my HSR strut tower brace - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:11 PM

1.5"x.095" tubing, 1/4" thick mounting plates, bolted with 2 (each side) 3/8" grade 8 bolts with nylon locking nuts. TIG welded entirely, knotched piece is reinforced with 1/8" thick plate. painted with POR15.

clears easily thank god for the Ram Air II hood. its solid as a rock, hitting it with your hand it feels like ur smacking a roll bar.

thanks everyone for the input!

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customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:13 PM

more, plenum clearance, mocking up etc

customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:15 PM

finished product

customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:16 PM

last one

GTA Sammy · 10-08-2009, 11:22 PM

KILLER !!!!!
That's awsome!!!!!
Great idea, wish I had the balls to try something like that, as well as muster up enough courage to buy the RAII.......

Very nice......

customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:43 PM

lol thanks... i say just DO IT!!!

hood set me back 700ish... thats when it was like 598$ and shipping was like 125$

iroc a 86 berli · 10-09-2009, 01:04 AM

sweet! welds are lookin good.

racing geek · 10-27-2009, 02:38 AM

Nice fab work, but.... how will you ever adjust the camber? Because of the shape of the base of each end (how it fills in the cutout from the strut mount) moving the strut mount side to side for camber adjustment will be impossible. I sure you hope you have your camber set where you want it. lol

strc09 · 10-27-2009, 07:59 AM

Very cool. I like it.

iroc a 86 berli · 10-27-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racing geek

Nice fab work, but.... how will you ever adjust the camber? Because of the shape of the base of each end (how it fills in the cutout from the strut mount) moving the strut mount side to side for camber adjustment will be impossible. I sure you hope you have your camber set where you want it. lol

good point, he can add + camber, but with out some trimming the - camber and caster are out of question.

Iroc-Z28Man · 10-27-2009, 06:48 PM

NICE welds, Looks custom work always makes a car better than the rest!

AC · 10-27-2009, 07:10 PM

Nice job. I'm liking the approach on the RA scoop too. I'm even more interested though in your pulley setup. I have a serp setup that I only have the alternator,water pump, power steering and crank to wrap with a belt. I'm using 2 delete pullies for the AIR pump and AC.

racing geek · 10-27-2009, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AC

Nice job. I'm liking the approach on the RA scoop too. I'm even more interested though in your pulley setup. I have a serp setup that I only have the alternator,water pump, power steering and crank to wrap with a belt. I'm using 2 delete pullies for the AIR pump and AC.

I'm pretty sure that's a V-belt setup that he's using. What's nice about the V-belt is that if you don't want an accessory you can just unbolt it and leave the belt off. That's what I did with my AC and air pump. No delete pulleys are needed. I think I'm actually only using 2 belts now that the AC and air pump are gone. I like this way more then the serp setup just because of its simplicity.

AC · 10-28-2009, 07:20 AM

racing geek, I'm 99.99% sure in those photos above its a serp setup. I can see the ribs on the pullies. I agree though that v-belt has some advantages. If I were to eliminate pullies I'd have to cross my fingers that a belt length exists that I could use.

customblackbird · 10-28-2009, 05:43 PM

thanks guys. i did change up the springs in the front end from sportlines to cut moog 5664s... i should have about 850lbin front springs if my calc is right. stock was 740 or something and i cut off 3/4 coil for a 1.5" drop. its not as low as my sportlines but i hope it will settle about another 1/2" or so... it prob wont bc i took a good bit of weight off the front end, well see... if not i will hack another 1/4 off. It was however aligned etc before the spring change. im sure im not far off but i can always trim the bracket if need be.

if it needs aligning ill be making adjustments to the STB... most likely slotting the mounting holes so it can be adjusted. but i doubt id have any issues.

racing geek is right, its a V belt system. my Alt(stock used a 5 or 6 rib belt) so that is a smaller than stock pully on the alt due to underdrive pully on the crank (the underdrive pulley lowered the alt too much, its now sumwhat acceptable) the only other thing on the engine is the powersteering and waterpump. im only using 2 belts, the alt drives the waterpump and PS has own Vbelt. i dnt like serpetine belt systems they are a hassle... and u can bet YOUR ARS! that ill be pulling the PS belt off at the track if i need a tenth or so lol. Thats what i love about the Vbelt system. ive deleted the smog pump, AC, charcol canister etc so theres alot of room around the engine and whats prob causing the confusion is the alt pulley and the aftermarket alt brackets (stock TPI doesnt fit the HSR)

Stephen · 10-28-2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by customblackbird

thanks guys. i did change up the springs in the front end from sportlines to cut moog 5664s... i should have about 850lbin front springs if my calc is right. stock was 740 or something a......

