Rear Seat Brace Kit

[DR BOOST]

jcj53115,
im looking for a set of those kenne bell braces because i need more space for my subwoofers. could you please take more pics or if anyone has em for sale pm me.


thanks
surej

 

[SloGN]

one thing that i'm planning on doing to the gn. I am going to add a piece of regtangle heavy guage tubing under the doors on the L part of the frame.


that L part of the frame just connects the front frame and the rear frame together. since the body sits down inside that L it can't be boxed so i'm gonna just weld it on the bottom.

 

[tb3]

I think postonbuick.com sells a knock off of the kenne belle brace.
edit:
nope, they don't. shoulda checked before posting

 

[Ormand]

"Out of curiosity do you believe in subframe connectors? It would be interesting to see you post the weak spots on a g body. Could be helpful for alot of us."
Just curious. What does the question about subframe connectors have to do with G bodies? They all have full frames.

 

[2QUIK6]

Does anyone have a pic of these braces? And are they actually all made out of conduit type material? The reason I ask is cus the seat brace on my car is far from tubular of any type. Wonder were mine came from? Seems like this type would be ALOT stronger then what you guys are explaning.

I installed both the KB type as pictured above and the "X" braces. The dual "XX" brace made of conduit will be far stronger than a single "X" stretching across the entire width of the car given that they are made from the same type of conduit. If doing a single "X" as mentioned earlier, you'll need to use much heavier tubing, something thicker than electrical conduit as its too weak to span that far of a distance across the entire width of the car.

 

[turbofabricator]

I installed both the KB type as pictured above and the "X" braces. The dual "XX" brace made of conduit will be far stronger than a single "X" stretching across the entire width of the car given that they are made from the same type of conduit. If doing a single "X" as mentioned earlier, you'll need to use much heavier tubing, something thicker than electrical conduit as its too weak to span that far of a distance across the entire width of the car.

My biggest concern with the dual "X" brace set-up is NOT the braces them selves, but rather where they attatch in the middle. Look closely, and you'll see that the center brace is just spot welded in place, and it's made from sheet metal. The tubing is also crushed at the ends and that seriously weakens the torsional supporting abilities. I personally wouldn't use conduit, either. I would use DOM tubing and design it so it can handle the torsional loads correctly. Or better yet, weld a sheet metal firewall in place. BUT a roll cage will do better than ANY seat brace. You could also just fill the trunk with cement, too. (think of the traction you would gain):biggrin:

The deal with "frame connectors" is that the stock frame is REALLY weak between the front and rear frame assemblies. If you can't put a jack under it with out bending it, then it's weak in my book. If you just have a daily driver or a 11.50 or slower car, then leave the chassis alone. If you want a better handling car and/or want to be able to properly tune your suspension, do what you can to improve rigidity. There is some science to having a flexible chassis, but most (including me) couldn't tune one if we HAD to. A rigid chassis is by far a better way to go. If you have 1,000+ hp and a good set of scales (and you know Morgans book "Door Slammers" by heart) You "might" be able to run a tenth quicker with an engineered flexible chassis. If none of the above is true, strengthen tha chassis and you will be far ahead of those that do not. (everything else being equal) JMO

 

[tb3]

makes sense to me considering the center section frame of the car is "C" shaped and only the ends are boxed. You can always tell when some idiot has put a jack in the middle of the car to jack the whole side to rotate the tires. Almost every G body I see has those bends in the frame.
Just look what the whole front of the car does when you raise the front end and set it down on jacks there at the frame right behind the front tires. You would think there would be a weld-in kit out there that eliminates the flimsyness of that C channel. (probably is, I just don't know about it yet )