Front upper strut mount spacer
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: Internal Combustion
Transmission: Completed
Axle/Gears: ones that turn.
You'll just need to have the front-end re-aligned after installing those new strut mounts. They may also require longer mounting bolts which may or may not be included with the mounts.
Outside of that, there shouldn't be any problems.
Pete
Outside of that, there shouldn't be any problems.
Pete
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From: greenvill sc
if you do you will never be able to correct your alliment! becouse the specs would be out. why would you want to do this? you can ajust your upper mout now. and this is required for alliment. also unless your carratle is out(car was wrecked bad subframe bent) there is no need to drill new holes in the inner fender whell where the mount bolts to. this is based off what i read, your pics are not showing!
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: out of my mind; be back in 5 minutes....
Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: Internal Combustion
Transmission: Completed
Axle/Gears: ones that turn.
I get what you're at now. It will still require having the front re-aligned after installation, as it will be nearly impossible to keep the rotating point of the bushing/bearing in the same location as it is now.
If our front struts came up perfectly straight from the spindle, you could take some measurements and get it back pretty close. But where they lean in and back, you'll be 'adjusting' that top mounting point in three planes - fore/aft, in/out, and up/down. The alignment takes it's reference at the wheel; it doesn't care where the upper mount is.
If our front struts came up perfectly straight from the spindle, you could take some measurements and get it back pretty close. But where they lean in and back, you'll be 'adjusting' that top mounting point in three planes - fore/aft, in/out, and up/down. The alignment takes it's reference at the wheel; it doesn't care where the upper mount is.
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Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,593
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From: out of my mind; be back in 5 minutes....
Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: Internal Combustion
Transmission: Completed
Axle/Gears: ones that turn.
BTW, the geocities pics won't show up - they don't allow direct linking.
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Joined: Jul 1999
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From: out of my mind; be back in 5 minutes....
Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
Engine: Internal Combustion
Transmission: Completed
Axle/Gears: ones that turn.
Originally posted by joshwilson3
You can't see the pics? They show up on here on my computer.
The pics are stored in your computers' cache; in order for me to see them, I have to right-click -> properties, then copy and paste the url into a new window to see them.
I will now try to explain what it is I'm trying to do. I am not using the spacer to adjust or align anything up.
By adding the spacer, you are adjusting the mount point of the top of the strut upward. By itself, that's no big deal, but that upper mount is what is adjusted when an alignment is performed.
The strut has to be returned to the same exact angles to keep your alignment settings correct.
In the below pic, you will see a Strut Tower Brace that is bolted to the fender wall right beside the Upper Strut Mount.
You just want to use the 'plate', not the bearing tower, and use your stock mount on top of that plate.
Now, what I was wanting to do was make my own Strut Tower Brace. Instead of welding the end of the tubing onto a little piece of metal and bolting it to the fender, I was wanting to weld the end of the tube to a spacer that would fit below the Upper Strut Mount.
That is a good idea, except for welding it solidly to the plate. By doing that you are not going to be able to have an alignment done properly. As I mentioned above, the mounts are moved fore/aft and in/out to get the proper alignment angles. By welding the STB to the spacers, they cannot be adjusted singularly, they will both have to be moved side-to-side together so if one side gets lined up, the other side will be thrown off and that will keep repeating over and over.
Two ways to solve this: A)Instead of slots, cut larger holes to allow just the upper mount to move while the spacer remains stationary on the inner fender, but that's going to look odd if the mount overhangs on one or two sides; B) Mount a |_| shaped bracket on the spacer, and use adjustable rod ends to allow for adjustment of the spacer when an alignment is performed.
Below is a Photo Shop pic of the above pic. This is how one side of my Strut Tower Brace would look like off of the car. I would then take both of my upper strut mounts off. Set the STB in place and then put the strut mounts back onto the STB. I would then bolt everything up. So, it would be like putting a 1/4" spacer under the strut mount. And I was needing to know if this would affect the struts, alignment, or anything with the upper strut housing raised 1/4"?
The Upper Strut Mount would bolt on top of the above spacer. Now this spacer is like the base for my STB, as the tubing is welded onto the spacer and goes to the other side of the car that is welded onto another spacer.
Do the pics show up?
You can't see the pics? They show up on here on my computer.
The pics are stored in your computers' cache; in order for me to see them, I have to right-click -> properties, then copy and paste the url into a new window to see them.
I will now try to explain what it is I'm trying to do. I am not using the spacer to adjust or align anything up.
By adding the spacer, you are adjusting the mount point of the top of the strut upward. By itself, that's no big deal, but that upper mount is what is adjusted when an alignment is performed.
The strut has to be returned to the same exact angles to keep your alignment settings correct.
In the below pic, you will see a Strut Tower Brace that is bolted to the fender wall right beside the Upper Strut Mount.
You just want to use the 'plate', not the bearing tower, and use your stock mount on top of that plate.
Now, what I was wanting to do was make my own Strut Tower Brace. Instead of welding the end of the tubing onto a little piece of metal and bolting it to the fender, I was wanting to weld the end of the tube to a spacer that would fit below the Upper Strut Mount.
That is a good idea, except for welding it solidly to the plate. By doing that you are not going to be able to have an alignment done properly. As I mentioned above, the mounts are moved fore/aft and in/out to get the proper alignment angles. By welding the STB to the spacers, they cannot be adjusted singularly, they will both have to be moved side-to-side together so if one side gets lined up, the other side will be thrown off and that will keep repeating over and over.
Two ways to solve this: A)Instead of slots, cut larger holes to allow just the upper mount to move while the spacer remains stationary on the inner fender, but that's going to look odd if the mount overhangs on one or two sides; B) Mount a |_| shaped bracket on the spacer, and use adjustable rod ends to allow for adjustment of the spacer when an alignment is performed.
Below is a Photo Shop pic of the above pic. This is how one side of my Strut Tower Brace would look like off of the car. I would then take both of my upper strut mounts off. Set the STB in place and then put the strut mounts back onto the STB. I would then bolt everything up. So, it would be like putting a 1/4" spacer under the strut mount. And I was needing to know if this would affect the struts, alignment, or anything with the upper strut housing raised 1/4"?
The Upper Strut Mount would bolt on top of the above spacer. Now this spacer is like the base for my STB, as the tubing is welded onto the spacer and goes to the other side of the car that is welded onto another spacer.
Do the pics show up?
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From: Portland, OR www.cascadecrew.org
Car: 1990 Camaro RS
Engine: Juiced 5.0 TBI - 300rwhp
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.42 Eaton Posi, 10 Bolt
actualy.... as long as the bolts on the STB mounting plate are slotted corretly, to adjust the caster, it should be ok. the issue then becomes the stock plate and bolts on the lower side of the strut tower that are used to for caster you are probably going to have to fab up that peice. you WILL have to get an alignment done. and you have to be very carefully on the specs you use to build everything. if you are not careful you will get yourself out of the needed adjustment rance for camber. as it is most of these cars cannot get as much camber as they need with the factory setup. adding a spacer will only make it worse.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 504
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From: London Ontario Canada
I guess that would be ok as long as the spacers are bolted directly to the chasis with separate bolts from the ones that hold the strut towers on. If you used the same bolts you would not be able to adjust caster and camber.
Ric
Ric
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