Treyzian

Mochi Performance and Design are currently fabbing chassis bracing for my car.

In progress, but here are some crappy iPhone pics:

Rear diff/rear subframe braces, aka "dog bones":







What they replaced:



Rear Strut Bar, which allows factory trunk plastics to still be used if you wanted to keep them:



Frame Rail braces:









More to come!

Johnr352

iTrader: (18)

These look nice. I think it's very important though to show measurable improvement in chassis stiffness. Otherwise, it's just adding weight. Now, they're painted red, which helps. There's usually 3-7 whp in any added red metal parts. So there's that.

redsun727

Look cool

Nagua

iTrader: (1)

LOL. Looks nice but yea adding weight is going in opposite direction. Our chassis is very stiff to begin with.

Treyzian

Just wait til they're powdercoated red, that'll be atleast 12whp.

The bars weigh less than 5 lbs. But yeah, you're right, it's pointless weight (even if it's just 5 lbs) if there's no improvement. Unfortunately there's no way to measure chassis stiffness, so you kinda have to rely on feel and common sense. For example, look at the pieces that the diff braces replaced, one set is a thin flat piece of what almost feels like something a little thicker than sheet metal, and the other is a crimped tubular brace, both of which, when using common sense, flex a lot. Even the stiffest chassis from factory has it's weak points.

As for the other braces, we're adding them, testing the car in a corner, and these guys use my feedback (and driving style preference) to decide what changes to make.



On a side note, Nagua, when you said "gtfo my threads" I assumed that you'd do the same

Nagua

iTrader: (1)

That is because you were annoying. Myself I threw ya a compliment.

Iowa999

iTrader: (1)

It's torsional stiffness that matters (because that's how the rear swaybar keeps the inside front tire down) and that isn't very difficult to measure. At least, you can easily check if the braces are helping.

As to common sense, those red ones in the rear should not be pairs less than a few inches apart. They should be one piece with the third leg of the triangle added. When it comes to strength, triangles rock.

ddawg1130

iTrader: (1)

Was I the only one with the reaction:

"God the underside of that car is sooo clean"

Nagua

iTrader: (1)

Never drives it. Garage queen??

Treyzian

Nice pun, whether intended or not :P

Thing is, while this thing is track driven, it's also somewhat of a daily driver, and the triangle that connects all three would be more than marginal, additional NVH. The stiffer/thicker bars that replace the factory braces do enough to prevent differential slop, while still avoiding unnecessary NVH.

It's kind of like polyurethane vs solid bushings... One helps reasonably, while the other is slightly better, but with additional cost.

I'm just kidding

Actually try to spray it and clean it once a month Also living in California helps

Unfortunately not, grocery machine + track toy.

Sharkbite2000

iTrader: (21)

Just put a cage in the car that would stiff it up 200%.

Iowa999

iTrader: (1)

Only if you install one of those rather rare cages that attaches to the subframe, assuming that you want to stay on the topic of this thread.

Treyzian

Also