Im looking for bracing to increase rigidity of the car. Other than just a strut brace, especially for the rear of the car.

 

Have any proof the car needs to be stiffened up?

 

Powell Race Parts offers undercar stiffening bars for along the rockers, this is really all thats needed or makes any since short of a proper cage

 

Powell have Side Rails for the Ion that fit the cobalt
Rear sway bar?
CA floor brace?
Powell harness bar

 

I knew Powell might make something!

He needs to fix his site already and list all the Cobalt parts. It's always word of mouth when buying their parts.

 

I've been wondering about this as well...

 

Chop down some big trees an strap em to the top an bottom of your car..

done

 

Twin Sub Frame Bar - $129.99 : Rebel Auto Worxs.ca

 

I don't think that bar does much...

Here are my SFC. Not from John, but they are extremely similar. Mine are primered, bolted and bonded in place, and then painted over them with truck bed coating.









I don't think I'll ever be able to remove these suckers, short of replacing the entire floorpan I whacked a curb with one of the jack points, and the jack point bent up a little, but the bar is solidly bonded in place still. John caps his jack points, so they should be a little more durable. Honestly though, it might be a good thing it crushed a little, as opposed to transferring more force through the bar. Dumb move on my part.

 

did those bolt in place
had those made?

 

I got mine from Lance Larson at a shop in MD. lancealarson at yahoo.com. John sells a newer version of them.

 

I got this and it really works. Easy to install also.

 

Subd

 

That bar does A LOT!

Was a night and day difference on my ION. These are made by Jer in aka Coppertop.

Of course OEM coppied the design with a single bar and made them out of aluminum but you might want to think about the steel version.

They help save your oil pan... ask me how I know!

 

Any pictures of it installed?

 

is rebel still in business

 

Twin Subframe Bar & Tower Bar Combo - $169.99 : Rebel Auto Worxs.ca

This combo seems like a good deal.

 

Do you have pics of it installed?

 

That Lower A Arm brace and undercar rails are you best bet, live Maven said till you go full cage. Haha.

Not sure how good/ bad the floor brace is, but if you can find a CA floor brace, I have yet to meet someone that had it fit without a lot of modification.

Harness bars also help stiffen and strengthen the car. Powell sells a nice one, I made my own to be a little stronger.

 

I agree we need our new site but for sure word of mouth is not a bad thing.
Couple of things about Cobalt and cars in general:
the Cobalt structure is pretty good, but like all cars, the moment you drive a new car off the lot, the structure begins to slowly degrade.

The Coppertop brace is probably the least useful; Jer (Coppertop) is a great innovator and a good friend, (we worked on my Redline together last weekend). But back then he was unaware that the Cobalt Cradle is made of hydroformed rails, and while heavy, pretty darn stiff. The issue if there is one, are the 4 attachment bolts, if they are not secure the whole thing is not helping, and bracing it to itself wont help.

The Under Car Rails (Lance is no longer at the race shop that makes them, they dont really care about making them and it was Lance who pushed for them) are a great help as the pinchwelds really suffer on this car from hoist damage etc, and re inforcing the rocker area between the front cradle and the rear twisting beam helps.

The jacking point was my idea for the UCR, we use a jacking point like that in all cages we build into race cars regardless of brand. Cobalt race cars also get a front jacking point as fwd cars often need to take two front tires at pit stops, rear tires last forever.

The torsional rigidity, cross car, needs help, and there our harness bar really helps triangulate the B pillar mid car down to the UCR.

Redlines seriously need help, compared to Cobalts their structure sucks, due to the B pillar -less design with rear opening suicide doors on the coupe.

A roll over hoop for that, integrating into the UCR. is in the planning stage for Redline and has been for years, I just have not been ready to do all that work and mess up the interior of my car prototyping it. Bending dirty oily tube and placing it in and out the car is a grubby job.

The Cobalt has front struts welded in close to the firewall so the need for a strut bar there is not as great as say a BMW, Mustang, CTSV or Honda/Evo/Nismo etc which have struts 18 inches or more away from the firewall.

So:
Harness bars are neat , removable, with quality rod ends and all hardware for installation and available in all sorts of colors for 499.00 On stock in a week current production in powdercoat.

UCR are so usefull, best bonded or welded, and best rhino'd after install like Wangspeed did. Mine come all hardware required,bolt plates for easier install, and a capped jacking point, (we call it wangspeed proofing for 449.00 In stock

We dont do a strut bar, but if we did , it would triangulate to the firewall with a bolt plate which would be a total pita to install and remove. The problem is the strut bar first of all is this: It is limited in its effectiveness by the three weaksos 8 mm bolts on the strut top mounts it attaches to , and second, it gets in the way of everything you do back there- removing header, fuse box, etc etc, to service the car.

Remember. Whatever structural changes or reinforcements you make, bolting has to be done very carefully to make sure its a sound attachment, bonding or welding helps a lot.

If you want to look at how not to make a good attachment point? Just look at all the Eibach rear bars that have broken at the attachment point, or any bar with a welded tab mounting point.
Then look at how the genuine Powell Race parts rear sway bar is attached. Powell bars are bolted through its tubular center with horizontal reinforced tubes. This is the best you can do with unwelded or bonded attachments; a welded on plate or a squashed tube bolted on, doesnt work well ; it will yield and eventually bend or break.

Last thing, to understand structure, and how a car is affected by the way it is made with doors and windows, etc, take a large box of matches.

Squeeze the box. Pretty good, isnt it? It doesnt collapse easily. ( it is a cardboard box now, dont stand on it )

Now slide out the box containing the matches. You are left with a rectangular box with open ends ( like a car with two doors open) Squeeze it: poof, it collapses easily; that empty open ended box has very little stiffness compared to before.


Thanks for considering genuine Powell hardcore race parts for your Delta . Enjoy your ride!

 

u drive it.. car structure wears out over time.

MOFW always to the point...

 

Just sayin'

I wouldn't take free crap from RAW

 

I recently added both a front strut bar and both front and rear sway bars to my cobalt. You can def tell it made the ride stiffer in corners. Overall a great improvement on the ride itself.

Spoke to Powell myself not to long ago since i am looking for a little advice on getting a roll cage for this car. Unfortunately the 4-5 estimate on what something like that would cost sucks, It will happen shortly after motor build either way.

Actually not sure exactly what i need yet if i get this thing below 11.5 which wont be very hard after it returns from ZZP.

 

I have the Powell 32mm rear sway, it has changed the handling characteristics and when I pull out of my parking lot now I feel the chassis flexing. I can hear the door sills and the body flexes. I wasn't planning on doing bracing next although now it seems needed before any more suspension mods.

 

i mean the question is do you really need it? are you tracking or something of the sort to where its going to be worthwhile to pony up for bracing?

the stiffer you make the car the more crap your going to hear. no one really makes any sort of bracing except powell. so your best bet is get a harness bar and subframe connectors call it a day. made a big difference on mine but believe me you definately hear a lot of creaks and what not now.