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Blind Moose Returns

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BobbyD

BobbyD

Jedi Knight
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Cross Post Time :crazy:

Guys............I've decided to drop my old shock mount set up in favor of the Blind Moose conversion. I just got off the phone with them and they have about 15 sets in stock if anyone else is interested. The cost is $135 plus shipping and then you have about 8 different OTC shocks that you can buy. The picture below is from their site.

hshock5.jpg
 
Guys:

I have the Blind Moose kit installed but I recommend adding the brace as pictured below. It might not be necessary but this is a picture of Herman Van Den Akker's car the original designer of the kit. He recommends adding the brace. I don't have the brace yet but will be adding it this season.

shocktubes003.jpg
 
Yeah, there have been several reports of the original shock mounts breaking when used without the brace.
 
Ya'll remember my fiasco with my shock tower:
frame.jpg


Was thinking of doing the very same "improvement" on my BPNW shock tower. Built the same as the Blind Moose unit. Just remember, the movement of the shock tower is not only fore and aft but inward. The stock cross member just can't take that flexure. I now have the Ratco heavy duty cross member with frame reinforcement.
 
Bill:

The same happened to me. All that weld and light cross member material was torn from the frame.

My new cross member is box material and not the thin metal of the original. The angle piece that is pictured above on my earlier post will take the stress from the "moment" at the frame and distribute the forces to two areas onto the frame and the "moment" is negated. It also helps to have a more shock absorbing (softer) shock than the KYB.

Thus far my welds and gussets at that "moment" are holding but I will be adding the angle brace this season. I do love the stiff ride of the KYB shock.
 
I too will vouch for the needed brace. My break put a major damper on a great weekend at Watkins Glen. It was really giving me fits.
My concern this summer will be the added stress from a new higher performance engine.
 
Here is another version of a brace that I made for my car.
RearShockBrace001.jpg

RearShockBrace002.jpg

RearShockBrace008.jpg

RearShockBrace009.jpg

RearShockBrace014.jpg

You will have to weld a sleeve inside the frame to keep the frame from collapsing when you bolt it to the frame.
I have 7500 miles with the brace and see no cracks
Joe
 
Might I suggest that if indeed this additional bracing is required that the original company , "BLIND MOOSE" provide it with their kit and appropriate endorsement. Of course they will need to increase the price. Important components such as suspension systems are not something with which to experiment. IMHO

fja
 
I agree with FJA, seems you guys are fixing a poorly designed system. Has anyone contacted the maker with pics and stories of the items failure....there is a certain liability issue he may want to be aware of.
 
not to change the subject but where did herman get the air bags from, I wanted to do that a while back and could not find the right size
 
angelfj said:
Might I suggest that if indeed this additional bracing is required that the original company , "BLIND MOOSE" provide it with their kit and appropriate endorsement. fja
Click to expand...

Herman Van den Akker of 5 speed conversion fame is the designer of the shock tower who subsequently gave the design to Blind Moose to produce. I emailed him about the brace and he called me (Herman prefers the phone to email) a little while ago to explain how it came about. Basically one of the early purchasers went auto-crossing and the tower broke the old shock mount. Herman added the brace and recommended to everyone buying the product that they do the same. Because every car is just a little bit different, he said they couldn't mass produce the brace and assure a proper fit. It's a simple fix with a 36" long piece of 1" angle iron that is enough to do both sides. He also said that he hasn't heard of anyone having a frame problem who added the brace. He a cheap fix that I don't mind doing.
 
I just want to point out that my conversion is not from Blind Moose, not sure who is the maker of my conversion. I choose the extra brace, because of my observation at how much deflection (front to back) I could move the top of the shock tower with just one finger. I can only hope that my decision was a good one.
 
Joe,

You should consider welding another piece of steel to your brace. The long flat piece could use a stiffiner. As it is, even though it is fairly thick material, it can still flex toward the center of the car. You can make it a T or L shape by welding another piece of material perpendicular to the long flat piece. This should eliminate any flex in either direction. Notice in Herman's brace he used angle iron. This eliminates flex in either direction for the length of the brace.
BOBH
 
The other thing you'll notice in Herman's brace is that it is mounted to the very top 3" on the shock conversion piece. That also helps to stabilize it, as does the 40-45 degree angle that it bends out at. There's actually two bends and welds. The top arrow points to where it bends backward & is welded while the bottom arrow shows where it bends in to meet the frame and is also welded. I doubt anyone puts more miles on their car in a year and drives it as hard as Herman does and he's had no problems at all. Last year he and Helena drove from California to Maryland and then up to Michigan for VTR before heading out to Washington state for some big show there and then finally returning home to Calif. And that was only one of their many trips.

HermanBlindMoose.jpg


And here that are!

HermanHelena.jpg
 
Brosky said:
Now that is a REALLY nice TR250.
Click to expand...

Herman and his bride drove that beauty from Cal to Dallas for the VTR regionals a few years ago, in the heat of the summer yet! Nicest guy you ever want to meet. Talk your ear off and you will love every minute. Everything he says carries the weight of years of experience from being a retired machinist.

On the shock tower brace, I have the BPNW brace which I kept after installing the Ratco cross member. The Ratco unit comes with 2 long C-channel brackets that envelope the frame from the top and bottom (actually wedged in by cutting grooves in the inner lips) and reinforced with plates on the inside and out. All 1/8" steel. The new cross member is welded on top of this with a triangular bracket going from the cross member back to the frame. It ain't going nowhere! The shock tower is relatively short, using the shorter throw Spax. I lengthened the bump stop with some 1/8" washers to prevent the shocks from bottoming. Don't think I will need any additional bracing....
 
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