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This my true "Dream Front End Chassis Brace" from SC&C

19K views 86 replies 22 participants last post by  scot 
#1 ·
I actually thought about contacting Choo to fab up a copy of his frame rail/steering brace as Chicagoareabmx had done. It looked really sturdy from the pictures on his chassis strengthening thread, but I was concerned that it might take up too much real estate in the front of the engine. I going to do a twin turbo LS conversion in the future and I was worried that his brace might take room down there that I might need for the extra piping, bigger radiators or intercoolers and such. So this brace from Pro-Touring F-Body seemed such a ready made, inexpensive and least intrusive solution.

But see below for my "dream front end/steering brace" from Savitske Classic & Custom (SC&C). You see it is a triangulated brace that attaches to the engine cradle and the two front frame horns. SC&C makes them for the '64-'67 A-Body, the '68-'72 A-Body and the '78-'87 G-Body, which is known as a real wet noodle of a frame among all of GM's Body-on-Frame chassis'.

Navy Lifer has lobbying the owner Mark Savitske for years to make one up for the '77-'96 Body for years now to no avail. Here is a link to the one for the popular '68-'72 A-Body: http://scandc.com/new/node/996.

Who knows maybe we can rustle up some demand and interest among us hardcore autocrossers and track day road course drivers?

Well here is a description of the brace from the SC&C website:

"SC&C Heavy Duty Chassis Brace"

"GM didn't dot all their I's and cross all their T's when they built the A body chassis (Chevelle, GS, 442, Etc.). The front frame horns were left without a crossmember and the bumper can't do the job. The result is a frame that deflects under heavy loads and a steering box that's hanging out there imparting all it's steering load on just one frame rail. SC&C's heavy duty tubular chassis brace fixes that factory oversight. It bolts under the chassis with large 1.25" diameter, 120" wall 1026 steel tubing welded into a triangulated and gusseted structure that ties the two frame rails firmly together. You'll notice an instant improvement in steering response, chassis stiffness, handling, and a welcome reduction in squeaks and rattles. Includes mounting hardware and instructions."
 

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#2 ·
This does pretty good to display various oem G- and A- reinforcements:
https://gbodyforum.com/threads/f41-and-aftermarket-bracing-diagrams-more-pics-added.8126/

The combination of F-41 option 'jounce bars' and the 'Grand Prix Cross Brace' are close facsimile to the aftermarket brace. All Monte Carlo SS'es (and I've learned all Cutlasses) have the jounce bars, but based on all the discussion of the Wonder Bar' I'll be hunting to add that GP Bar to my Monte. Then, if practical, I can run it to a welder to lock everything together.
 
#5 ·
#4 · (Edited)
I like this brace as an option too. The frames are very similar to our car, I wonder how far off dimensionally it is from not just bolting up to our frames? If Bill has been looking into this with the vendor, I would assume there must be a good size difference that these would not also bolt to our cars. Maybe someone can do some comparison measurements and see.

UMI has and account here, I'll send this thread link to them and see what they can share.

Edit - not sure how often they are here, but I just sent "UMI Performance" a PM to see if their GBody bar might fit or if they would consider making one that would. I have their control arms and they seem to make pretty good products. Attached a link to this thread and we'lll see if they respond. If not, maybe you could follow up with them directly.
 
#6 ·
The G-Body is pretty much a 7/8ths scale B-Body, so this brace will be too small in every measurement for our cars.

Best bet is if they make a 2nd Gen F-Body version of the brace, and we can jump on that bandwagon.
 
#8 ·
So much for that idea. cwm1. Maybe UMI will step up and make something similar that would work on our cars...id get one.

If not, the wonder bar for the FBody would be a good option.
 
#9 ·
I heard back from UMI and they mentioned a few others contacted them as well about doing this.

Good News - Sounds like they are considering it. Said they have a Caprice wagon in their Lot and were going to look at possibly doing this. No promises but at least they are willing to consider it...."Fingers Crossed" :D
 
#10 ·
UMI probably already knows this, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it to them, the 1977 to 1996 B-Body front suspension is effectively interchangeable with the 2nd Gen F-Body. This is why control arms, sway bars and the Wonder Bar fit both chassis.

If this brace is developed for our B-Body, then it will also be useful for the F-Body owners looking for an upgrade. The pool of F-Body customers is significantly larger than B-Body customers, and would represent a better return on UMI's R&D investment over a B-Body only item.
 
#12 ·
brace

Hey guys,thats great that UMI is considering this.I am going to email them now and add my name into the mix.Maybe the more people they here from the better.
Paul.
 
#13 ·
update.

Hey guys just heard back from Savitzke.They are still waiting on the car to come in to there shop but have not forgotten us.
 
