Here is a view of the additional X brace from the inside.
These gussets were added to the door X brace to strengthen it. For now, we are going to retain the factory doors with their door intrusion beams for extra safety. If we decide to go to fiberglass or carbon doors later, we will add some additional bars to go into the doors.
We cut out the OEM crossbar and added a crossbar to the cage. This is going to be stronger and lighter. We also got rid of the heavy OEM steering column and got this collapsible quick-release racing steering column from Sweet Manufacturing. We are also going to add another bar to triangulate the front of the cage to the firewall which will tie in the lower A-pillars, the firewall, and the cage to add stiffness. help side impact strength, and force the engine to go under the floor in a severe frontal crash.
We are using the OEM support bearing to preserve the OEM U joint angles and to give the best support for the steering column.
Zach fabricated these foot intrusion bars which will prevent the tire from smashing into the car’s interior, this is a common problem with raced S13s. The intrusion bar will also tie the shock towers into the cage as well.
4 comments
Looks like a good starting point – I looked through a couple of the earlier articles on this project and couldn’t find the info, what’s the history of the chassis?
Looking forward to seeing how the remainder of the chassis fab comes together!
It was a friends track car that was sitting for 10 years.
Cool that you’re bringing it back to life again! Hopefully there aren’t more surprises like the gas tank lurking.
I love it. Christa will have an awesome car.