Check for CRX cracks

[Bob Roth]

Hondas are light cars with thin metal. Something that I keep track of on my well raced 88 crx is cracking in the suspension mounting points. The two worry areas I have seen is the front steering rack bracket and the rear lower a arm mount. Here are pictures of patches that I have had to add to the front bracket and a recent crack I found in the rear lower a arm mount.

With the high traction tires we have now days, its prudent to spend some time doing some periodic checks.

[joeg]

Bob--I am not a metallurgist, and I do not want to downplay your good advice, but at least one of those images looks more a bit having been caused by corrosion rather than just pure "stress".

Still needs attention, however.

[Bob Roth]

I am an engineer and could find no evidence of corrosion and were consistent with fatigue. In fact the front steering support has never been on the street and the rear was sand blasted and primed when the car was built. My car may be unusual because it has lots of endurance racing. I have been sprint and endurance racing this CRX since '92. The front steering support cracking is common for endurance, dirt tracking or ice racing. As for the rear A arm support, it is a known concern, and more a couple of year ago buddy had the same cracks in his IT CRX except the result was that the lower support ripped away from the car. Thats when I started inspecting for cracks.

I don't want to alarm anybody or get tech inspectors excited. But there are cars that have been run for over 10 years like mine for which sooner or later the cracks may form. We run my car in one to two 12 hour IT endurance races per year and as such I have been inspecting after every race. In my opinion, for average sprint racers, putting the car on jack stands and doing a careful look at suspension mount points once a season is probably enough to be safe.

regards
bob

Originally posted by joeg@Sep 26 2005, 02:33 PM
Bob--I am not a metallurgist, and I do not want to downplay your good advice, but at least one of those images looks more a bit having been caused by corrosion rather than just pure "stress".

Still needs attention, however.

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[racerb]

Originally posted by Bob Roth@Sep 29 2005, 12:33 AM
I am an engineer and could find no evidence of corrosion and were consistent with fatigue. In fact the front steering support has never been on the street and the rear was sand blasted and primed when the car was built. My car may be unusual because it has lots of endurance racing. I have been sprint and endurance racing this CRX since '92. The front steering support cracking is common for endurance, dirt tracking or ice racing. As for the rear A arm support, it is a known concern, and more a couple of year ago buddy had the same cracks in his IT CRX except the result was that the lower support ripped away from the car. Thats when I started inspecting for cracks.

I don't want to alarm anybody or get tech inspectors excited. But there are cars that have been run for over 10 years like mine for which sooner or later the cracks may form. We run my car in one to two 12 hour IT endurance races per year and as such I have been inspecting after every race. In my opinion, for average sprint racers, putting the car on jack stands and doing a careful look at suspension mount points once a season is probably enough to be safe.

regards
bob

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Bob this is just the sort of thing I've been stressing for years, as I built my first IT car in 1985 and it to was a unibodied car. This has been a concern of mine since day one, and I have explained this to several SCCA tech folks. I have felt that at the very least, we should be allowed to seam weld our cars, but am always told it's not in keeping with the IT rules. There are many rules which might have applied years ago when, our cars were concidered dual purpose, but now just don't work. These are just a few of the items I'd change, seam welding, battery relocation, fuel cells required, and onboard fire system (no just bottles) manditory.
But hey thats just me, and all I've done is raced 4 different cars in SCCA and been a member for over 20 years, why should I expect change for the good/safety of the sport I love so well.

racerb