Hi, I have had this car for about 5 years now and newer driven it a mile. What should have been an easy fix to get it approved by local authorities has evolved into a full restoration.

When I started working on the car I found that the body mount spacers where "vaporized" and the bolts so thin by rust, that the body was hardly attached to the frame. More over a lot of bolt and nuts where not tightened to spec, a lot of them could even be removed by hand. So I didn't want to take any risks and have split the car into atoms.

Now after 5 years most parts are rebuild and I am almost ready to start putting things together again. The frame are still stripped and ready to paint only thing missing are some small repairs on the frame itself - And now to the question (I will probably get back with more during the rebuild):

My power steering was toast, so I am putting in a Borgeson with the Ride tech frame enforcement bracket. I am going to weld on the frame anyway, so should I weld some reinforcement to the frame itself on the inside against the power steering to mitigate the extra stress put on the frame or will I just introduce stress around the reinforcement instead?

I don't think it would be a problem to offset the Borgeson a couple of mm, but again you never know.


So any advice, comments, own experience are welcome


Thanks in advance

Anders

 

I added gussets to the lower A Arms and pass engine mount.The Borg .brace itself is all thats needed,no welding necessary

 

Thanks, I think I will look into doing something similar to yours. Mine had small cracks at the top of the A arm bracket, so I just welded them, but this seems like a good idea.

reg Anders

 

Make sure you install your new box with the factory bolts and not the ones supplied by Borgeson. Especially if you have wider tires. I see no need to weld the brace on.

 

Thanks, I have seen post regarding the bolt heads and tire clearance and is planning to use the old bolts just in case.

I wasn't planning on welding the bracket itself, I was thinking about welding some reinforcement on the frame on the side facing the Borgeson.

reg Anders

 

Borgeson sells a support brace for Vette's...but I'll say I've had their steering on my car for years without a brace and no issues.


JIM

 

There is a large round hole in the frame you can weld shut, right by the box. It is only needed for bolt access to the oem bracket for the steering ram.

Otherwise it is the exact same forces exerted on the frame as before, just not exterted by the ram which is by the weak hole. Those brackets have torn off many times.

 

Same here. I really didn't think about the brace when I got my Borgeson install 5 years ago, but so far no issues without one on my '69.

 

is it the same forces though? It was my understanding the old power steering control valve/cylinder was doing a lot of the heavy pushing and pulling and with a borgeson all of that force is now on the steering box itself. Am I understanding this wrong?

Edit I see here you agree with what I was thinking so yeah my understanding is the borgeson has more stress on it than the OG box.