never seem to get a reply to my questions anywhere so im trying here

on the back of a saph cossie i have heard that if you fit rear coilovers the rear strut tops need to be strengthend, is this true or is it only over a certain poundage of spring if so what?

cheers

 

strut tops are guite weak point in rear. i would strenghten them anyway, if gonna drive on track. soon to be done on my 3dr. maybe same time when i put a Strut Bar there too.

 

strenghen how? nepics to give me an idea?
cheers for the help

 

well, i think i will try to do it like
this. thats a very fast scetch, as you can see, but maybe this would give you some ideas. the shape of the plate will be diffirent, but that is the important part on the picture. i will weld it with 10mm weld and 10mm not welded space and then again 10mm of weld cycle all around, with TIG.

this is just how i will try to strengten the tops. there might be better ways to do that, but i will use my own desing. when you make accurate fitting on the strenghtening plate, i think it would work. i will strenghten the area around the bolt too, but i dont know if thats nessessary.

 

so u mean along the bottom of the new "sleve"? why 10mm weld and the 10mm no weld ??
cheers for ur help

 

Hi,

It is a rule when you weld a plate : not continius welding line.
( as a dot line)

Regards.

 

sorry, i dont understand what you mean by "along whit the bottom...". that sleeve is gonna be fitted over original strut top. nothing is to be removed. is that what you mean?

2001ode is correct. the weld cycle needs to be used in places where there is dynamic moving. the design should not be a frigid joint, because it will break if it cannot "live".

you can use diffirent leghts of cycles when welding. you can use half inch (its 12.7mm) or inch (25.4mm) in the cycles, the lenght itself doesnt really matter that much. just use one lenght when welding, so the strain to the weld is same all around. for smaller pieces i would use smaller cycles. in this strut case, i would choose 10mm cycle.

for a pointer, i remember that i have read that when welding cars chassis whit cycle welding all around(every seam welded in chassis), it would be 100% more frigid frame, than not welded frame. if someone would have more accurate figures on this, i would be interested to know.

 

i've just fitted coilovers to the rear of my sapph 2wd and no problems just dont bounce

 

the problem isnt when they are first put in. it is down the road after you have been thrashing on the car in the twisties. You will probably start to get deflection and distortion and probably a crack or two.
then again,... if the car was drivin like any civilized person (yah right) and not much weight was ever put in the car (mainly the back area), there would prolly not be a problem untill maybe 10 years later.

I am looking into other options, ways to modify the spring perch and such.

TF