Floor support rods - what are you using?

[99sh]

Hey all,

In a continued attempt to refinish my car, I'm looking to replace the crusty floor support rods. I've looked on Pegasus and Mcmaster for some options, but have not found an internally threaded rod and floor mounts. I was planning to use heim joints and a clevis for adjustability.

What are you guys using to mount the floors?

Arax

Here are mine...

[Stan Clayton]

Ah, another non-standard part on your car. We make the proper floor support rods with adjustable internally threaded double-shear clevises at each end. Regards, Stan

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Ah, another non-standard part on your car. We make the proper floor support rods with adjustable internally threaded double-shear clevises at each end. Regards, Stan

By make do you mean for sale or for your use as needed?

Picture for clarity? The floor supports I have are probably cruder than the picture above.

[Stan Clayton]

By make do you mean for sale or for your use as needed?

We primarily make them for the Stohr and Dauntless chassis, but happily make them to order for any customer. Contact me offline for details. I don't have a catalog photo of them, but here is the business end of one a customer texted me.

[jchracer]

I like using wire rope since it will give way without damage in compression but will maintain the floor at the correct height during normal operation. Custom wire rope assemblies with swaged on threaded ends can be ordered here:

http://www.lexcocable.com/configurator.php

[99sh]

I was initially piecing together a cable setup; however threw that idea away due the flex/movement observed at the floor support mounts near the frame. How do you prevent the floor from bouncing around and mitigating any stress cracks?

[jchracer]

The floors are air loaded downward. I have not had an issue with the floors flexing at the inboard mounts. Car has over 4 seasons of use on the same floors.

[Wren]

I'm with Joel. Simple wire rope and the cheap swaging tool from Home Depot will make a very nice, light floor support. I think a very real benefit of the wire rope solution is that it allows the floor to flex up over curbs rather than risk damage to the floor. Don't forget the thimble that goes in the end when you buy the stuff at HD.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[99sh]

Interesting, thanks for the links. I must say I'm surprised to hear that the inboard mount interfaces are not cracking considering the leverage from the end of the floor to the inboard mount.

[Stan Clayton]

I'm happy for Joel that the wire rope version is working well for him, but my experience with Arne Loyning's red Swift 008A CSR (see his website) in 2005 was very different. When he hired me that summer to prep his car for a Runoffs effort it was equipped with wire rope floor supports. I soon discovered two problems with them. First, they were not adjustable. At the time (probably now, too) there was a restriction on how low the undertray/floor could hang below the bottom of the tub (1 cm iirc). Having a fair amount of experience with late-model Ralt and Swift Atlantics I was keenly aware that being able to "tune" the floor was a key to max performance. These wire ropes were a fixed length, and it was the wrong length.

Second, they tended to pop on the rebound. I bought my first Atlantic in '97 and had been running Ralt and Swift FAs ever since; all of them equipped with floor support rods (not wire ropes). Your mileage my vary, but other than a couple of 1/8" rods on the rough street circuit of the San Jose Grand Prix I have never had one break. The rods are free to pivot at each end, and the worst I've ever seen that did not involve a shattered undertray left a rear rod with a very slight residual bend after being rough-housed over the curbs somewhere here on the Left Coast. It was removed from the car, gently counter-bent before reinstallation, and completed the weekend before being replaced. So this is not a big issue in my experience, and IMO the near-instant adjustability of the rods makes up for it.

More to OP's point, the Stohr parts books we have going back to the 1st gen chassis call for 1/4" rods, and as far as I know they all were built that way. How many failures have you heard of? Everyone is free to do what they wish, of course, but I recommend adjustable rods from wherever you source them.

And Arne? Yeah, he won the Runoffs in CSR that year. And yeah, the credit is all mine. Contrary to common perception at the time, his victory had nothing to do with the ménage a deux between Jacek and Rennie at T1, timely competitor mechanicals, or Arne's superior driving. It is all down to me and my superior car prep...

[JakeL]

Aircraft Spruce will make-to-order cables if you like:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...?clickkey=4047

Get stud ends, and then install clevises at each end. Adjustable, and allows the floor to give upwards as others have described. I don't remember the cable size, but they are 1/4-28 threaded studs on each ends.

Clevises are at McMaster:

https://www.mcmaster.com/#2447k14/=15tf151

That said, I think I have a mix of cables and Stohr-style threaded rods on the ZebStohr.

YMMV,

-Jake

[Rick Kirchner]

What Jake said. I have the Spruce parts on my FC, no issues in more than 10 years.

[Mike B]

Aircraft Spruce will make-to-order cables if you like:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...?clickkey=4047

Get stud ends, and then install clevises at each end. Adjustable, and allows the floor to give upwards as others have described.

I have several cable components in my shopping cart on Aircraft Spruce but is it possible to swage them on a cable myself without a really expensive tool? Possibly with a hydraulic press? Or should I pay 2x to have them assemble it?

[Rick Kirchner]

Other than the fact that it's not as pretty as using the proper tool, I just beat the crap out of them with a hammer and punch

[Charlie Schmidt]

how about one of these?
they come in various "power" ratings

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Ton-Hydra...3D132138051492

[Brandon Dixon]

I have several cable components in my shopping cart on Aircraft Spruce but is it possible to swage them on a cable myself without a really expensive tool? Possibly with a hydraulic press? Or should I pay 2x to have them assemble it?

This works well and looks just fine .

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Prime-Line-...chtype=suggest

[JerryH]

OR......you can buy adjustable cables from Kart Warehouse in lengths ranging fomr 320 mm to 440 mm. they have male threads swedged on both ends. Part number K162. Matching female threaded clevis is available in two lengths.

Jerry Hodges