Prototype Front Tie Bar Pics.

[Jimmy812]

I built a prototype lower tie bar for my Festiva today. Thought I would share a few pictures.

It's made from .95 wall DOM 1" tubing with 1.5" (not sure the wall thickness) end pieces.

I need to get my oven set up again so I can powdercoat it.






Unfortunately, my Festiva is not currently registered or insured, so I can't give a first drive report, but I thought it looked alright so I decided to post pictures.

[FB71]

looks very nice!! I like how you made use of the lower control arms bolts as the mounting points!!

[Jimmy812]

Yeah. Nismo sells one for the Nissan Sentra (my other car) that uses similar mounting cups on the lower control arm bolts. I just copied their concept.

[CharlieZ]

Looks pretty good. Did you measure and install it while the car was on jacks or on all four wheels? I wonder if the chassis would flex enough on jacks to make a difference? Thanks

[Jimmy812]

I did it on jackstands. I would hope that the chassis wouldn't flex enough that it would make a difference, but with a Festiva, anything is possible.

If it does flex that much, all the more reason a lower tie bar will help... I guess...

[mattswabb]

You'd be surprised on how much they flex on jackstands. When I painted my car it I had the door strikers off. The car was on 4 stands and I reinstalled the strikers and later when I let the car down the doors wouldn't close. I had to move them quite a bit.

BTW nice bar. I'm sure you could sell a few here.

[MONSOON]

Could someone educate me please? What does this do for the suspension/handling exactly? Im sure it improves it in some way but how?

[FB71]

during cornering (and somewhat during braking), the lower control arm mounting points/framerails will flex side to side, resulting in a change in camber and toe, which adversely affects handling. Tieing them together reduces the amount of flex, resulting in more predictable handling.

[Damkid]

i would actually be interested in one of these depending on price, they look very nice and a great idea!!

[MONSOON]

Ok Thanks alot Jim!

So this along with a strut tower brace would help handling/braking quite a bit then?

[Jimmy812]

I didn't build this one on the car, I made a jig and built it on the jig. Building more is definitely not a problem as long I can have access to the tubing bender.

I'm pretty excited to see how it drives. I'd take it out for a quick run around the block in the middle of the night, but the headlights don't work right now either.

I looked for a good point behind the bar to triangulate to to make it a three or four point bar without have to weld or drill holes on unibody, but I didn't see anything. I might have to spend a little time tomorrow exploring that idea...

[geezerstiva]

is this not basically the same thing as the anti sway bar that runs under the radiator/trans mount?

[Jimmy812]

No. They sway bar acts as a spring between the front control arms to help keep them level in a corner - reducing body roll.

This works on the other end of the control arms to keep the body itself from flexing. It won't reduce body roll, just the affects that the body flex would have on alignment.

[geezerstiva]

oh, ok. thanks for the explanation!

[skeeters_keeper]

hmm... very nice!!!


*...wonders out to the garage and plugs in the welder...*