DeTomaso Mailing List: June 97, Message #49
     



From: MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re: Wheel house braces (before or after?)

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 12:48:26 -0400 (EDT)



Capt Mike Drew

150 Westgate Dr.

San Francisco, CA  94127



Home:   (415) 334-7860



E-mail:  MikeLDrew@aol.com



Hello all,



Just a brief note on adjustable camber bars (a.k.a. wheelhouse braces):  I've

started hearing lots of talk from Those Who Claim To Know that the

nice-looking machined aluminum ones are NOT effective because of the way

they're mounted.  They fit between two sheet-metal 'ears' and rely solely on

the tension of the bolt to keep them in position.  If the bolt is placed

anywhere but the absolute outer end of the slot, the tension is insufficient

to keep it from slipping.  The obvious solution is to use the jam nut in the

center of the bar to spread it as far as possible, until the bolts on each

end are tightly wedged against the outer edge of the slots.



The 'problem' then becomes (supposedly) that cars driven especially hard will

twist the chassis enough that the bar will break the thin sheet-metal ears

right off the back of the wheelhouse!



Interestingly, the cheaper (and lighter) adjustable STEEL bars don't seem to

have this problem, because they're designed to actually wedge into the pocket

formed by the ears and the indentation in the inner wheel house.  The bar

actually acts on a much greater surface area, and the ears are merely used to

locate it and retain it.  Thus the ears don't suffer undue stress.  (The

aluminum bars aren't long enough to touch the inside of the wheelhouse.)



So does anybody actually KNOW somebody who's camber bar broke out under

cornering stress?  Probably not.  Still, it's food for thought.



The Ron Siple super-duper brace might be overkill for a street car, but it

seems to be a fantastic idea for somebody who's planning on driving his car

hard with sticky tires on the track or around the cones.  I know POCA member

Brian Hansen of Altus, OK installed one in his car and noticed an immediate

and measurable increase in overall chassis stiffness.  I believe he did

before-and-after tests jacking up one rear corner of his car, and was able to

see considerably less chassis deflection.



He wrote an article that originally ran in the Dallas club newsletter (Chuck

Engles, feel like hunting on your hard drive and coming up with the story,

then beaming it to The List?) and was later re-printed in the POCA

newsletter.



This super brace is one mega-buck part I just haven't been able to justify

yet, but I suspect that once I actually start to DRIVE my car (hey, it's

gonna happen.  No, really.) I'll probably spring for one.



I don't have Ron Siple's address info handy (I think he lives in a VERY rural

part of Nevada), but I know he's run ads and writes articles in PI, so if

you're interested, contact the Adlers at Panteras@fia.net and they should be

able to lead you to him.



Mike









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