E86 Front Triangulation Braces Retrofit

[heinzboehmer]

Not sure it will do much since the core support is quite flimsy.

Would for sure need to further triangulate from the core support down to the chassis rails. Basically emulate what BMW does in their newer cars with those fangs/nose hairs you can see through the kidneys.

Hard to say how much it would be worth it though. Would be interesting to grab one of those newer cars and measure chassis rigidity with and without that bracing installed.

[Will]

Not sure it will do much since the core support is quite flimsy.

I've seen a core support from a convertible e46 and it didn't look like the flimsy stamped metal piece like the coupe / sedan, it was much more rigid. Maybe that's an option?

[bigjae46]

I've seen a core support from a convertible e46 and it didn't look like the flimsy stamped metal piece like the coupe / sedan, it was much more rigid. Maybe that's an option?

Weird..same part part for M3 convertibles and the M3 sedan and non-M except for convertibles...

RealOEM.com - Part Search

Here is the convertible part #. Looks like it is plastic with some stiffening ribs on the underside which the metal part does not have. And it only costs $900!

RealOEM.com - Part Search

[Bry5on]

Word is that Slon tested this part on his chassis rig and it made near as no difference. If it does make a difference I’d bet it would be on cars with big front sway bars. Like lowered cars with destroyed front suspension geometry

[___LUNK]

How about tying to the engine block and making it a stressed member of the chassis F1 style

[bigjae46]

Word is that Slon tested this part on his chassis rig and it made near as no difference. If it does make a difference I’d bet it would be on cars with big front sway bars. Like lowered cars with destroyed front suspension geometry

That wouldn't surprise me. The upper half is riveted to a steel bracket which is riveted to the lower half. If anything, I think it would sense to tie into the lower part or the frame rail or make the entire frontend clip much beefier.

[bigjae46]

Hopefully I get this all made and installed before the end of the decade...

First CF strut tower plate attempt. Went better than expected!





To my credit it looks like a strut tower brace. The spot where the triangle brace bolts to...I wasn't thinking and the threaded insert was too deep so that prevented complete closure of the mold. Then I use unchopped carbon tows and it was totally monstrous to work with. There were some details to the part that made it hard to get the carbon into place. The underside of the part is missing some details.

This part seems to be plenty strong and sturdy enough. I'm thinking I need to build up with regular cloth and then top it off with some chopped carbon.

Hope to get the firewall mount bonded in this weekend.

[heinzboehmer]

Alright I'm calling this project (including documentation!) 99.9% done. Just have two small TODOs to get through before I can call it 100%:

1. Weigh the modified cabin air filter housing/firewall plug + a stock cabin air filter housing and add to documentation.
2. Sand and paint the strut tower brackets.

Documentation and files in the drive are up to date. Most changes revolve around the cabin air filter housing/firewall plug, as those weren't fully finished last time around.

Feel free to read through and provide feedback!

Couple pics of the newly finished parts:

[karter16]

Alright I'm calling this project (including documentation!) 99.9% done.

[YoitsTmac]

Where's the “buy now” button?

[heinzboehmer]

Yeaaah, I lied.

More discussion in my build thread, but basically, I remembered I really hate painting. So instead of trying to make the existing sheet metal strut tower brackets pretty, I scanned the stock brackets, recreated them in CAD and then modified them to work with the E86 braces.

Here's the (almost) final design:




I also modeled a version with stock-like bosses on the underside, for compatibility with early cars. Still need to test fit these on a real car, but confident they'll work:




(bavarian3, you've got no more excuses! )

And here's an earlier plastic prototype installed on the car:



Looks sooo much better than the sheet metal version!

Plan is to get these 3D printed out of aluminum and powder coated/painted to match the stock parts. Am very excited for how these are gonna turn out.

Where's the “buy now” button?

I think the new strut tower brackets will make this as close to a real product as possible!

Basically just CNC the windshield mount, print the strut tower brackets, print the cabin air filter housing plastics, trim the E86 braces and install.

I'll report back with how the Aluminum prints turn out.