rear beam???

[-Bruce-]

this question is directed to the boys that do tarmac rallying or have track day cars. the car will be off the road for the winter soon, so will be doing alot to it over that period. afew months ago i was looking at the rear beam and i thought i could put a strenghening bar in between the trailing arms on the rear beam so it would not flex as much.
have you guys experimented with this before?? if so what is it like will it promote oversteer as both back wheels will tend to loose traction over bumps on just one side!! eg like front ARB?

also a something to do with these lowered tie bar mounts from TAS? when you fit these are they rose jointed so no poly bush will be needed?
also seen the TCA strengthening kit? couldi not just weld my own plate on it? would be cheaper.

cheers for anyhelp.

bruce

[Stuart]

umm id have thought that welding a bar between the trailing arms will massively reduce the ground clearence.


the TAS tie bar mounts do indeed relieve the need for a poly bush. i am currently making (well ive made) tie bars that are rosejointed at each end so the castor is properly adjustable, and the ammount they are lowerd by can be varied a bit too.


the strengthening kit is a bit of a farse lol look on autovaux for corsa tca's and you will see that plated TCA's are about ?9 + vat (corsas have them plated as std)

[-Bruce-]

just put a bar up to the rear beam and it sat about 6 inches from the ground!! my car is lowered about 70mm at rear!! so does anyone think it will help or hinder the suspention set up on most novas?

cheers for the info on the tie bar mounts cambridge, that is what i though.

bruce

[robb]

As for the bar, why not fit an antiroll bar,

if you already have one here are the sizes for different models:

18mm SR
21/22mm GTE/GSi

these are from my head and were read from Ben's reply a while ago.

I have also seen ones for rally use on www.novarally.net? colin smiths site but I have heard some bad things in a previous post so check out the post first.

[-Bruce-]

the car is a gte and has a rear ARB, was wanting to see what the advantages are in the idea i had?

bruce

[robb]

Take the ARB out then, I don't have a rear one and it is alot better than my SR which had one, I do have a front though cos I like to slide in and let off the throttle to take corners.

[mowgli]

how about this for an idea, why not get a second anti roll bar from a breaker, and sort out some longer bolts & some spacers and fit it up underneath the existing one. I saw a bloke do this to a renault about 15 years ago and it stiffened it up a lot.

[rgv_stu]

ive fitted a second astra 16v one to mine
has stiffenened the beam loads but i havent really noticed any handling difference

[-Bruce-]

ive fitted a second astra 16v one to mine
has stiffenened the beam loads but i havent really noticed any handling difference

have you tested it on a track etc? dont really want to add weight to the car/rear beam, that does not do anything.

bruce

[rgv_stu]

no not tryed it on a track

the way i made it you could unbolt it in less that 2 mins

[-Bruce-]

ok mate i will have a look at something like that!! cheers

bruce

[Ste L]

if you already have one here are the sizes for different models:

18mm SR
21/22mm GTE/GSi


is the sri the same thinkness at the gte/gsi or the sr

[robb]

Not sure, prob GSi as there is a few GSi parts on SRis due to loads of excess stock when the produced the SRi.

just take a ruler to it, you can get to it easily from under the car, it runs under the trinagle box section of the actual beam.

[Ste L]

my rear abr's not actually on the car at the mo so that makes it easier to check lol
if its the same thinkness as the sr might try and get hold of a gsi/gte one then

[-Bruce-]

another thing is would welding a bottom on the V-shaped part of the rear beam do anything for strength? just a thought?

bruce

[robb]

Yes I would have thought as the v bit twists to give a torsion bar.

I would stitch it on though other wise the weld will crack.

[-Bruce-]

we will see just thinking lol!! dont want to do anything that will disadvantage the car, as it handles realy well just now, just want it abit better.

bruce

[robb]

You could just put 2 patches of plating on, esp. if you do tarmac racing cos it will keep the back more stable and reduce the amount in which the wheels can move in opposite directions.

I'm sorry for thinking it's just no-one has ever done it before and you haven't tried it yet.

[-Bruce-]

if i do that then it will be more likely to oversteer on the bumpyer parts on the roads, but probably better on the track? what do the rest of you think? dont really want to do it then find that its shite and have to grind bits of a rear beam!!

bruce

[robb]

It will be pants on bumpy everyday driving as it will reduce the independant movement of the rear wheels. It will improve on the tract I think though, best try it on a spare beam as it may cause the back to be a little stiff and cause it to step out more often.