Got the April issue of High Performance Pontiac in the mail and in the back there is a small ad for the QA1 Strut tower brace for third gens. I am not sure if this is something new offered by them, but I haven't heard of this company making these before. They seem to be a slightly different design in that the mounts for the strut towers mount horizontally somehow (Atleast thats what it looks like in the picture in the magazine).

http://www.qa1.net/qa1_motorsports/d...er-braces.html

Any installed pics?

 

Oddly, 5227 was the part number for Edlebrock's verson, which you can see/compare at Summit (EDL-5227).

EDIT: The latter is installed on my IROC. A pic can be seen in my vbGarage (icon next to my online status).

JamesC

 

from what i gather QA1 bought edlbrocks designs for the stb's, hence the similar (exact) looks

 

They did. I made a thread about this. QA1 owns all of Edelbrock's suspension rights as of a few months ago and they finally made the transition.. hense the exact same design and part numbers.

 

They look like they tweaked the design slightly on the TBI version. Does anyone know if the firewall bars are still bolted on rather than welded for the TPI version?

 

I hope it fits like the Edelbrocks i have seen. After calling umpteen places all
over the country i was unable to find an Edelbrock anywhere so, i ordered one
of these QA1 5227.

 

Just got an email from Summit. My order for the QA1 STB has
been backorder delayed for the second time. Expected arrival
at Summit is 3-4-12. grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

 

Finally received the QA1 STB. It looks identical to the Edelbrock part. Just like
the Edelbrock, the support braces on the ends are wide and hard to fit on the
towers. My plan is to make some plates 'spacers' to set the braces on. This will
allow me to move the braces back a little 'over the strut bushing' so the bolt
holes for the braces are not so close to the strut tower edge. The braces will
overlap the strut bushing a little. I will have to replace my wiper motor. My 82
came with the old school analog wiper motor pump combo. The pump is in the
way of the STB. I found a newer style digital wiper motor with the newer
'smaller' pump built in which faces down so it is not in the way. Now i just need
to do a 4th gen washer and coolant bottle conversion... heh
Here's a mockup pic of the STB.

 

Sweet man! It looks great, but you're right, it's really just the edelbrock STB with a different sticker on it. Though truthfully I would rather have something not branded under edelbrock on my trans am so it works out, lol.

I will eventually order one of these for my t/a but I gotta get it back on the road before I start modding suspension!

 

Yea and. well this sticker is not even centered so it is coming off anyway.
Looking forward to you continuing your project.

 

The sticker is prolly centered its the motor and everything is offset to the passenger side of the car.

 

I finally got the STB installed. I had to make a couple of shims
to raise the STB mounts on the strut tower so they clear the
strut mounts. This is needed because the STB mount overlaps
the strut mount. There is really very little room to align the STB
brackets where the bolts aren't right on the edge of the tower.
My car was already VERY stiff with SFC, wonder bar, fresh
springs and, Adjustable KYB's so it was hard to notice any diff.