Suspension stuff.
I have a front wheel drive unit and due to circumstances beyond my control, the inner fender where the struts used to mount, are missing. The frame under the engine is well inboard from the outside of the engine, so running a hoop would be very difficult, not impossible, but probably beyond my ability.
I thought about boxing in the strut with bars that would go to the outside of the engine bay, up the inside of the body and across the top of the engine, duplicated on the other side.
a.) Ugly.
b.) Difficult to service the engine.
c.) Removes lightness.
I've thought about keeping the lower control arm and maiking a solid spring perch (ala GM products), but again, no real place to mount from.
I know there's a simple answer out there and I'm pretty sure you guys have it. Anything is appreciated.
Thanx, Dan
This is in the back of the Geo, right?
I would suggest making a removeable upper crossmember; put a 'saddle' on either side at the top of the inner fender, run a straight bar across for the struts to mount to, then triangulate that to a central point at the rear. It would look a lot like this strut bar:
But will something like that take the vertical load, which is the real problem.
Jensenman wrote:
Geos are the same underhood as my old 95 AE101...I miss that dumb old car
It shouldn't be hard to make a vertical strut which would tie this to the existing unibody. Of course, those would have to be removeable as well.
4cylndrfury wrote:
Geos are the same underhood as my old 95 AE101...I miss that dumb old car
It's not going under the hood.
search google pics for rally car underhood photos, then do something similar. basically, just tie the upper strut mounts into a node of the cage.
AngryCorvair wrote:
search google pics for rally car underhood photos, then do something similar. basically, just tie the upper strut mounts into a node of the cage.
Yeah, I was thinking of that, it needs a cage anyway for rigidity. I'm off to Yuma next week, but will buy some tubing and what nots when I get back.
Thanks, Dan
Something I learned the hard way, Dan: anywhere there's a bolt going through a tube be sure to use a small tube that's a slip fit over the bolt. Drill your hole in the big tube big enough for this small tube to slide all the way through, then weld it in place and grind the ends flush. I call them 'crush tubes', there's probably a real name for it. 
Also a handy trick when dealing with car frames.
Thanks.
