Author Topic: My Homebrew Daze Style Adjustable Strut Rods (Read 462 times)

AtlantaSteve · « **on:** March, 18, 2010, 12:32:23 PM »

Well, finally got them finished up. No real photos of the creation process, and no "how to" because all that can basically be found on daze's site:

http://dazed.home.bresnan.net/adjustable

But I do have some pics of the finished products:

Only diversions from Daze's specs were:
- He found some wacky washers with a 1.125" I.D. and 2.5" O.D, and I couldn't come close at any of my hardware stores. And He made the 7/16" ID, 2.5" OD washer himself, so I figured if I was in the washer making biddness, I might as well make all 4. Instead of shaping them to be round, I decided to just cut them square from some steel and round the corners. Not sure how I'll feel about it once I put them in, but it didn't seem like round would buy me anything but aesthetics, so I decided to leave them square.

- I didn't use seals on the heim. The fellow at Speedway Motorsports told me he uses that very heim, unsealed, on his dirt track car and they last forever.

- I painted them with Velspar Tractor and Implement Primer and Enamel paint. Supposed to stand up to rock chips and stuff more, but I gotta say, you can see where the torquing on them has torn the paint up fairly easily. We'll see how it works out once they're on the car.

I have to thank JonK67 for not only kindly giving me the Clevises that he had laying around, but also for providing tons of support during the construction, answering questions etc. Also a big thanks to Tarafied1 for talking to me about which metals would be appropriate for the "washers." And to Jeremy for his help trying to have the stock strut rods turned. It ended up not working out, but he really tried, AND gave me the idea to hunt for a machinist on Craigslist, which ended up saving me a LOT of money on this.

With the cheap machine work, and free clevises, I have less than 100 bucks in this project!

Hope to get some "installed" pictures soon!

70_Fastback · « **Reply #1 on:** March, 18, 2010, 12:55:39 PM »

Awesome! Glad you got them finished Steve.

Grabber70Mach · « **Reply #2 on:** March, 18, 2010, 06:00:07 PM »

Looks nice

SELLERSRODSHOP · « **Reply #3 on:** March, 18, 2010, 06:48:41 PM »

those look good! might have to make myself a pair of those before too long.

monkeystash · « **Reply #4 on:** March, 18, 2010, 08:29:53 PM »

Very nice work! They look great.

Jonk67 · « **Reply #5 on:** March, 18, 2010, 08:39:36 PM »

Nice job Steve, what time of the morning does your machine shop open now? You have to have enough new tools to open in your garage :craz

Glad you got to use the clevises, I was thinking of using them to mount my heim joint muffler rods otherwise...

Of all the coatings I've used, the POR15 I put on my firewall is the only thing that I think I could hit with a hammer and not chip, wish I would have covered my frame with it. I tried to sand off a run and didn't scratch it.
Look forward to the pics on the car.
Jon