Does anybody have a pic of one?

I think that JohnS has it on his monster coupe Kelv27, you might wanna send him a PM if he has any?

Don't have any picture of that, but I do think a lower brace does the job better.

Not sure what you want to see Kelv, if you're thinking of having it done, you will need to weld along where the joins are.

I know Taz says to have it spot welded as not to distort the subframe, but mine has been done all along the edges and still fits okay

what about if you have both ?

Ninja

would probably be even stiffer yeah..

The subframe brace prevents the 'legs' of the 'U' shaped subframe bending apart or together under braking or acceleration

What the brace WON'T do is prevent the squared-off subframe and brace flexing from a square to a rhombus, as each of the legs is pulled in the SAME direction by cornering forces - welding the subframe will help to reduce this effect, as would a complex diagonal brace.

However, I'm having severe grief getting the machine shop to finish the current batch of braces, so I seriously doubt if I'd want to come up with a new design

Begbie, just wanted to see what was involved as I don't really understand how welding the joints can improve rigidity. Always thought it involved welding a bar between the 2 legs.

If its a worthwhile mod, i might just do it

I always thought it was just a case of increasing the quality of the joins between the parts, kind of using better glue to make sure the parts are more firmly stuck together, meaning less possible movement. I realise that's a daft way to phrase it, but it's how imagined it.

Having said that I've had a load of suspension stuff done, and the front of my car feels massively improved, can't believe the difference, and not I've not even got the Nigel brace fitted yet ;-) Just gets better and better.

It's 'double skinned' if that gives you the right picture Kelv. Round the edges where the two skins meet, it's only got a few bits of weld here and there. If you seam weld or stitch weld right round then it will flex less.

Ah ok. Got a clearer idea of the concept now. Thanks Matt

Do you drive fast enough Kelv for stuff to flex???

Waiting on the catty reply any minute now!!!

Perhaps not Marco...since mines a road car, I have to drive it within the speed limits



You B*tch!

You took longer than i expected to reply Kelv, mind you it was only just past 8am and you would have still been in bed.

while im doing my gearbox i may as well weld the sub frame!

i will have to drop it down any way!
question....can it be welded on the car?

Remember and disconnect the battery first!

I'd unplug the ecu too just to be safe.

the battery is already off so i will pull the ecu off near to the time!

Marco - can you provide me a few pics of where to weld please?

p.s did you get the pics/vids of time attack?

No did you send me some?

I haven't welded mine well at least not yet but i might do when i'm rebuilding the engine.

Is there any way you can weld up the rear subframe too? I still need to fit my solid rear subframe bushes and a mate is gonna give me a hand

He's a professional welder so it'd be a shame not to use hi expertise at the same time

Nobby i don't think there will be quite as much stress on the rear as it is a lot lighter but i guess it wouldn't do any harm. Just remember the stiffer the rear the more prone to it sliding about a bit, which i don't mind but i'm not sure if you'd want that on a wet A road.

The rear is a whopping great tube, I doubt you'd be able to stiffen it up any by welding.

Jimbo that's not nice calling Nobby a tube!

he has called me a whopping great tube in the past too ,but then he`s probably right about that

Jimbo you are a very bad man!

It's the tourettes bugger intercourse twat piss wee boobies that makes me do it twat piss !

Lol well I'm doing some work on mine today so I will get some pics to see where the best places are to weld the sub frame!

i was cecking out my subframe this morning and you can clearly see where the 2 skin meet around the edges and the spot welds that hold them together about an inch or so in.

From what i can see without going all the way round, there are 2 main areas i could get the edges welded.

welding area

In outer areas the edge are not level, so its welding the edge of one skin to a surface of the other, not just 2 level edges (if that makes sense )

The inner ares are 2 edges that dont actually touch, theres a gap that could be sealed.

any comments/advise?

Ninja

I bought a new subframe (around 120 quid or so) and welded the entire subframe where possible. The result? It feels just like you've installed the under strut but only more rigid and responsive.