My strut brace won’t fit with my new camber plates. Recommendations for a new strut brace? Hinges good or bad? Aluminum ok or is the stiffness of steel worth the weight?
Strut Brace Recommendations?
cwbaader
#2
Pictures…don’t understand why the brace won’t fit with the plates.
Suggestion…I have had good luck with the Sparco brace…very lightweight and stiff (for a spring;) ) Chuck
Ranger
#3
Here’s a pic of the Sparco. What makes it fit is that it doesn’t attempt to go over the big hole in the top of the strut tower. The new camber plate’s bolts stick up thru that hole and prevent my current strut from going on top.
My current strut goes over that hole, not around it. The first picture in the thread linked below is my current strut. It’s a post from the PO. The strut has a baseplate that goes on top of the strut tower. The baseplate has a central hole in it that goes over the hole in the strut tower. That hole was big enough for the old camber plates, but the new plates put the bolts in a different location and the baseplate’s hole doesn’t give them clearance.
cwbaader
#4
If the Sparco does not have to be shortened it will work great. I just installed one on Allen Garner’s car and it bolted directly to IE camber plates. Only thing I had to do was shorten the center section an inch since the towers were too close together…wreck damage. Chuck
Steve_D
#5
I had to slot the holes of my Sparco brace about 1/8" to get it to fit.
I am trying to picture how -given our not-real-sticky tires, not-real-stiff spring rate, and decently-stiff cage construction could possibly combine to create any measurable deflection in the strut brace “spring”. That’s a stretch IMHO.
cwbaader
#6
You are pulling a G in corners, specifically 12 and 1 at RA, 3 and 9 at RR so figure the forces times the lever arm to the top of the strut housing. Also, straight pieces of metal are called braces, bent pieces of metal are called springs. Chuck
Steve_D
#8
cwbaader wrote:
To an engineer, yes. In practice, a piece of metal that does not bend under the loads to which it is exposed is a brace, regardless of its shape.
There is no way that our tires produce enough grip to do what you say will happen. Besides, if the strut tower is that flexible on the loaded side, the brace will just pull on the top of the unloaded side and flex it over before the brace (yes, brace) itself will ever flex.
PS - Might be a little tough to corner balance and align a car with its strut towers 1" too close together from crash damage. Wishing Allen all the best!!
PPS - With Ranger’s frequency of motor swaps, do you think he should use Dzus fasteners on the brace? :laugh: 
Steve_D
#9
And thinking about this a little more, I got all the way from assuming 2800 lbs pulling 1.2g’s, entire load carried on “outside” wheels, force is transmitted without any losses across the fulcrum point of the hub (+/-12" from the pavement) to the top of the strut tower (+/-18" above the hub) so the effective force is 2/3rds, or roughly 2,000 lbs. I started thinking about the fact that the deflection of the brace is in extension rather than compression, then my mind wandered off into wondering… What is the maximum load in shear those 3 little strut bolts can withstand? Less than the force required to bend a +/-1.5" steel tube?
PS - I flunked out of the University of Georgia twice, so what the hell do I know.:laugh:
cwbaader
#10
Steve, you got one on me…I only flunked out of Georgia once…but did finish at Tech after the military.
Actually Allen’s car weighed out excellent…less than 10 pounds of cross weight naturally, no weight added to make weight.
A note to all…if your car has had crash damage to the front, consider how many seam welds were broken (and not repaired because they can’t be reached) comprising the rigidity of the front towers. Any support we can use between the towers will certainly help.
Grade 5 bolts in shear are well above the cornering forces involved. Even with an offset impact, I have seen the strut brace bend but not shear the bolts. YRMV…Chuck
Patton
#11
Ahhh…forget the brace. Use the money saved with Skeen in your driver development or continue to chase has-beens like Patton and DeVinney.
RP
Steve_D
#12
Robert -
If you are a has-been, I am a never-was.
I installed the strut brace so I have something to lean on when I look at the engine. I kept burning my hand on the valve cover before…
andrew240z
#13
FWIW, not sure they really do much of anything. We set the VIR North track record with one of our rentals without the bar… 