Chassis Stiffening Kit

[BlackBDR]

For those of you with early cars like me (mine is #48) you may be interested in a chassis stiffening kit. The kit was designed, fabricated and installed by Matt Cooper owner of Autoworks Racing in the San Diego area. There are more than a dozen plates and gussets welded in and one large bolt on plate at the rear. If you're local Matt can intall it for you and if not he can ship you the pieces. You'll have to get with him on pricing. Just to up front, other than me paying for this prototype there is no other financial arrangement with Matt and me.

The change in the car is dramatic. I don't have any hard numbers about torsional stiffness, etc... but the improvement is obvious immediately. The only downside is the ride is stiffer since the chassis is no longer acting like a giant leaf spring but certainly not harsh. I highly recommend this change to all early BDR owners. I understand the newer chassis had numerous changes so I couldn't tell you if your improvement would be the quantum leap that mine is.

I've added three photos to my gallery if you'd like to see what the kit looks like installed.

John

[Nor Cal Al]

Hey John,
I have #128. Any idea when they made chassis improvements? Tony, want top chime in here?
AL

[Cashburn]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Al

Hey John,
I have #128. Any idea when they made chassis improvements? Tony, want top chime in here?
AL

It has been continuous. You have what is considered the 1st gen. I believe. Based on the photos this kit would improve any generation of BDR frame, it is a lot of metal. Wonder what total weight is?

[Bailey]

Nice work, it looks great. I wonder too how much is the total weight gain.

[BlackBDR]

Al - no, I don't know when and exactly what they did over the years. I know the front suspension bracing is very different on cars after mine and I've heard the gauge of the tubing went up too. You're right, Tony Martin would be the right guy to ask. The basics of what Matt did won't change though. He did CAD drawings of all the parts and then he has the metal water jetted so it's a very clean edge.

Jay and Bailey - Matt thinks he added 80 to 100 pounds. After he installed it, he corner weighed the car and I'm just over 2500 pounds with half a tank of gas, my tool bag, my top, detailing stuff, blanket, jackets, etc...

To me it's worth every ounce that was added. It's really an amazing delta.

John

[SkipB]

Nor Cal Al and others,

My car is #90 and I once had it in the shop next to John's #48. The front of my frame was different from his car, so at least some changes were made by #90. I also had the chance to see the reinforcements made to John's car. They look well thought out and very well made and installed. Autoworks International is a fine custom shop and produces some really incredible cars that are built from the ground up. I plan on having at least some of the "stiffening" done to mine. It may take some new or different pieces as the chassis is definitely different.

SkipB

[Cashburn]

John,
Please ask Matt to forward pricing info on kits for the aftermarket. It is something we would be interested in adding to our store. I envision breaking it out to perhaps 3 parts? Would like to get our hands on some of it to see if it fits the current generation and take it from there.

[BlackBDR]

Skip - How's it going? The big change that I can tell is the bracing inside the main frame rails to the front suspension. Most of what Matt did in the front was gusseting and plating from the main frame rails to the perimeter rails. Then in the back he has one huge plate bolt on plate that connects the two main frame rails together. I know he tried a more traditional X brace, but said it made very little improvement and reduced the already low ground clearance.

Jay - I don't know what Matt is going to charge. Here's his contact info: www.autoworksracing.com or 619/401-6900. As Skip said they are a custom shop and do mostly high end Mustang restomods. He took his wild Mustang he calls "Obsidian" to Carlisle, PA so it may be awhile until he's back. If you went to SEMA you may have seen it. Twin turbo, 900 hp with the incredible RRS suspension pieces front and rear. He also does a healthy Ford mail order business so there's always someone at the shop.

John

[SkipB]

John,

Its going very well, but without enough time to exercise my Backdraft! We are always busy doing something else. I gotta take it out this coming weekend to keep the battery charged! Maybe I'll see if you and some of the other guys want to go for a short cruise this Saturday. Probably just the local area, La Jolla, beaches, etc. The weather should be great this weekend. Sunny and about 75 is what they are saying now.

I may take my car out to Matt to see what kind of chassis reinforcement he can make for the modified front ends on later cars like mine. If I remember correctly, the main changes are to the front of the chassis and suspension mounts. There could be even more changes to later numbered chassis that I am not aware of at all. I wonder if they kept track of these things at Backdraft?

Hope to see you on the road soon!

SkipB

[jp65cobra]

I have my car in at Autoworks right now ( thanks Skip for the info. )getting some damage fixed. Right now it is naked as they removed the body to do the repair so I am sure Matt can easily tell what the differences are between #48 and #259.

