You think you're tougher than me shock tower???

[canadamatt]

So when I bought my car I knew the PO had puttied up the shock towers somewhat....I tried to ignore that fact in the hopes that they would magically fix themselves, or turn out to have nothing more than a skim coat of putty. Here is a tip... magic, smoke and/or mirrors does not work on shock towers.

Anyways yesterday I was going to brace them up to support my new coilovers...so I started grinding away a bit of paint in the areas I had to weld. And I hit some fiberglas...and then some more fiberglas, and then some more. I went through an inch of fiberglas without hitting metal. Yes, I said an inch.

Oh crap. Good thing I didn't drive the car like that.

At that point I got dejected, couldn't find anyone to punch or maim, so I left the shop, and had a couple beers. And a shot of Jager. And some Doritos chips, I think they were chicken wing and ranch or something crazy like that. Mmmm chips. Much better. At 7pm I came back, and used my anger to rattle off a 4 hour tower swap. Thank goodness some kind soul (sorry I forget who!) had sent me some good towers a couple years ago. Its just tacked for now as I couldn't leave with a gapping hole. Still have to finish fitting it and then weld er on.

And of course, since I love scope creep and my 02 is a neverending project , and since its super easy with the towers on the bench, I'll box them in now before welding them in, and I am also debating cutting out the "pipe", replacing it with some larger diameter tubing to give the springs more clearance. and maybe Moespeed them up and give another inch or so of height. Anyone put in a larger diameter "tube"? Or is the slight rubbing of coilover springs not that big of a deal?

Matt 1, shock tower 0. And previous owner, you suck. Big time. Seriously man, you spent $100 in putty and glas.

Matt

[jlandreth]

Nice work!

[jerry]

thanks for sharing the photos. that's been a job i've been dreading that awaits me on two 02's i have right now. great to see that you were able to blast through the drudgery and accomplish so much in one event. your photos will be saved to my reference binder. were you using a cheapo electric grinder/cutoff tool or do you have nifty airtools at your disposal?

i worry about access with my cheapo grinder/cutoff tool. may be too bulky to fit in tight spaces.

btw, what do you mean by 'boxing' in the towers?

[BrewCity11]

Good read, and work too.

Better get used to the creep. Have you inspected the rest of the car since then? At least it wasn't bubblegum and duct tape. lol

Turk

[brad_c-ville_VA]

nicely done! how did you measure the correct location for the crown to go? in other words, did you do anything special to make sure the top of the shock bolt went into the new crown at the same spot as the original?

i have to do the same thing eventually and have thought of using some square tubing to tack weld a place holder so that the new crown goes in at the same angle.

[canadamatt]

Hey guys. THanks for the feedback. Answers..

- I used my Aircat 3" cutoff wheel which is huuge. It was fine other than close to the rear seat pan where it got tricky. Got the job done but a body saw aka Sawzall would have made things a lot easier. That and a cheap air grinder to clean it up a bit.

- Turk...I did the rest of the car years ago; I left the spare tire well and shock towers for a later date..which happens to be right now . Heres an old pic for ya...I feel dizzy just thinking about those days..

- Brad...I actually didn't measure, I'm doing one tower at a time so i will just transfer measurements from the other side. And actually since I cut around the horizontal grooves, you pretty much can't screw up the position too badly.

- boxing... see some pics here. Most feel boxing/reinforcing the towers is neccesary when running rear coilovers. http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,304909/highlight,coilover+brace/

[canadamatt]

Well Thursday I did the passener side, and Saturday I did some bracing. I don't think its going anywhere now... even if the car rusts away in 30 years, those damn shock towers will still be fine! Still have to tie bracing into the top of the diff mounts..hopefully will finish that Tuesday. FOr some reason the welds on the right tower look pretty ghetto.... I blame the camera and the lighting, they aren't that bad

Matt

[oz_tom]

Nice work Matt, they dont look like they are going anywhere now.

[peteinjp]

Damn- nice matt. Are the towers taller now are at the stock height? Thats the business man- solid for sure.

[canadamatt]

Damn- nice matt. Are the towers taller now are at the stock height? Thats the business man- solid for sure.

Not taller...yet..once I replace the shocks and use a heim mounting up top, I'll build a bracket 'ala Skidmark which will raise it up a bit.

Por-15'd and pretty much done. I have to fab up a trunk floor and make a hold down bracket for the battery, then paint and on to the fuel system upgrade.

Matt

[canadamatt]

Well my super secret compartment is almost done. As an added bonus, if I keep adding steel to the back, I may just get to that perfect 50/50 weight balance ! . Thursday night I visit Mr Bead Roller and put some beads into that piece you see in the 3rd pic as well as the floor. Then install my super secret device and make the trunk covers. Out of... yeah...you'll see.

Scope creep is gonna be the death of me.

Matt

[iflytii]

Looking great Matt!

[PatAllen]

what are you doing, a tank ??

looks a bit overkill, but nice work...

funny tho, i fixed the rear chock tower last weekend, i welded it well but applied a bit of bondo so the finish is nice...

[canadamatt]

Yeah its thick alright! I have a JD2 bender with a 1.75 die, which is half the reason I went with the larger diameter tubing, as when I build my rollbar I don't have to spend $$$ on another 1.5" die. If I assume around 30feet'ish of tubing needed to build a rollbar..

1.75 - .095 wall 1.679/ft 50lbs

1.5 - .120 wall 1.426/ft 42lbs

So its only 8lbs more, and I lose/gain more than that in a day from my eating habits anyways, ha. Plus I think 1.75 looks way cooler. If I paint the cage red I might get 5hp to boot. First I have to convert the bender to hydraulic though...

[canadamatt]

Also I'll try to post a close up pic, but where the tubing ties into the diff area, there is a 1/8 plate about an inch wide (to the outsides of the tubing, probably around 14" long) that is welded onto the "lip" that the trunk panel ususally fits into. Then there were 2 3/16" plates (might have been 1/4", whatever I had available) that were welded on top of that. Then the tubing comes down onto those plates directly on top of the diff mounts. Now the weak points is the flimsy diff mounts themselves. I haven't seen anyone else strengthen those so I'm assuming since the loads are directly upwards they are fine.