Self made strut brace

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 4:10 pm

Hi Folks,

I had again been a little bit busy today .. and the result is that I now have a nice strut brace for my 480

ItÂ´s hard to find a fitting one for a 480 here in german so I took a A3 one and did some cutting an welding

So thatÂ´s the result:

Needs some grinding of the welds ... but so far seems to be ftting perfeclty

Cheers

Tobi

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:24 pm

Hi again,

And now the brace in itÂ´s final version

Think itÂ´s looking quite good so far ... now it only needs to be mounted in the car

Cheers

Tobi

robkendall · Post by **robkendall** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:56 pm

is the gap in the strut a 'tensioner'?...
so you can tighten/slacken etc?

good idea.....good job!
rgrds
rob

Milosz_480 · Post by **Milosz_480** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:58 pm

Great job! Give us some info what's its infulence on handling.

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:08 am

Hi,

robkendall wrote:is the gap in the strut a 'tensioner'?...
so you can tighten/slacken etc?

good idea.....good job!
rgrds
rob

Thx

Yes at the gap it is a tensioner where you can tighten/slacken the strut, itÂ´s just a thread at each end of the strut ( one left handed and the other one right handed ) where bolt is screwed into.
As I worte it was originally designed for an A3 and needed some grinding cutting and Welding until it was looking like this

About the handling,
I havenÂ´t installed it yet ... paint had to get dry today, but when I have done some driving with the brace IÂ´ll let you know how it handels or id it makes a big difference

Cheers

Tobi

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:47 pm

Hi,

I got it mounted right now and it is fitting like a beauty

looks lke this mounted:

Now IÂ´m courious how it is when drinving ... think IÂ´m going to do a little test ride tomorrow

Cheers

Tobi

catgroom · Post by **catgroom** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:36 pm

Nice work Tobi!

and the cost of shipping to UK is????????????

ps Iam being serious!

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 8:56 pm

I just hammerited mine that Edd made today, got to leave it while to dry..new hammerite seems to be shit these days......

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:35 pm

Hi,

catgroom wrote:Nice work Tobi!

and the cost of shipping to UK is????????????

ps Iam being serious!

Hehe ... I think shipping to UK wonÂ´t be too much

The bigger problem would be to find the same strut again to build a second one ... the one I got was luckily lying arround at a shop arround here and I got it for 20 bucks cause he hadnÂ´t any use for it

Cheers

Tobi

terrastudios · Post by **terrastudios** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:29 pm

Me and my dad built a stainless steel strut brace (50 ton press to bend it) improved the handerling of the 440 no end.

Got a rear one fitted also across the boot, will take some piccys ASAP.

This is not the best piccy but you can see the strut brace plus the 16v engine (its an old piccy with messy wiring - ill get an up to date one posted asap also).

Cheers!

Matt

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 5:41 pm

Can someone explain something to me?

Both those strut braces, the cross bar is attatched the the strut plates by a bolt threaded through the bar, fastened to the strut plates on either side, thereby creating a pivot point. So how can they brace anything?

TommiS · Post by **TommiS** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:46 pm

I have made it like this.

But i think that Tobi's and Matt's braces are good and working too.

terrastudios · Post by **terrastudios** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:24 pm

chris1roll wrote:Can someone explain something to me?

Both those strut braces, the cross bar is attatched the the strut plates by a bolt threaded through the bar, fastened to the strut plates on either side, thereby creating a pivot point. So how can they brace anything?

Your bracing horizontally, the bar can't shrink in length so it stops the top of the suspension towers from flexing inwards/outwards

rpruen · Post by **rpruen** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 9:37 pm

chris1roll wrote:Can someone explain something to me?

Both those strut braces, the cross bar is attatched the the strut plates by a bolt threaded through the bar, fastened to the strut plates on either side, thereby creating a pivot point. So how can they brace anything?

Good point. I'm sure they will do something, but ours will be more rigid as they don't have the pivot.

I think the ones shown above are going to work fine as they are, much the same as most aftermarket ones. Ours being made of shedule 60 1 inch NB tube, with M20 adjusters and 5mm end plates, are quite possibly somewhat over engineered. You could lift the whole car with it, without any trouble at all.

Richard

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:19 pm

terrastudios wrote:
chris1roll wrote:Can someone explain something to me?

Both those strut braces, the cross bar is attatched the the strut plates by a bolt threaded through the bar, fastened to the strut plates on either side, thereby creating a pivot point. So how can they brace anything?
Your bracing horizontally, the bar can't shrink in length so it stops the top of the suspension towers from flexing inwards/outwards

Ok, but they could potentially move upwards/downwards in relation to each other. could they not?

I took mine out for a test drive, but the roads were so greasy I can't tell if theres any bloody difference! Grrrrrr.

I'm not saying yours won't work, I'm just looking at it from a design perspective, and working out what happens when one strut tower moves upwards, having hit a bump mid corner......and solid welded at each end will be stronger.......

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:24 pm

TommiS wrote:I have made it like this.

Nicce finish! is that anodised?

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 11:42 pm

Hi,

here I also havenÂ´t had the possibility to do some "quicker" test drinving with the brace installed, cause the weather here isnÂ´t the best and with winter tyres it also isnÂ´t that much fun driving

But at least if the adaption with the screws/bolts is to weak, I think itÂ´s a 5min job to get the brace welded at the mounts

Cheers

Tobi

TommiS · Post by **TommiS** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:49 pm

chris1roll wrote:
TommiS wrote:I have made it like this.

Nicce finish! is that anodised?

No, just painted.

Daniel480 · Post by **Daniel480** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:09 pm

Here is mine

ted clutch · Post by **ted clutch** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:14 pm

woth atry look nice. the struts seem braced already to me as the bulkhead runs right across the back of the struts.

Volvo 480 Club Europe

Self made strut brace

Self made strut brace

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