13 replies to this topic

[assassin10000]

Well, after some discussion with Jon (Jonnie Fraz) a couple weeks ago about doing a rear bar for my car. I eventually dropped off the starting idea this last friday night. Well, saturday afternoon I showed up to hang-out and watch them build Rob's (Mestizo's) rear bar, and it turns out that Jon had gone ahead and got some materials together to build my rear bar as well as Rob's.

So here's a little pictorial...

The start.



Tacking the end plates



Measured & tacked one of the main arms.



Both arms tacked.



Cool shot of Jon tacking the coped/notched ends of the main arms.



A couple more cool shots of the diagonals being tacked in place.





Welding it all together



Nice looking MIG welds, can't wait to see what he can do once he get's his TIG...



Fully welded.



Installed.



Feels pretty beastly, definately some Prime USDA Grade-A beef . Now if I only had tires to test it out with...

Andrew

[mestizo]

Indeed Jon makes the goodness!

[MASTR Z]

man that is perrrrtyyy... very nice

[RicerX]

man that is perrrrtyyy...  very nice

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Props to Jonnie. Hey, if I ever get a shop, Ill have a space for him to fab. Ill make him famous.

[assassin10000]

Ok, another updated on AE86 parts development. After a week of banging our heads against the wall Jon & Myself have finished development and the jigs necessary. We have the prototype done, tested and almost ready for production of Stealth Fab AE86 Fender Braces (Gacchiri).

Here's some pics...

















In the picture below you can see the only real interference problem, due to the chassis design (pinch welds, angles, etc) the OEM antenna mount gets in the way. This also occurs on the UEO style (and copies) fender braces. To get around this problem I bent back the OEM antenna mount on the body, and removed the antenna bracket, flipped it upside down and backwards so it attatches to my own aluminum 90 degree bracket. Fits, but just barely. It touches against both the fender brace and the fender. But, at this time it's better than not having one at all.





I have put this through it's paces and it is awesome.

It's stronger, as light or lighter than the UEO style piece. I could feel a difference in turn-in, mid corner, exiting, braking, and just driving over 'whoops' on the freeway. As compared to my UEO fender braces.

Andrew

[assassin10000]

A few more pics of the rear brace.

Cleaned up/prepped the brace.



Painted.



Installed. (note: missing 1 of the 3 front bolts on both sides in this picture, forgot to bring them with me)



Andrew

[assassin10000]

Another update, borrowed a digital 'fish scale' to check weight differences.

Yanked the prototype fender braces off the front of my car and weighed them, along with my old UEO style ones...



1lb 4 oz lighter than the ueo style. Thats over a 20% weight reduction (22.5% actually). And it's stiffer/stronger!

Also took some measurement pics for flared/vented fenders. Might help someone out...



Since these are handmade the other side may not be 'exactly' the same, but probably close to it. (probably 1/8" difference at most, definately under 1/4")

Andrew

[assassin10000]

Weighed the rear bar:
UEO = 6 lbs 3 oz
Stealth-Fab = 5lbs 10 oz

Basically 10% lighter.

[SALTiNE]

WTF!?!? I wanna meet this Jonny guy and buy some fender braces for my '40. Is just for fun or is sellin pieces??

[assassin10000]

WTF!?!? I wanna meet this Jonny guy and buy some fender braces for my '40. Is just for fun or is sellin pieces??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

None made for the 240's yet.

This is the AE86 thread.

Andrew

[SALTiNE]

well i mean, didn't Rob get some for his 240?? And my boy is still waiting for that guy to call him back on the '86

[assassin10000]

well i mean, didn't Rob get some for his 240?? And my boy is still waiting for that guy to call him back on the '86

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, nothing yet. Those don't have even a prototype yet. Were making a short 10 pc production run of the ae86 rear brace first. Then the ae86 fender braces. We may prototype inbetween doing them... I dunno.

Andrew

[assassin10000]

Got bored last night... after jon remembered how much he hates doing wiring. So instead we decided to fab up a quick and easy piece for fun...





I'm going to go for some test drives and check it out, see if it makes any kind of difference on the ae86... Design changes may happen too . More beef anyone?

EDIT: Just got back from test driving. I took it off and put it back on a few times to really feel out how it's affected my car.

I can safely say it did make a difference. Instead of the front end of my car flexing and leaning over the tire, I can feel my front end transfer the weight onto the tire. It's introduced some understeer/push to my setup as the ONLY item changed. I ran it through the same corners, same road, same speeds both with and without.

It's only a slight amount of understeer, and many drivers may not pick up on it. It does not affect braking or accel unless its during a turn.

I was suprised to be able to make out a difference, since I still have the USDM AE86 bumpers and with their 5mph (more like 35mph) reinforcements. There is already a lot of strength upfront with that still being there. I'm sure the difference would be a LOT more if I had jdm bumpers, which are 2 seperate brackets.

Andrew

[Lek Lek]

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