Kerscher IRS sway bar bracket

[Bruce.m]

The part attached to the torsion tube is a “exhaust U bolt clamp”. A heavy duty version sized to match the OD of the tube. 69mm or something like that, I think.

[Bruce.m]

The genuine Porsche or OEM drop links are very expensive. I used a pair of male / female rod ends instead

[H2OSB]

Bored and looking at old STF threads.

As I stated above, I decided to go with the Topline 19mm rear sway bar (in reality, just an EMPI copy...and what everyone sells). That said, I wouldn't mind having a more permanent mount on the torsion tube. I've always disliked the band clamp mounting bracket the EMPI bar uses. I also like how your (by this I mean Bruce.M) mount uses a factory front sway bar clamp/bracket. That would mean, with my 19mm bar, I can easily acquire readily available urethane stock size sway bar bushings. Hell, I probably have 2 or 3 sets sitting around in my garage, including the "caster fix" variety. I even have the same U-bolt bracket from an early attempt at creating a mount when I was planning to use a 14mm 944 rear sway bar.

So, my question for you, Bruce, is how close is your sway bar to the front trans mount? In the pic above (excellent, clear pics, BTW), the trans mount and sway bar look to be almost touching. I suspect that could be a trick of the angle of the shot, considering you stated you could have located the bar closer to the torsion bar tube, however, based upon other pic angles, it still looks very close. The Topline/EMPI bar is a different shape in area in question, so I'm certain I could run tighter against the torsion bar tube. Also, the EMPI band brackets locate the bar about 1/2 inch from the torsion bar tube, so I think I have a bit of leeway.

Thanks
H2OSB

[Bruce.m]

Hi

I did find it amusing to see the beetle part number in the Porsche catalogue and it’s not the only one. The 924 was a bit of a parts bin special.

The bar does clear the gearbox mount by enough. Over 10mm I think but I don’t have a better photo at the moment. The top edge of the bar is inline with the overside of the forks, roughly, but the highest part is between the forks so that’s okay.

It’s worth noting that “high” section in the middle is directly in line with the two pivot points where the bushes are. So as the bar rotates, the centre section twists in place, rather than move in an arc like the dropped parts do.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I think I would box-in the open ends of the mount you have made, just for an "what the ###" incident. Something I usually do with an open mount situation; I still have the shifter mount design I came up with for putting a bus tall shifter on a bug tunnel to connect to the 091 bus trans shifter rod.

I thought about when looking at your situation and since the shifter mount connection to the stock mount location on the tunnel maybe (in my case) just boxing in all 4 corners on both sides of the 3 X 3 tube I used to allow fastener access while still allow fastener access. The material I used for the mount it thick but in case of a roll-over the side loading of the bends is better protected. The corner's boxing would not have to be big, just a bit bigger than each of the corners of the bend radius on the tube so I can get my hands in and insert and tighten the fasteners.

I have seen bends like this fail before and since you might have more potential of this than my shifter probably would need but ... just-in-case!

Normally potential loading would be fore and aft like you have it designed for but closing up the hole this way would be better at stopping any fore and aft/shear movement of the mount.

I doubt it would happen but that give mother nature something to be mean and nasty to do .

For what it is worth.

Lee

Also, the bracket is under neath the pan and at an angle which could put some loading on the angles. Not sure what you are going to use the rig for but it might be where it could be hit also.

Lee

9d7640ad98b05a5e60c0b39d17fefa84.jpg

A rough idea. you would do both sides like this.

Lee

[Bruce.m]

I did wonder about the strength when I welded the mounts. The metal is very thick gauge however (factory chassis part made for this job).

So I tested it by hitting it hard with a hammer. A few times. It didn’t flinch

[Ol'fogasaurus]

It's not the sway bar its self-doing the damage but there are other things that could potentially happen but then again, its hitting/dragging the ground it or something like that that could happen.

My post was intended as something to think about.

Lee

[H2OSB]

The Kerscher brackets are more proud of the torsion bar tube than Bruce's, though I do not know what angle they point down at. I'm not sure hitting on anything, outside of some freak occurrence, would be an issue. That said, some kind of gusset or triangulation brace might be beneficial. However, as Bruce said, he is literally using what the Porsche 944 has from the factory.

H2OSB

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I was concentrating about it being on the underside of the pan, where things could happen that we don't always see or think of.

Since I drive my buggy in not smooth areas, I look at things a bit differently especially having made a suspension adjustment too much. It cured one problem while setting up another problem. When I first started playing on the sand (roughly back in the 90s I saw some pretty healthy damages that one would not expect from other people. I even saw things done on the street that one would not expect to see.

It was also one of my jobs (at work) to look at things a bit differently looking for those "unexpected things" that could happen. One of those things is what has more or less caused my black buggy build to slow way down... a safety thing.

An old saying: "what can happen will happen and at the most inopportune time". (a slight variation of Murphy's Law)

Lee

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I did wonder about the strength when I welded the mounts. The metal is very thick gauge however (factory chassis part made for this job).

So I tested it by hitting it hard with a hammer. A few times. It didn’t flinch

This is for what it is worth: hitting a bend especially hard is not the best of ideas. You can damage the bend causing it to fail sooner than normal. When bent, metal has the inside surface of the metal's material compresses while the outside of the metal is stretched (thinned out). On the outside of the metal turned gray then the metal is starting to fracture due to the metal being stretched too far.

If you do a search there are several tables for bend radiuses based on material and radiuses.

Lee