It was a slow day at the shop I work at so we decided to make a run and get some steel to make the SCC "IKEA" brace.

Before

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/before.jpg

From the rear

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/rear.jpg

The piece of steel

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/steel.jpg

Lee welding

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/leewelding.jpg

Finished from the front

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/finished.jpg

From the rear

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y39/ecoshardcore/finishedrear.jpg

All the welding was done in tig by my friend and shop fabricator Lee, We used a 34 by 20 inch piece of steel, held it up and traced the line. I then used the nibbler to cut around the trace( give yourself 1/4 inch on the outside or it wont work) It looks super cool and handling has improved .
If your interested in doing this give me a pm and ill answer your questions.

How heavy is that sheet of steel?

its an 18 gauge sheet of steel, so maybe 2 pounds if that

How much did that piece of steel cost? Sounds like a nice cheap mod.

Got to love Sport Compact Car readers........great idea...........looks good :biggthump

I have been waiting for someone with access to a metal shop to copy the IKEA brace from SCC! Good job. :biggthump

If I were to find a shop to do this oh-so-simple yet time consuming mod to my car, what amount of time would this take them? Ie. If I were paying a shop, what would be reasonable?

Steel = a few bucks
Cutting = how many man-hours?
Welding = how many man-hours?

And, any idea on reasonable metal shop hourly rates?

Thanks!

I have been waiting for someone with access to a metal shop to copy the IKEA brace from SCC! Good job. :biggthump

If I were to find a shop to do this oh-so-simple yet time consuming mod to my car, what amount of time would this take them? Ie. If I were paying a shop, what would be reasonable?

Steel = a few bucks
Cutting = how many man-hours?
Welding = how many man-hours?

And, any idea on reasonable metal shop hourly rates?

Thanks!

all you need to do is go to a local metal shop, buy a 34 by 20 inch plate of 18 gauge steel, it should cost anywheres between 30 and 50 dollars, take out
your back seats, take off the little cross brace, have a friend crawl in your trunk and hold the steel in place. You then take a magic marker and draw an outline of the opening. Grab your hand held metal nibbler and cut out the steel. When you are cutting the steel cut about 1/4 inch outside the outline, otherwise it wont seat right. after you cut, take a grinder and smooth the edges of the metal, than put the metal in and weld around the outside. When your done put the seats back in and enjoy the performance.

To answer your questions on cost, the metal would cost anywheres from thirty to 50 dollars, it take about 10 minutes to pull the seats and the brace,
about 20 minutes to cut and gring all the surfaces and about 1 hour to weld.
In total it takes about one and a half hours and costs maybe 50 bucks if you do it yourself. You dont even need access to a metal shop(were arent one), just a few cheap tools and a welder ( we used tig, but mig is fine for the job)

How Does This Improve Handling?is This Better Than A Rstb

lol yup i know yalll loved it when you seen that article... but arnt you guys alittle mad that they called the se-r a "shitbox" lol... and in the 1st couple lines of the article "if you remember this car you read our magazine too much" or some crap... fuckin ass holes, damn sentra will whoopp those stupid hondas
!!

How Does This Improve Handling?is This Better Than A Rstb

For the small amount of money it cost it is easily the best mod i have done any car ive owned. The car feels so much more glued to the road( even with my winter tires on) the rear end of the car was very squirelly before, and after the brace it simply follows the front. It is much less tail happy than before

Did you not weld to that center brace? Seems like that would only increase the strength. Seems like a couple of bead rolls might've helped as well.

ok, for those who have no access to a welder.......


will rivets work? i would think so.

I had the same thought, Kyle.

No reason rivets WOULDN'T work.

Technically it would work, It isnt really a good idea though. Rivets are a seperate piece
of metal, whereas welding makes everything one piece. Imho a welded brace would be much more effective at bracing.

but if you have no way to weld, and used a rivit every inch or so i would think it would be really solid.

use nuts and bolts instead of rivets. this way it is tighter.

shouldnt have trouble finding someone to weld it though.

lol yup i know yalll loved it when you seen that article... but arnt you guys alittle mad that they called the se-r a "shitbox" lol... and in the 1st couple lines of the article "if you remember this car you read our magazine too much" or some crap... f-ckin ass holes, damn sentra will whoopp those stupid hondas
!!
he also calls hondas shitboxes. our cars ARE shitboxes. any car you can buy for less than $3000 in decent condition is a shitbox. hondas have are generally faster roadrace cars though, their suspension is much better.

so i'm just having a hard time understanding this whole thing... its better then the rstb from activetuning? or would this and the rstb be even better? i just need a lil more info i guess before i go do this. i guess if i get a better explaination i'll do it tomorrow at the shop.

If you guys want, I can laser cut these with holes around the outside for rivets.
-Tim

so i'm just having a hard time understanding this whole thing... its better then the rstb from activetuning? or would this and the rstb be even better? i just need a lil more info i guess before i go do this. i guess if i get a better explaination i'll do it tomorrow at the shop.
I can tell you, as can a whole bunch of folks, that the RSTB from Active Tuning kicks major ass. The rear end of my car feels way more planted with the brace. For a $100 bar and 45 minute install (I take a while longer than most :tongue: ) it is a cost-effective and excellent modification.

However, for a $50 dollar sheet of steel, a buddy with a welder, or getting creative with a bunch of rivets/bolts, the IKEA brace could only stiffen the rear chassis area even more... Chassis stiffness = Good. LOL.

BOTH the Active RSTB and the IKEA brace would probably be ideal and is the way I am leaning. :) BTW, if you work at a shop and can put in the IKEA brace cheap, the Active brace will NOT interfere with the IKEA and vice-versa. So, you could do the IKEA and then do the Active RSTB later.

Anybody want to chime in on the idea of both units, the IKEA brace teamed up with the Active RSTB? Super-duper extra stiff rear chassis...

one question............why is it called ikea? did they chop up an old ikea table for the steel in the mag? :confused: