i have noticed that there isnt to much that is around here for shock towers being fabbed up to help with lowered efs and da9's...i shaved and tucked my engine bay but my upper control arms banged on the shock towers and punched holes where i welded them in...i would like some ideas for a clean look without looking like someone cut a box or a cylinder open and slapped it on top of the hole and welded it....

thanks much appreciated!

 

well since ive posted this and 124 views later and not one response i decided to just start hacking away and so far this is what ive come up with

 

are they going to clear the hood?

 

my greddy/trust strut bar sits higher than these do

 

Posts on HT and receives no reply = FAWK IT! I will do what I was thinking about anyways!!

Easy solution...raise your car some!

 

I did these for a local ef owner..........


Mike

 

nice ^^i got the koni ground controls with extended top hats...but if i didnt get a good deal i would totally have you make those to go with my shock towers...i wish i owned a tig welder my harbor break special gasless flux core spits everywhere.....

 

no way!!!

seems like there needs to be a thread anyway for this since i dont see one...unless someone can point me in the right direction...

 

grinded them down a little and will be ready for body work soon

 

I would weld that from the bottom also to get more strength...

 

What's it used for?

 

why? welds look good. and structurally that part of the shock tower is totally irrelevant.

 

thanks and its true....welds would of been so much prettier if i had a mig instead but i do with what i got

 

Here is mine its not on a ef but an EM1 hope it helps.

 

looks good man! thank you for contributing

 

Thanks and no problem I try to help when I can.I will suggest to try to follow the body lines as much as possible so that they dont look out of place.I am going to try to do some minor work on mine to smooth the sharp edges down so they flow a better with the curves on the shock tower.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but extending the tophats, won't help with the upper control arm contacting the strut tower will it? But for using a flux core welder on such thin metal, you did a great job man. Looks like just doing it is going to work pretty well for you. I think that the shape of the modification won't matter as much as long as it isn't too boxy. But I will search for my old photos, of a set-up I did on a buddies car not too long ago. I was lucky enough to borrow a tig from a buddy.

 

Top hats also confuse me.I was under the impression that they would cause the uca to be closer to the shock tower since the shock sits firther up.Even on a setup with adjustable perches they can only be adjusted so much.

Thanks if the comment was meant for me.I also would love to see the pics if you have them

 

Correct! extended top hats only help the the strut have more travel distance

 

Thats what confuses me it can only help the travel distance on a shock that is compressed due to the drop right I mean a shock can only have as much travel as it was designed for.

 

Lower the car 2" you just compressed the strut by 2" or went -2 on strut travel. add 2" extention to your top hat you now have a +2 to the equation. Simple math (-2 + 2 = 0) tells you that you're back at 0, which represents the original travel of the strut before the car was lowered (-2). Clear as mud now?

 

Yeah thats what I meant it only makes up the difference of the shocks compression.

 

Other than completely forgetting the motion ratio, that's close to correct. Also, if your car has an upper control arm, you don't have struts.

On the Civics pictured, it's more along the lines of 'lower the car 2", you've compressed the shock 1.5"...'.

Extended upper shock mounts also increase shock shaft side loading and increase the likelihood of rubbing the spring on the shock/sleeve

 

how do you figure?

 

This is common suspension knowledge, and while I'm not always the best at explaining things I'll give it a go.

The upper spring perch is fixed. The shock changes angle during suspension movement, while the upper spring perch doesn't. This loads the spring unevenly, which bows it, which is what causes the rubbing. Move the upper shock mounting further up, and the angle difference between the spring and shock increases, making contact more likely.

Both of my GC sleeves in the front have missing threads from the spring rubbing them.

As for the side loading, the same forces that bow the spring force the shock to bend. Stock, the shock's upper mounting location was already less than ideal. Relocate it further upwards, and you increase the wear on the shock's seals and shaft.