Ok, I did a search and I've seen some stuff on buying stb's, and on making your own sfc's, but I didn't find anything on making your own stb. I have a few questions, even though it seems mostly straight forward....

What's the best way to mount them? It seems to me that bolting them into the engine bay sheet metal doesn't seem like a strong way to mount them. I had thought of making them mount somehow on the strut towers themselves, but I don't even want to consider what kind of mess that would make when getting an alignment. What kind of effect would it have if I mounted them to the doghouse rails?

What wall thickness do you guys recommend? .187? and if I use a pipe bender to form the angle where they angle down to the mounts, will that weaken them considerably? I see that hotchkis uses bolts to hold them in place, I considered that, but it seems to me that a one piece design is stronger. The alternative is to have two pieces where the angle is, and weld them together instead of bending the angle, but pipe welding is the most difficult type of welding to get 100 percent penetration, and I'm still a student.

If anyone can add any other tips or viewpoints here, I'm all ears.

Mathius

 

i'd look at catalogs or pics of cars with STB installed and decide what you like, or even mix and match ideas and features. making one wouldn't be hard to do, either miter and weld for the direction change or bend. a larger conduit bender works well for makign bends, used one for years making chassis for karts.

 

Try these...

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=116737

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=212276

well, if i can get them to work....

 

Well consider this, the sheet metal where the struts mount is strong enough to take the pounding of the struts and keeping the entire top of the suspenion in position for a couple of hundred thousand miles of this abuse, so it's not as weak as you might think.

You could make some plates to sandwich a strut bar mount under the strut tower mounts, and with owning a machine shop I at one time considered doing this. But if you have power brakes, the strut bar will interfere with the M/C.

I also considered putting some kind of mounting tab on the billet strut mount I make for a strut tower brace, but the problems with aligment and material strength considerations of 6061 aluminum, I chose not to do this.

But as ede said, look at the catalogs and experiment. As I recall Jerrywho came up with an innovative 10 point STB. Do a search for that post and it may give you some ideas on how to make one. I've got to say it was one of the most innovative ideas I've seen on here in a long time. Great job Jerry If Jerry sold those, I'd buy one.

Hey Jerry, want to trade some billet strut mounts for a 10 point STB?????


EDIT: Here is a link to Jerry's post about his 10- point STB.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...light=jerrywho

 

yeah, that's the link i tried to post, along with one ona 2-point made with rectangular steel with only a mild arch to clear the intake. I'll get the posting link thing figured out one day...

 

The hotchkis sig. series STB is nice!

Here's mine:

 

I think we can work something out.

A few questions about your car

What year.
A/C or A/C delete.
alternator STD or 1LE.
Hood stock or aftermarket.
Air filter system stock or aftermarket.
Factory overflow tank.
Factory windshield washer tank.


Jerry

 

I'll have the rest of mine finished about the 5th of January. It will be for the HSR and be routed as shown by my crappy paintshop picture. I copied some Hotchkis brackets but made them out of aluminum and polished them. There is plenty of clearance with this routing, and it will be "4 point". The bar will be made from 1" 4130 chromemoly and I will use gussets at the bends to increase the rigidity of the piece.

 

Jerry, can you give me shots of how you mounted the plates? Did you weld threaded rods to the bottom and just bolt it on?

How did you make the bends? Obviously a pipe bender can be used for this, but you said you used your car as a jig, did you weld the stb while bolted to the car?

Mathius

 

I don't have any pictures right now. I will take some and post them later today or tomorrow. All the plates are formed on a 100 ton Cincinnati CNC press brake. The tubing is bent on a mandrill tubing bender that I use to produce sprint car chassis with. All the tig welding was done with the stb clamped in the car.

Jerry

 

Hey Jerod I will throw down some $$ if you could make two of those since you have pretty much helped me on going for the stealth ram!

 

We'll see...one-off parts are always pretty time consuming and my time is limited right now. It would have to be very much worth my while.

 

Were you able to get those pictures, Jerry?

Mathius

 

I hate to nag, but that thing is too sweet not to try and get more details.

Bump.

Mathius