I've been on the hunt for the Hotchkis strut tower brace (part number 2001) for a little while now with no luck so I decided to call Hotchkis headquarters to see if just maybe they had a scratch and dent one collecting dust in their warehouse. I didn't have any luck with that but I did strike up a conversation with a gentleman by the name of Rob who did say that if there was a big enough demand for the third gen style brace that Hotchkis may look into putting it back into production. Rob said that it would most likely take 25 interested people who would be willing to give a credit card over the phone to get the production started again.

So, just throwing this out there to the TGO community, how many of you would be interested in the Hotchkis STB for our cars?

I do not know the cost of it and I dont remember the cost of it back when it was being produced BUT Im willing to bet that it will be slightly more expensive than some of the simple single bar type constructed braces on the market today.



This is what it looks like on a TPI car for those that are not familiar with it. It originally came in black or red.

 

Why the interest in the Hotchkis piece? It's not a three point and there are several choices of 2 points on the market. Is it just because the center has a dimple died sheet metal? You can cut out the "mounts" from a piece of 1/8' or 3/16" metal plate with a jig saw at home and have a small fab/welding shop make the center section for probably the same amount. There is probably $5 in material in the center, maybe $10 at most all together. The rest will be in labor and even for 2 hours I'd be surprised if they charged more than Hotchkis would for one. You could have something totally custom, Think about it.

 

Does edelbrock still make their three point STB? Those were very similar to the hotchkis product.Or as TiVo said, make your own.I'm guessing hotchkis would want more than originally priced back in the day.

 

I would be interested in the story about that. I thought that the design was bought by QA1 since all of the sudden one year Edelbrock stopped selling them and QA1 started selling them and they were the exact same pieces. My QA1 three point brace is a spittin image of the old Edelbrock piece. Recently QA1 has changed the design but I believe that they took a step backwards in using smaller tubing for triangulating it to the cowl. However, I'm not all that swayed (pardon the pun) that in our car with it's flimsy firewall (with it's flimsiest area being the point of attachment) a three point STB helps out more than a two point STB. If you don't believe me, the next time you are around an F-body without its engine hop in the engine bay and pull up and down on the area a three point would attach. I'm making a half assed attempt at strengthening the firewall and cowl by using an 18 gauge sheet to plate off/smooth the firewall and a 16 gauge sheet for the middle 1/2 of the cowl.

 

It's not worth time and effort to make it. I have the material and can weld but it's the time and cost of powder coating that make it easier to just buy one that is already done.
And decent powder coating shop will easily charge $100 to do something that size.

 

That's really unfortunate that a powder coating shop could charge that much and still stay in business, I guess that they are the only one in the area? I had one of my rear ends powder coated for $45.

 

It's not cost effective to have one piece done at a time. So, to make a profit on those one off jobs, they price the job out to make a buck. If the customer decided to still go forward then the company makes money. These companies can't be bothered with these one off jobs either so they hope that by giving a high estimate, the customer will decide against it. These places want big dollar jobs. Not nickel and dime jobs.

 

The place that did mine did a lot of work for catepillar corp. and like you describe they wanted volume. They said if I wanted it done a solid black or yellow then they would just throw it on the line with the next batch and it wouldn't be much but if I wanted a different color the cost would be much higher, I think 200 or so. Give it a try, ask if they can just throw it in with a batch they are doing and you will do all of the prep work on it.

Just like before I could weld I would leave a piece at a welding shop for a week and let them do it in their spare time with left over pieces from some other big job.

 

powder coating? that thing that big companies do because it's the cheapest way to coat thousands of parts at a time and not because it's actually the best way to make fabricated steel parts look pretty?

a couple of cans of the good Rustoleum spray paint will be under $10, the race car inspired krinkle coat stuff about a dollar more..

 

I'm interested in buying one from hotchkis

 

iv got a one laying layn out in the shop.. use from off this sight.... would like a new one.
if I could get one without a color. so I could shoot it in body color..im down for one..

 

I'll buy the one you have if you're willing to part with it.

 

I would be interested in the part. I've had good results with the hotchkis components I've installed on my car.