SE5 Body Nose Supp

Reliant Scimitar SE5 - Nose Support Structure

Mobirise

Complete bar Radiator Mounts

The standard front support structure is a very heavy affair made from thick gauge steel plate. To be fair it is designed to support the weight of the spare wheel but as I have no intention of keeping the spare wheel under the bonnet and am wanting to fit a larger radiator as part of the Jaguar AJ-V6 engine conversion, I have fabricated my own light weight alternative.

First job of course is to strip all the old stuff out.

Original supporting steel work plus...

...this crossmember which supported the front of the body via the two studs which passed through the body and acted as bumper mounts.
This is the first part that will be made.

The alloy box-section replacement.

The bolt holes for the bumper mounting bolts incorporate crush tubes with some movement available for alignment adjustment.

This new cross-member needs to be tied in to the suspension tower and the front of the chassis leg.

Attachment to the suspension tower is by a purpose made bracket.

A suitable section of 1" square alloy is cut to length.

A hole is drilled and tapped into one end to take an eye-end.

The rest is cut to shape to move the eye-end outboard to maximise space for a radiator later.
The two mounting holes are drilled to pick up on the strut brace mounting bolts.

Bolted in position. Repeat for the other suspension tower.

The start of the upper brace.

The two parts are joined by plates (work in progress here).

With a subtle fold being incorporated to keep the cross-member square to the front panel.

All bolt holes use crush tubes.

An eye-end is fitted to the underside of the bracket to take the lower support strut.

That leaves the lower anchor point. I did try using the original support structure mounting hole as arrowed but that gave too shallow an angle to the support beam allowing too much flex resulting in the front sagging under weight.

So I replaced the upper anti-roll bar mounting bolt on the very front face of the chassis leg...

With this clevis/locknut/eye-end arrangement to give me the lower anchor point. At some point in the future this may get replace by a custom alloy roll bar clamp and bracket.

This dramatically improved the angle and to structure is now well supported.

To improve location with the bodyshell an additional length of square section is added to the top surface of the cross brace to take up the bumper mounting void and ribbed rubber matting is added to improve purchase and prevent chaffing.

As fitted. Here you can se the bumper channel that the cross-member sits in.

All parts duplicated on the opposite side.

Completed and painted for corrosion protection.

Mobirise

The contents of this website are purely a reflection of my own experiences and knowledge gained whilst working on my various projects. Anything you do based on what you have read here is done so entirely at your own risk.
Personally I wouldn't trust someone like me with a lawn mower! You have been warned! Flapper-bat!

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