Front Lower Brace

Hi all, hoping you can help me here. Any idea's where you can buy a front lower brace. Kind reagrds, Tim

There's two types - one is a non-adjustable painted mild steel version - the other is an adjustable stainless jobbie.

You can't buy the latter version - they are custom made to my own design.

Have a look at this immense thread in the Group Buy section

There is also a OMP one for Alfa 156 which fits. Don't know where to find it right now though.

why not try the omp site,theres only one that fits the coupe and 156 and that is non-adjustable go for the one nigel sell,s

I bought the omp one, think i got it from a place called 106spares or somehting. Kind of random name, but sure it was that place.

Fits prfectly, and made a hell of a difference.

does this mod really make a massive difference ?,i running on konis have a top strut brace but still feel im driving a boat on wheels sometimes..

doesn't make a vast difference, but it is noticeable, especially when everything is loaded up halfway round a fast corner - the benefit is much more precise adjustability.

Sounds good Nigel.
I'll try and adjust/reweld the OMP one so it sits closer up, as close as possible. Don't want it to slam into bumps...

anyone has photos of alfa's brace on coop?
some tips on instaling?

Haven't got any pictures, but have just fitted 156 front lower brace... £62 from Alfa Aid in maidenhead.. What a difference, You can really feel that the car is much much stiffer. It was easy to fit, took two minutes on my mates ramp, although I'm missing my undertray.. Anybody got one?...

So Handling wise, I've now got

Bilstein Dampers
Eibach Springs
22mm Rear Anti roll bar
Upper and Lower Front strut braces

Was Thinking of trying some 10mm Wheel spacers?, Any opinions? also maybe polybushing the front wishbones... Or is there something else worth doing?

Cheers Tim

Tim, you just made me order the Alfa 156 OMP brace.

3 weeks wait but for 695kr (~75euro) it'll be worth it.

Jimbo has an alfa brace

What's the ground clearance like with this new 156 lower strut brace F927UBS (maybe a new username? ) ?

Well, that's all I need to know

does the alfa brace sit lower than nigels ?

I'm going to "adjust" mine to an absolute maximum ground clearence. Cut'n'weld...

I'm using one of Nigels lower braces, on 35mm lowered springs, with an extra washer each side to make sure it clears my downpipe, and I've never scraped anything. It even goes over the square speed bumps without hitting.

Ground Clearance seems to be good, will post a photo sometime soon... I'm new to this site?... Just couldn't think of a good user name, so I put the registration number of my Integrale down.. Sad I know....

a pic would be good tim,might have to get one of these alfa braces

the problem will happen soon after you eventually ground the brace - the Alfa brace is mild steel, and as soon as the plastic coating is breached, the brace will rust (I know, my prototype lower brace was mild steel too, and it looked extremely secondhand after two winters and a few arguments with speed humps and kerbs

rusty and dented

and not very straight

OK - my original design has worse ground clearance than the Alfa brace, but not by much, and only in the centre - as you can see from the piccies, an awful lot of the damage was at the ends

I'm not saying that you shouldn't bother with the Alfa brace (in fact unless someone "persuades" me to do some more stainless ones, its your only option), but I'm just saying that they won't be as robust as the admittedly more expensive adjustable stainless type.

Then again, if you hit a rock with 1.4tons it would'nt matter much, it'll bend/break anyway right?

BTW for me the clearence is crucial. Only 2 weeks ago I scraped a rock exactly where the brace will sit..

Nope - my brace design was given the ultimate test recently when a wheel fell off and the car landed on the lower brace.

The force sheared the bolt, but the brace was perfectly re-usable after the adjuster was straightened out a bit

As they do... How did that happen? Sounds mighty tough though

If you could be persuaded into producing some more, how much green would we be looking at??

Tom

i would be interested in one too wink wink ....

and me

put a price up, i think people are interested but not saying, id like one

About an ounce or 28g But if your talking money, would be around the £120 +/- £10

around 120 on a group buy thats not bad but how many to get it started

Begbie is pretty close - will be about £125, plus a tenner P&P

Would need around ten to make it worthwhile

i think someone should do a poll for a group buy, i would but i dont get on the net that much

Can someone just confirm that the following will fit a 20vt;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OMP-Lower-Strut-Br...id=p3286.c0.m14

Cheers, Matt

Scrap that!

Me that is

It wont fit? or is it crap?

No it was me not reading the thread properly, my tired brain read it as an upper brace for some reason (hand slapping forehead smiley)

Ha ha no worries joe

It's a shame that the write up doesn't include some dimensions, I could measure a sub frame up tomorrow and let you know.

Yeah there is no adjustment or anything on that one from ebay. only saw it as someone mentioned a 156 brace would fit. Interesting to know if it does. Cheap mod!

For the money yes a very cheap mod, gets my vote for value for money

I prefer it without the adjuster, something less to worry about catching underneath, simple design.

Yes it will fit

I have ordered one of the 156 braces from rallydesign.co.uk as Having read about and experienced Strutbracer's customer support first hand, I'm not keen to repeat that....
Anyway, he has none in stock, and OMP have just come back off their annual shutdown...If anyone else wants one, the order will be going in early next week, and will not be repeated until next month....

