Strut brace education

Most will know I have done a lot of work on my car body shell.. seam welding.. cross bracing etc..

For those who dont 'get it' and are interested... here is a good video

Another good one..

Im happy to go into detail on my mods if anyone is interested..

I would just point out though that yes the F/TF are good as they are.. but are by no means the best they can be

so were do you put one on a TF front or rear and were do you get them from for a TF

Biggest problem is no one currently makes them for either the F or TF

Hence why I made my own..

As a minimum.. and a starting place... Seam weld the subframes.. gusset the towers and then fit strut brcaes between the shock towers.. front and rear

The F is a little different.. as its on spheres.. but shockers need bracing (as per the Cup cars)

Then if you want to improve on that.. seam weld the engine bay..

Want even more still?

Boot struts to stiffen up the furthest subframe mounts.. and under bonnet cross bracing to stiffen the shell up further

Some steel tube.. a welder and some time and anything is possible

We need a manufacturer to start making/ supplying bolt on braces for our cars

Back end:

Seam welded subframe
Solid subframe mounts
Seam welded engine bay
Engine bay braces (standard on the TF)
Boot bracing (home made)
Shock towers gusseted and braced (home made, welded in not bolted)

Will have to have a word with Mike Satur see if he can't come up with something

Front end:

Seam welded subframe
Solid mounts
Removeable cross brace (comes out so a spare wheel can be carried)
struts running through bulk head to connect under dash
Shock towers seam welded and gussets added.. then cross braced



With cross brace removed

All the bars carefully bent to avoid servo etc..

Bolt in brace I made for Andy Watson (for MGF's) that also incorporated a brake servo clamp

Andy has since chromed the brace..

How does the f/tf cope with such a rigid body? Doesn't it need a certain degree of flex?
I'd certainly be interested in hearing about all your mods.

We all know what happens to a bit of sheet metal when you keep flexing it back and forward... eventually it fractures and splits..

The F is no different.. uprated shocks cause the body to fracture and split around the towers.. so the cup racing cars had the towers beefed up and braced to stop this.

TF's can suffer from the shock tower/cone fracturing and even breaking in two

A common misconception is thqat if the body is too stiff the ride will become harsh.. If you have ever been in an S class Merc you'll know this is wrong.. as an S class Merc is a lot torsionally stiffer than any F/TF

The F/TF shell is fairly good.. but hardly amazing.. better than a BMW Z3... but no where near a Z4

Ive tried to deal with a number of issues all at the same time.. which I will try to break down and explain as best I can..