Stiffening the convertible chassis

[Naplm00]

hey where does that front brace bolt to?

can you give a recap of what you have on your car?

front and rear braces? upper or lower?


I washtinking of doin the Xbrace and a front strut brace and leaving it at that


I figured that the huge metal box behind my rear seat will not flex so much

oh im in a 88 cabbie

[CorvallisBMW]

All our products are designed so that the average person can directly bolt on without fitting, welding or any other dramas.
As we understand not everybody has a fully equiped fab shop therefore our products are designed to be assembled in the home garage.

And believe me, it shows. I was able to install the x-brace in under 30 minutes with nothing but my jack/stands, a wrench and a few sockets.

[SpecM]

I support John Mason and Mark D'Silva

in spirit, that is

[BDK]

First off, I plan on buying the Xbrace from Mason,
Second, if Corvallis or Mason would be interested in making the square tube version of the butt strut, I would be down for one of those as well...

Third, and not trying to hijack the thread but

Pirating music off the internet is one thing, but pirating a fellow E30 enthusiasts design (and his business) is definitely FTL

actually it is no different,
a family member is a well known recording artist and it kills the artists. It's the label making the $$$ money not the artist, if you truly like the artist then show them respect and then spend the money to buy their music...

[bimmerboy12]

There is no way I'm going to copy the mason x-brace. As far as I am concerned, his piece is perfect the way it is and I can't see anything that could be improved. Pirating music off the internet is one thing, but pirating a fellow E30 enthusiasts design (and his business) is definitely FTL.

Besides, $275 is a fucking bargain for the improvement you get out of that thing. John Mason is the man :up:

But for you Bimmerboy12, I'd save up for a paint job first. That thing looks like shit...

ease up, buddy. as stated before, those weren't my intentions, I wrongly assumed it was welded up in China or something.

I'm over it, are you?

Let's let John Mason enjoy everybody's praise now, unless you want to use the space to slander my E30.

[jjmtools]

Mason Engineering Products

All our products are designed so that the average person can directly bolt on without fitting, welding or any other dramas.
As we understand not everybody has a fully equiped fab shop therefore our products are designed to be assembled in the home garage. We are always available to answer technical questions. This engineering plan allows the do it yourselfer to utilize our products without professional installation costs. Go to our website to get additional technical information and strength of materials physical properties.
masonengineering.net
Thanks guys

[CorvallisBMW]

There is no way I'm going to copy the mason x-brace. As far as I am concerned, his piece is perfect the way it is and I can't see anything that could be improved. Pirating music off the internet is one thing, but pirating a fellow E30 enthusiasts design (and his business) is definitely FTL.

Besides, $275 is a fucking bargain for the improvement you get out of that thing. John Mason is the man :up:

But for you Bimmerboy12, I'd save up for a paint job first. That thing looks like shit...

[bimmerboy12]

ACTUALLY
I lowered the price to $275 for the steel brace plus UPS shipping

I thank you guys for your ethics
and yes the prototyping and R&D was not an easy picnic

JOHN MASON

My bad sorry for the hijack, those were not my intentions.

Are there existing holes to fasten the x brace to or do you create them, and if so is a template of some sort provided?

[jjmtools]

Mason e30 x lower brace

ACTUALLY
I lowered the price to $275 for the steel brace plus UPS shipping

I thank you guys for your ethics
and yes the prototyping and R&D was not an easy picnic

JOHN MASON

[bimmerboy12]

geezus sorry I retract.

[NC325iC]

yeah thats pretty crappy, "i cant spend $295+shipping to pay for the materials, the work put into making it, and the engineering costs that went into designing it. but if you want to make a rip off copy ill pay $200 for it."

Mason im sure has put alot of time into that brace trying different configurations and you dont think that you can afford an extra $100 to honor the mans hard work.

[xLibelle]

wow, just lay it out there that you are willing to fuck a stranger in the ass

how about a MarkD copy while youre at it?

[bimmerboy12]

Corvallis- looks like you have the equipment and the skills (you have a TIG right?) why don't you make duplicates of the Mason X-brace and sell them on here? I can't justify $295 + shipping but would probably pay $150-$200... just an idea.

[alpinaclone]

T6 refers to the temper of the aluminum. There are all sorts of different tempers. T6 is pretty hard and resists bending well. "O" is the opposite, dead soft, like a soda can. A general rule of thumb is that to approximate the strength of steel, you will need twice the thickness of a mid temper aluminum.

[CorvallisBMW]

Nice job.

Did I see this cabrio at the Picnic last year? If so, it was stunning. White on white?

Yes, it's that same cabrio. In fact, I wanted to talk to you about doing a feature at the picnic this year, kind of like what Josh did last year. I'll send you an email.

what I will do when I install my new subframe bushings is the same as I did with my E28's...
Stock HD Mounts filled with poly, you get the extra stiffness of the poly filling without the extra roadnoise that pure solid mounts transfer....

but with a cab, you're picking up road noise anyway, but the hardtop does make a world of difference with that too....
I'm doing big sway bars, lowering springs, good shocks (billie or koni), the Xbrace, prolly throw the buttstrut in there too boot...
I thought that I read somewhere that you should not run a front strut tower brace inconjunction with an Xbrace, anyone else read/hear that?

I have heard of people doing the rubber/poly hybrid and i think it's a cool idea. I know some people that have also done it with sections of PVC pipe. As far as the strut brace/x-brace, I don't know but I'm curious to know more.

I tried making another version of the rear strut today, using the same 6061 2"x0.5" aluminum that they sell online for $340. They claim there's is 'T6 Hardened', whatever that means; I don't know. Anyways, I clamped it in a vice, heated it up with the acetylene torch, and got to bending:



My first impressions are that it gave me more ground clearance, but it's not even close to being as stiff as the steel tube design. It bends and flexes with almost no force, which means it's useless when on the car. I did install it and run it, and I couldn't feel any improvement at all.

I also noticed that the stock nuts were not engaging the studs as far as they should. Instead of seeing 2 or 3 threads of the stud poking through the end of the nut, i could see 2 or 3 threads inside the nut! Not good. So I fabbed up these custom fasteners that allow me to grab on with a full 12 or so threads:





I am still convinced that the steel tube design makes a real, noticeable and worthwhile difference. The aluminum bar though is crap. I'm putting it in the dumpster.