I also would be intrested in one to

Yes it will

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/James_Hardwick/picture3.jpg

And there it is fitted to a 20vt

How much clearance do you have with that brace Jimbo?

From the ground or the exhaust ?

I had to put a washer between the chassis and brace to stop it touching the exhaust.
Ground clearance will depend on how low your car is I guess.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/James_Hardwick/picture2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/James_Hardwick/picture4.jpg

Both taken from the front so you can see how far it sit below the undertray.

Tight, very tight Jimbo.

Only 50 quid..mmmm

I also have the OMP 156 lower strut brace. Have only hit the floor a couple of times but not that hard and is still in one piece.

whats the ground clearance like jimbo,you hit it on anything yet?

tempted at 50 quid

Not hit anything on normal roads but went to visit the girlfriends parents who live in the middle of nowhere, I'm not talking B roads here, these are G roads !

There is a huge camber off both sides of the single track lane so the centre was raised about 10" from the edges. The brace caught on it and managed to pull the wishbone bolt that the brace mounts to right out of the mountings !

If you live on a farm I would think again but for normal use its perfectly ok.

Agree with jimbo ok normaly roads but not a good idea on "G roads"

I have been thinking about this, and I reckon it would be possible to use a piece of Flat steel bar bolted between the front wishbone mountings.

As it is flat it souldn't affect ground clearance much. It would also be cheap, probably less that £15 even if it was powder coated.

What do you all reckon? I have access to some free 50x8mm flat bar at work, as well as some longer bolts for the wishbones.

What do you guys think?

Clearance to the downpipe is an issue with the lower support braces. I'm sure someone will be along with a technical metalurgist type assessment of tube/solid vs flat bar.

Chris

flat bar (especially only 8mm) would flex under compression

Tube is just as strong as solid bar under compression and tension, and is possibly even stronger in flex.

However, my experience of tube is that it is much less resistant to large rocks and bricks, and will end up being bashed flat at some point in its life (especially if you're already lowered)

I spent a LONG time designing my lower brace and came up with solid 20mm stainless bar - not exactly the lightest solution, but highly resistant to everything that's hit it so far.

Now polling to see if there's enough interest in a new batch

new subframe brace GB thread

Thanks for that Nigel..
I did think that it may flex, but I thought I may as well ask as I have it freely availably.

Do you think 25x25 3mm wall box section with mounting tabs welded at the ends would work? As I have access to that as well as a welder.

it would work better than flat plate, but it will still flex more than tube or circular bar

Ok then, thanks Nigel.

A bit of a generalisation! It would flex less then a 25mm diameter round tube of 3mm steel.

Oh no it wont !

square section isn't particularly resistant to bending - its OK in tension and it would be fine if it was triangulated.

Nope - round is best

You have to ask yourself whay all space framed cars (and all roll cages) are made from circular section

That is a common misconception. Bending resistance is governed by the second moment of area, and a square section wins over a round one given equal sizes i.e. diameter of round section is same as the egde of the square section and same wall thickness.

The reason that round tubes are used for some space framed cars (many use square) is that for a given resistance to bending, round tube is lighter, i.e. it's a more efficient use of material.

Hands up all the engineers of the forum!
From my knowledge, I'd go with K9huff.
Nigel and Jimbo, round tube has a uniform behaviour and that's one of the reasons it's used in many things, but in our case square of the right dimensions and thickness will be fine.

V.

Now I think about it, I concede the point about square section on space frame cars

I have a brief engineering background, and Jimbo's is rather more up to date than mine.

However, I have no answer to your point about moments of area, so I will happily bow to your knowledge.

My brace is still going to be round though

Nigel, Whats you opinion on this ?

pointless....

There's simply no point in bracing the subframe between its own mounting points to the chassis, so three sides of that frame are a waste of mild steel

true...

makes a more impressive kit though and I guess they can charge more

V.

Hmm true. They quoted USD85..pretty cheap. Just wondering if clearance would be a bigger issue with all that extra mounting points.

I have tested it. My car is lowered with Eibach springs. I think the clearance to the ground was three fingers, ca 60 mm.

You tried the exact same one freddan? 3 Fingers?!? Are there no road humps in Sweden?

I never fitted it, just tested it in the garage
I think you should only use it on a car that is not lowered.

The roads in Sweden are not the best. Holes & humps, we got it all

Totally agree, that's a complete waste of steel, the side and rear parts of the brace are doing nothing whatsoever.

If they wanted to (possibly) improve on a standard brace then that extra steel would be better used as a diagonal member, triangulating the brace.




Not a mechanical/structural engineer though, but it is a bit of a hobby.

Thats what I was thinking.

What about fitting one of the OMP brace's anf then bracing that to the mounts that hold the radiator bracket?

just so you all know, the subframe brace Group Buy is back on again

is it a direct fit for the 16vT or only for the 20vT ?

I have one of nigels lower braces on my 16vt. I didnt fit it myself (Motormech did) but AFAIK it's a direct fit.

yes - fits 16v / 16VT as well as 20v variants