Strut Braces

[Jon]

Hi,

I was thinking of knocking up some aluminium strut braces to stiffen up the tops of the strut turrets on the front and rear of the montecarlo, and wondered if anyone else had tried this or knows of off the shelf items, and if indeed it would improve the handling/rigidity of the car?

Regards


Jon

[omicron]

I'm sure there are a number of readily available, and quite cheap, universal strut brac es which may be easier than making one yourself.

[Jon]

Well I have looked around for a while now and all the universal struts I have seen are not really suitable, most involve drilling into the inner wing or dont look up to the task.

Just found Jeff Davisons pictures today, now that looks more like the sort of thing I was thinking of. Anyone else using strut braces or made a set got anything useful to contribute? I want to make sure I get the most from the Leda's I recently fitted.

Jon

[Ken H]

I've looked at this a bit, and I'm not so sure that front strut braces are really needed. The front suspension towers are immediately adjacent to the front bulkhead and should derive a great deal of stiffness from it. I can't imagine those towers flexing significantly.

It's a whole different situation at the rear, where I imagine braces would make a big difference. Plus that's where most of the weight is in our cars, hence the biggest loads and deflections.

Another thought: if your struts tie only to the opposite side, you are only doubling the stiffness. Helpful, but things can still move. It seems that best would be to add an additional brace or two to tie everything to the frame or something else that's pretty stiff.

I'm new to this whole area of suspension tweaking, and am interested in anyone's feedback or other ideas.

- Ken

[chrisc]

Hi,
how are you finding your ledas now? I am the guy who was in the shed of a renault 5 at the motor museum. I dont think that the car would benefit much from strut braces - it certainly looked very tidy as it was on the track.

[Jon]

Hi Chris,

Yes they are great especially now I am getting used to how the car feels. Went out on the track a bit too aggressive to start with, but after I took my son round slowly I found a better line and improved my time to 39.1 which I was happy with.

Jon

[chrisc]

Yup, i dont think pauls v6 went round much quicker!

[Jon]

Thanks Jeff for your email, all makes sense. Await your update when you try her, should be great.

Jon