i've heard that with a swap in a del sol the frame flexs too much compared to hatchbacks and other cars. what can i do to help the frame from flexing so much? front strut bar? front sway baR? front x member? fender brace? h brace? will those help?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by myronwong &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've heard that with a swap in a del sol the frame flexs too much compared to hatchbacks and other cars. what can i do to help the frame from flexing so much? front strut bar? front sway baR? front x member? fender brace? h brace? will those help? </TD></TR></TABLE>

what kind of driving will you be doing that flex worries you ?

for me daily driving and sometimes some boostin fun, i don't have a problem. front n' rear strut bars n' lower rear bar, tein ss coilovers.

 

I dont really feel body flex at all in my car with the way I drive.

 

I wouldn't worry about body flexing too much. All 4 strut/tie bars work fine with me. And near perfect alignment wouldn't hurt either.

 

really depends on what drving and what kind of enviroment you live in. stock front upper, front h brace, and rear lower and im good to go, buddy of mine has an h22 in his and he's runnin with just the stock front upper.

 

All of you del Sol owners put your fingers in between the top and rollbar and drive down the road, and tell me you don't "feel" flex.

It's definitely there, and there isn't much you can really do about it without a complete tear-down and restructuring the welds in the body.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by retaHd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All of you del Sol owners put your fingers in between the top and rollbar and drive down the road, and tell me you don't "feel" flex.</TD></TR></TABLE>

try it playing a song called "Flex" by Mad Cobra

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Del Sol SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try it playing a song called "Flex" by Mad Cobra </TD></TR></TABLE>Bwahhahaha....

 

well the del sol body flexes on launch. like quarter mile drag racing

 

flexes like ****. Get used to it unless u wanna try building a custom roll cage. That'd work.

 

weld up that targa and problem solved, but that would be the whole purpose of a del sol down the tubes.

 

"It's definitely there, and there isn't much you can really do about it without a complete tear-down and restructuring the welds in the body."

Can you elaborate on this? That is completely possible for me.

"flexes like ****. Get used to it unless u wanna try building a custom roll cage. That'd work."

I would gladly consider a full roll cage. What sort of cage has worked for others? Pictures would be a huge plus. Wheter some want to admit it or not, this is a HUGE problem with these cars. I would consider about anything necessary to address this. My B16a Del Sol is completely gutted inside - heat, A/C, interior trim, console, everything. The dash has 3 bolts holding it on and can easily be removed in a couple of minutes. From everything I have read, everyone just complains. Has anyone done anything about it that has worked?

I am seriously considering putting in a cage to go auto-crossing, as this car will pretty much be a no-frills go-cart for the street. So, as the original said, what will help? I have a plasma cutter and metal & aluminum welders, and a full suite of air tools in the shop at work. What would you guys do?

 

Well if thats the case, you my friend, are a lucky bastard! . Anyways, the whole point of a roll cage is to join the front to the back together to add regidity to the chassis. I have personally never seen it done on a sol, although i've heard of it. It'd proly be a bitch cause u gotta take in consideration that ur rear window goes down and u got a roof that comes off.

 

The major problem is headroom, and the OEM roll bar does a surprisingly good job of providing roll over protection. Since you can't build your cage INTO the roll bar, you have to build under it. If you're either short, or short torso'ed, a cage may not be bad. I'm 6'5" and have my seat slid all the way back and tilted pretty straight up... No room for a cage or halo.

And yes, for a real cage, you'd need to remove the rear window and trunk, and weld bars into place to actually connect to where they should, which means hollowing out the rollbar or sneaking through the back window, both of which compromise the integrity and shape of the cage, potentially decreasing your effectiveness of said cage.

It's difficult to do correctly unless you're stripping the car down ENTIRELY to bare metal and some room to cut and splice things out of the way. From that point, it's a cage like any other cage in any other car.

 

how about a cusco cage?you wont need to remove the rear window and since me and my brother are like 5'6 and 5'7. so it would be no problem

 

its ture... the sol's are known for lack of rigidity due to the targa top

an excelent upgrade is either an xbrace or tower bars, front and back with sway bars combo, aswell as a rear linkage ... also a good upgrade

if you are really concerned about reliving the flex in the unibody chassis...

remove the bumper and fenders and weld extra metal inthere right where the part of the wheel well meets the door to the chassis under the fender

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
there are a couple people who have posted pics in the past showing where to mount the bars and tac/and weld them into place

look in fabrication and look for the H-T admin who built that thread
he/she has 12000+ posts

^^^
yeah also that comes to mind

weld the roof on that will help a bit
when I prep for paint im removing the targa seals and smoothing it all out.. losing the coolness of the targa that was

 

Awesome replies. Thanks!

 

people confuse body flex with body roll.. and they are 2 totaly different issues..

strut bars and suspension upgrades wont WONT help body flex. in the other hand they would increase due to stiffer suspension..

ive been debating on a solution to this problem.. from underbody brace, cage, roll bar, to even foam ..

a cage would solve it right away and would be the best way to go.. BUT im 6 feet tall and i can bearly get in my sol without one, there is alwos about 2.5 inches separating the roof from my head. and i really dont want to attrack alot of attention either.. so i think a custome roll bar would do for me..