OFFLIST; Crossmember Bars

[gforbess at attglobal.net (Gordon Forbess)]

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 20:30:21 -0700 (PDT), Tonee Northam
<pb3vr6@yahoo.com> wrote:

>The right support in the right place works, and I'd rather, if the time happened, have it than not.

One of my first purchases (1985 or so) was a GMP front anti sway bar
with an integrated front cross member support.   It's a heavy angle
across the front that connects to the bumper mounting bolts with thick
brackets on each end and to the "cup" with an inverted U bolt.  It
appears to take any strain the front motor mount exerts on that cup
and distribute it to the bumper bolts on each side.

Not long after that I put in the motor and, as some here might be
inclined with a nice infusion of power, proceeded to thrash it a bit.
Not much later, the metal bracket that bolts to the starter and holds
the front motor mount donut ripped apart.  "Those who play will pay"
said the nice VW parts man as I bought a new mount.

I don't thrash it much any more (and I didn't think about this at the
time..who knew?) but I now wonder if I hadn't had that extra support
if the motor mount would have survived and the stock radiator support
member wouldn't have.   Maybe I've wasted gallons of gas and an HP or
so hauling that old hunk of angle iron and brackets around for 20
years, but the more I read about the cracking problems in that area,
the less that concerns me.

It seems to my (non-engineer) sense of logic that the brace we're all
"discussing" here does pretty much  the same thing as my old school
GMP device.   Certainly a worthwhile repair if you have the cracking
problem and it looks like good insurance, especially for those running
way more HP than my car.

No offense intended to anyone.  




  
Gordon
75 Scirocco/Drake 1.9 8V
http://pws.prserv.net/scirocco/scirocco.htm