Group buy FM Chassis brace (finished) Fitting day organised!

End User · Postby **End User** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:24 am

I'm in for a dodgy day this week, but am not very hands on, so won't be of much help around the garage.
Do these come with instructions?

Mactype · Postby **Mactype** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:08 pm

Ok lads, we're getting together on Saturday at my place in Kellyville to fit these. Bring your own tools if you want although I have most stuff needed.

I've only got one set of 4 chassis stands - and would be good if we can get 3 cars being done at once. so if you have some bring em.

Happy for anyone interested to come along - Say we start at 9am - PM me for the address.

marcusus · Postby **marcusus** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:38 pm

Done and done. I'll see what stuff I can bring along. Will have to have a dig through dad's pile of stuff in the garage.

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:32 am

PM sent

although I'm not sure what i'll be driving that day so don't put me down for the install yet, and I don't have any tools either

but i might be able to provide some moral support

marcusus · Postby **marcusus** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:24 am

SM wrote:although I'm not sure what i'll be driving that day so don't put me down for the install yet

How can you not be driving the '5 on the weekend? You know you wanna...

End User · Postby **End User** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:02 am

I'm in for this. I'll bring the camera to document the momentous occasion.
If someone has a timing light and can bump my timing to 14deg, I will be forever grateful.

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:57 am

End User wrote:I'm in for this. I'll bring the camera to document the momentous occasion.

god idea, i'll bring mine along as well (if i remember to)

marcusus · Postby **marcusus** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:49 pm

Looking forward to this. Not so keen on the 9am start though now. I worked til 3am last night, so I'm a bit sleep deprived. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up enough on it tonight to be fresh tomorrow morning.

Bring on the stiffness! Not like that... you dirty minded people...

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Sat May 03, 2008 1:29 am

marcusus wrote:Looking forward to this. Not so keen on the 9am start though now. I worked til 3am last night, so I'm a bit sleep deprived. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up enough on it tonight to be fresh tomorrow morning.

meh don't know what your complaining about, I just started work and finish at 8am, then need to drive straight there basically (need some petrol first)

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:09 am

looks like I'll be running late, still haven't left work :cry:

Mactype · Postby **Mactype** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:42 am

hmmm..... did half of mine last night - piece of cake

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:19 am

Yea I had to get some sleep which is why I didn't get mine installed

on the way there it was getting hard to engage first then reverse to get out of the driveway, I thought it might go away, or not
ended up being stuck in 2nd gear most of the way back and drove the car straight to mania (with some difficulty) slave cylinder was gone

But they had a replacement on hand so i ended up getting home by 2:30pm
and now i'm back at work :roll:

I guess Marcus got the height fixed up before the end of the day as well ?

marcusus · Postby **marcusus** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:27 pm

SM wrote:I guess Marcus got the height fixed up before the end of the day as well ?

Haha. Yes. Adjusting the height was the easy part. The thing is that the car is now tracking slightly to the left after the height adjustment. I wonder whether there's a bit too much of a difference between the left and right heights, or whether it's just the alignment playing up since the height has been changed...

As for the brace, the first thing I noticed was the ride quality. It's so much smoother now. Just feels like I'm in a sedan with sports suspension. Cornering wise, it's stiffer too. I can take some of my usual corners at a higher speed. There's no real change to the handling dynamic of the car in terms of a change in over or under steer which is a good thing. The extra weight is not noticeable at all either.

Will make further comments during the week when I've dríven it more.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:20 am

how much ground clearance do you lose with the extra bracing? do you know if the rails & bracing were designed to withstand the occasional scrape over evil speed humps & whatnot?

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:54 am

Locutus wrote:how much ground clearance do you lose with the extra bracing? do you know if the rails & bracing were designed to withstand the occasional scrape over evil speed humps & whatnot?

from looking at Darryl's the centre of the frame sits higher than the chassis rails so as long as there is nothing sticking up in the centre there should be no clearance problems

also I'm sure they hold up alot better than exposed chassis rails on the car which seem to be very thin