DIY - transmission brace
 

I may of posted this sometime in the past but while we are on the diffrential girdle I thought I'd toss it out there for those interested in making their own.

Very simple - 3/16" plate cut out to my template, heated and bent to fit. Holes drilled, bead blasted and painted. Installed it works like a charm and not too heavy to boot !

One thing I really like about it is you retain the oem crossbar support and you re-use the oem bolts :)

Enjoy

Later

From a guy who just spent a Saturday afternoon cleaning all the gunk from under my car after a bad coolant leak/explosion, that is one extremely clean undercarriage! I'm jealous.

Nice brace also. Have you driven it yet? I would think there would be some extra NVH from hard mounting it like that.

That looks like a nicely made brace. Well thought out to make it fit with the existing bolts & holes. Nice job.

My questions would be: Has it made any difference? The PPF is supposed to hold the tranny in place. Does this really do anything? Can you feel anything different?

Yes,did you notice any differences?

Looks good, as the other have said - noticed any improvement?

...oh and that damn clean under there!!

Yes, it is functional. It provides more accurate shifting, less transmission wobble. It strengths the whole driveline, prevent twisting of the PPF which leads to cracking. Helps prevent wheel hop during hard launches. Research transmission brace, or simply brace and ou will find a wealth of info.

There is more driveline noise transmitted to the cabon, but I cannot hear it over the Led Zeppelin 4 playing at 25 on the scale.

Later

u make a lot of cool stuff :(

Pretty nice :)

that is the cleanest 7 under body I have ever seen!

sooo.. how loud isit without music..

Not loud at all really, you can hear more of the metallic sound of the gears tramsmitted to the inside, but very tolerable.

Also I went in to my metal shop buddy and bought 6 more plates today. I'll work on them as I can and keep those above in tune.

Later

woooowww i did my a couple month back now and mine looks no where near as clean as that id be scared to go through a puddle. everything looks new. what year is your car? good job btw

this is how mine turned out

Attachment 704836
Attachment 704837
Attachment 704838
Attachment 704839

Lookin' good there Phaz.....


later

Damn Tom, do you actually drive that car on the street :lol:?
https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...3&d=1202828539

Yea Rich I get them out but only in good warm weather. You have to love working all the time - I get no time to enjoy these cars. I have a 525hp Z06 that I bought new with something like 6500 miles on it.




I keep them clean, detailed and running right.

thanks

later

Here is the process in pictures.... You all inspired me to go out and git er done....


Here they are cut out from the raw plate.

Now they are drilled and go thru the bending process.....

Then I went out under one of the cars and removed the trannsmission brace and fit tested every one of these new ones....and it was cold !

This shows the install process also..

Now they are painted and clear coated. Hanging like bats....time to go in for a hot bowl of homemade chili :) Yea I cook too

Installation steps.

1) raise your car and always keep safety in mind. I did not support the transmission as the top two 21mm nuts held it in place just fine, but you may want to.
2) remove the two leftside 12mm bolts holding on the aluminum crossbar
3) Loosen the right two 12MM bolts holding on the aluminum crossbar.
4) Remove the two rear 10mm bolts from the splash pan ( shame on you for not having a splash pan )
5) You should be able to pull the left side of the crossbar down about an inch.
6) Remove the two lower 21mm PPF nuts.
7) Shoehorn on the Transmission brace over the PPF studs and in between the crossbar. Put some never sieze on the threads and place the two nuts back on the PPF studs but do not tighten.
8) Put some never sieze on the threads and start both 12MM bolts back up thru the crossbar left side. Go thru the new brace and into the threaded bosses.
9) Tighten up the 12MM bolts until snug.
10) Tighten up the 21MM nuts until snug.
11) torque the 12MM bolts to 18 foot pounds
12) torque the 21mm nuts to 110 foot pounds.
13) tighten back up the right side of the crossbar.
14) tighten up the 10mm splash pan bolts.
15) lower the car and take it for a drive. Check the smoothness of the shifts.

Here is my best friend that helps me along the way with these mods. He is always at my side.

ive seen a similar one for sale on yahoo auctions, yours looks good. I guess it would work like a engine torque damper right? Just wondering if rubber washers were needed as the engine will probably put a lot of pressure on the tranny bolts and they might become loose? Right?

Would rubber washers stop the noise?

The only thing that I'd want to ask about is the load across just those two bolts. If the brace extended to the other side, that would negate the need for the OEM support and spread the load to the other side as well. Over time, will those bolts hold up to that stress?

Otherwise, it's nice and definitely the cleanest chassis I've seen.

Yes- I believe so. Reason I believe so is I have a single turbo 400hp 93 FD with the first brace on it and it's been there for 30k miles now and holding strong. Going over to the other side interferes with the exhaust somewhat, plus like I said, I don't believe it needs to.

I responded to the PMs, thanks



Later

And as the curtain pull back......whooola !!

