Ok, everyday day atleast twice its posted about strutbars. So here is your INFO.
What is a Strut tower?
Your strut towers are, for ease of explaination, are the large metal towers on each side of your engine bay, and trunk ( behing the carpeting ), which holds the upper part of your suspension in place. Usually held in by 3 bolts, nuts or some combination of.
What is a Strut Bar?
A strut bar, Or strut brace, is a metal rod that connects the strut towers together. The purpose for this is to limit the flexing of the towers as you drive. Reducing this flex, gives you a better feel, better control of your car while turning and you will feel much less bump from expansion joints on highways. Also a stiff body would enable maximum performance and handling. A stiff chassis also makes suspension tuning much more precise, resulting in a car with razor-sharp handling.
Example of Front and rear Strut bars from Gravana tuning, made by vibrant
What is a Tri-Strut bar?
A tri strut bar, is a a bar that connects your strut towers and Firewall together. The purpose of this is to reduce the flex much more, by using your firewall as a support point. The stock GM brace for convertables had an extra mounting point for the firewall. HOWEVER: Most J bodies dont use or have available Tri-bars for a few reasons, Including, that on 2.2L and 2200 engines, the Intake would interfear.
Example of a tri-bar from a TOYOTA
What is a Fender Bar?
A fender bar is just another version of a strut bar. In this case, a fender bar connects the strut tower to the firewall at the point of where your door hinges are connected. NONE are currently made for the Jbody application, but they are not hard to make yourself, and if you want that sleeper look, there is no better way. Most people consider these types, overkill.
Example of a fender bar from a 240sx
How hard is it to install a strut bar?
Its very easy to install a front strut bar. While car is on the ground, and OFF, remove the bolts / nuts ( 3 in total per side ). Slide the brace's strut plates on, and reinstall hardware. If it does not side right, and you will know when it doesnt, remove, and flip it over and reinstall. 5 mins to instal
The rear bar however is a bit annoying and takes 20mins to install, maybe longer. The rear bar is in your trunk, and a very tight place to put your hands. And the bolts you need to remove are in the wheel well itself, all the way at the top. Reove those 3 bolts, per side, slide bar into postion, and reinstall the bolts. Good job.
Is there anything else i might need to know?
A few things:
1) You can paint your bar with just about any paint.
2) To clean it off, use mild soap and warm water, and dry to a beautiful shine.
3) You can make your own, however DO NOT use plastic of sheet metal, they are not strong enough for the job.
4) You can use all types of strut bars above, but usually 1 is enough.
5) There really is a differance in how your car handles, But is not a replacement, Just a component to a well tuned suspension, and is one of the cheapest things to do for your suspension.
LINKS
www.granatuning.com
www.ebay.com
www.vibrantperformance.com
www.carcustoms.com
If i forgot some, sorry, those are the only links i personally use.
Sorry, i know it was discussed in the Suspension FAQ, but its vague, and Besides, most people wont look into it, if they dont see the exact words for there issue. I do hope it helps, and to Event, im not tring to step on your toes or anything, i just think its a bit more detailed.
doood! go for it. this forum is DEF not limited to only a few FAQ posters...
thing is, alot of people complain about updating FAQ; but very little people give input... ask weasle...
You should perhaps mention that there is no such thing as an "adjustable" STB. The only reason the ends are adjustable is for ease of installation.
James Cahill wrote:You should perhaps mention that there is no such thing as an "adjustable" STB. The only reason the ends are adjustable is for ease of installation.
actually there ARE and those are adjustable strut braces....
the ones shown above can add or take away preload. whether positive, negative, or neutral.
also there ARE the ones with a preload adjuster in the middle. mostly sold for imports at this current time. cusco is the designer...
example as shown in the following.
This bar is specifically designed to adjust tension positively (pushing out) or negatively (pulling in) or neutral... no pull in either direction.
this does affect handling for fine tuning.
theres quite a few more designs as well in the past mags of GrassRoots Racing...
This is exactly what we need. We need to break the FAQ into sections. Add/Remove content to update it and clarify, then bring it all back together as a new updated FAQ.
Of course and EDIT button would be nice too!
Well it seems i have missed a few bits, I hope this is a good start though.
could we even make a fender bar? is there a bolt for the tower inside the fender like that? i dont wanna take off a fender just to find out that i cant do it....
rapfiend03 wrote:could we even make a fender bar? is there a bolt for the tower inside the fender like that? i dont wanna take off a fender just to find out that i cant do it....
When its nice out, im gonna take a lookie at that. It shouldnt be too hard to drill 2 holes if needed.
so if you drilled the holes all you would do is make sure they are near the tower? or would they be some how connected to the top 3 bolts on the tower? (this is assuming that there are no tower bolts in behind the fender, who knows maybe GM actually made a good mistake for once)
rapfiend03 wrote:so if you drilled the holes all you would do is make sure they are near the tower? or would they be some how connected to the top 3 bolts on the tower? (this is assuming that there are no tower bolts in behind the fender, who knows maybe GM actually made a good mistake for once)
It doesnt get connected to the top 3 bolts. You would drill into the tower, and secure with 2 bolts, not one.
oh ok thats what i wasnt sure about. so how strong should the welds be? and what kind of metal would you use? finally my stupid question of the day: would we need to get aligned after we fabb'ed and installed this?
rapfiend03 wrote:oh ok thats what i wasnt sure about. so how strong should the welds be? and what kind of metal would you use? finally my stupid question of the day: would we need to get aligned after we fabb'ed and installed this?
A fender bar doesnt effect your alignment at all. Its just another form of a strut bar, instead of connecting your strut towers directly through a strut bar, you are using the firewall to do the same thing.
I would use steel and as for the welds, strong i guess, i havent had a good day yet to take a look at the fender for placement of one.
be sure to have a buddy available if you get this done before me, cause the the other 2 points other then the fender are your door hinges. So you gonna need someone to help with the alignment and removal of door and install.
So i guess im going to rewrite this, With Events info and a few others, With referance to those people.
BTW, does anyone have a pic of the fender missing from the side of their car, the weather has been to crappy for me to take mine off. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
