Todd, Look's like might in good hand's W/Rodger.:thumbsup:

I agree with Curtis, contact Russ.

The frame side of the weld acts like a huge heatsink and depending on how the weld was struck, the speed that the bead was laid, and the "tapering off" of the heat at the end of the bead, the localized heat affect zone might have caused the framerail side to be too brittle. The bracket would likely get hotter during welding, and a sharp end of the weld heat might cause the framerail to cool too quickly from an already lower temperature immediately around the weld... if I had to guess. This kind of heat affect zone is usually much more critical/noticeable in aluminum.

I'd say the crack started at the welded-on bung for reasons I stated above and propogated from all the torque from the upper link trying to pull the bracket away.

There is a major difference in the design of the G-Bar(in my car) and the G-Link that is in Rogers car. The G-Bar has a front crossmember while the G-Link doesn't. Rogers is a severe frame fracture in his first event from my understanding. Mine is a crack after 6000 miles and 20 some races. We all know I don't baby my stuff.

My plan is to have the frame tig welded up and ground flat, then weld on a small diamond shape 1/8" steel bracket on the outside of the frame along with welding it to the cradle. Russ welded up my exhaust at ATS so I have nothing but confidence in him. Problem is, last time I called him, he never called me back.

Wow this has me rethinking the plan to go with the G-link. I'll definitely be hitting the strip on occasion with some sticky tires and I'd prefer my framerails stay intact. One of the things I liked about the G-link was that it seemed to be the stronger setup of the popular 4-link setups available. Maybe it's worth opening up the outside rail and welding in some plate to strengthen that area of the rail as part of the install.

Isn't Dan Holohan working on your Nova.I belive he is one of the best fabricator's to ever turn on a welder.Ask Dan how he would install your rear suspension.:thumbsup:

It's not designed to be WELDED in --- I think it's a BOLT IN design -- which - if it was bolted in - you wouldn't have the embrittlement associated with the welding.

If it was welded in properly -- i.e., with some fish plating and re-inforcement it would probably be just fine.

In Roger's case, I'm not sure embrittelment argument holds up. It's not close to the fracture line like mine. In these triangulated 4 links, the uppers bars take extreme force keeping the rear end centered. With the front crossmember like mine has, both frame rails get loaded. Without, only one really gets loaded which isn't ideal.

Greg is right, they were both designed to be bolted in the chassis. As usual, we all think we know better than the engineer that designed the system. I'm not ready to say that bolting it in would have netted me better results at this point. 1/16" sheetmetal would take a beating either way.

Holy Shiz-nit!! Nice work torque king :D .

Okay so I now have a question

What about using the bolts & panel bonding glue ( fusor ) instead of welding ??