I dont live in USA so i manufactured my own transmission brace. It works great for me. minimal if any vibration gain but a lot of whining sound like on FIA GT cars but i like it. i would not mind it even if FD was my daily driver. Before, i had problems with gearbox jumping and hitting the floor when spining tyres and strange whining sound coming out of the gearbox area during acceleration in left hand corners. My PPF was not cracked, all bolts were tight but I guess gearbox still was not sitting tight, touching the driveshaft. Now its all gone and LSD kicks in perfectly as well. so if you have similar problems, getting wheelhops etc, this brace is a cure.

The part that worries me is that this brace is solid to the chassis. the entire drve train is supported bushings. the diff has bushings, the brace from that transmission to the diff doesn't bolt the the chassis at all. the engine has mounts. directly bolting the transmission to the frame does not mesh at all with the existing design.

perhaps if there was some sort of dampening factor built in to prevent a hard tension point?

This works in much the same way as the Diff Brace. In fact I've seen Rotary Specialists here in the UK make a tranny brace which is very similar in design to Banzai Racing's Diff brace. The solid mount WILL transmit more noise into the cabin, however it still works like a charm.

The only reason I would take my brace off is if I were to replace it with one which mounted on both sides of the frame. I approve of this brace. ^_^

you're missing my point entirely.

with a diff brace: you have a flax point in the drivetrain via the driveshaft's u joints.

the engine wills till move under load, and thus the transmission will want to move... since it is bolted to the engine. bracing one end of the transmission while the other end is mounted via flexible engine mounts is going to create an issue somewhere.

Even Garfinkles engine brace has rubber bushings to allow for movement. there is such a thing as too rigid.

Yes Rice Rocket I REALLY do want to help those who want to fab their own stuff, and have for over 10 years before you ever joined this forum - but look at how you asked. You imply that...just maybe I don't huh.

The plate to make them out of is 3/16" steel x 4.5" wide x 9.5" long. Punch 4 holes in it and bend it twice and presto - you have a brace ready to paint. Very simple RiceRocket. Now if you REALLY wanted to make one - now show me your brace. Impress me !

Later

my bad, missed it.

I know...sarcasm... it a weakness.

I just replicated the Garfinkle brace so this'll be smooth sailing. I did want to share some advice on the NVH issue. When I made my garfinkle brace, I used a tube of neoprene rubber bushing material for the bushings. Maybe if I slice this tube into bushing washers, it'll reduce the noise transfer.

No worry, Tom did too...

i have solid diff mounts now do you think i will benifit from this? by the way have you thought about putting some rubber or urathane washers in to dampen the vibration transfer?
Great job on the DIY, very cool.

WOOT! tom, i finally got some down time for the car and got the brace on two days ago. Drove her hard the past two days and it's awesome. way more solid of a feel, second to fifth shifts are no longer, and it feels like it shifts smoother throughout too.

so far, this is the only brace on my car. next will (hopefully) be a GTB and maybe a diff brace or go solid motor mounts.

and in regards to the noise issue; personally, i'm not considering it an issue at all. this is mainly due to the fact that my car is mildly modded and loud as shit already. there's a bit more noise at low rpm driving, but between the turbo, exhaust, worn out bushings clunking, and road noise, it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

after all, aren't they SUPPOSED to sound like chainsaws on steriods?

A little, yes. Good motormounts help too. :)

And I gave you the demensions about 2.5 months ago....! I don't have anything other than what I've told you. The plate is 4.5" wide, 9.5" long, 3/16" thick, 4 holes and bent to fit. I made one and use it for a template. I don't have any PDF or anything else to offer on the denemsions. If you cannot make one from that, then you are not into fabrication.



Now here is what it done today.

That's a very unfair thing to say. I am into fabricating parts I need, thick steel plate doesn't happen to be one of them. I have a friend who is a fabricator and he can make one for me if I supply him with the exact dimensions (i.e. hole diameters, bend angles, location of holes) and he would need more info than what you provided.

I hate to say it, but this is starting to sound a lot like whining. A more mature response would have been...

"Thanks for the reply. I can fabricate some parts, but not steel plate. I do have a friend that can fabricate it for me if I give him the exact specs (i.e. hole diameters, bend angles, location of holes). I was just hoping you had those. Thanks anyway and good luck with the braces you're making. I'll think about adding my name to the list since the brace looks great."

The above is polite, respectful, and yet still conveys the information you wanted to. As it is, you make it sound like it is his problem you can't make them rather than your problem.

Just a thought....

My thoughts too dave. I have no pity for a whinner. A true fabricator will take a look at a device, a problem or a symptom and come up with an idea then go to measurements, tests, etc etc. So many people these days want it handed to them in a written plan. Well this is nice if it can be done. This device came from thoughts others were doing for strenghtening their drivelines. I used cardboard and a permanent marker and made a template. Then bought some plate and made three braces for my FDs. I just wanted to share what I did and hoped others would pick up on the idea and make their own. I am here to help out the FD enthuisiast and provides some solutions.

But I don't want to bicker. So if anyone wants to make their own and can fab or knows someone that can, then look at the deminsions I gave and look at the "S" bend and then crawl under your car and make a cardboard template, cut it out of 3/16" plate, drill some hole and WALLLAAA - you have one to be proud of.

Now take care....more to come later on other pieces deep from within the Garage !



Later

Nope, no whining here. I would save my breath and just say go to hell before I whine :) .