Can the strut plate at the top of the strut tower be straightened?

JimD said:
Same here. I have moved on. These things are a non-entity as far as I am concerned.
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I have a set of Bigfoot strut doublers on my car. Im convinced that they have saved my car from the awful PA roads.
 
Fixed the pictures....using an iPhone no less. :)
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I have to say those appear to be VERY deformed upward. I haven't seen any as bad as that. Is this a typical level of deformation for others as well?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I have to say those appear to be VERY deformed upward. I haven't seen any as bad as that. Is this a typical level of deformation for others as well?
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It is only the driver's side Dr Jeff. The car has rust issues and the lower control arm mount under the frunk let go during an aggressive roundabout entry. The sudden loss of control let the car slide straight ahead into the tall center curb in the roundabout. Cracked the wheel, ripped the blown mount out of the frunk floor and shoved the strut up into the top plate. So I would say that is not typical of the "normal" deformation from a pothole encounter.

After more consultation with the shop owner, my buddy decided to leave it there for "adjustment". The pass side is still flat, so the shop has an example of what it should look like.
 
Thanks Jimmy, that makes a lot more sense compared to what I've seen before. Actually I'm pretty lucky mine are all pretty flat still. However the reinforcer plates seem a good idea either way. Has anyone made some of those plates themselves?
 
They go underneath, between the strut mount and the underside of the tower. The originals were @11ga stainless steel.
 
With all of the nice cutting options available these days - plasma, water jet, air jet, lazer, etc - it would be pretty straight forward to have some made once the pattern is digitized.
 
The top most part on the strut towers seems to be cut of. At least they don't look like they do on my -84. Could that have made them weaker and a reason for deformation?
I've thought about cutting them (like in pictures) to have easier access to adjusting bolts on the coilover top plate. But maybe that's a bad idea.
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
The top most part on the strut towers seems to be cut of. At least they don't look like they do on my -84. Could that have made them weaker and a reason for deformation?
I've thought about cutting them (like in pictures) to have easier access to adjusting bolts on the coilover top plate. But maybe that's a bad idea.
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You are correct Bjorn. Those towers in the pics are different than yours. Yes, the early X1/9s had the top opening much larger and with a much smaller "cone" section. Not sure when the change was - but seems to about '78 to '79 or so. I'm guessing Fiat realized the early design was too weak and the tower tops were deforming. So re-designed it to strengthen it.

I tried to find pics showing the two different designs, but could not. Jim ??

If you are thinking about cutting away some of yours...I sure would not do it without also installing some strut doubler plates underneath....
 
I'll be interested to see the changes to the strut tower design. All of my X's are the later type and I've never had a 'early' one to compare with. But if Fiat improved the towers that might explain why I've never had this deformation issue. ;)
 
I'm assuming the '79 and later (i.e. 1500/5-spd) are all the same - and will have the "improved design" if there was one.
 
Yes Daniel. Great pics showing that - yes indeed - there WAS a difference in the strut towers between the early and later X1/9s. Merci, mon ami.

Yes....the early design is a bit weaker and more likely to deform. But even on the later X1/9s.....you may not have noticed any deformation..but...hold a straight edge along that area and see for yourself.....there likely indeed will be deformation.
 
Ahhh, I see what's being referred to now. The 'early' style does have a lip there, just not the double radius one the 'late' style has. I thought we were talking about something with the overall shape of the tower. ;)
 
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