1. my motor/tranny mounts blow...athal can verify this...

my question is would a solid mount be a bad choice? i was thinking some square/rectangular hollow bar, with a bolt passed thru each opposite side and welded to the bar...any comments? yes's...no's anything?

2. i was thinking of building my own lower bracing and strut tower bracing...matt i remember you gave me some advice about the lower bracing, waht kind of bar to use but i forget...for the top strut brace i was thinking something along teh lines of the cherry turbo brace...round solid bar with many "bne" triangles sound good?

3. my front suspension creeks a lot...a halloween sound effect should be recorded from this sound...it sounds like springs...why?/what could it be?

4. tow hooks...i was thinking of making some, one for the front and one for the rear...info on specialstage.com has lead me to believe that using a 5/8" size clevice is a good size due to what tow trucks use on there 'rigs'...i was thinking more along the lines of a 3/4" liek the big 1 ton pick up's have..is that overkill for a lil 242? should i go with 5/8" or 3/4"

5. when seam welding...do you do one area at a time and finish it or scatter? if that's confusing i mean say for the back seat area, would i stitch weld the left side, say one upper and one lower weld, then do the right side same thing, to let the welds on the left cool a bit before going back to the left side to continue? thinking of metal warping/too much heat etc

6. e brake cable...is there an easy way to shorten it..or does that come with putting in new shoes, like instead of 10 clicks on the handbrake i want 3-5 like on the wagon i had

thanks guys

enjoy your thursday

ciao

Yes, bad idea. Talk to Brad about his motor mount alternative.



Solid bar isn't good for making braces from - it's heavy, and for a given weight it's not very strong. 1" solid bar is stronger than 1" tube, of course, but 5 lbs of tube is WAY stronger than 5 lbs of bar, assuming equal lengths.

I don't really like the Cherry upper brace - it's designed to keep the towers from twisting, but they don't twist, really - the chassis twists. The upper brace just keeps the towers tied together, and any good 240 upper brace should tie the towers to the firewall.

My bars are 1" diameter medium thick tube, and I try to keep it all close to one plane for maximum stiffness. When they're bolted to the car, it's STRONG. I've got an early prototype laying around you're welcome to look at... I've not had time to build one for my V8 car, or for anyone else for that matter.



I find that creaking in a stock 240 usually comes from the upper strut cushions - the rubber separates from the steel, and during corners or especially angled driveway approaches the rubber will shift and creak. Of course, it could be any of the other bushings, but my money's on the strut cushions.



You're on your own there, rice boy.



It probably is a good idea to alternate between left and right, but in the long run it probably doesn't matter. However, if you're going to do it, do it properly - don't waste any time welding metal that's not there for strength.



240s e-brake levers are adjustable. Pull off the console, lower the e-brake, and there's a 17mm adjustment bolt accessable from behind the lever. Tighten it up and it moves the pivots for the cable. There's also the 10mm nuts on the cables themselves that you can tighten up, if necessary, but make sure that the balance bar is perpendicular to the lever/cables when the e-brake is on.

thanks Matt...i think i would liek to come look at your 242 shell and your tower brace sometime...when are the stamps not playing this week? and when are you free (if) PM this further yes?



isn't this the point of the GT strut tower-->firewall braces?

Brad...POST...what happened?

angled driveway is basically the blunt of the problem, a bit when cornering but not much, leaving the driveway though sounds like the whole car is ready to snap though

ciao