shiftinda93Z

I am wondering who knows if a strut tower brace is in tension, compression, shear, or all 3???? I am thinking about making one out of carbon fiber since I do a lot of carbon work. ANYONE??

Thanks
Rick

OBE1 95Z28

I would think a STB would see both tension and compression. The purpose of the STB is to create a "Box" structure to keep the top of the shock towers from flexing in and out during hard cornering. Without the STB, the top of the shocks are only supported by the fender well sheet metal. I've read inputs from road racers that feel they achieve better tire contact by running without a STB. Contact Sam Strano at stranoparts.com and get his opinion. He holds several racing titles with a 4th Gen F-Body.

"White Knight"

No one really knows.......what the tower brace does....some say nothing others swear their lifes by it.

I really want to see a scientific research done on it, so it can be laid to rest.

SloTexanTA

Yeah, some people notice a difference, others not. My friend and I made some for our cars, and he noticed nothing. I, on the other hand, noticed quite a difference, it cut down on the cowl shake and dash squeeks. So I figured it was worth the $10 of steel and 2 hours of fabrication it took to make it .

Tom

shiftinda93Z

SloTexanTA- can you take pictures of your Subframe connectors and stb?? I am interested in making some. Probably subframe connectors out of steel and stb out of carbon fiber.

thanks
Rick

Injuneer

I don't think its possible to eliminate shear stresses unless you use "pinned" ends like the Hotchkis design. A rigid, bolted bar like the BMR will see tension, compression and shear. Then the question becomes "how much"?

shiftinda93Z

i remember seeing one that was mounted using spherical bearings which would eliminate shear.

But i'm thinking that the brace is always under compression. take a right hand corner and the left shock compresses forcing the mount inward, take a left and the right shock compresses forcing it's mount inward. hit a speed bump with both tires and both force inward?????????

also, what do you think that the temp under the hood gets to?

Rick

Injuneer

It'll be in tension when you do this.

RobbyRob

NICE !!!!!

SloTexanTA

Here's the pics of the subframe connectors and strut tower brace :

http://community.webshots.com/album/246352874TqmwJk

We did the fabrication in my friend's garage during some crappy weather and I hadn't had a chance to clean my car for a while, so it was a little dirty. So please be kind when you see under the hood of my car .

The strut tower brace was made out of 1 1/2" diameter, 1/4" thick, schedule 40 steel. The subframes were made out of 3/8" thick 2X4", 2X2", and 1X1" steel tubing (I think, my friend bought the steel). We had to bend one of the tubes a bit more than the other sets to clear the cat on my exhaust. I made a small picture with the rough lengths of the tubes on my subframes. We custom fit them each time, so we ended up adjusting things a bit, so we actually cut them longer initially and then trimmed them to fit. The length of the bent tube is shown as what we used for the others, but the one on mine was originally 29" to accomodate the extra bend. Unfortunately I don't remember the angles, but again, they changed some as we custom fit them to snug in nice and tight. I hope this helps some, though I'm not sure since I think I confused myself a bit here .

Tom