Finally I got a day off and some decent weather to mount one of my fabbed up girdles to my current FD project. I made these back around Christmas and never got time to deal with them anymore until now. I made 6 of them, three for my cars and 3 to sell. I designed it to strengthen the case, to prevent the spreading effects of hard launches. I have one on my 02 Z06 the same way.

Check it out...

 

it looks good.

 

whats the going price for a set up like that? i like your fuel filter relocation...very necessary!

 

good gawd, I could eat off that undercarriage. Does your car even know what a public road is?

 

how is the price of yours compared to pfs's girdle? glad you decieded to powder coat it, it looks very nice


its called "taking care of it". i baby mine, and things seems to hold up fine and to stay looking nice

 

I am asking $300.00 for each kit. I spent a lot of time making 6 of these. Included in the kit will be everything you need to mount it. The "face" of the girdle is 1/4" plate steel and the "tongue" that ties it into the PPF is 3/16" plate. The installation is simple, raise your vehicle so you can safely work around the diffrential case. Remove one bolt at a time and replace it with one of my studs, flat washer and nut. Torque to 35 foot pounds. You will be replacing 6 bolts like this, and don't worry the case won't leak during bolt/stud replacement. One advantage these studs have over the OEM bolts is that they take up all of the thread boss depth, unlike the OEM bolt that comes within 1/2" of bottoming out. So you screw in each stud until it bottoms out. Then remove the two lower PPF nuts ( 21mm). Add two flat washers ( acts as spacers ) to each of the cover studs above then swing the girdle over the studs while lining up the 21mm slots over the PPF studs. When it is lined up over the PPF studs, add the spacer block or washers ( depending on if you run a differential brace like me or not ) and then swing it home. Add the two large 21mm washers and re-install the large nuts to hold it loosely. then go back to the "face" and add another flate washer to each stud, and a bit of anti-sieze and a nut on each. Tighten up each nut evenly ( 17mm wrench ). Pull the face of the girdle up evernly all around. Torque to 35 foot pounds.

After the "face" is torqued then go to the two 21mm nuts and torque them to 110 foot pounds.

Set back and admire your beefed up diffrential case. I made these to help prevent the spreading effect of the case from high horsepower inputs. The stock aluminum case cover is all that is keeping the open case sides together and is not enough, not like 1/4" steel. However if one runs enough horsepower thru this case with no means of slippage ( slicks don't spin easily ) then nothing will hold it together in the end. The axles shaft will then break.


Now I pondered on four prototypes of this girdle before setting in on this one for my cars. One is just the 6 bolt cover brace - no tie bar to the PPF. Another is a full face cover brace girdle that takes advantage of every cover bolt AND ties it into the PPF lower two nuts. The problem with this one is there is a brake line clip at the top of the diffrential case that will need removed/re-located. Doing that is very easy, if you have your diff out for bushing replacement. I have already done my bushings, so that way was out...for now. Another is simply a full encirclement of the case cover like above but no ti-bar. Again the brake line clip is in the way and can be a simple matter of moving it if you are doing bushings.

I have the template for each of these with a local shop ready to cut them out if anyone is interested in a variation.

Something for you Rotary heads to ponder on.......now a couple more pics for yas

later
__________________
Tom

 

Shiet, I baby my car too, but there is no way my under carriage will ever look like Tom's. My car sees too much road. BTW Tom, it looks awesomeness.

-Jeff

 

Nice job.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments folks.

Later

 

Looks good!!

 

Hell yeah that looks great I pm'd you too let me know

 

Very nice fabrication work Tom. It looks much better than most the other diff "braces" out there. Very close to the PFS diff girdle IMHO. Great job and a fair price!

-J

 

I will be down for one soon. Maybe start a list?

 

Your car scares me, it's EXTREMELY clean. Product looks great, and quality work!

 

If anyone wants one of the kits, let me know. I have 3 ready to ship and that will probably be all i make - period. I look at these and the other stuff I make as a hobby for the FD world.


Later

 

another great product tom. we all appreciate your contributions to the community. thanks again.

 

i pmed u

 

Got two left FS - then no more.


Later