Sufficient Panhard bracket??

[Chewy72ss]

Just want a second opinion on the panhard bar bracket I just finished up for my wagon. It was originally a Speedway bracket, but I needed to extend it to clear the coilovers. Does it look like it will handle the lateral loads created through "spirited" driving? Thanks.

[JRouche]

Wow!! Ok, will it handle the side loads? YEAH!! Umm, ok, dont take it wrong, you build like I do, beefy. But Im thinking maybe a scooch too beefy. I see some 1/4" plate in there. Then 3/16" on the inside of the rod end mounts. Using stock on hand right. I get that. But 3/16th would have been fine. The whole 1/4" section, what was it? A piece of channel? You could cut the entire side of it out to reduce the unsprung weight. You have the tube running down for vertical load but these really dont see much vertical loading. All side loads. I see you are limited on space, so side bracing bars were outta the question. Oh, that lil piece of triangular metal. What does it do?? On the inside on the tube going down. It doest look to be connected to anything? Pics may be hiding its purpose.

Ok, with just the top plate that is part of the side plate all you need is one bottom bar. Everything else can go, including most of the side of that channel. The weld at the axle to the channel piece is gonna take all the side loads and it looks good enough to do it. Great welds!! So that with a bottom tube just for a lil additional support will do it. You could use this for supporting the car, thats how strong it is.

Yer not gonna bend that corner of the 1/4" channel. SOLID!! A lil heavy, but solid. JR

[Chewy72ss]

Thanks JRouche. This is my first full car build, so I'm pretty new to a lot of this fabrication stuff. Like you pointed out, I have very little room for side bracing, which is why I think it ended up so "beefy". I may have gotten carried away with trying to compensate for the minimal side support.

I didn't cut up any of the original piece, which is another reason it looks so ridiculous. (As well as the triangular piece.)

I'll have another look at it tonight, and see what I can do to lighten it up a bit. I appreciate the response. Next, is the frame-side bracket! I'll post pics later for some ideas.

[JRouche]

Thanks JRouche. This is my first full car build, so I'm pretty new to a lot of this fabrication stuff. Like you pointed out, I have very little room for side bracing, which is why I think it ended up so "beefy". I may have gotten carried away with trying to compensate for the minimal side support.

I didn't cut up any of the original piece, which is another reason it looks so ridiculous. (As well as the triangular piece.)

I'll have another look at it tonight, and see what I can do to lighten it up a bit. I appreciate the response. Next, is the frame-side bracket! I'll post pics later for some ideas.

My car is the first one I have ever worked on also so Im all onboard with your thinking. Us newbies gotta stick together I got a plasma that would trim her up real nice, even add some contours But some hole saws will do a good job two. I think you could hole saw out alot of the side of the box section. And dont forget the usefulness of the axle bracket. Could make a nice anchor point for a sway bar link. Keep up the good work. Strong welding is very important and it looks like you have the welding skills down. JR

[Chewy72ss]

Haha, I agree... us newbies should stick together. What kinda ride are you buildin' up??

I need to get my hands on a plasma. The Miller Spectrum X-Treme would be a nice addition to my "Blue" collection.

Got a picture of the frame-side bracket. I don't know why I didn't think of it, but I should've just used plate to join the 6-hole bracket to the frame, in the same triangulated fashion. I may have to redo this...

I also cut out a bit from the side of the housing-side bracket, looks lighter, but not by much. I'll post pics later.

How's it look?