Need Help Fast
 

I am leaving for a race in 2 days. I was just checking things over and found that on one of the front torsion bar assemblies seems to have a bolt that is pulling out from the inside. If that makes sense. I can tighten the bolt up completely, but when I jack the car up, that particular bolt pulls through from the inside.

What has broke on the inside? I cant see anything from the front trunk area as there is no line of vision to that point. It seems you would have to cut through the front pan to see that area. Am I correct here?

What can I do in 2 days to fix this? If I cant get it fixed I lose the championship.

It is the right front side. The peice that bolts to the front of the car........3 bolts...

PLEASE HELP

This is what is up inside where you can't see.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097634495.jpg

"I can tighten the bolt up completely, but when I jack the car up, that particular bolt pulls through from the inside. " For some reason. I can't understand what you mean. I have just finished working on this area and everything is fresh in my mind. Tell me more.

Zeke,

Thank you, i can see what the problem is now. It looks form your picture that the bolt threads up into a solid peice. Well it is that part that seems to putt through as I jack the car up.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097635815.jpg

PHOTOS
 

Here is what I am talking about.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097636649.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097636661.jpg

OK, here's what I suggest. Use a hole saw to cut an access hole above the threaded barrel nut. Once you have that open, you can assess the situation. Sounds to me like you're in for some front suspension pan replacement work, but you may be able to get one more race out of the car and save the championship. Any kind of kluged up reinforcement in there for the weekend may do the trick.

You might be able to use a longer bolt that threads all the way up thru the barrel nut an use another nut to tighen down on some big washers or a strap. By drilling some round access holes in the gas tank support, you are not compromising the strength of the front any more than what possibly concealed rust has done. If you have welding capability there, you can do more. I would do anything I could do to make the race even if it meant filling the entire cavity up with liquid epoxy to surround a washer secured to the long bolt and held up off the bottom with a nut or spacer.

I'm here for you if you have anymore questions. Will be home most of the day tomorrow. I will PM you some phone #s.

Looks like the plate has pulled its spot welds. Never seen that failure before! Is that a replacement pan? Some of the replacements I've seen have terrible spot welds. The Restoraton Design panels are the only ones I'd trust.

I think if you lay a good thick, hot seam weld down around that plate you should be fine, at least for one more event until you can get a 2nd opinion in-person.

That is what I thought as well. A good weld should hold that in.

I loosened all 3 bolts, took the cover off and nothing seemed loose up in there. And if it pulled through I should not have been able to take the one bolt out. So the threaded insert is still up in there and attached to something.

bump

Mark,
Get it fixed?

Did this happen because of what you did with the front rollcage tie in? I know you did yours different than what we normally see.
Hope you get it fixed.

Mark
Thanks for coming in and having us take care of it- we appreciate the business- especially from fellow racers and Pelicanites!
I'll let you fill in the details on what we found and did
Keep the shiny side up this weekend and kick some butt!
Dave

Sweet, glad it's fixed, now we need 2 things, details on the fix and a picture of your winning trophy from this race!

Ah, if only I had a shop around here where I could get something fixed in less than 48 hours from when I call....California Dreamin'

Well, that was the smart thing to do. Glad Dave could accomodate you on a short noctice. Waiting for the details............

BTW, best of luck this weekend securing the championship!

I took pictures with my digital camera that I'll post tomorrow.


The reason the mount pulled out was due to the poly bushings seizing to the control arm. This caused the suspension movement to tear the mount out. I found the rear anchors also broke the spot welds.

To fix it, I removed the the control arms, welded everything up, and replaced the bushings with Elephant Racing poly-bronze. I had to use the torch to remove the poly bushings!

The front mount was fixed by pulling it down further, welding the threaded spud to the plate, then pushing it back up in and seam-welding both sides.

I also added in some 993 brake deflectors.

I would like to give a BIG thanks to TRE Motorsports, Dave B, and the master himself, Tyson "suspension genious" Schmidt.

Thanks a bunch guys. It was great of you to take me in on such short notice. I emailed Tyson, he said no problem I can fix that, bring it in. Dave replied with bring by first thing in the morning. They had it all day.
Finding broken part after broken part. I am glad I caught the first problem and braught it into them. It culd of been allot worse had I just fixed the one problem and not the others.

It is that kind of service that will keep me going back. Not to mention the whole gang there are great guys. Yes even you Jeremy....LOL.

Not only did they fix the problems, they also found some other possible ones and fixed them as well and even corner balanced the car.

Chad, No it was not from what I did to the cage up there. That is most likely what kept it form falling right out. Read Tysons post above and that will explain what happened.

Tyson, you have to teach me how to weld.

Thanks again to all of you on this board that helped out, Zeke, DTW and Especially the guys at TRE.....

I will get some great Video from this weekend and try to bring back the checkered flag for the TRE boys.

O.K., here are the (poor quality) photos of Mark's repair.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955283.jpg

The damage further exposed.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955354.jpg


The spud welded up.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955538.jpg

There we go, all better!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955665.jpg

The rear damage.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955737.jpg

And so it doesn't happen again, Elephant Racing poly-bronze front controlarm bushings installed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097955862.jpg

While we've got the welder all warmed up, why not some 993 brake deflectors? The front view.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097956008.jpg

And from the back.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097956311.jpg

Another repair pic.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1097956433.jpg