Today i went to the local junk dump. and saw a badly mangled vert cav. i decided to take a look at it in hopes of finding a strut bar. and just past the white leather seats sat the strut bar. i picked it up and carried up to the front desk. cost me a whole $5... so heres my problem last week i bought a ebay strut bar...and now im not sure which one to use.
so should i use the gm or
the ebay one
thanks
ebay looks better, both do the same thing.. up to you..
Go with GM if you can use the middle mounting point. More rigid and it looks stock.
I can tell you first hand, that bar style will not clear either the 95-97 2.2 2200 throttle body and will interfere severely with 98-2000 intakes.
guess im goin with the gm one.. only have one question left. on the gm bar i noticed 2 places on the bar that connects to the firewall.. but i dont have any bolts or anything to connect it. im not sure if the places are there for it (havent really looked at it yet) but what do i need to connect it.
thanks
ps: is it hardware i can buy at lowes?
Self tapping screws will work.
how big though ... the places look pretty big
You'll need to size up a self-tapping bolt while the bar is out of the car. Not sure what size but I would assume 1/4" or close to that.
Then you'll need to drill the firewall in most cases.
I will be going with a gm bar up front and an ebay bar in back...
[quote=DrÃkÉ]guess im goin with the gm one.. only have one question left. on the gm bar i noticed 2 places on the bar that connects to the firewall.. but i dont have any bolts or anything to connect it. im not sure if the places are there for it (havent really looked at it yet) but what do i need to connect it.
thanks
ps: is it hardware i can buy at lowes?
Yes, you can get the hardward at Lowes or Home Depot. I get almost all of my nuts & bolts at Home Depot. They have just about everything you could want, even nice stainless allen head bolts.
I'm using a nut and bolt for mine. I picked a 10MM, as it seemed to fit just right. I'm also welding the nut to the backside of the firewall. You can access the spot by removing the plastic vent cover/trim piece between your windshield and the engine bay. Just drill a hole when the strut bar is in place. You could use a large self-tapping screw, but I hate sheet metal screws. They're way to easy to strip out, and if you can use a nut and bolt, why not?
Quiklilcav wrote:I'm using a nut and bolt for mine. I picked a 10MM, as it seemed to fit just right. I'm also welding the nut to the backside of the firewall. You can access the spot by removing the plastic vent cover/trim piece between your windshield and the engine bay. Just drill a hole when the strut bar is in place. You could use a large self-tapping screw, but I hate sheet metal screws. They're way to easy to strip out, and if you can use a nut and bolt, why not?
Didn't know you could get at it through the vent. I know what IM doing when my bar gets here
I have the factory bar mounted to my firewall. It adds a considerable amount of rigidity to the bar. I used bolts (I want to say they were 3/8 off the top of my head) with a large washer on the back side and lock nuts. I wouldn't be inclined to use a self tapping screw because you want to support the back side of the firewall so it doesn't rip out.
Atk2008 wrote:I will be going with a gm bar up front and an ebay bar in back...
thats what i did. cant complain for the cost
I plan on selling my vibraint front bar and getting a gm front so it looks cleaner and won't be in the way of my WAI as they vibe off of one another every so often and it drives me nuts.
VanquisherOfTheVariance (Zach) wrote:I have the factory bar mounted to my firewall. It adds a considerable amount of rigidity to the bar. I used bolts (I want to say they were 3/8 off the top of my head) with a large washer on the back side and lock nuts. I wouldn't be inclined to use a self tapping screw because you want to support the back side of the firewall so it doesn't rip out.
Yeah, I have mine the same, and can't imagine using a screw for this.
i just wish somebody would make a 5 point strut brace so we could end this discussion lol a lot of other cars have them.. why cant we
has anyone used gmpartsdirect.com for the gm strut bar? i put my order in a couple of weeks back...and it's still "on order".. meaning they haven't even charged me for the bar yet..it's pending i guess...
to those of u who have experience buying the strut bar there..
how long did it take for them to have it finally shipped?!
JBO is the shyt.
my ebay strut bar fit fine? i just have to loosen the one side to get my oil filter off... lol damn the OHV and its effing retarded oil filter location.
guess my anxiousness got da best of me...
shipped same day..
eh..
JBO is the shyt.
ebay one looks pretty good thing that sucks about the gm is that its not adjustable
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
z yaaaa wrote:i just wish somebody would make a 5 point strut brace so we could end this discussion lol a lot of other cars have them.. why cant we
Because we are cavaliers.
I'm back from the dead.
Currently Driving: RSX Type-S.
My Cavalier Burnt up :-(
The eBay one isn't necessarily adjustable either, just because it has threaded rod ends doesn't mean it can adjust much, it's more so just for getting it to fit on the car.
Frankly I'll never use an eBay brace on the front of another car as I broke one autocrossing a few years ago. Ripped the threads right off of one of the threaded rod ends. So I went home in between runs and put my GM bar back on the front and had no issues.
I don't know how exactly it stripped the end, but it did. This was on my Beretta by the way, not my 3rd gen J.
Adjustability on a strut tower bar
.... why?
Anyone else notice this is a year old?
