Preparing For Dallara Body Kit

[DanielForest]

Can't wait to see them on the car!

 

[autox19]

OH WOW!!!! those are stunning!

245/45? 245/40r15 is all I could find in 245 width and 15 inch rim. And way closer to stock diameter. Not that it really matters with a honda back there. Unless you were trying to match the 205s. Then I get it as the 205s are taller than rhe 245/40. Which is why I went to 225/45 in the front and 245/40 in the rear

Odie

 

[308slegs]

You probably need to remove some material from the stands to follow the contour of the lid to make it rigid. You can probably shave the stands without respraying them. My mistake was that I didn't have the lid on the car when doing this, and after mounting it didn't fit as the lid had flexed a little bit when off the car. Got it right on second try with a lot more work involved than expected. But with a metal lid it should be easier.
How does your lid look inside? I did a lot of reinforcements on mine. The wing will cause a lot of stress even with little down force so make sure it is rigid and robust.
View attachment 62370
BTW, the height of the wing has been discussed as well. I put my wing 1" lower than the roof to meet Swedish racing regulations. -It sits in line with the car w/o the roof. It still does a good job because of its width and shape. Would be interesting to know the height of an original Dallara wing.
View attachment 62372

I agree 100%! I would love to know the dimensions of the original Dallara wing

 

[lookforjoe]

Finally got the new wheels on. Weather has been pretty awful until this week, so I've been driving the X to work since Mon. Forgot about inspecting the car last fall before I put it away for the winter, so I had to address that pronto.

Going to drive it to Carlisle Import Show on Friday morning.

 

[lookforjoe]

Worked on cleaning up the tape stripes on the driver's targa post. The coating on this side had cracks.

Pass side was fine

new tape going on, after all glue residue was removed

also worked on the decal edging that I had never finished

 

[lookforjoe]

245/45? 245/40r15 is all I could find in 245 width and 15 inch rim. And way closer to stock diameter. Not that it really matters with a honda back there. Unless you were trying to match the 205s. Then I get it as the 205s are taller than rhe 245/40. Which is why I went to 225/45 in the front and 245/40 in the rear

Odie

Missed this one - I miss-typed - they are 225/45 not 245/45 rears.

 

[86X]

@lookforjoe I absolutely love your X. I remember when I was a mechanic in the early 80's, thats when I had my first X. The shop I work for was called ItalAuto we worked on Fiat, Lancia and Alfas.

I would look at this picture

In this book

And wish I could do that to my X1/9

Very cool car!

 

[lookforjoe]

Thank you for the reference pics! I thought about adding the Dallara / Bertone to the nose panel, but I'm OK without it.

@lookforjoe I absolutely love your X. I remember when I was a mechanic in the early 80's, thats when I had my first X. The shop I work for was called ItalAuto we worked on Fiat, Lancia and Alfas.
I would look at this picture
In this book

And wish I could do that to my X1/9

Very cool car!

 

[lookforjoe]

@rx1900 - I couldn't find what VW (rabbit?) the tubes came from - I broke a strut on Friday on the way to FFO, so I need to remake one rear strut. I'll add a couple pics later when I take it apart.

All my photos are gone from the original post, and I never noted the VW info

 

[rx1900]

This is most odd Hussein.......hard to believe the strut tube itself failed...but FYI:

The strut tube you used was from the FRONT of a:
VW Rabbit '75-84
VW Jetta '80-'84
VW Scirocco '75-'88
VW Cabriolet '75-'93

There were 2 different types of strut housings VW used. The most common type - the one you need - had EXTERNAL threads at the top for the gland nut. But some had INTERNAL threads there - you do NOT want that type. As far as I can tell.....all the cars above used the external type...except...USA made Rabbits ( hatchbacks and pick-ups ) from '81-'84 which came with internally threaded strut housings. Those cars can be identified by having square headlights - all the German made cars had round headlights.

You only used a bare stripped VW housing. You welded onto that the knuckle from the REAR of a 1500 X1/9.....

Hard to believe the VW tube failed...it is slightly larger OD...and thicker wall...than an X1/9 tube...both which make it stronger.....

 

[lookforjoe]

This is most odd Hussein.......hard to believe the strut tube itself failed...but FYI:

The strut tube you used was from the FRONT of a:
VW Rabbit '75-84
VW Jetta '80-'84
VW Scirocco '75-'88
VW Cabriolet '75-'93

There were 2 different types of strut housings VW used. The most common type - the one you need - had EXTERNAL threads at the top for the gland nut. But some had INTERNAL threads there - you do NOT want that type. As far as I can tell.....all the cars above used the external type...except...USA made Rabbits ( hatchbacks and pick-ups ) from '81-'84 which came with internally threaded strut housings. Those cars can be identified by having square headlights - all the German made cars had round headlights.

You only used a bare stripped VW housing. You welded onto that the knuckle from the REAR of a 1500 X1/9.....

Hard to believe the VW tube failed...it is slightly larger OD...and thicker wall...than an X1/9 tube...both which make it stronger.....

It failed because I broke it going over a culvert after hydro-planeing. I thought the control arm was what failed, but looking at the pics Karl Mead took, the lower tube tore open along the vertical weld(s). I'm not posting pics at this time, the prospective purchaser requested that I not do so.

EDIT -I may have to cut the tube & reuse the upper threaded portion. I have spare Fiat struts, so the ear is not a concern. Not seeing any hits at all searching online. Karl may have one stashed somewhere, so that may happen.