Accident details: Some clown pulled out form the side of the HWY right in form of me doing about 70. I glanced off the side of the guy causing some pretty good dame that you can checkout on Autoworks Racing site. Mine is the Blue one. I must say that I was impressed by how the car remained in line during the accident and I was able to easily maintain control and not go into the other lanes

Most of the body work is done and they are just waiting for parts from Backdraft... please hurry Reg and Tony.

I have been around Matt's shop a bit over the last 2 months and I am impressed. I think I will ask him about mine but quite frankly the only concern I have is the small amount of cowl movement.

John - The other one with the Viper Blue BDR

[BlackBDR]

Skip - a ride sounds great, but I don't know if we'll have our car back or not. Armand thinks its a throwout bearing. Unfortunately not a small project. We picked up a driveline vibration on the Santa Maria Wine Country trip with the Orange county bunch. Craig posted a bunch of photos on the SoCal SAAC site if you're interested.

John, I'm sorry to hear about your car. I'd be interested to hear what Matt thinks of your car once he's fixed it. Other than the dealers and the factory very few people have driven all the various generations to know the differences.

Jay - I called Autoworks and left them a message that you're interested in pricing.

John

[Nor Cal Al]

BlackBDR,
The problem that I have seen with #128 is movement in the door jamb. You can see the jamb seam open and close on bumpy roads. Is that something you saw on yours before the chassis work? If yes, did it go away after the gusset plate went in?

How was your Camber before and after the work. I have a pronounced negative camber and I do not think there is any adjustment to take it out other than elongating the upper strut plate holes or installing new camber plates.

What happens to all that great looking powder paint after all the welding?
Thanks,
AL

[BlackBDR]

Al,

I can't say that I ever watched my door gaps as I went over bumps, however if you're seeing that, you really need to do something, and I think Autoworks has the only alternative I know of at the moment. Rippled bumpy surfaces that use to upset the car are a thing of the past. Cowl shake is almost gone, and there's a really solid confident and predictable feel to the way the car handles now. When you jack the car up just in front of the rear wheels I used to get some bind in the doors, now the front wheel lifts noticeably more and the doors can be opened and closed with zero bind when jacked at any angle.

As for the powder coating I asked about that too. Matt uses a chassis paint and so far it's stuck to all the powder coating fine. He has several spots for water to weep out as well so the plates won't cause rust.

I did not have a camber issue but I did have a rear end bottoming issue. The coil overs kept needing to be adjusted and the shocks were shot. It turns out the frame piece that holds the spring perches had actully bent. Those were staightened and gusseted as well. The Monroes were replaced with Bilstiens.

John

[SkipB]

Al,

In reverse order to your questions. Matt and his guys had to grind off the powdercoating to weld in the new supports. They use a special chassis paint that has corrosion protection and will be very compatible with the powder coating in looks too.

I am assuming you mean rear camber? The BMW suspension set up has quite a bit of negative camber built in. Just look at any BMW. But, you may have springs that have soften and make it worse. I replaced the springs (all 4) on my car, had it realigned/balanced and it looks and works great. This may eliminate the slotting issue. Some of the earlier Backdrafts had springs that sagged over time. John's car may have suffered from that problem as well. I am not sure if that would apply to your car? I plan on replacing my Monroes with Bilsteins like John did to his car. This apparently is a tremendous step foward in handling as well!

I always thought that some sort of metal reinforcing piece (side to side under the dashboard) would be necessary to stiffen the chassis to eliminate flex, but Matt's solution seems to work well. I haven't ridden in John's car, but I know he is really happy with the results.

SkipB

[Nor Cal Al]

Thanks John & Skip,
My negative camber is in the front. About 1/2 inch in at the top if you set a level vertically on the edge of the wheel rim. I believe camber is supposed to be about zero degrees. I have hesitated to take it in until I determine what changes need to be made. No use aligning it twice. I am aware of camber plate sets (or elongating of the strut mount holes) and an eccentric for the upper spindle attachment point. Handling is fine.

From discussions here I would assume that the gusseting would only make a good car better. I have Gabrial adjustable shocks on my rears that came with the car. I have replaced the front springs with softer ones sent from BDR. I believe the originals were too stiff and was a production change that went too far when folks were complaining about bottoming on early cars. It really was a spine crusher. Great for the track but not for the foothills of the Gold Country.

My car came in April of '03 so I believe is was built around December of '02. We had "first fire" on 4th of July and it was SB-100 registered in November of '03.

Also, could one of you PM me and tell me what Armond is up to these days.
Thanks,
AL

[Cashburn]

Negative camber is your friend