What was you tube center section made from?

 

Wow! That's some serious load... Back to the drawing board

 

...

 

Paging Bruce???

 

Can you give us a bit more background as to what happened? Seems odd that this would just occur. Did you come off the track, hit anything etc...

 

How is it possible for that assembly, which is bolted to each side of the car, to bend like that without the car being hit?

Each side is rigidly bolted to the side of the chassis.

Typically, If the torsion bar carrier (or what ever replaces the stock torsion bar carrier) bend like that, it means that the sides of the car (at least one side) got pushed in (as in contact).

TonyG

 

Yes, would like more info please. 1 & 1 isn't quite adding up.

 

Some comments:
I reached out to Bruce last week.
The car was not hit, did not sustain any additional damage and the car runs very stiff springs. Fairly typical race use with lots of high stress areas, curb riding etc. The stock unit went right back in with no issues.
It appears to me the outer aluminum end, not sure what to call them, pulled away from the upper mount which allowed the unit to flex and then bend.
The stock torsion tube has an additional sweeping brace that mounts to the upper body well.
You will also note that the original picture shows a center brace which was not on my unit. A friend with a Kokeln unit examined it and said his has two center braces that mount to the body and is much beefier.

 

Have you heard back from Bruce? I think we need to look into this further. Be good to compare all 3 versions.

 

It looks like the version that bent did not have the tabs that tie into the body stiffening 'bridge' in front of the stock torsion bar carrier (like the version in the beginning to the thread) - that is an important item! Once you go with the solid mounts it is a good idea to tie the main bar in to as many point as possible.

 

Great. Chrenan and I've got expensive decorations for our garages now.

 

I am sorry, but your comment is funny LOL

 

Ive got mine from Bruce and have not installed it yet. Lets find out if the bent one is the same as what was just produced. If what is current needs some beefing up, etc. I guess I can take mine out of the box and take a picture tonight of the tabs\bracing that it has.

 

I'm trying to look at this from a more "glass half full" perspective.

We waited nearly a year after payment to receive the parts, that delay meant I couldn't install the parts last winter, and since its track season now I was holding off doing the install until this coming winter.

This is a positive for three reasons. One, I didn't experience that failure as the part is collecting dust in my garage. Two, I'll never experience that failure because I won't risk running this torsion bar delete now until I hear from Bruce. Three, the torsion bar delete is in mint condition so I'll get top dollar for it at the scrap yard if that is the only thing I can do with it. I should be able to make pennies back on the dollar!

All I can say is thank-you North Coast Cab for posting the pictures. Please keep us posted on any updates.

 

Eow! I have 3 race weekends on mine and no bending...yet. Mine looks to be the same version as North Coast Cab's. I have 6 races this weekend to see how it holds up.

I'm trying to get my head around how it could bend like that. Possibly hitting a curb or hole with the suspension already fully compressed to the point of coil bind?

Are you saying the bolt on the upper torsion bar carrier mount came loose allowing the bend? What came first the bend or freedom of the upper mount? I assume all the mounting points had been switched to solid mounts.

Of note, when I put mine on I made point of not changing anything; spring rates, alignment settings, etc. The car understeered significantly more which tells me the rear grip went up. The lap times went down too.