Prototype Front Tie Bar Pics.

[FB71]

Ok Thanks alot Jim!

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

yep!!

[festivaWES]

very sweet piece!

[JoDan]

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...

i think that you should definatly make some more of these because i'm pretty sure you would have alot of buyers here and i definatly want one:iconbiggrin:

[htchbck]

if you decide to make more be sure to put them in the for sale section Now if I could only get my last w2 and file those taxes :lol:

[fastivaca]

Great looking work! How far below the transmission cradle does the bar drop? My Festiva is lowered and I'm concerned with ground clearance. If I did pick up one these (assuming you make it available) it will give me an excuse to install the poly LCA bushings I have sitting on the bench

[Jimmy812]

Great looking work! How far below the transmission cradle does the bar drop? My Festiva is lowered and I'm concerned with ground clearance.

It's about 1-1/4" lower that the trans crossmember at the point that it passes under. It's a 1" tube and it's got about 1/4" of clearance between the tube and the crossmember.

I don't think it passes under the lowest point on the trans crossmember, but I'm not sure. Tomorrow or the next day I'll get it off the jackstands and take some more pictures of the ground clearance and such.

[BUSTIVA]

If you wanna send it to me, I'll give her a real testdrive and review! How much you want for it?

[MONSOON]

Jimmy! Do us a favor. Go into your profile and add your location. One of us may live close by and want to come take a look at it personally.

[mechanicaldj]

does anyone see a problem with this?

you are mounting it to the lower control arm bolts, who of which have issues with the caged nut on the backside.

and the flexing of the frame alone would tear apart the sheet metal.

without additional bracing, i see this backfiring on you

[David88]

^^^ Yep, and if you caught a racoon or a groundhog with that at 55mph It would total your car. Better for autoX on a closed coarse. The build looks professional though.

[ejp2fast]

very nice mod! a before and after cornering/stability analysis would be excellent!!

[Jimmy812]

Jimmy! Do us a favor. Go into your profile and add your location. One of us may live close by and want to come take a look at it personally.

I'm in New Albany, IN, just across the river from Louisville, KY.

MechanicalDJ, I think you underestimate the strength of the Festiva around the control arm mounts. I agree if you ran it into a curb or something solid and hit the bar, I could see it doing serious damage, but I don't think that

Maybe I should make another and carry it with me to my local junkyard and take some whacks with a sledgehammer and see what gives up first.

It's definitely a valid concern if the Festiva suspension mounts are that weak, but I suspect the cups on the end of the bar would give up first. If I were going to provide them to the community I'd want to know they were not a huge liability.

The cups on the end could also be modified in design so that were the bar to catch on something, they would break away easily, but still provide adequate strength in the direction it is supposed to work.

If it were caught on something, the force would presumably want to pull the bolts in towards the center of the car, but in cornering the force would be trying to push the outside control arm towards the inside control arm. There seem to be very few situations in normal operation or a car where any sort of side loading would be trying to pull the control arms away from each other.

So perhaps if the washer-like plates at the bottom each cup had a slot that wents toward the outside of each cup, were the bar to get caught on something, it would be bent back and the bolt heads would have a path to clear the bar before the actual chassis of the car would be bent.

There could also be a break in the weld between the washer-plate and cylinder that corresponds to the slot, giving the cup a start at tearing itself apart and let go of the bolt before too much force is exerted.


Something like this:






The washer-plates are also intentionally thin. The control arm mount is not flat - at least on my Festiva they're not - so those plates deform and cup a bit when the bolts are tightened. I used thin metal for those washer plates so that they would deform and take the shape of the mounts. Going with thin metal there could have multiple benefits.

Yeah, I think I'll build another and take it to the junkyard...

[Safety Guy]

Good idea, Jimmy. I wonder about hitting things by accident as well.

Karl

[nonamekid]

If someone used this on a rally car that got air born they might see the control arms wanting to pull apart. With any modification you do to a car there will be risks, and I think this is an acceptable risk. Good job on the design and fab work. I am down for one when you starting building them. Powder coated would be awesome. I am thinking blue or red if that is possible.

[festivaWES]

You have a estimated cost per unit yet?