A friend of mine recently bought a MP3, and I was surprised to find a host of MSP parts on it. Apparently I didn't really know much about the story of the MP3. So in researching it for him, I came across the MP3 story:
http://www.protege323.com/content/60...eef9cdfa758478
Interesting read... One thing in the article was a brief section about some custom brackets they made for the sway bar. It's pretty much the same concept that AXR uses, and I imagine they must have been influenced by the MP3 ones.
You can see a pic of the MP3 brackets here:
http://www.racingbeat.com/Protege/projectmp3/dev3.htm
I've wanted to get the AXR brackets for some time now, but have such a hard time paying the $215 for them. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, and figured that I could probably make these brackets myself. After seeing the design that RacingBeat developed for the swaybar, I was pretty much sold. Looked like a slightly less complicated version of the AXR... So below is my version made out of 3/16" steel plate salvaged from the #5 coal burning furnace at the Notre Dame power plant.
Here are all the parts cut out and cleaned up:
And the parts mocked up, but not welded:
The first piece is welded in place. The intention here was that the AWR swaybar bushing would sit on this. Unfortunately, when I designed it I didn't have the MP3/MSP horseshoe clamp in hand. Turns out that my guess on the size was not exactly correct. I did have to cut this section out, and weld in a slightly smaller section later on. You can see that in the pics further down:
Both brackets have the first piece welded in place:
Welding the back of one of the brackets. I only have an AC arc welder- so I do the best with what I have. I think this is a pretty nice example of a good weld, though I do wish I had a mig welder. Hell- I'd even be happy with a DC arc welder:
The horseshoe mount locations drilled:
Here you can see how I had to reduce the mount size. Luckly I was only off by the thickness of the steel (3/16") so I was able to cut a new piece and weld it inside the first piece:
Overall pics:
...I haven't installed them yet- still working on getting parts for the endlinks. But I did make an additional set for my buddy who bought the MP3. He's a little further than I am in the install process. Anyway- Thought I'd share...
http://www.protege323.com/content/60...eef9cdfa758478
Interesting read... One thing in the article was a brief section about some custom brackets they made for the sway bar. It's pretty much the same concept that AXR uses, and I imagine they must have been influenced by the MP3 ones.
You can see a pic of the MP3 brackets here:
http://www.racingbeat.com/Protege/projectmp3/dev3.htm
I've wanted to get the AXR brackets for some time now, but have such a hard time paying the $215 for them. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, and figured that I could probably make these brackets myself. After seeing the design that RacingBeat developed for the swaybar, I was pretty much sold. Looked like a slightly less complicated version of the AXR... So below is my version made out of 3/16" steel plate salvaged from the #5 coal burning furnace at the Notre Dame power plant.
Here are all the parts cut out and cleaned up:
And the parts mocked up, but not welded:
The first piece is welded in place. The intention here was that the AWR swaybar bushing would sit on this. Unfortunately, when I designed it I didn't have the MP3/MSP horseshoe clamp in hand. Turns out that my guess on the size was not exactly correct. I did have to cut this section out, and weld in a slightly smaller section later on. You can see that in the pics further down:
Both brackets have the first piece welded in place:
Welding the back of one of the brackets. I only have an AC arc welder- so I do the best with what I have. I think this is a pretty nice example of a good weld, though I do wish I had a mig welder. Hell- I'd even be happy with a DC arc welder:
The horseshoe mount locations drilled:
Here you can see how I had to reduce the mount size. Luckly I was only off by the thickness of the steel (3/16") so I was able to cut a new piece and weld it inside the first piece:
Overall pics:
...I haven't installed them yet- still working on getting parts for the endlinks. But I did make an additional set for my buddy who bought the MP3. He's a little further than I am in the install process. Anyway- Thought I'd share...
