Extreme duty ultra-lightweight pre-loadable tubular Titanium Strut Bar ...
04-11-2007, 03:16 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Extreme duty ultra-lightweight pre-loadable tubular Titanium Strut Bar ...
<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/711/tistrutbar.jpg"></center><p>
is dangerously close to finished. This has been a gut-wrench from get-go. Just far too expensive a part to rush into any part of it's machining. Not that I paid a lot for the tube as I got a SMOKIN' deal... but replacement would've been horrendous. Even the extreme duty F1 teflon-lined alloy sphericals with alloy jam nuts on this bar cost more than the entire Rev 1 strut bars w/sphericals so I proceeded s-l-o-w-l-y and with great caution measuring twice (ok, sometimes 4-5 times) and cutting once.
Finish stats:
31.25% larger OD and 12.8 times stiffer/more rigid than the Rev 1 solid 7075 aluminum pre-loadable strut bar. Custom gun-drilled 3/4"x16TPI red hard-anodized spherical rod ends with reduced diameter mounting bore sphericals for 1/2" (60% larger-than-stock) gun-drilled and shear-grooved alloy steel mounting bolts. 7075 aluminum threaded end-caps internally counter-bored for additional weight savings.
Less than half the weight of Rev 1 with mounting hardware & sphericals installed. More corrosion resistant than any stainless steel. And due to under-hood temps will keep 2 8oz cups of coffee stored inside piping hot! ;-)
Rev 1: 3lbs 4.2ozs
Titanium: 1lb 4.0ozs.
I still have to finish turning the mounting bolts down with a shear groove so in the event of side impact the strut bar will break/shear it's mounting bolt and not transfer structural damage to the opposite side of the car.
Frankly I dont know, nor do I really care much if I "feel" any improvement. It was fine before, correction; it was GREAT before! This is just more of that obsessive-compulsive weight-related neurosis you've all come to expect from me. If there's no perceptable difference I'm fine with that. If there is, that's ok too.
I need to do some slight re-work of the strut tower mounting tangs to allow use of the 60% larger/stronger mounting bolts and R&R the strut tower arm nuts underneath with larger as well. Then I have to build an approx .100" thick shim to place over the inner-most tang mounting holes to raise the strut tower slightly so the larger sphericals clear the outer-most bolt heads which hold the stainless tang reinforcement truss plates in place. But at least the agonizing is over and the rest is a relaxed, rather mundane walk in the park.
Pic shows end of Ti bar under a Rev 1 aluminum bar. Aluminum Ti tubing cap is shown separately for its uber-fine threading... 44 threads per inch. Camera lens threads! Way way strong stuff.
Tomorrow I'm there!
is dangerously close to finished. This has been a gut-wrench from get-go. Just far too expensive a part to rush into any part of it's machining. Not that I paid a lot for the tube as I got a SMOKIN' deal... but replacement would've been horrendous. Even the extreme duty F1 teflon-lined alloy sphericals with alloy jam nuts on this bar cost more than the entire Rev 1 strut bars w/sphericals so I proceeded s-l-o-w-l-y and with great caution measuring twice (ok, sometimes 4-5 times) and cutting once.
Finish stats:
31.25% larger OD and 12.8 times stiffer/more rigid than the Rev 1 solid 7075 aluminum pre-loadable strut bar. Custom gun-drilled 3/4"x16TPI red hard-anodized spherical rod ends with reduced diameter mounting bore sphericals for 1/2" (60% larger-than-stock) gun-drilled and shear-grooved alloy steel mounting bolts. 7075 aluminum threaded end-caps internally counter-bored for additional weight savings.
Less than half the weight of Rev 1 with mounting hardware & sphericals installed. More corrosion resistant than any stainless steel. And due to under-hood temps will keep 2 8oz cups of coffee stored inside piping hot! ;-)
Rev 1: 3lbs 4.2ozs
Titanium: 1lb 4.0ozs.
I still have to finish turning the mounting bolts down with a shear groove so in the event of side impact the strut bar will break/shear it's mounting bolt and not transfer structural damage to the opposite side of the car.
Frankly I dont know, nor do I really care much if I "feel" any improvement. It was fine before, correction; it was GREAT before! This is just more of that obsessive-compulsive weight-related neurosis you've all come to expect from me. If there's no perceptable difference I'm fine with that. If there is, that's ok too.
I need to do some slight re-work of the strut tower mounting tangs to allow use of the 60% larger/stronger mounting bolts and R&R the strut tower arm nuts underneath with larger as well. Then I have to build an approx .100" thick shim to place over the inner-most tang mounting holes to raise the strut tower slightly so the larger sphericals clear the outer-most bolt heads which hold the stainless tang reinforcement truss plates in place. But at least the agonizing is over and the rest is a relaxed, rather mundane walk in the park.
Pic shows end of Ti bar under a Rev 1 aluminum bar. Aluminum Ti tubing cap is shown separately for its uber-fine threading... 44 threads per inch. Camera lens threads! Way way strong stuff.
Tomorrow I'm there!
and hey, less weight is less weight
04-11-2007, 06:17 PM
#5
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
All Rev 1 bars were thicker. Those were the first and only 6 ever made...
They were expensive and 100% custom/special order. The later mass production units and those in the group buy were .125" smaller diameter due to costs as well as world demand buying all the 1" diameter 7075 ("poor man's titanium") rod stock up for global defense projects like the Freedom Fighter and others. .875" remained available and affordable while 1" if you could find it was 4x the price I had bought it at originally and impossible to find. Carbon fiber and titanium also become exceedingly expensive and difficult to lay your hands on at the same time and that too lingers today.
1" 7075 rod stock remains scarce and over-priced to this day. Tho slightly easier to find today for spot purchase it's still priced at a premium. And no one will give a bid on it good for more than 7-10 days out as it's ever-fluctuating.
1" 7075 rod stock remains scarce and over-priced to this day. Tho slightly easier to find today for spot purchase it's still priced at a premium. And no one will give a bid on it good for more than 7-10 days out as it's ever-fluctuating.
04-11-2007, 06:56 PM
#7
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Interesting..just finding all this now. I thought lower price was due to GB and not cheaper material
I honestly don't remember Alex or you ever mentioning this before, although its possible I missed it somewhere. It was always referred to as "Mance-bar"...and we all "knew" what you had, which was Rev 1 I see now. Oh well.
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04-11-2007, 06:58 PM
#8
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
these were never mis-represented if thats what you're trying to say...
neither Alex or I would allow or stand for it. And the group buy was for cheaper price but not on any Rev 1 bars which had already dried up many months, if not a year before any group buy was mentioned/considered and there were already a number of these out there when the group buy was announced. These were the only ones being produced immediately before and after the group buy. And that continued until the last one sold 2-3 months ago.