kranked91dx

So it goes like this, the title pretty much say it all but here is the deal:

I want to fab up a front crossmember for my EF. I got a turbo Jdm D15B and want more place to run a 3 inch dp this winter on my new setup.

I own an Econotig and I am seriously looking into a plasma cutter soon...

What are the spec's on the cross member you guy's did ??
- what size tubing, thickness wall ??
- what type of radius rod end ??
- Cromoly, Al ( too sloppy for this app IMO ), Stainless ??
- what is the main diff into a Traction bar setup and a simple crossmember ??

gimme some details I'm hitching to fab up something new right now..

Kranked.

Bailhatch

this could be a good thread, good idea kranked I'm planing my own 92-95 civic traction bars and would love to see some other approachs. I'm sure we all know the idea behind the geometry from the other threads on this, i'm just curious about the materials you guys have used.

RenoRacing

Here's a few pictures of the chromoly crossmember that I made for my old hatchback. I used 1 3/4" chromoly, I don't recal the wall thickness but I think it was .125". It was my daily driver for over two years with this setup and I had no problems what so ever. I used the stock radius rods themselves with some tie rod ends threaded onto the factory threads and never had a problem. This was by far one of the better mods that you can do as far as traction/handling, stiffening of motor for better throttle response and smoother shifts, and freeing up a ton of space! I also have a similar setup in my 90 Integra although in it I kept the stock radiator support.

michael O

Damn that is nice. I wish I had the skills to make my own crossmember.

kranked91dx

Hey thank's guy's for the nice reply !!

I'll start fabbing mine up pretty soon and I keep looking around for nice idea... maybe I'll get a bender and do it " the jimfab way "

For now I'm hooked to the full race version. Iwill actually run with no rubber bushing on the radius rod, would this alter the suspension and Handling ?? or just stiffen thing a bit ??
anyway the damn Radius rod bushing are busted out like ****, so making new one with ball end, with an Aluminium rod would be pretty my best bett I think.

Keep pic's and comment's comming guy's

thank's all for the support.
Kranked

hondaguyef

If any of you guys ever decide to fab up more than one crossmember/traction bar w/ EG radiator mounts for an EF chassis, I will buy it! Just PM me. Thanks

This is going to be a good thread. I would like to see what everyone is doing w/ there DIY crossmembers/traction bars

Built B16A

you know what.. ive been thinking about this lately my self.. and i was going to sink the 2 bills in the place racing one, and call it a day.. but im sure i can dig up the material at work, and make me one out of pure labor.. can't beat that!

i'll have to get dimensions from a place racing or soemthing else.. but im serious about making one. everyone chime in on tip, or hints..



i can do this...

redzcstandardhatch

i made my own from 1/8 wall square tubing, and some spherical ball bearing rod ends from mcmastercarr. i dont have any pictures of it. i free'd up a lot of space by incorporating the tow-hooks into it, so i could hold it further forward. it uses one of the stock bolt holes on each side, and 2 of the tow hook bolts on each side. i've used it at the dragstrip and at the road course, and its been amazing compared to the factory one. no wheelhopping, and it worked great in the corners.

kranked91dx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondaguyef &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If any of you guys ever decide to fab up more than one crossmember/traction bar w/ EG radiator mounts for an EF chassis, I will buy it! Just PM me. Thanks

This is going to be a good thread. I would like to see what everyone is doing w/ there DIY crossmembers/traction bars </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's what I'll do too but without the EG radiator mount's for my EF... I can do one for your though with the EG rad.... just have to find an old EG rad to take mesurement...

Kranked.

kranked91dx

Up Up UP for more info !!

Kranked.

eXcelonTypeR

Not to burst you're bubble or anything, but I thought when traction bars are designed a special program is used, forgot the name?? Only reason i'm saying this is I believe Jim from JimFab was bitching about how the z10 traction bars weren't designed right so it put extra stress on the bushings or something. You'd have to search for it, but i do remember reading about it.

Just a heads up.

Built B16A

in all actuallity, dont' all traction bars put stress on bushings? thats what they're for?

i think if you come up wiht a good design, or even a knock off.. you'll be ok.

its only really eliminating wheel hop by holding onto the lower controll arm. i can't see how you can go wrong.

Clayton

iTrader: (1)

Am I the only one that sees a major problem with this design?? I recently got a set of full-race traction bars, and the major thing I like about them, is the fact they are completely adjustable. The one's pictured here look like you cannot adjust the tension on the radius rods. I mean, you would only be able to adjust it so far, and anymore and you wouldn't be able to get the retaining bolt into place. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this, but having opposite threaded rods ends on opposite ends of the radius rod would seem to make more sense to me.

Clayton

eXcelonTypeR

When i said it puts stress on the the bushing, I didn't explain it well enough, thats my fault. I meant when the suspension was in travel it put unwanted stress on the bushing. From what Jim said, people with z10 bars were going thrubushing like crazy....but I just look at it as a case-by-case thing. Still, it's something to keep in mind.