#16 ·
Hey guys just heard back from Savitzke.They are still waiting on the car to come in to there shop but have not forgotten us.
i contacted Savitske a few years back regarding this brace and i was told that if i can brig in my car or get someone to show up at the shop they would measure it and produce the chassis brace for our cars. i never got around to it and kind of lost interest However if they produce it iam down on the group purchase ILL BE WATCHING OUT FOR THIS ONE FO SHO :surprise::nerd:
 
#15 ·
I'm in for a group-buy list. Or putting $100 down for them or whatever. I hate how the front sags when jacked up. This will certainly help.

add me to the list!!


Rob.
 
#21 ·
Lets start a group buy and hopefully someone on here can bring their car to UMI
I'm down for a GP on this type of bar as well. I'd be willing to take my car to them but they are over 3 Hrs away.

Hopefully something gets made for the B-body and like the other GP for the "wonder bar", they would have a good amount of purchases for something like this.
 
#22 ·
Any Updates?
 
#24 ·
Please add me to the list
 
#29 ·
Toy Teddy bear Puppet Grandparent Smile


Great Scot! Ware ya bin?
 
#30 · (Edited)
Zurich and Montevideo
Both are paradise, though in truth Zurich's best days are in the past as Europe has a bleak future.
Montevideo is the present and future "life as it should be".

You would benefit if you could find (used obviously) one of those 1 1/2" solid Quickor front sway bars, both my 7 K and 8 K pound Fleetwood Limo's use them and HO/HA rear bar.
Quickor also made 1 3/8" solid F+R bars which grace my 2005 ECIRS championship Caprice, now with a 427 RWHP 383.
Either Quickor front bar without the Pro Touring Brace will only bend the front frame rails whenever they are engaged and reduce the efficacy of the bar.
Any front bar with the P-T brace will have increased roll resistance while reducing the spring rate of the front frame rails, especially when welded in. Yes,
the frame has a spring rate.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I've been thinking about this concept and wanted to run another design idea past everyone. If this is hijacking the thread or in the wrong place, let me know and I'll move it or create another thread.

I like these braces because they tie the front end together left/right wise well so steering inputs don't go into flexing the frame, they actually turn the wheels. One thing I've always thought could use some improvement was the up/down strength that they add. Given how they're bolted to the swaybar mounting bolts (which are notoriously weak) and in the middle of the frame rail on a flat plate, they're not the most rigid design for improving the stiffness in the up/down direction from swaybar inputs. Now if it's welded to the frame around the perimeter like some do, that will help a lot. In my scenario (engine swap) I need this brace to be removable else I can't get the engine out (see picture of OEM swaybar vs harmonic balancer)



So the idea is to weld a pair of stubs in the sketch below to the frame in the OEM front swaybar location and then use a bolt in tie bar to hold them together. The thought being that this will be removable as necessary, but sill strong vertically due to being welded to the frame and the pipe being almost 2" in diameter. The front swaybar would bolt to the bottom of the stubs about 3" lower than before.




Conveniently enough, a 1" nut fits snugly (with a hammer :)) inside a 1 1/2" Schedule 40 pipe and the tensile area of the pipe is roughly the same as a 1" bolt so from an engineering sense, it all kind of works like it should.


Here's a sketchy sketch of what I'm thinking of...Red boxes get welded to the frame. Swaybar bolts to the bottom of the red boxes. The red connecting tube has 1" nuts welded in the ends and is held in by 1" bolts from the outside and is therefore removable.


Thoughts/comments/suggestions/feedback?
 
#32 ·
You might be intentionally fitting the cx-bar as close as possible to the steering box frame connectors for maximum rigidity. But just to eliminate a less congested location, could this added bar be installed forward and up v. your last pic, and hence completely 'inside the horns' (ala just ahead of the steering housing end and clear of the idler arm mounts) ?

The 1" bolts appear more than stout enough to eliminate all spread-compression of the horns. But any 'single point' attachment that's not welded both ends would allow 'slip rotation about the axis' and torsion of the horns relative to each other under severest of flex ?

Just curious, you have standoff spacers to 'square up' the idler arm-to-frame?
 
#33 ·
Do you mean something like the below in green?


It's kind of "full" in that area once everything else is installed such as electric fans, transmission cooler lines, coolant pipes, etc...



I suppose I -could- weld the whole thing in, the engine went in/out many times with the OEM swaybar in place. My thought (hope?) was that a 1" bolt at 600+ ft-lbf torque would provide enough clamp load and friction between the pipe and box (over 50,000 pounds of clamping force) that there wouldn't be much/any slip and being 2" in diameter would help resist any bending due to one frame horn moving up relative to the other. I agree that being fully welded would be best, but I'd like it to be removable if possible.

The crossmember under the engine is also reinforced with a V-shaped piece of 1/2 x 8 and a gusset. This is all fully welded to the crossmember so there's some additional stiffness there compared to stock




The steering idler arm was a mock up piece from a 90's chevy truck that I ended up not using. It's now running a Howe Racing adjustable idler that fits the frame properly.

 
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