 

[Bryce-o-rama]

@rx1900 - I couldn't find what VW (rabbit?) the tubes came from - I broke a strut on Friday on the way to FFO, so I need to remake one rear strut. I'll add a couple pics later when I take it apart.

All my photos are gone from the original post, and I never noted the VW info

Love your sketches, they are up there with some of the most talented Industrial Designers with whom I’ve worked (and they greatly surpass mine).

 

[lookforjoe]

Love your sketches, they are up there with some of the most talented Industrial Designers with whom I’ve worked (and they greatly surpass mine).

Thank you

Finally had time to remove the strut - it wasn't my welds that gave way, which is good.

Tube may be bent - I'll cut the sleeve off & see what it looks like

Fitted a stock strut for now, while I figure out how to deal with the coil over. I did put the wrong spring in - I have several sets & unfortunately I chose one that is too soft. Took me hours to find one of my stock mounts, of course it was in the absolute last place I decided to look

straightened the top plate, I'll \clean it up & repaint before the repaired / replacement coilover & mount goes in

Too low on the left rear, have to swap out that spring just to make it safe to drive around, even if it's just to the bodyshop to check the frame

 

[lookforjoe]

Put another stock strut together with a stronger spring

Removed the strut mount bracket

Removed the cartridge

The tube lower section was bent, so I cut it off. Got some 1.9" OD steel tubing, 1/8" wall. Cut & chamfered the join area on both sides to ensure a good weld (after I took this pic)

Have to clean up the welds, and then cut to length & weld the seat. If the new strut mount (Ford Focus) comes in time, I made be able to just reassemble with the coil over. Car is going to the body shop on Tuesday to check the frame.

Cleaned up the garage somewhat - trying to make a little room

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Using the internal or external thread style VW strut may depend partly on what inserts you have. Some inserts were made to fit either type. Although your coilover mods may also matter in this regard. That might be what Doug is referring to.

The early VW external thread struts are starting to get harder to find. By comparison they were not that common in the USA. Unfortunately you can no longer go by the year or origin of the car to determine if it has a internal or external thread strut. Since they are completely interchangeable on the VWs, there have been too many swaps, repairs, changes made over the years on these cars by now....especially for a "service" part like struts. And most of the newer replacement parts were the internal thread type. Even the VW guys are struggling to get the early style ones these days. But old time VW part hoarders will still have some...at a rather steep price.

Your repair will be fine. I've done similar to convert the top nut retainer to a different type, but splicing two sections from different struts together.

 

[lookforjoe]

@rx1900 - did you ever note the offset of the bracket relative to the base of the tube? I'm realizing I never added a value to my drawing for that
All my original photos are gone, and the links in your thread are all dead also

I have the tube all ready for the sleeve, once I cut it off the KYB rear strut

When I did it the first time, I know they were really close, and I didn't note how much I cut off the bottom of the strut bracket

 

[kmead]

When I did it the first time, I know they were really close, and I didn't note how much I cut off the bottom of the strut bracket

Interesting how the part you used allowed the crack to start on both sides under an extraordinary load. In this case you see a load concentration in two mechanical planes where the notch occurs and the surface changes direction to align with the knuckle.

One has to wonder if this was intentional.

When one looks at suspension parts they are often designed to protect the overall vehicle structure by providing a place to release the energy from an incident on a part which can be relatively easily replaced with minor damage to surrounding structures.

Happily this is exactly what happened for you.

 

[lookforjoe]

Interesting how the part you used allowed the crack to start on both sides under an extraordinary load. In this case you see a load concentration in two mechanical planes where the notch occurs and the surface changes direction to align with the knuckle.

One has to wonder if this was intentional.

When one looks at suspension parts they are often designed to protect the overall vehicle structure by providing a place to release the energy from an incident on a part which can be relatively easily replaced with minor damage to surrounding structures.

Happily this is exactly what happened for you.

View attachment 74440

I was wondering about that. I had forgotten that the step in the bracket was because the bottom was cut off to get through the weld on the ID of the bracket, where the tube seats.
I was wondering whether I should:
1) cut less material away, angling the transition from sleeve to bracket
2)add welds at the base of the dogleg
3) do it exactly the same, since it worked & saved much more severe damage

 

[kmead]

Hopefully you don’t need to think too much about future damage.

In looking at the KYB and my early pre 79 Koni’s I don’t think so. Koni made a two piece weldment. Which looks like it was intended to bend the car. I think it’s a function of the part you are applying from whatever it came of of.

I haven’t tried putting these on my later cars, I wonder if there is actually enough clearance given the way the KYBs are set up to clear the CV joint per your earlier question of how high to apply the bracket relative to the bottom of the tube.

I would be pretty tempted to follow the KYB approach or close to it in terms of distance. Since you have a KYB on the other side you could measure that, compare its measurements to the built up one you have and then move the collar up or down based on that data. It would be nice to have them come close to matching, particularly if an inspector will be looking at the parts in the future.

 

[kmead]

I was wondering about that. I had forgotten that the step in the bracket was because the bottom was cut off to get through the weld on the ID of the bracket, where the tube seats.
I was wondering whether I should:
1) cut less material away, angling the transition from sleeve to bracket
2)add welds at the base of the dogleg
3) do it exactly the same, since it worked & saved much more severe damage

View attachment 74446

I tend to prefer the taper/radiused base given one should avoid a stress riser. Its a funny area given the tangential transition.