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.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

i hope you've done your research. %95 of all traction bars out there are built wrong.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Nice motivation!!!! Since you know exactly how they should be, you should start building them.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

its got a pin in it and one end is treaded like a hiem joint, nevermind I suck at explaining ----, they are used on linkages and hydrolic rams sometimes.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

i was gonna DIY some, but i'ma order a set of Lakewood Bars, and them copy their design then send em back, then have em powdercoated at a local shop here :)

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I usually go out of my way to explain how to build one of these ------- things correctly in threads like these, only to see the poster go ahead and make it wrong. ------- the suspension geometry on one of these can be VERY detrimental to your car. NM though steve, I don't know anything because I'm not building them myself ::)

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

If you tried to explain exactly what evosol might be able to improve upon that would be one thing, but to just come out and claim that 95% of all of them are built wrond would imply that you know something everyone else doesn't, and I'm still waiting for that part.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

there you go steve, check that thread out, you and I had this exact same conversation ::)

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Yeah, you've posted that 3493898308350983 times now. I can't believe we are all still dummies. :P

You line the connection up on the traction bar with where it meets the lca joint, blah, blah. Why are we all still stupid?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

"we all"?

Because I have yet to see someone do a DIY one correctly. And I've only posted that once.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

And evosol hasn't even gotten to the point where he's mounting the tie rods, so how can you come in here and start acting like he's doing it wrong? ???
If you're really concerned just post that same thing you just posted and remind him that that's how it should be done. You act like you've giving up on helping because everyone is so mentally inferior. ::) :P

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I guess I just assume they are going to do it wrong if they don't state that they are going to do it right. And I simply said "I hope you've done your research" not, "hey you fucked up".

It's kind of like when somebody posts about this new turbo setup they are building and how it is going to be so great, "I've got this turbo, this manifold, this BOV, and this charge piping!! Isn't it rad!?!?" the first thing everybody says is "what are you going to use for fuel management, I hope you've done your research." what's the ------- difference?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I just took it differently. ;)

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Lotus 7s are sex machines. How much is it costing him?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I want a right up on the valve cover polishing, what is he useing for a buffing pad/polishing compound, and what did he do to prep it, ie sanding or??

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

word the ones on my stang look terrible

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

yeah i'm aware of maintaining the suspension geometry... i kicked it around with the old timers while sippin on Black Velvet and Pepsi a couple of weeks ago. :) thats what i love about those guys i just tell them what i want to do and then they start going off about how you gotta do it this way... and that way... good peeps.

FURACERMAN:
the lotus 7 is a wicked ass machine and whats even more amazing is that he has done all the work himself. i think he said hes in it about $3000 just for the car, but hes also got a couple other donor cars too so... couple more grand?? i'll make sure to take pics this saturday.

highroller54
i'm not sure exactly what he used but i saw him using a 90* air die grinder/sander thing, he took of the DOHC Mazda casting and then he said something about start sanding with 250 and working your way up to 800grit till your fingers cramp up... oh also he said that its the perfect weekday project to work on in front of the tv. really... i dunno all the details... i'll find out.

thanks for the positive comments... i'll report back when i get it all finished up.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

bambooseven, its your avatar, you look like a ---- retentive hot shot magazine writer who doesn't care to help anyone but yourself. ;)

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

bamboo seems like he would be a " Driver " for the mafia.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

would be? 8)

and evo,
thats what old guys are good for.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

i thought i already said that. thanks for reiterating...

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

just a note...

frame rail to frame rail= 91mm

center of LCA bolt to center of LCA bolt, front and rear mounting points = 65mm

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

do you mean CM?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

yeah bamboo is one of those high profile ------ now, didnt you know?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

recognize :P

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

what year car is that?

are those 2 old fuckers gay? that one has his arm around the other one, you never know with old fuckers these days.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

yeah i meant to say CM. i had to make a mental note while at the shop so i wouldn't forget. so if anyone is wanting to try this DIY traction bar you might find this info usefull... you also might want to keep in mind that each car may differ just a little.

i didn't want to unbolt the LCA and put a dowel through the bolt hole to find the magical tie rod mounting location on the cross member. So... i just took measurements from the center LCA bolt head to LCA bolt head, then repeat for the rear nut/bolts... which measured out the same, 65cm. measured my cross member, including the 1/4" plates, 91cm.

now you can find the center of the cross member at 45.5cm. From the center measure out 32.5cm and that should be the mounting location of the heim joint. The shop that i go to for the swedge tie rods didn't have the size i needed so hopefully this week they will get them in... and i'll let you guys know how it works.


[----------91cm----------] length frame rail to frame rail
{----65cm----} span of LCA bolts

i'm confident that you could probably take these measurements and build the bar blindly... and then do minor tweakage if needed.

welp... hope this helps someone....

EDIT: this is on a 93 del sol, i'm sure its the same for eg and dc chassis.

no those 2 "old fuckers" are not gay. There probably the 2 coolest "old fuckers" i know... They have been friends for like 25+ years, i guess thats just how people pose after soo long... i dunno?

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I think so too. you might want to make a mock radius rod and cycle the suspension w/ it. Use a telescoping piece of something (antenna maybe) and cycle it until it doesnt "telescope" anymore. you know what I mean? that is the surefire way to test it as far as i am concerned.

Re:my attempt at DIY traction bar...
 

I think so too. you might want to make a mock radius rod and cycle the suspension w/ it. Use a telescoping piece of something (antenna maybe) and cycle it until it doesnt "telescope" anymore. you know what I mean? that is the surefire way to test it as far as i am concerned.
yeah i used one of my friend's rod and joint to mock up my mounting tabs.