Aterlatus

Hi all,

Just looking for a quick yes/no bit of advice here. If I find that certain plastic parts keep breaking on my car, is it OK to replace them with home-made aluminium counterparts? Dad works in the aerospace industry so I wouldn't have too much trouble aquiring pretty much anything I needed

The part I have in mine is the plate that goes on the bottom of the front gearbox - the two bits at the side holding on the bottom suspension arm keep snapping on me

Thanks,

Steve

firstime

what car do you have?

brainleak

My Feedback: (1)

Argh this set up is such a pain. Anyway. The thing you gotta remember about alum is its gonna bend not break. plastic has more give and is more forgiving. If its a part that isnt likely to take a good impact then its less prone to bend. With the alum parts on my car i take them out every once and while and make sure they arnt warped in anyway. Easy enough.
Bl

Aterlatus

Well, dunno if you saw this thread at the old site but there were plenty more replies

In summary, if cost isn't an issue, and you (or someone you know) has the relevant tools to replicate plastic parts in aluminium, go for it

WhiskyVR-4

My experience with aluminum has been that even aircraft-grade stock is going to break more often than a nylon or otherwise fairly strong plastic part. Its also heavier. The biggest problem I had was in diagnosing various tweak issues. When my car was totally dialed-in, but still not tracking correctly, I often found small, hard-to-measure bends in the aluminum parts to be the culprit. The only way to get it right was to replace the parts, and even high-quality RPM plastic parts are a LOT cheaper to replace than aluminum.

However, if you have the capability to do precision machine work, there are very few things cooler than running well built parts that you made yourself!

nodolarsnosense

you dont need our permission. if it doesnt void any warranty? why not try. itld look better

nodolarsnosense

and if it doesnt work better just take it out

GALAXY

There were alot more posts,lol.Hey whiskey...good to see you're back.I would make all the parts I could and make 10 of each for replacements.If he's gonna set up machines to make those parts,its pretty much just as easy to make 10 as 1.

WhiskyVR-4

Hey Galaxy, good to be back, its been a while.

Yeah, that makes sense, if you are machining the parts yourself, might as well make a bunch of them for replacements (once you have the design all worked out, might need a few prototypes). If you are doing it yourself, its not going to cost you anything but time, really. Good point.