Welding Supports

#1

I have all my suspension bits now and will start on that next week, once I return from VIR and recoop.

I have some tabs that came from Bimmerworld, I’m told their for the front control arms, where they tend to pull away from the body or something…but I thought there was some type of reinforcements that you should weld for the rear?

I have the rear control arm swaybarlink tabs, I see that some weld those in place while others just bolt them together…what is the overall consensus on this?

…and IS there any welding/reinforcement I have to do in the rear for the control arms or crossmember?? I have the big crazy rear swaybar mounts that bolt through the body but I thought there was something for the shock towers or for the control arms - again, any help/advice on this matter is appreciated.

#2

I had the front sub-frame and rear contol arm reinforcement kits welded in place by a local shop. I figured I had everything apart I might as well do it right the first time.

#3

OK, cool…thanks for the reply, can you elaborate on the rear control arm supports? …where did you source the reinforcement plates and do you have pics or an explanation where these go and are situated? This is what I was thinking, that somewhere I ran into someone that said there was some welding/reinforcement to do in the rear.

#4

The sway bar pickup points on the rear trailing arms absolutely require reinforcement. I think that the type of reinforcement like Turner sells is far better than the flat plates that are shipped with the IE sways.

#5

Does anyone have pics of these installed. My ST sways came with 4 triangle of steel which, I think, are the rear reinforcements. Are they just stacked on top of each other? Or, are two for the front and two for the rear?

#6

Trackrocket wrote:

[quote]I have all my suspension bits now and will start on that next week, once I return from VIR and recoop.

I have some tabs that came from Bimmerworld, I’m told their for the front control arms, where they tend to pull away from the body or something…but I thought there was some type of reinforcements that you should weld for the rear?

I have the rear control arm swaybarlink tabs, I see that some weld those in place while others just bolt them together…what is the overall consensus on this?

…and IS there any welding/reinforcement I have to do in the rear for the control arms or crossmember?? I have the big crazy rear swaybar mounts that bolt through the body but I thought there was something for the shock towers or for the control arms - again, any help/advice on this matter is appreciated.[/quote]

I’ve got the turner reinforcement kit, put the front SF kit in this weekend, SF has to come out and welding is required basically takes care of the motor mount area. a plate welds into the underside of the motor mount and then another gussets the motor mount “ear” to the SF, actually stiffens up the front end quite a bit

#7

The point where you weld the triangular tabs is at the lower attachment point. I think I used 2 tabs - one above, one below on this car.

#8

I don’t have a picture, and I’m not gonna go out and jack up the back end of the car to get one… The IE plates sound like those that come with the IE sways, namely a flat triangular plate. The Turner type reinforcements have the end cof the triangle bent up at 90 deg and coped to fit against the trailing arm. That triangulates the load and is lots stronger. There’s not much to that and I made my own.

#9

Trackrocket wrote:

I used the Turner Motorsport reinforcements because I liked the way the tied the mounting point vertically into the control arm. It just seemed more robust: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=TSU3075305

I’m sorry, I don’t have any pictures and the car is at the shop getting the roll cage installed but the Turner’s instructions are pretty clear: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=TSU3075305
Bob

#10

Hi guys, I’m new around here, mostly just browsing the forums, but I saw this post and thought I’d share. I have no idea if these are legal in spece30, but I just reinforced my trailing arms with an A-frame support similar to this:
http://e30m3performance.com/now_showing/m-coupe-arms/index.htm

As for the rear sway bar pickups on the trailing arms, I just skipped the kit and welded some beefy triangles of plate steel to the existing tab. I’ll probably grind down the extra material, as they’re huge right now. [file name=IMG00045.jpg size=452672]http://spece30.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/IMG00045.jpg[/file]

#11

Here’s the sway tabs [file name=IMG00048.jpg size=472600]http://spece30.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/IMG00048.jpg[/file]

#12

and reverse

You can see most of these pics here:
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=108220&highlight=a-frame [file name=IMG00049.jpg size=441193]http://spece30.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/IMG00049.jpg[/file]