Guys, one of the things that I'm multi-tasking on is tackling the bracing issue for our cars.
The only bracing I bought were JL's LECB that ties up the K-member. Well now that I really have a knack for welding after making the longtubes fit, I want to get everything as stiff as possible to get as much power to the ground as quickly as possible.
I like Rod's rails-to-IRS connectors, but I'm hoping to expand on that and get real creative, with ya'lls help.
I have a quote on 4130 chromoly tubing that I'm waiting on to get an idea of what certain amounts of tubing/sheet comes out to. Aside from the LECB I already have, there will be no mild steel here. I want the ultimate in strength and stiffness.
The IRS should be down and out of the car in a little while, just so you can get an idea of the extent I want to greatly increase uni-body stiffness.
Yea, that pretty much outlines what I was thinking with respect to the IRS subframe, but I also want to tie it all together---engine K-member, front frame rails, IRS, rear frame rails.
On a side note my car is done finally, but as mentioned down the road when I install kmember bushings we will prolly well the rear IRS up we found a small crack in it and I mean small
might as well. Once you buy the welding machine (or find someone that does have one), the cost of metal filler wire is cheap so no reason not to weld anything that looks suspect.
Small cracks turn into big cracks if not found and fixed early on....
... Ask me how I know. :tongue:
Glad you found it on your car. I need to give mine a good inspection when I get it back too. Please take a good look at everything when you get it from Chung to put the Mark VIII LCA's on. Thanks.
Id start with replacing the front legs of the rear K member mounting plates with new plates that are welded across one into 1 cross member with new plates to hold the K to the car. And then with forward bars that lead to the center cross member that is replaced in JLs sub frame bracing set up. So it looks like a trapezoid almost. From there you can figure out the actual chassis frame rail reinforcement with a jacking rail type of set up. Just my thoughts on your first post. The fire wall is 3 tack welds so its bad from the factory.
Welded rear K
full roll cage
DLF bushings
Racing shocks.
solid pumpkin mounts. (Kept breaking the bushings)
hacked front K (to fit oil pan) + lower my 351
SC front bar(no rear bar)
rear disc upgrade + 15" racing tires (Hoosiers 980's)
I received some goodies for the IRS....some nice German 4130 chromoly steel sticks...
you see that eensy weensy one with a diameter smaller than a pencil....
I thought to myself....how tough can it really be....let me take it in my hands to bend it to show it a thing or two...not like I'm gonna use this piece anyways....
holy heck this thing is harder than doing chinese algebra written in hebrew on a 4000yr old papyrus scroll!!
I received some goodies for the IRS....some nice German 4130 chromoly steel sticks...
you see that eensy weensy one with a diameter smaller than a pencil....
I thought to myself....how tough can it really be....let me take it in my hands to bend it to show it a thing or two...not like I'm gonna use this piece anyways....
holy heck this thing is harder than doing chinese algebra written in hebrew on a 4000yr old papyrus scroll!!
Sorry for the delayed question... in reference to TM's statement.
Is that 16.8 lbs just the bare LCAs? Wouldn't the mark LCAs have to have spring perches put in, or is that weight difference already including them?
I don't currently know enough on how to make such a swap happen, mostly because I just haven't looked into it. If stuff breaks, I'll have it made out of billet 300M steel, then we'll see what's up.
I think through floor sub-frame connectors, welding bars between the strut towers, and sold sub-frame bushings will yield you the best results.
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