Toby Tabs

[mquinto@xxxx]

Hello List,
I have been following this thread for a few days now. And I have 
an opinion on the issue. I just want to give some background info 
first, Sorry if I sound conceded I'm not bragging or nothin'. 
I have been a prototype metal Fabricator for 10 years building the 
Flyer Light Strike Vehicles for the Military. 
http://www.marvineng.com/flyer/index.htm 
And before this off-road desert race cars. 
I talked to my Forman who has 20 years in the same field and is an 
expert on suspensions. Also spoke with one of our engineers 
(Formerly retired from RocketDyne) And also I spoke with a gentlemen 
who has been working with us for a couple of weeks, an Engineer from 
General Motors.
And yes, all this on company time talking about DeLoreans.

I told and showed them pictures on the Toby Tab, the Bauerle 
Bracket, the frame layout, and how they are installed and what the 
claims were.

The Bauerle Bracket:
As a fabricators opinion this is a poorly designed part. Lap 
welding mild steel angle iron to a bent plate is something we would 
never do. Especially to be used as a suspension support bracket. 
Both Engineers agree that there is no rigidity in this part. And the 
attachment point on the frame needs to be drastically improved.
But all this doesn't matter anyway. 


The Toby Tab:
This bolt is a higher tensile strength replacement of the original 
OEM Bolt. They believe for example: instead of 10,000 cycles you 
might get 100,000 cycles. 
Meaning the Toby tab will bend over time like the originals but will 
last longer.


They believe Lotus didn't pay attention to detail when designing 
the rear suspension. But also said, not to touch or lockout the 
movement in that area.
That area was designed for that movement for camber curve as the 
suspension travels up and down. Stiffening up that bolt movement or 
adding a bracket in dual shear will do more damage than good. The 
suspension could bind through its travel and reduce cornering 
performance. Or you could cause the trailing arm bracket welded on 
the frame to crack. 

The solution:
The most simple and inexpensive way to go is, remove the Bauerle 
Bracket if installed and buy the Toby Tabs. The expensive hard fix 
would be to convert the old trailing arm ends to a Spherical 
threaded Rod End with Toby Tabs. This would extent the life of the 
bolts dramatically. My Forman would also convert the outboard side 
of the upper and lower links to Spherical threaded Rod Ends keeping 
the inboard sides stock rubber or aftermarket polyurethane bushings 
if you were going that far. But, For me the expensive hard fix is 
something I'll do later when I have the time. 

Closing:
All the views expressed by the people I had talked too are their 
opinions for improvement. I would not recommend anyone to change 
their suspension in any way. Use your own judgment. If anyone has 
any questions they would like to ask one of the Engineers, I would 
gladly ask them for you.
Also, I don't know Toby we've never met. But, Toby put me down for 
your bolts.

Regards
Mike