700/900 under body braces

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Originally Posted by jay940

Would like to see the full brace. Where will it be mounted to other than the usual bottom legs the a frame part that is lol

Does that make sense to u? It makes it a lot stronger than mounting it to those measly little 8mm bolts. The original volvo plate on the bottom of the crossmember has swages raised up to give it some strength (It must be 1mm thick at most) so if u notice on the cherry turbo brace the holes are right in the top corners. So there's not much meat to actually clamp it down. That's for a reason! The swages come really close to the holes. So by doing away with that sh*tty plate and replacing it with a 6mm flat plate, and separate mountings holes u can get have loads of meat on there to clamp it. Plus it's a far stronger plate with much larger bolts. And it's spreading the load over the entire bottom of the crossmember. I reckon with enough stress on the crossmember with the other brace it would be flexing the actual crossmember. That's how crap the original volvo plate is.

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

It mounts to the same place as the original braces do. The suspension pick up points.

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Sorry was misunderstanding u. It triangulates to the front crossmember (where the engine mounts to) this is to stop dive of the pick up points under braking and twisting in corners.

[jay940]

Yes I understand you now lol I think with what you have in mind and a mirror a frame to the chassis would Make things alot less flexible but its a big old lump then I suppose

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Ok. Got ur brace painted yet?

[Cheekydavex]

Be very interested as my 940 having a lot of work done to it at local garage. Will be running 400plus so any additional strength to body will help

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

I! Probably a good idea. Have u just got the standard brace. I didn't realise how flimsy they where until I took it off. I was expecting it to be a lot thicker than it was! That thing will flex like mad, especially with having all the bends in it. I'll keep u posted

[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Quick update.
Got the cross member plate made. Also made a start on my jig. Will get the cross bar and lugs made tomorrow. Then finish the jig. Then I'll probably have to leave it until the weekend until I can stick it on the car and work out the length of the triangulating bars and dimensions for the slots. So should hopefully get it done this weekend. I've taken my eBay adverts for the braces off. While I am on with this and so I can get batches of both done. I'll re advertise them and post on here what I have available.
Some photos of progress

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[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Pictures of the mock up main cross bar. The proper ones will have slightly thicker plate where it mounts to the suspension pick up points. 40x8mm flat rather than 40x6mm which is what they are. The 2nd to last picture shows the lugs which will be welded at the ends of the main cross tube. Where the triangulating bits of flat will bolt to. Then bolt to the cross member plate.

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[Ml 1990 740 turbo]

Some pictures of it mocked up on the car. Still need to obviously weld the lugs onto the cross brace. The flat plate that mounts to the crossmember won't have all those extra holes in it. It'll have the six large holes (one more than the picture above of the plate) plus they will be bigger. Trying to make it as strong, but as light as possible. So I went a bit mad with the punch on mine ( u could always drill some extra holes to your own taste if u like. I did it because I wanted to make it lighter, but putting a larger punch through already punched holes is hard to keep it perfectly central. So I put extra little holes in instead. Plus I've trimmed the plate down so there's no excess metal that doesn't need to be there. Yours will be the same. The reason the cross brace has some etch primer on the bar was to check that the engine definitely doesn't catch. So I turned up the boost and give it a good thrashing along some ruff roads. Definitely doesn't catch. I've also replaced the 40x6 plates on the ends for the 40x8 so that's how it'll be (with lugs welded on obviously)
Cheers
If u r interested let me know

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