Hi all,

Just looking into more bracing for my 16VT track day car. I already have a front upper brace and the rear upper brace. Ive seen that a 156 lower brace fits, is this correct.

Also are there any other worthwhile braces out there? I know caging it would be better but that is mega £££ for a cheap track day car!

Cheers

Personally I've found one of the best additions you can have for your Coupe is a welded front subframe.
No need for lower braces or reduced ground clearance.

The only worthwhile braces I think are:
front lower brace
front strutbrace
(these 2 unless you do the long route of welding subframe)
front longitudal braces (156/147 or GTV/Spider)
(not much but noticable)

The rear doesn't do anything.

I have the front 156 gta braces for sale

Per how much of a difference did you feel with the GTV longitudinal braces?

On which scale? I think it was a tad more solid upfront afterwards, like I remember how the Sparco strutbrace felt. Then again it was off the road a few months inbetween so I really should take them off one day to really feel the difference. This summer!

How does the welded subframe compare to a lower strut brace. I had a lower brace fitted was very impressed with the improved stiffness, but removed it after a number of grounding issues

as a side you wont get the ground clearance issues with the longitudinal braces.

How is the welding done??
From what I've read you need to weld the 2 "U" sections of the subframe either side... Marked in this pic I found....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/bravo_rich/IMG086.jpg

But how is it done? Do you weld a brace "across" the sections marked??

Nick

Update me when you do this Per as it would be interesting to know the difference.



I'll pm you

In my experience as automotive engineer for decades I have learned one - If Alfa uses special braces, which cost some money, then these braces will have a "very good reason" for mounting them.
In negotiations my automotive company discusses about "cent" or "penny" - amounts for certain automotive parts.
Thus I reason, that these braces definitely will have some positive effect on stability of the complete frame of this car. Else Alfa would have saved some money and weight!
My conclusion: I use these braces in combination with a completely welded subframe...
Juergen

^^^ ^^^

So where does one go about obtaining a set of these longitudinal braces. Can they be bought separately or is it a 'breakers yard' job?

Joe - seriously thought about getting you to weld my front subframe while my VT6 is up with you. That lower brace really does ground-out extremely easily!

Tom

I'm thinking off buying a front lower brace from Ultraracing. But don't know if its road legal, and if ground clearance is good enough for public roads??

For sale section or pm

No idea about legality in the Netherlands however it doesn't leave a lot of clearance. I have a 156 lower brace and my car is lowered on eibachs. I have about 4 - 5cm ground clearance. It doesn't take much road camber to ground the brace. Pot holes are a no-no and speed bumps have to be taken at 10 mph MAX.

I haven't put many miles on mine with the lower brace fitted. It is mainly b-roads around here though, so we'll see how it goes. If it becomes too much of a ball-ache I may well reconsider things.
Hopefully the weather will sort itself out soon so I can pick my coop up from FCSS!

Thanks for info lads. I am going to buy front lower brace. I have standard suspension/springs. I think my ground clearance will be like 7-8 cm. That is acceptable to me. I guess its legal but i dont care because it makes,car safer no mather what laws.

You can put the lower brace on as it is and get worse ground clearance, but you can also adjust the shape of it relatively easy to get it up a bit.
For example the mounting points can easily be cut ca 15mm and welded back together, depending on what downpipe you have etc. Mine is also moved a bit forward to clear the sump plug.

For all the benefits of a seamwelded subframe, you can never fully match the stiffness of a cross brace... My 5 cents!

See enclosed pics regarding braces. It is not really much effort to mount them...

https://mc.gmx.net/guest?path=10-07%20vo...&viewType=1

And please do NOT forget to press the green button
"GMX Mediacenter Gastzugang"

Ps: @Per: Thank you for this really good idea!!!

Juergen

Link doesn't work Stichl, it just comes up with a warning page?

Have you tried photobucket, a lot less hassle than that gtx site.

Edited, now it should work:

See enclosed pics regarding braces. It is not really much effort to mount them...

https://mc.gmx.net/guest?path=10-07%20von%20Stichl%40gmx.de&token=D00CAE3709E7B828&mandant=01&locale=de&viewType=1

And please do NOT forget to press the green button
"GMX Mediacenter Gastzugang"

Ps: @Per: Thank you for this really good idea!!!

Juergen

Very good idea Per!

Front lower brace will be installed next weekend I think.

Hehe thanks, I did feel like a clever lad when I found this out.

The front lower brace is installed. It wasn't necessary to cut the mount to get more ground clearance. Sorry Per

I have original suspension and springs. And I didn't hit any speed bumps. So on the practical side I'm not dissapointed. Also it improves the handling and stiffness of the subframe a lot. The issue I experienced is almost gone. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I didnt know at first there was a front lower brace!

Great read! Well done!