98lincmk7lsc
Dedicated LVC Member
I had a ton of free time at work today, so I set out to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I made myself an IRS brace. I'll probably never really "need" one, but I figure I should make one now, while I've got all of this machinery and tools at my disposal, just in case.
I looked at a bunch of pics of braces that different companies offer and also at LVC member "Right on the Mark"s brace that he made. Ultimately, I chose this design...
I wish I could have taken a bunch of pics as I built it, but cameras and cell phones are not allowed on site where I work, so that wasn't an option.
I had taken the cover to my spare differential in to work to clean up and sandblast prior to installing the new 4.10's and brand new Trac-loc. While it was there, I figured now was a great time to make my cover brace...
First, I made a (very crappy, lol) template out of some aluminum sheet metal. I cut out the shape it needed to be and transfer-punched the holes where the bolts go. Once I was satisfied with the template, I stenciled it onto a 1/4" carbon steel plate, and cut out the lines with the plasma cutter. As it turns out, I'm not too steady with a plasma cutter torch, so it looked like ass, lol.
I then went and cleaned up all the edges on the big-ass pedestal grinder we have. I cleaned up the inside center edge on the mill since I knew I would be welding the cross brace there and wanted a nice edge.
Next, spacers were needed for the bolt holes, so I grabbed some thick-walled pipe from the pipe rack and cut out 6 1-inch spacers on the lathe and TIG-welded them in their required locations. Once I finished that, I mocked it up onto the diff cover and measured out the cross brace pieces and cut them out on the big-ass metal shear.
Before I welded the cross braces on, I drilled out the hole for the fill/drain plug, also on the mill. Once that was done, I TIG-welded the cross braces on and fit it up to the diff cover.
The last step was to go over all of the edges and welds with a grinder to smooth them all down and get rid of sharp edges and stuff.
I think it came out pretty good. It's not the prettiest IRS brace out there. I could make it look better, but it's gonna be underneath the car where no one will ever see it again, so I think it's probably good enough as it is. I'm at least going to paint it, but I may get it powdercoated if I can think of anything else I need to get done at the same time.
Hope you enjoyed my super-long post! lol.
Here it is on the diff cover...
I looked at a bunch of pics of braces that different companies offer and also at LVC member "Right on the Mark"s brace that he made. Ultimately, I chose this design...
I wish I could have taken a bunch of pics as I built it, but cameras and cell phones are not allowed on site where I work, so that wasn't an option.
I had taken the cover to my spare differential in to work to clean up and sandblast prior to installing the new 4.10's and brand new Trac-loc. While it was there, I figured now was a great time to make my cover brace...
First, I made a (very crappy, lol) template out of some aluminum sheet metal. I cut out the shape it needed to be and transfer-punched the holes where the bolts go. Once I was satisfied with the template, I stenciled it onto a 1/4" carbon steel plate, and cut out the lines with the plasma cutter. As it turns out, I'm not too steady with a plasma cutter torch, so it looked like ass, lol.
I then went and cleaned up all the edges on the big-ass pedestal grinder we have. I cleaned up the inside center edge on the mill since I knew I would be welding the cross brace there and wanted a nice edge.
Next, spacers were needed for the bolt holes, so I grabbed some thick-walled pipe from the pipe rack and cut out 6 1-inch spacers on the lathe and TIG-welded them in their required locations. Once I finished that, I mocked it up onto the diff cover and measured out the cross brace pieces and cut them out on the big-ass metal shear.
Before I welded the cross braces on, I drilled out the hole for the fill/drain plug, also on the mill. Once that was done, I TIG-welded the cross braces on and fit it up to the diff cover.
The last step was to go over all of the edges and welds with a grinder to smooth them all down and get rid of sharp edges and stuff.
I think it came out pretty good. It's not the prettiest IRS brace out there. I could make it look better, but it's gonna be underneath the car where no one will ever see it again, so I think it's probably good enough as it is. I'm at least going to paint it, but I may get it powdercoated if I can think of anything else I need to get done at the same time.
Hope you enjoyed my super-long post! lol.
Here it is on the diff cover...
