[DeTomaso] Camber brace pic requested
JDeRyke at aol.com
JDeRyke at aol.com
Thu Feb 21 01:46:21 EST 2008
In a message dated 2/20/08 8:02:40 PM, kenn_green at yahoo.com writes:
> What's the deal with the original brace? People talk about the "wheel
> houses" (right word?) collapsing. Did the original brace bend or was it
> undersized? Why didn't it maintain the original dimensions?
>
The stock brace structurally was fine and did not fail. It and a host of
aftermarket bay-braces- all of the same length- attach via bolts thru thin tabs
welded to the inner wheelhouses. The tab's holes are slotted. It is impossible
to tighten any bolt tight enough to take cornering loads thru those little tabs
with the bolts slipping back & forth. Hall, back in the early '80s, noticed
this and designed a straight steel bar that's an inch or so longer on each end,
with a 7/8" clevis in the middle for adjustment for the natural variation in
Pantera dimensions. The bar ends fit very tightly into the welded pocket,
backing up against the rear of the pocket (which is the engine side of the upper
rear shock mounts). In practice, loads come from the shock to the pocket and
back to the other suspension thru the bar; the bolts simply keep vibrations from
popping the bar out of alignment. It works.
Bottom line: ANY bay brace including a stock one will IMHO work just as well
as Hall's if an extra inch of stock is welded onto both ends of the brace of
your choice, so the bar fits tightly in those little pockets and suspension
loads have a place to go. By careful measurement, you can fabricate a bar-round,
square or hexagonal- with no clevis, but vendors cannot sell such a thing to
mail order customers- again due to the dimensional variation car-to-car. Rear
subframe collapse is a whole 'nother subject.
FWIW- J DeRyke
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