/8, 3/4, 7/8” inch hole with will accept a plastic hole plug to seal it from rain and debris after you are done). This is not shown in the picture because I'm using manual brakes and won't be using that block. You could also use the factory stud hole as a guide and drill a pilot hole from inside the engine bay if there is no engine then complete the socket clearance hole from the wheel well side after the center panel is welded in place in step 11 but keep in mind that will leave chips inside that can start corrosion.</p><p></p><p>11. Spray paint the inside of the vertical column center face plate with weld-thru primer and weld in place.</p><p></p><p>The inside of the shock tower brace is now finished and should look like this :coolman:</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]663034[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Note: prior to welding the vertical column, seam weld the factory shock tower top reinforcement plate spot welded to the underside of the CC mounting surface. its an up side "down" weld in a very tight place so I hope the guy with the wand has a good sense of humor. </p><p></p><p>My next installment will be the bracing on the outside of the of the shock towers</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SlowSVT, post: 15071114, member: 20202"] OK now that we got the logistics out of the way the first topic I will cover are reinforcing the shock towers for coilovers. If you don't plan on running them and there are good reasons not to, I would skip this post because these mods are not necessary running the conventional K-member/A-arm springs in front and rear A-arm spring pockets out back. This job is actually not too bad and the welding can be done in one day depending how well the brackets has been fitted to the chassis before hand. Remember I said welding and not fabricating, that may require a weekends worth of work depending how proficient you are with fabricating the brackets. Plus it's easy to paint the finished bracing to prevent corrosion with perhaps exception of the shock towers depending how well you want it to match the factory engine compartment paint. Bracing for coilovers is what started me on my odyssey before I decided to take it a step further ………. then further still until I was involved in a full blown chassis reinforcement effort. After this for most people you can stop and install your coilovers and have fun with your car again. It's likely you will want to take it to the next step after this and that can quickly become a slippery slope like it did in my case. Once you get the bug there is no telling how far you will go so [U]set strict limits for yourself and stick to that plan[/U]. For others you may want to go further but it will require removing lots of stuff and before you know it your knee deep in a major project and a lengthy and costly downtime. The reason for doing this is the shock towers were never designed to carry the weigh of the car, they just need to absorb the damping action of the dampers and locate the upper potion of the struts to maintain the correct suspension geometry. With the stock suspension the weight of the engine and ½ the transmission bypass the chassis entirely where it sits on the K-member supported by the springs then the A-arms where the load finally rest on the spindles and wheels. With coilovers the towers carry everything including the K-member and suspension, the load goes from the spindle, up the struts/shock directly to the towers. Without reinforcement the top of the towers assume the whole load and will “oil can” as the car hits bumps with the dampers transitioning from compression to rebound which is where people complain about creaking. From there the load is carried downward to the frame rail and transition to the next panel held on my a few spot weld which is where all the load will converge before propagating out to the next panel which is the frame rail. If you think about that thin sheet metal carrying the weight if the entire car it gets very frightening. It will hold-up the car but is taking a beating in the process I would imagine after many miles the metal will be so fatigued but by that time so has the rest of car before it's retired. What we are going to do here is add a second layer of very strong steel with a brace for added stiffness and seam weld the joint that will largely bypass the spot welds providing a nice even distribution of the load to the frame rail. Best to take pictures of everything before you start taking things apart prior to starting the job. Be mindful of things that could catch fire near where you will be welding. Protect areas from the welding sparks using cardboard. Have lots of cardboard on hand. I usually go and ask a nearby business for empty boxes before they get thrown out. [B]VERY IMPORTANT: Look things over well and make sure you account for the factory brackets and fitting can be reinstalled after your finished with the bracing. Don't assume I didn't overlook anything here this is were you start to develop a keen eye for detail and think beyond the bracing and consider assembly, servicing, corrosion prevention, ect ect. The more you do this kind of work the better you will become at planning which makes things much easier and you will start to assume a new mindset. Identifying potential problems before they occur will make you more confident when approaching a problem that would make most people draw a blank, freeze-up and get paralyzed with fear not knowing where to start. This is engineering not some schmuck installing bolt-ons. Not many things phase me anymore but don't get cocky either. I still make mistakes but always managed to dig myself out of the hole I dug. You learn more from you mistakes then from your successes which probably explains how I got to where I am now (that's good right?)[/B] Time to kick the chocks out from the tires and throw some switches! The picture below is the vertical box section column that will take up a good portion of the load to the frame rail. I added a doubler on the base of the frame rail to stiffen the K-member flange when you tighten the mounting bolts which are now in tension holding up the engine, tranny and K-member rather than compression as the car use to sit on this surface which is now doing the opposite (now everything will be hanging from it :uh oh:). 1. When cutting the cardboard patterns here have the strut and coilover mounted to ensure the springs doesn't interfere with the added braces you intend to weld in place. I ran the column brace as high as possible but make sure the studded bottom plate for the aftermarket CC pate is in place and can be installed and removed after it's all welded. 2. Position the top of the strut on the CC plates pushed inboard as far as they go to ensure you can have full range of motion the CC plates can provide without interfering with the new brace (I like the steel MM 4 hole CC plates I wouldn't do this with the stock OEM which won't have as much travel). 3. Use a sharpie to mark the line where the pattern will be positioned inside the shock tower. 4. Transfer the pattern and cut the metal (I would use .050 thk 4130 here) and grind it to fit snuggley 5. Paint the underside of the frame rail doubler with the K-member mounting holes drilled with weld-thru primer and locate it using the K-member mounting blots and weld it to the top of the frame rail. 6. Seam weld every joint inside the shock tower just remember to keep everything cool periodically with a wet folded towel. 7. Tape the 3 steel vertical brace in place using 3” wide masking tape to the sharpie line and reinstall the strut. Adjust as before and check your clearances. Make you leave some extra clearance for the spring to ensure you don't have interference problems. Tack welded the 2 outer brackets in place, double check the clearance with the springs, then remove the center vertacle bracket and seam weld the outer 2 brackets from the outside. 9. Take a wire brush on a cordless drill and clean the welds and inside the surfaces of the column. If there is rust in there clean that out as well. Afterward spray the inside of the column with weld-thru primer to prevent corrosion. 10. There is a hole on the driver side tower used to mount the brake line distribution block which if I remember correctly uses a stud. Drill a hole in the vertical column face plate big enough to allow access for a socket to pass thru so the nut can be tighten after it's welded. Just make sure it lines up with the stud hole where you intend to drill the column face plate. Use a nominal size (5/8, 3/4, 7/8” inch hole with will accept a plastic hole plug to seal it from rain and debris after you are done). This is not shown in the picture because I'm using manual brakes and won't be using that block. You could also use the factory stud hole as a guide and drill a pilot hole from inside the engine bay if there is no engine then complete the socket clearance hole from the wheel well side after the center panel is welded in place in step 11 but keep in mind that will leave chips inside that can start corrosion. 11. Spray paint the inside of the vertical column center face plate with weld-thru primer and weld in place. The inside of the shock tower brace is now finished and should look like this :coolman: [ATTACH=full]663034[/ATTACH] Note: prior to welding the vertical column, seam weld the factory shock tower top reinforcement plate spot welded to the underside of the CC mounting surface. its an up side "down" weld in a very tight place so I hope the guy with the wand has a good sense of humor. My next installment will be the bracing on the outside of the of the shock towers [/QUOTE]
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