Where did you get that rate from? That would be way higher than even a WS6 spring.

racing geek · 10-28-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by customblackbird

thanks guys. i did change up the springs in the front end from sportlines to cut moog 5664s... i should have about 850lbin front springs if my calc is right. stock was 740 or something and i cut off 3/4 coil for a 1.5" drop. its not as low as my sportlines but i hope it will settle about another 1/2" or so... it prob wont bc i took a good bit of weight off the front end, well see... if not i will hack another 1/4 off. It was however aligned etc before the spring change. im sure im not far off but i can always trim the bracket if need be.

if it needs aligning ill be making adjustments to the STB... most likely slotting the mounting holes so it can be adjusted. but i doubt id have any issues.

racing geek is right, its a V belt system. my Alt(stock used a 5 or 6 rib belt) so that is a smaller than stock pully on the alt due to underdrive pully on the crank (the underdrive pulley lowered the alt too much, its now sumwhat acceptable) the only other thing on the engine is the powersteering and waterpump. im only using 2 belts, the alt drives the waterpump and PS has own Vbelt. i dnt like serpetine belt systems they are a hassle... and u can bet YOUR ARS! that ill be pulling the PS belt off at the track if i need a tenth or so lol. Thats what i love about the Vbelt system. ive deleted the smog pump, AC, charcol canister etc so theres alot of room around the engine and whats prob causing the confusion is the alt pulley and the aftermarket alt brackets (stock TPI doesnt fit the HSR)

If you are talking about slotting the mounting holes on the strut tower brace, that won't work. The cross bar is welded to the plates so it will not bolt up correctly in any other position. Your only hope is to trim the STB mounting plates, or completely redo the mounting configuration.

The thirdgen's were built in a time when GM was phasing out the V-belt for the serpentine belt. I can't remember what years had what, but the early ones had only a v-belt, the middle-ish ones had a v-belt except one mini "serpentine" belt for the alternator going off the crank (i think it was the crank...), and the later ones had a full serpentine belt setup. I'm thinking about pulling the charcoal canister this winter when the motor comes out. I would ask what was all involved in that but it would get this thread even more off track.

customblackbird · 10-29-2009, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

Where did you get that rate from? That would be way higher than even a WS6 spring.

yes the WS6 spring originally on the car is the moog 5662, rated at 700lbin and some say its really like 650. the 5664 is rated at 740lbin. cut 3/4 coil off raises the spring rate, its about 10% increase in spring rate for every 1" drop or 1/2 coil cut. so at 3/4 coil thats 15% increase in spring rate. 740 is 74lb increase at 10% so 5% is 35lb so about 100lb increase. and a 1.5" drop. the 5664 is actually an S10 spring and i think was offered on the convertable camaro/firebirds due to being heavier than the coupes. there is a math formula on the 2nd link at thirdgen.org below and it says i should be at about 880lbin. they are a bunch stiffer than my stock WS6 front spring 86 TA. for a couple yrs they had the spring rates mixed up between the 5662 and 5664, but its cleared up as u can in the thread. the 5662 has a smaller wire DIA compared to the 5664 which is what increases the 5664s rate to 740-750lbin.

heres one chart with the 5662-5664 rates on it.
http://jeffd.50megs.com/Moog_Spring_Page.htm

go to sonix post #19. moog 5664 is 748lbin, 5662/WS6 is 707lbin.
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/su...og-5660-a.html (Spring rates for Moog 5660 & 5662 springs?)

racing geek.... i see what your saying i would slot them to allow forward to back movement... being only a 2pt brace this would allow it to slide forward for more clearance. i havent really thought about it but i would and could also cut the mounting plates so they didnt fit into the strut bearing caps. im not really worried about it, it was aligned before and i will have the same ride height, i didnt even change the tierods or there lengths or anything, this was all upgraded a yr ago and is all preset and unchanged since the alignment.

yes the alt is a small serpintine system... it loops around the crank/waterpump and alt. all the other belts are actually Vbelts where the alt is a 5-6rib belt.

took the car out for its first drive and i have to say it rides like its on rails, SFC, wonderbar, STB, poly everything, and hand made LCA, jester Tq arm, and UMI panhard bar, 8pt cage, and the cut moog 5664/5665 springs is AMAZING! never driven a car this solid before, no squeeks or rattles nothing!!! its even stiffer than my bros full framed 68 vette i think. sooo nice just me and the engine

but i did seem to snap a rocker stud and cause engine vibrations and lots of blue smoke out the exhaust

wat the cr@pppppppppp!

Rich2279 · 10-29-2009, 07:57 PM

Nice welds! Can you teach me to do that, lol. You are in North Jersey? I am in South Jersey.

customblackbird · 10-30-2009, 01:21 AM

yea no prob lol... took me maybe 2 weeks to learn how to TIG, ive known how to MIG taught myself a few yrs ago, im only 25 so ill be TIG'in for a long time. next i want to do is aluminum but my TIG only is DC.

yea north jerz, west orange like 15min from NYC. where down south?

Rich2279 · 10-30-2009, 01:23 PM

Williamstown-08094. If you are traveling south, it is after Cherry Hill, but before Vineland.

customblackbird · 11-03-2009, 12:35 AM

oh cherry hill i kno where that is. about 2hrs south of me. some chick from there is in love with my car but she drives a mustang so that didnt stand a chance lol