Strut braces

[appletonn]

Paul, I take it that your anorak also has accelerometer for those sharp turns in Asda.....?!

[]

 

[appletonn]

Peter,
where is this extra bracing you mention? Mine is a March '91 registered car, but I cannot see anything different under the bonnet to some of the earlier cars I looked at before buying mine?

I'm obviously not looking in the right places...!

I was hoping to take it for a long drive this weekend to see if i can detect any difference with the strut brace, but I think a submarine is more appropriate, looking at the forecasts!

Cheers

 

[Peter Empson]

Hi Nick,
I haven't got the picture here, but as I remember it, it is a vertical piece of steel that effectively triangulates onto the chassis legs, I described it as coming from the bulkhead previously but suspect it might actually be attached to the front wheel arch area.
I'll see if I can find some more details and post them later.

 

[944Turbo]

It goes from the strut tower forwards along the chassis rail, and may be more to do with crash protection, I always thought the struts towers looked fairly robust, but fitted a strut brace anyway (KLA with thinner stainless washers), cant say I noticed much difference but figured on our overpriced and worn out pot hole filled roads some extra suport wont do any harm. And its handy to lean on when working under the bonnet. []

Tony

 

[Hilux]

there was just enough thread showing to torque everything down nice and safely - top thread of stud just peeping out over top of nuts once tight...

Careful...................

It is generally accepted that 2.5 - 3 threads need to protrude past a nut for it to be considered `safe`

If a nut loosens after tightening (and they can `relax` hence always check bolts after a time as they are done up at a temperature which then fluctuates) it might run past the available thread. Once it does it accelerates the unfastening.

I`d be inclined to install longer bolts/studs every time. As a minimum, dot punch the top thread. The nut will `cut` its way off as required but the stud/bolt will be reusable.

 

[Peter Empson]

Thanks Tony, I'm sure I saved a picture of it, but can't find it right now. As you say it may not be for improved rigidity, so may make little difference on the road. Am I right in thinking that they added this on the Silver Rose cars and then all of the later 250T's? Any idea if it was on the later S2's too?

 

[TTM]

These two plates were standard fitment on T250 and cabs.
Considering the rather crude welding I doubt they were purposed to increase rigidity - there is little load on the chassis in front of suspension towers/engine cross brace.

 

[SimonP]

Is this any help?

 

[944Turbo]

Yes, I was told they were added to silver roses only but then opened my bonnet and they obviously were not. Dont know what they were for if they are not reinforcement but cant see that they do much, except when the front 'chassis' rails are compressing in a head on.

 

[appletonn]

Paul, appreciate the note of caution, but as threadlock was used and all of the nuts achieved the correct torque level, I am pretty happy - will keep an eye on them obviously!

I will probably dot punch the top thread though......

Just to be on the safe side....

Not that I'm worrying or anything....!

[]

 

[TTM]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo
Yes, I was told they were added to silver roses only but then opened my bonnet and they obviously were not.

Strange. Perhaps then they were regular fitment on late T250 and cabs LHD only ?
What year is Simon's car ?

 

[sawood12]

Which braces are you talking about? The ones running vertically down the strut tower - two per tower? If so my car has these and it's an '87.

 

[944Turbo]

Its a triangular piece in front of the tower one each side, in Simons pic they are very shiny so do not stand out very well, there are 5 welds along the bottom,
Tony

 

[SimonP]

TTM, its a 1989 model...

 

[Diver944]

Is it this bit that I've circled green on Simons pic:

Nice bay by the way Simon, is this a current project or already sold?

 

[sawood12]

Ahh in that case it doesn't look familiar, but that area is pretty obscured anyway. Doesn't look like me that it will resist tortional forces much. Maybe it is more for frontal impact protection.

 

[Neil Haughey]

If the welds really are that poor then yes it could be done on purpose to make the car crumple in a particular fashion. My old 900 had inner wings in 2 halves with some really naff looking welding to join the 2 halves into a complete section. When I asked about this I was informed that this was a very early example of a crumple zone (1984).

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: 944Turbo

ORIGINAL: appletonn

Having had a look at some top mounts and spoken to one of the Oracles, I now have it on good authority (thanks John @ Unit 11!) that the studs are splined interference fit, so may be knocked out with some brute force and ignorance and replaced with longer bolts.

Nick

I thought they were welded, but its a while since I looked at them. I have the KLA brace and just used thin stainless washers. I then later fitted the KLA fixed top mounts. I think the spherical bearings in the top mounts may be knackered though anyone got a set off the car? they dissasemble easily and they should be easy enough to source if I knew the size,
Tony

Just bought a new set of top mounts from ESS as I dont have time to remove and source the sphericals at the moment, the new ones are much better quality than the originals which were direct from the US before Simon started selling them,
Tony