Now we can focus on the Top shock mounts. They are also referred to as "Shock Towers". As you can see in the next photo, the nearest point of connection for the top mount is the nose cone brace extending down from the firewall. I wish I could give some technical advice of why and how to make these mounts but I ain't got none. You want the shock to efficiently dampen the effects of bounce and droop that the roadway exerts on the front suspension. At what angle do we constrain the shock? How much preload? The answers to these questions as they pertain to a small go cart is probably that it matters little as long as both sides ride evenly. But I like to think of design and purpose in terms of what would work correctly in a real automobile. For now we will just try to get the shocks mounted as well as we can within the space we have to work with. You could fashion some kind of fancy shock tower off of the nose section if you like and that would also work. It will be a little tricky connecting a mount to the firewall brace because it comes in at an angle. That means that one side of the mount will be longer than the other.

In order to keep from cutting a special shape for the longer mount we can just weld a section onto one of the mounts as needed. An initial fit up shows that we need about 1/2" added to one of the mounts in order to keep them parallel with each other and also flat against the brace. After welding the pieces together just get out the angle grinder with a flap disc and grind off the extra weld.

What is preloading? Um, something you do before you go hunting. Good answer but not for preloading the shocks. Basically we are trying to anticipate a little bit of the droop we will get when the full weight of the cart is resting on the shocks. This would be a good time to talk about sprung and unsprung weight but we ain't. Just Google it if intersted and get ready for a good nights sleep. The highly technical way to preload a shock is to get a piece of square tube large enough to drill holes the same size as those in the eyes of the shocks. In our case we will use a piece of 3/4" square tube. Holes are drilled at a distance that is 1/2" shorter than the distance between the holes on the shocks. We will use this as a jig to locate the correct spacing for the upper shock mounts.We will start with the passanger side. It is a little more difficult to use the magnets to hold the mounts in place on the angled brace. These types of magnets are designed to fit flat against a surface but we are trying to hold the mounts at an angle. I will not say this is easy to get it just right. Does anyone have some bailing wire left?
You will notice that I am keeping the level on the nose to see if we are still level after fiddling with the mounts. Did I remember to check it before tacking on the mounts? Of course not!

The 3/4" tube that we are using as a jig is not quite as wide as the shock. So I will just tack one of the mount brackets in place and then connect the shock along with the other bracket in order to tack it in perfect alignment. If you do it this way remember to disconnect the shock as soon as possible after tacking the mounts in place.

Let the welds cool before remounting the shocks.In this next photo it looks like the shock is rubbing against the brace but there is plenty of clearance.

Later on we will add a gusset to tie the mounts together as well as to the brace. You want these mounts to be as solid as possible. Now it is on to the drivers side to do it all again.