Built B16A

the place racing CM's dont' allow any adjustment of radius arms.. so how can that be bad? thats not even how you do alignment? so i could careless if they're adjustable.

legendboy

Here are pics (in no specific order) of Full-Races new traction bars i snaged before they took them down. Please don't hyperlink.

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/thanem/FR%20bars/

Doctor CorteZ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Built B16A &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the place racing CM's dont' allow any adjustment of radius arms.. so how can that be bad? thats not even how you do alignment? so i could careless if they're adjustable.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah , I dont like added caster either.

running less static camber and increasing braking/accel sucks I guess , as does a nice increase in dynamic camber , jeez who wants that ?

L-CON1

cool thread, im pretty excited to see what people come up with. I make a cross member already so if i can be of any help to anyone dont hesitate to ask. I think its kinda cool when people build stuff themself.

This One

Heres some stuff i did back A few years ago when I was still in school.
I had a Very knowledgable instructor that helped me figure out the correct Geometry for this stuff....

It was originally just the Crossmember Until I hacked up the Factory Radiator support and then it become my Radiator brackets and now I/C brackets.

All DOM Mild steel tubing
Its 1 5/8 DOM tubing for the Crossmember
The Rod lenghts are 1" DOM .120 wall w/ 3/4" .120 wall "bungs" welded in them that are tapped for the left/right hand threads for the 1/2" Rod ends.
The "bungs" are about 2" long tapped all the way through. Then Lap welded into the 1" material and PLug welded in two spots on each end.

Bailhatch

Just speculation but, wouldn't you want to position the hiem joint so the arm has unlimited movement vertically rather than horizontally? I can see that it won't bind in use or anything the way you have it but it just seems like the other way is the right way to do it. It would kinda suck if you pulled you shock out and the weight of the brake/control arm bent your bar or something.

I love the nice thick cross member, seems like a solid design. So I'm guessing you determined that the optimal spot for foreward rod ends was on the same exact planes as the two factory control arm bushings? basicly draw a line through them tword the front of the car right?

TeamNextGenChris

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Clayton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Am I the only one that sees a major problem with this design?? I recently got a set of full-race traction bars, and the major thing I like about them, is the fact they are completely adjustable. The one's pictured here look like you cannot adjust the tension on the radius rods. I mean, you would only be able to adjust it so far, and anymore and you wouldn't be able to get the retaining bolt into place. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this, but having opposite threaded rods ends on opposite ends of the radius rod would seem to make more sense to me.

Clayton</TD></TR></TABLE>
i believe the pictured setup is made to bolt right to the LCA like stock the stock radius rods on the EF/DA chassis.the rod is adjustable with the rod end that mounts to the crossmember,but it would require unhooking one end to do it.

Chris

This One

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bailhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just speculation but, wouldn't you want to position the hiem joint so the arm has unlimited movement vertically rather than horizontally? I can see that it won't bind in use or anything the way you have it but it just seems like the other way is the right way to do it. It would kinda suck if you pulled you shock out and the weight of the brake/control arm bent your bar or something.

I love the nice thick cross member, seems like a solid design. So I'm guessing you determined that the optimal spot for foreward rod ends was on the same exact planes as the two factory control arm bushings? basicly draw a line through them tword the front of the car right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea I see what your saying, I guess that would have been a good idea. Honestly didnt really consider that, but the geometry of the suspension at full droop and completly bottomed out, it still has Plenty of Movement.

And yes the Mouting points are in-line with the LC pivot axis.
Honestly Its kinda funny to see everyone marketing the New improved design with no binding. Yes the old ones in theory would bind, but nothing too drastic or something you would see in normal situtions IMO.
Ive seen Full race cars with Radius Arms bolted to the side of the Radiator support.

L-CON1

looks pretty good, and yea you are right about the issue of binding. people just advertise it to make it clear that they do not bind, being thats the new big question when bying a tck. in my opinion, most people probably dont even know what binding is or have they ever really experienced it. cool bar!

kranked91dx

Great link dude ! thank's a lot

There is great info Here guy's keep pic's and comment comming were heading somewhere with this project!

See ya
Kranked.

Bailhatch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by This One &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Honestly Its kinda funny to see everyone marketing the New improved design with no binding. Yes the old ones in theory would bind, but nothing too drastic or something you would see in normal situtions IMO.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Word is that the bushings tend to wear out fast if it does bind a little. No reason to not do it the correct way now that we know. I think on a street car it's going to be the most noticeable, or should I say the wallet of a street car owner. Replacing bushings cost money and sucks to do, so I'm gonna try to ghetto engineer my way around that durability issue. In addition to that I am also concerned with handeling so I don't need and 'automatic' travel based caster adjustments going on on my car.