XV Engine Brace - good?

[68X426]

Anyone running with an XV Motors engine compartment brace? Looking for pictures and info about how it's mounted to the firewall.

XV can't seem to find pictures except for what's on their site. And it's only a front view.

Do you like the brace, and can you tell a difference (stiffer?)?

Thanks, Dan

[tan top]

prolly just me , but cant see how that would  stiffen anything up !! if its just bolted up  via a plate sandwiching the fire wall , as thats only thin gauge stuff , now if there was a full cage in the car with a cross bar behind the dash ! & then bolt the  cross brace to that would be a different story 

[HPP]

If you thinking of just adding the engine bay brace, don't expect much improvement at all.  That is actually the last piece of the stiffening puzzle to show any gains. You will firm up the car much more with either torque boxes and/or subframe connectors and the lower radiator brace considerably more than the engine bay brace alone will provide.

While I tend to agree just sandwiching the sheet panels is not the best way to do it, don't forget that sandwiching the sheetmetal floor is how most roll bars/cages are installed too and they provide enough support for most motor sports sanctioning bodies to accept them that way.

[68X426]

Thank you for the input. My Runner has the boxes and connectors. Looking for ideas of what else might help.

The firewall mounting is the heart of the question: doesn't seem like much to be gained since it is not a structurally strong location.

[Mike DC]

I'm sure the gains are real but probably not very big.

The issue is the Mopar chassis design - it needs this fenderwell bracing much less than a Ford or GM car with the tall shock towers & coil springs in front. 



After the frame connectors & torque boxes, the next place I would brace up would be the lower rad support piece that XV sells. 

[Hemidog]

I agree, first torque boxes and frame connectors, then radiator brace and fender braces.
If you're still not satisfied, then the engine bay brace.

[HITMAN 149]

well...
if anything... it kinda looks cool!!! hahaha 

[J-440]

  Have you thought about shock tower braces?  If you plan on any road racing, the shock towers are notoriously weak in that area and will eventually crack under stress.  Plus they also look really cool too!!!

[elacruze]

The firewall mounting is the heart of the question: doesn't seem like much to be gained since it is not a structurally strong location.

Connecting the shock towers to the firewall keeps them from moving laterally, side-to-side because the firewall is very strong across the car. Triangulating the engine compartment forces the entire front end to move as one piece. The XV inner fender supports triangulate the engine compartment with the outer body shell, completing the truss and transferring all the twisting/bending/spreading forces into the firewall/unibody frame.

I was looking into all this stuff myself, but after studying lots of Charger crash scenes, Bullitt, DeathProof and the final crash scene in 'The Fast and the Furious' I decided that for what I'm doing I certainly didn't need any additional support-the F&F car didn't even have frame connectors. It did have a roll cage, but you can see clearly how much the unsupported front end can take. I went with US Cartool frame connectors and torque boxes and will probably leave it at that.

For what it's worth, my '96 Sunfire convertible came stock with strut tower supports. I installed a lower suspension (k-member) support bar and it made a significant difference-it handles way better than our '00 Z24 Cavalier coupe. YMMV.

[speedfreak68]

well...
if anything... it kinda looks cool!!! hahaha 

haha Thats the same thing I was thinking!! 

[Mike DC]

I was looking into all this stuff myself, but after studying lots of Charger crash scenes, Bullitt, DeathProof and the final crash scene in 'The Fast and the Furious' I decided that for what I'm doing I certainly didn't need any additional support-the F&F car didn't even have frame connectors. It did have a roll cage, but you can see clearly how much the unsupported front end can take. I went with US Cartool frame connectors and torque boxes and will probably leave it at that.

I've watched these cars get bent in all kinds of interesting ways on "Dukes" stunts - which is particularly interesting because they did a lot of big stunts with only 4-point rollbars in the earlier part of the series.  

My impression has been that the center-area of the car needs the work.  The subframes hold their shape pretty well but the center-cab of the car between them will flex.    Subframe connectors & factory torque boxes.  

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XV's front radiator support brace is probably a good idea.  The factory K-frame basically already does that job in a serious accident, but the K-frame itself and its non-welded attachment both allow some flexing before the serious bending occurs.   On "Dukes" they actually spot-welded the K-frames to the subframe rails on a few cars to stiffen them up.  


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I wonder if the factory's unibody might benefit from more work in the A-pillar and the front half of the roof structure.  I would be curious to see what happens if some bigger rails were used there.  Modern cars have much more meat in that area, and that's aside from the bonus of having their windshields rigidly attached too.  

But I see no easy way of adding anything like that to an old Mopar.  

[68X426]

Thank you everyone for the input. Appreciate it all.

A shock tower type brace (and firewall connectors and re-inforcement) would be great but I've never seen such an animal for a B Body. Moparts has a post from a company selling a brace like the XV, seems better except you permanently remove the wiper motor.

For what its worth, I don't plan on stunt driving and crashes!

[squeakfinder]

    I think the inner fender brace is part of that upgrade.

    Scroll down to post 17 on this thread. Shows a picture....




      http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,62316.0.html