Stiffening ARBs

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handpaper
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Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:47 pm

This little mod will increase the effective stiffness of your touring/M-Tech 20mm front ARB by about 20%, making it as stiff as a (very rare) 21mm cabrio one.

You will need :
a touring/M-Tech front ARB (d'oh!)
a drill (pillar is best, variable speed handheld will do)
a bench grinder or angle grinder
Cobalt steel (HSS-E) drill bits like these :

Image

If all you have is HSS bits, go and buy a set of Cobalts - you will not be able to do this with regular drill bits as they are only slightly harder than the spring steel an ARB is made from. I paid £25 for the box and bits shown above. They're worth having anyway as they go through mild steel like a hot poker through butter - great for drilling out sheared and stuck bolts (front disc allen bolts, anyone?)

Take your ARB and drill a new 10mm mount hole with centre 25mm inward from the original. I drilled a 3mm pilot, then expanded to 6mm before running the 10mm bit through. If you have cutting paste, use it, but as long as you don't force the bit it should be OK.

Image
Remember that large holes should be drilled at low revs - cutting speed for high-carbon steel is 25cm/second which translates to 800 rpm for a 6mm drill and under 500 for the 10mm.

Next, you'll have to grind the bar back a little to provide a flat surface to bolt the droplink onto.

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Take off as little as possible and don't leave any sharp corners or steps as these may encourage cracks to start. Be especially careful not to let the bar get too hot - those pretty colours ranging from yellow to violet mean you've re-tempered the bar and it's now softer than it was.
Check for fit by offering up the droplink, remember you'll need a little more room on the back to turn the nut :)

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This is what you should end up with; a new mount point 20% closer to the pivot axis than the original, giving the suspension 20% less leverage over the bar.

Image

Use this guide at your own risk; I'm sure someone will chastise me for my irresponsible and potentially dangerous meddling, but I did over 6,000 road miles and 80+ 'Ring laps with this setup without any trouble :cool:
Dan318-is
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Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:49 pm

Bloody impressive 8)
agreen
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Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:51 pm

so after this could you tell the diffrence
handpaper
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 12:34 am

agreen wrote:so after this could you tell the diffrence
Yes, definitely. It's the same increase in stiffness as between a standard 19mm bar and the M-Tech (or touring) one.
Incidentally, you can't perform this mod on a 19mm bar as the flanges are smaller :cry: , but then, 20mm bars aren't exactly rare :)
UweM3
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:04 am

well done man! I like this kind of "simple" mods. Good to see that someone is thinking and not just throwing money at it. As long as you don't go too far in (--> more than 25mm) I can't see a problems. (i.e grinding too much in the bar and weaken the transition from flast to round).

If you want to add another 20%is stiffness, delete the rubber and make some DELRIN bushes.

Another benfit of your mod is the ability to play with the front rear ARB ratio --> understeer/oversteer balance!
agreen
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 6:23 pm

so what size is an 318is roll bar can it be done?
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Rik178m
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:25 pm

Whats a DELRIN bush?
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:57 pm

Apparently E39 rear drop links are a good mod as they have a ball joint on each end (no rubber)
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:04 pm

Rik178m wrote:Whats a DELRIN bush?
Delrin is a kind of material.

It's some kind of cloth laminated in resin, it's fairly hard and you can soak it in oil so that it's kind of self lubricating.
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Rik178m
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Wed Oct 24, 2007 11:12 pm

cheers mate. Another question do the rear E39 links go on the front and rear ARB on an e30?
handpaper
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:12 am

agreen - AFAIK, the 318is had M-Tech suspension as standard, so yes, it's the 20mm ARB. That said, if you're building your 318is into a track car, you'll need something much stiffer, like Whiteline's 24mm bar.
gareth
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:43 pm

interesting. :D

if anyone is tempted to try straightening the tab on the end of the ARB before doing this... i can safely say it breaks pretty easily! 8O that was the 21mm cab one i bought a while ago stuffed then :cry:

time for another methinks!

on the rear, i'm cutting the end bends off and have made some clamp on brackets to allow the pickup point to be moved for a similar effect. these need rose jointed droplinks but i've made some of these too :D

not fitted up yet as i'm going to do a full rebuild of the bouncy bits in one hit
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Dan318-is
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:45 pm

Gareth drop link pics please!
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:49 pm

haha! patience my dear fellow! i'm holding off to see if i kill myself first!

the fronts are essentially a male rod end, screwed into a female one. the rears are two smaller female ones with a spacer between. i have to machine up a whole pile of collars to make them fit into the standard brackets though and these took a while and i'm still not sure if they'll offer enough articulation. i won't know til they're all fitted up but i'll report back when i know :D
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Quaser
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:54 pm

I got a cabrio arb for sale if anyone is after one!
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handpaper
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Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:09 am

gareth wrote:if anyone is tempted to try straightening the tab on the end of the ARB before doing this... i can safely say it breaks pretty easily!
I considered trying to do that the first time I did this mod, but thought better of it - the ball joint on the drop link has more than enough travel that it doesn't matter.

For the rear, I might try something like this (original above, mod below) :

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I would be concerned about loss of temper at the bends by the pivot points, since these would have to be heated to bend them out; also about how well the welds on the mount point stubs would hold up.
If it did work, assuming you start with a 14.5mm M-Tech/touring bar, the outermost mount point on the diagram would give the original effect; the second at 2/3rds distance would approximate a 16mm bar and the innermost, half way out, a 17mm bar!
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tommye30
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Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:23 am

what size roll bars would my 325i saloon have?
handpaper
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Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:02 pm

tommye30 wrote:what size roll bars would my 325i saloon have?
If it's original and not a Sport or M-Tech, the front will be 19mm and the rear 12.5mm.
DanThe
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Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:00 pm

325i has a 20mm front ARB
tomson
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Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:04 pm

Good work James :thumb:
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Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:53 pm

Turbo-Brown wrote:It's some kind of cloth laminated in resin
That sounds more like Tufnol. Delrin is an engineering plastic.

Ian.
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Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:24 pm

2.8 development thread http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=170822

m3.3.1 m20 thread - now running, chip needed - any volunteers?
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