my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

here some stuff ive been working on today. after reading a thread on DIY traction bars i thought i would give it a shot. One thing i didn't like about the traction bars ive seen is the ground clearance so i designed mine to come down from the mounting point and back towards the rear of the car a little, keeping very good clearance.

http://tinypic.com/19krbc
since i made the cross member snug up against the radiator support i had to notch the bar for the lower radiator hose.
http://tinypic.com/19krk9
Ive got it all mounted up for now with no tie bars yet, that'll be next week.
http://tinypic.com/19krw1
http://tinypic.com/19krxt

Heres a pic of John and Gary, "old timers," they held advise when i'm tryign to building ----. John is polishing the valve cover for his Miata. Hes building a tube frame lotus 7 with Maita drive train. hes built if from scratch, it's gonna be an autocross monster this spring. i'll get pics of it later...
http://tinypic.com/19ksa9
http://tinypic.com/19ks4p

i'll update as i go...

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Looks decent man. What's it made out of? Almost looks like stainless but it's hard to say.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

i used some regular 1/4" steel plate for the ends and some regular 1x1 mild steel tube they had at the shop. its all mild steel.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

looks goo man......any tips? I'm going to be building one once the weather improves a bit.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

well its hard to say since i'm not completely done yet but for the cross member part... if clearance is an issue then you will have to do some measuring and figure out how you want the mounting plates. basicly my plates are "L" shaped. i also thought about making the end plates the same size as the stock tow hooks and bending the ends of the cross bar to clear the radiator and charge pipes and have it recess back towards the rear, but out of ease i chose the "L" shaped end plates.

also when locating the cross member more towards the back the size of bar is gonna be crucial, as you can see i had to notch my bar for additional clearance. I don't know the exact thickness of the square tube i used but my buddy John said that it was plenty thick. I would think that any medium thickness 1x1 tube or pipe is ok.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Looks good, how much it running you?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

thats pretty hot, where did you get your clevis joints?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Nice start.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

hmmm... my labor looking through my buddy's shop junk bin for the material and my grinding and welding. My friend John helped me out a lot too.
$0 :P

there are some aluminum premade tie rods i'm gonna be buying from a stock car shop around here which run about $15 for 17-18" and probably about $5-6 for heim joints.

i'll let you know what the total damage is when i'm done.

Cleavis joints i jacked from my friend! ;D

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Looks like a good start. Did you put it on the car and figure out where you wanted everything to sit, or did you just start welding?

And, I know I'm supposed to be smart to be a moderator, but what's a clevis joint?
???
That seems like a good deal for the tie rods. Keep us updated.