e30 Cabrio Chasis Stiffening

[mr2peak]

If you're gonna put a hard top on a vert to make it stiff enough to track... just start with a hard top car.

I have the mason x brace on my vert. Had to modify it to fit IE Long Tube headers. Noticeable difference.

[jeffnhiscars]

every single person i share my experience with says that... but they are all wrong.

Donald, is that you ??

[supermansocks95]

I have been wanting the garagistic cross brace for almost a year now. Just never able to fork up the money...

[decay]

Donald, is that you ??

you're exactly the kind of person that makes sharing experience on internet forums a waste of time. :)

[Julien]

I'd do roll bar and get some miata-style door bars:

[Bearmw]

The best ( and most effective) thing would be to somehow measure WHERE you are getting the most unwanted flex and then design a solution around that.

That being said I have a Mason x brace and it seems to have made "some" difference and It doesn't interfere with my headers on my B35 car. I still know it's a vert though. If I had lots of money I would seam weld the car and see what that does.

[decay]

...I'm just tired of arguing this with people. I spent thousands of dollars on frame/suspension reinforcement and urethane/solid bushings so -of course- the fact that the car didn't have a roof was obviously the next weak link.

but joe redneck bought a 30-year-old vert with the original rubber bushings still in and didn't notice a difference when he put his hardtop on so obviously it's all in my head.

[fight4life28]

yeah I'm def getting one of those.

Do you have the raceskids, mason, or garagistic one?

I'm leaning towards raceskids but still not 100% on it yet.



Also I've been thinking about the butt strut. The rear subframe should provide a decent amount more extra strength if its mounted to poly or solid bushings. Any thoughts on using solid aluminum subframe bushings and then some poly 75d RTB's?

Raceskids, Got it off ebay but I think any would work.

[fight4life28]

every single person i share my experience with says that... but they are all wrong. the handling of the car noticeably changed.

i think i'm just the only nutbar out there who bothered to do a real chassis build with a vert.

You feel better with less noise and hard shell around you. Are you...not really lol

[decay]

reading comprehension is a big problem around here lately

if you didn't notice a difference, it's likely because your suspension wasn't stiff enough to bend the car

pretty simple

[TobyB]

Full cage tied solidly to both rear and front suspension. Lots of crossbars and gussets.

/thread.

...but not really a lot of FUN, in the spirit of open- top motoring...

I'm just no help around here, am I?

t

[Ether-D]

the hardtop was the last item that went on, but when it did it was fucking night and day. i suggest starting with finding one, and then seeing where you think there is still flex after that.

Truth. My hard top makes a very noticeable difference. If you don't notice it, I'd say you aren't driving in a very spirited manner.

[jeffnhiscars]

you're exactly the kind of person that makes sharing experience on internet forums a waste of time. :)

We are each just sharing our own experience and what we learned from it. To me THATs what it's all about. Saying everyone is wrong but you....well...kinda ends the conversation....if we let it...but don't we cause it's too much fun :)

[jeffnhiscars]

Having said that...I don't think the hard top is designed to provide a whole lot of torsional rigidity since I think it would fatigue and delam if it flexed enough long enough. Rather I suspect it should move with the car to a point. The stiffer your car the less value a top might have since in theory it already isn't moving that much....but then that's just MY opinion and I made it up...cause I can :p

[jeffnhiscars]

but joe redneck bought a 30-year-old vert with the original rubber bushings still in and didn't notice a difference when he put his hardtop on so obviously it's all in my head.

I hope that s directed at me. I grew up in NY, dad was an attorney, mom modeled, bro went Ivy League..me..I went to Woodstock in my very first swap...a Porsche powered VW Van so never had the luxury of thinking of myself as a red neck....lol

Could get used to it