Will this idea work?

[5tox]

Ive recently made up some custom brackets and strut brace for my mk1 escort, with the pinto lump people usually have the brace just behind the oil filler cap but this means the brackets are really squashed up close to where the leg bolts in, i want mine to sit an inch or 2 lower than that which means the brace will foul on the oil cap

 

is it a possibility to blank off where the oil filler cap is and fill the oil level up from the oil breather/catch tank?

 

the tank itself will have a screw off lid and an oil return line directly to the sump

 

its just something a little different to the norm. and i really want the strut brace to sit an inch or 2 lower as the pic below shows

 

[banarama]

it will take for ever to fill mate

[Bigfish]

why so far forward??? i would have thought closer to the stuts the better? seems a lot of work for zero gain

[5tox]

i'd heard that before somewhere, but why closer to the struts? does it actually make a difference to the handling? im not scientist but i reckon if the strut brace sits 2" further down it'll make no difference

 

the main reason is that ive seen it closer to the struts clearing the oil filler cap and to me it just looked squashed in and didnt really look right

 

i guess ill have to throw an engine in and see where everything sits

 

it wouldnt really be loads of extra work as the oil breather set up will still stay the same, will just need to spend 10 mins welding a plate over the oil filler neck

 

im still 50/50 at the moment, just thought overall it would look far tidier

[willsy]

Gary at Retro Motorsport id prob the one to ask

[katana]

it will take for ever to fill mate

 

If you cover the inlets/exits from the catch tank it'll never fill at all as you need to displace air to get oil in! As far as the brace is concerned - closer to the towers as practical is best for a stiff shell but for general hooning around it can't make that much difference +/- 6" of so?

[GJUK]

you could plate over all of the top, that would be different.

[banarama]

leave it as it should be.

[5tox]

it will take for ever to fill mate

 

If you cover the inlets/exits from the catch tank it'll never fill at all as you need to displace air to get oil in!

 

 

I think we have crossed wires, the tank im looking at has the breather pipes from the head and block near to the top of the tank and the return line is straight out the bottom

 

i reckon best option is to stick my dummy engine in and see how it all sits, might even try sticking a few bends in the brace bar so it sits an inch further back as opposed to a straight bit of bar between the brackets

[mr zefect]

I smoothed off my old rocker cover on my

Old engine when i done oil change i just

Took off the rocker cover to fill it up and if it

Needed toping up a tube and a funnel down

The dipstick hole.

[5tox]

Thats another idea, diddnt think of that

 

i guess a funnel down the dipstick tube would be as good as topping up any other way

 

i know a lot of people still dont really get it, the main reason is just to be different

[rallyesport04]

if you put in the dummy engine in you cant get the brace in the wrong place you can play till your happy with it it wont take 5 mins to throw a block head in there with the hoist

[5tox]

if you put in the dummy engine in you cant get the brace in the wrong place you can play till your happy with it it wont take 5 mins to throw a block head in there with the hoist

 

i was tempted to weld in the brackets and brace it up before tom moves it, but then again i already have that bit of bar welded acrost the front for now.

 

Might wait till its in rich's garage before messing about with it, i have a bare block and head i can whack in as a dummy

[capriaddict]

I'm no expert in these matters (better to ask gary at retro motorsport) BUT..... surely the whole point of a strut brace is to connect the tops of the 2 suspension points together thus spreading the loads and forces betwen the two? which also stiffens the shell. If you put it further forward then yes you brace the inner wings together but the forces through the suspension tops will still flex the inner wings therefore (in my humble opinion) rendering it completely pointless fitting it and just adding weight to your car.

 

i.e. strut braces are designed to be functional not pretty Lol!

[Retromotorsport]

Moving it forwards is like leaning on the wall to stop the door opening...

 

Even with the strut brace dead center of the struts, they still move, hence why welded in cages triangulate the stuts, stopping the up and down flex, leaving the brace to just stop then kissing..without the cage the shells normal flex allows one side to push the other side with a brace, what they did do in rally cars back in the 70's was stop the turrets tearing out from the bulkhead after yumping the car 10 foot in the air. Planing on doing that?

get a Cornflake packet, and cut 2 inches off the top.. its rectangular.. but will flex into an oblong.. now cut the one long side out.. thats what the shell does without the brace..one side flexs, one dosnt.. granted..with a brace, a bump on one side, has to move the otherside, so teh flex is less.. but then you have 'Export' cars coming over that have spent a life bouncing up and down foriegn roads..and the shells are in better nick than our english ones.

The metal infront of the cups is very thin, and designed to move in a crash.. ie it flexes.If you weld brackets there, you'll probably find them cracking down the side of the welds after a few months..

[5tox]

Thanks for all the useful info, it really helps to understand exactly how it all works.

I forgot to take into account the fact my escort will have a full roll cage, i guess in the greater scheme of things its massive overkill for a basic road going car and i shouldnt worry so much about the car flexing and twisting

[Retromotorsport]

When you say 'full roll cage' .. what do you mean ..

[5tox]

not just the half cage in the back of the car but down the 'A' pillars too

[Retromotorsport]

Ah .. a 6 point bolt in.

 

These do stop a bit of flex around the passenger compartment if they have the additional fixings to the dash, B pillar and roof line..

But when just bolted to the floor, they do what they are meant to do, stop your head from being caved in.

The do almost nothing to the torsional rigidity of the car. If you imagine where the fixings are on a flat sheet of paper, you'll get the idea of how they dont stop flexing..'specially when you push the rear fixing point (rear stays) on the wheel tub.. it flexes up and down.

 

The later cages for the Mk2, had 12-14 fixing points, and most crucial, was the moving of the rear stays to mount onto the Turret.

 

Multipoint WeldIn cages have very little to do with safety, the basic 6 point is there for that, all the other bars are there to stiffen the chassis, basicly turning the shell into a spaceframe.

 

You may see a lot of 6 point bolt in cages having tubes welded to them, trying to make them look more like multipoints, this is not advisable, as the cages are designed to deform in a crash, to save you. Welding extra bars in can cause the major joints to fail.

An example of the built in deformation is up near your head, the A pillar bar, runs across the door to the Main Hoop, behind the hoop, you have the Back Stay, on bolt in cages, this is fixed some 4-6 inches below the A pillar bar, this is a 'bend point'.

If you look at the same point in a properly designed Multipoint, all the joins converge at one point.. this means theres no flex, but you have sometimes 3-6 bars converging at a point, which makes it incredible strong.

You should never see a 'T' joint in weld in cages, all bars must go into another bar traveling in the same sort of direction like this >< or this >-