My FE3 progress thread

[SgtRauksauff]

I believe that those towers are already reinforced similar to what you're already doing. With the ring welded to that reinforcement, then the tubes welded to the ring, the forces coming through the suspension are dispersed evenly into the rollcage, which should be the new structure of the vehicle.

I'm no cage builder, though. it really depends on what you plan on doing with the car as to the design aspects of the cage.

Are you getting one of Jim Pierce's cages? How does he connect the backstays?

--sarge

[Racerboy]

the physical strength of a ring /tube is alot however its surface area to the chassis isn't. so i have some serious mixed feelings about that

Ryan, if you want to brace something, brace the bottoms of the strut towers. They always seperate from the floor pan on the race cars, and some of those cars aren't even rusty. It's the torque or turning so hard that seperates them. Here's a pic of mine seperated. (I know mine is rusty, but all the escorts, 323's, and proteges have this problem, whether they are rusty or not. Mine is just worse because it's rusty. But all of our cars have seperated wheel wells. )

[FE3-323]

that is very scary brody!!!! i can't believe youd drive any of those in such shape.

let me get the car on the ground & start welding the plates in & we'll go from there.

[Racerboy]

that is very scary brody!!!! i can't believe youd drive any of those in such shape.

let me get the car on the ground & start welding the plates in & we'll go from there.

Well, we did a little stuff to help keep it together. But yes, it's very bad. Thats why I'm trying to get rid of the dang thing so badly (by winning, of course). I don't want to have it come apart while racing.

The roll cage is currently the biggest reason it's staying together, but we also reinforced other areas after they came apart as well. Like a bar between each strut tower in the back, and plates holding the strut towers to the floors.

I don't have pictures of the bar and plate setup from my protege, but I do have them from my old pony, which also had the same problems. When we did the pony, we found out after the fact that we didn't need plates where the bar attaches, and they just added weight, as that area is strong enough from the factory, and we don't have those plates on the protege. But on the protege, we did have the bottom plates and the tube going to each side. And yes, the tube replaces the strut brace.

[FE3-323]

Brody i think you'll approve of what i have in the works.

Meanwhile........
Tires came in- thanks to geronimo for the tire suggestion- they'll fit nicely with those freshly powdercoated rims




And some revision to the radiator.......... a side outlet to better suit my radiator outlet placement.
(FE3 has bigger inlet/outlets VS a BP) which ironically match that of the radiator already. - at least the top will be easy

PICTARS!!!!

[FE3-323]

It now rests on 4 wheels.....



I had to go back after putting it on the ground & dramatically alter the ride height. (its still far too tall)

Flattened out the tabs of metal around the welds on the strut body & cut the base of the coil sleeve(where it wasn't threaded)
Overall managed to pull out a good 3" or so from the original height. ran 2 strips of electrical tape around the strut body to tighten up the sleeve clearance (yes it was that tight)[insert- "thats what she said"]

[DeeAOne]

Now you feel my pain with non matching lug patterns! lol

[FE3-323]

seriously not cool non matching lugs.......... the rear offset is so far off the rim is touching the rear strut body

[DeeAOne]

Ah..I had that problem except it was the lower trailing arms in the rear. Only rubbed the strut on big bumps. Lower offset wheels cured all that.

[FE3-323]

yeah well..... im not about to buy Only 2 new wheels. i need to fix the rear to 5 lug & be done with it

[89BG 323]

what 5 lug setup can easily and [relatively] cheaply be sourced for the rear?

[Racerboy]

what 5 lug setup can easily and [relatively] cheaply be sourced for the rear?

There is none.

He has to go with australian 5 lug setup. And's it's neither easily nor cheaply sourced. But it's the right way of doing it.

[93BlkOnGreenPro]

You can't use the 2nd gen probe setup for the rear?

[SgtRauksauff]

are you going 5x114.3 (5x4.5") or 5x100?

[FE3-323]

5x 114.3