Rear sway bar reinforcement available?
 

My rear sway bar brackets are not broken (yet). I would like to be proactive and stiffen this up before I upgrade my rear bar.

Before we fab something, does anyone sell a weld-on piece to reinforce this area before they break?

Vinny,

Wevo makes a solid sway bar bracket that a lot of people have been using ...
Best of all,Pelican sells it :)

Cheers !
Phil

If you're going to have the welder out, you might as well just step up to the Wevo or Buckley Racing mount and be done with it.
There was a recent thread with some good info about these.

Why would you think it will break? Did you up the sway bar or torsion bar, heavy AX/DE?

I know the Wevo piece is top quality but I've always just triangulated the stock piece and have never broken one since, and that's 3 different 911's that have been track cars. However, PCA Club Race or other sanctioning bodies may classify this as chassis reinforcement and as such may not be class legal.

can you enlighten me on this process of trianglization? Just switched over to carrera sways and am contemplating doing the reinforcement.

thanks
justin

Wish I had a pic to share, but basically I just cut a piece of 1/8" steel and weld one end to the tip of the sway bar pivot bracket, and the other end to the chassis about 3" from the base of the bracket. The reason these brackets tend to break is that with stiffer sways and stickier tires the brackets can flex. It's like the paperclip analogy- bend it back and forth enough and it will soon break. Triangulating it eliminates the flex. Remember that they were originally designed for the tiny early sway bars, not the Carrera 21mm or the even bigger aftermarket ones.

On some cars you'll have lines (A/C as I recall) right next to the sway bar brackets so you'll need to either move them out of the way, or as I'd done in the past, justgo outboard of the lines.

I think I will go somewhere like Ed's route here as it seems like the best solution rather than cut the stock brackets out that are not broken

yea i think I may be pushing my luck with them... torsions are already upgraded to 22/29

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1311876429.jpg

Upgrading torsions are good.... the brackets are under more stress when people upgrade/install large sway bars, and don't stiffen the struts & springs.

My 77 race car ran stock brackets for years, no problems, but the suspension was very stiff.

So you weld a piece in that attached to the ears at the existing bolt hole locations and then weld the other end near the top of the original bracket? am I thinking correctly?

Ed,

If you could snap a quick picture of your reinforcement i would probably do the same thing to mine as i have another 7 track days left this year and i already rewelded the left rear as it was starting to tear !
I put too much money in the car this year to go out and buy the Wevos ... lol

Cheers !
Phil

Mine's going in the shop, as I've broken my left rear bracket...going with the WEVO's..I started a thread on this a few weeks ago.... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1311884508.jpg

This is a shot of one installed.

BEST!

Doyle

Some more:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1311884633.jpg

Not my car, BTW.

This is what's soon to go in my 89::::::::::

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1311884964.jpg


BEST!

Doyle

steve wong authored a thread from some years ago that uses all thread coupler and construction strap, or another like kind sheet material to gusset the systen into a sound original mount. tried a search and could not find it. very good and simple & cheap. i do not expect his option to work on one already ripped lose from the body. i did it with smart bars, 27mm in rear and to this point have not pulled anything loose.

maybe another can assist in locating it.

Since my car didn't come with a rear sway bar, I'll be adding brackets soon.

I don't see why those wevo things cost $180, so I'm going to get some angle iron, box it in and make something stronger then the wevo's for <$5 :p

Okay, that is HEAVY use. don't mess around go for the WEVO's

"tis forged steel, as I recall.....I'll go with that and save myself a LOT of time....

BEST!

Doyle

Won't welding forged steel compromise the effects of the forging in the critical joint area between the bracket and the chassis? It seems all that you would want is mild steel so that there is no Martensite formed and to not be spending so much on forged steel that will be connected with a "weak link in the chain" to the car. I would just get some thick gage steel sheet and cut some straps/plates and go to town on reinforcing the existing ones.