Best suggestions for a STB for 86 Z-28, stock 305 TPI? Clearances?Problems?Advice?

Thanks,
ORod

 

Strut tower braces available on E-bay right now for $20.00 dutch bid. The guy has like 300 of them. Chrome with red ends. Bent to clear TPI looks like.

 

JAMEX brand. Here is the link. Got my bid in.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ndexURL=0&rd=1

 

that thing looks cheap. theres a reason its 20 bucks.

 

Did you notice the zero feedback on this guy, If he scams 350 people for $20.00 thats $7000.00 !! I love E bay and buy and sell but just something to think about. Later, Dave

 

Dave has a point he has zero feedbacks and its scary. But at $20.00 what the heck. By the way would this fit a V6?

 

you know i said the same thing "its 20 bucks so who cares" but if he does scam, and hes got 350 people like us, he will be one rich bastard. oh yeah, dont forget to notice that he has four other dutch auctions and they are for jamex lowering springs, and they are 60 bucks a pop. this guy could be legit or he could be pulling off the biggest ebay scandal of all time. just something to think about.

 

A couple months ago some guy who had been selling on e bay for years scammed hundreds of people on porcelan Armani collectabe statues $500 to couple thousand $ ea, cops figure he got away with $250,000 to $400,000 and skipped town left his wife and everything behind. Dave

 

pfffft wouldn't you?

 

funny.

 

Back to the original question...
I've got the Edelbrock 3 point brace and recommend it highly. It made a very noticable difference.
As for the E-bay stuff... ya get what ya pay for.

 

Ill suggest what not to get...Hotchkiss.... If they were giving them away Id tell them to keep it.... Mine started having the powdercoating peel off about 2 weeks after I put it on.... Ive seen others with the same results.... Its HANDS DOWN the BIGGEST POS Ive ever bought....I called about it and they are askng me where I store the car.... I said In a GARAGE with a cover over it...i rarely drive it....Then they respond with OH, well were sorry you are unhappy with it....Thats it... So I promised them I would bring it up any time anyone ever asked about suspension stuff...I need to get my car in a magazine and leave the peeling rusty POS on there and point out the nice STB...

 

Edebrock 3 point, world of difference and a pretty good fit.

 

i've got the jamex stb on my car now and it looks great and seems to tighten things up a bit and for my .02 20.00 is a great deal i know that 3 point might be better and when i can pull .95 g in the twisties or lift the front off the ground in the quarter i'll switch to a 3 point till then the jamex is fine
ps it clears the tpi plenum just great
pete

 

blowen90ta,

Do you have anypictures of it installed?

To install it,does it use the strut mount bolts, or do you have to drill your own.

Thanks,
Jesse

 

The Jamex STB uses the stock hardware to mount it. Also, I believe they sell for about $70 brand new. Looks are deceiving and I doubt these are by any means cheap.

As far as the guy scamming on ebay. It "could" be a scam but in order for someone to sell stuff in a DUTCH auction on ebay, they have to ID Verify, meaning they have to give their name, address, birthdate, social security number, and answer several questions about their credit background that only that particular person would know the answer to. With shipping and all for 350 STBs, he would be getting away with about $10,000 and that's hardly enough to skip town on. If he is scamming, he won't get away with it. Also, he's only selling like 8 sets of springs and 16 sets of another spring ... if he were scamming I think he would have set those amounts up over 300 too. He could be stupid though and didn't think about that.

For $20 I'll take my chances. I've lost more.

 

I have the Kenny Brown 3-point STB. Have not installed it yet as I have some motor work to do yet this spring, but I have lined it up. You drill 2 new holes at each strut tower and 1 at the firewall. Easily clears the TPI intake (better than the same STB did on my '93 Z28 with LT1). And it sits back from the throttle body some so it looks as if even the TNT nitrous plate will fit without clearance problems.

 

i'll shoot a pic tomorrow. but the install is clean and simple,you just drill 4 holes and bolt it up.then ajust the tie rod ends and slide the cross bolts in. i put a slight amount of preload on mine.
by the way i ordered another ine off e-bay for 20.00 i'll either sell it for double or keep it for my next third gen.
pete

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.....

Oscar R.

 

is he selling any for carb/tbi?

how bout a link to the drop springs?

 

here is a pic--as you can see i painted my end brackets white to blend a little better

 

That's a neat idea! I think I'll copy it!
Rob

 

FYI, I got my brace in today...looks sweet.

Now I just need to get the nuts, bolts, and borrow a drill.

Later,
Jesse

 

Sweeeeet, I should be getting mine soon.

 

What do you mean by pre-load?

 

i think they mean to have the brace a bit tighter than the holes are so as to pull the tops of the strut towers together a bit helping to fight their natural tendency to lean out over time.

 

cool. thanks...

 

I bought the hotchkis brace about 3 years ago and i have the same problem with the paint chipping off where the bolts go. the brace works great and i may just re paint the whole thing silver to match my cars paint.

 

Just installed mine and what a difference. It rides like its on rails.

 

Did anybody elses arrive all chewed up? Mine is hardly just a polish away from being good. I know, 20 bucks what do u expect, but he never said they were all chewed up?

 

Yeah .. mine has some heavy duty scratches in it. But I was of the reasoning that for $20 what the heck.

 

mine looked fine to me

 

I bought two and they were in good shape. There were a few scratches but not too bad.

 

Mine arrived in an opened box, and the plastic wrapper was cut open, too. I just figured some UPS driver checked it to see if it fit his car!

Rob

 

Are the Jamex STB's still up for sale (dutch style auction) on ebay? I cannot find an active auction...am I too late?

 

Sorry but your too late and in my opinion you lost a deal, although mine also came with scrathes they still do the job. Maybe I can polish them.

 

same open bag an scratches here. i also painted my brackets to match my ride as blowen90ta did. sweet idea!!!!!

 

Well I got lucky, I contacted the company and the STB's were still available for the same price, I just ordered one.

 

Works fine as long as you curve it forward instead of "over" where the TPI would normally sit.

Steve

 

I contacted the seller and yes, there are still some for sale.

His reply to me:

Yes we still have some strut bars left,
They are $20.00ea, plus shipping $10.00ea,
If you want one or more use my paypal account forcefed@forcefedracing.com
or you can send money order to,
Brent Klein
213 Sage St, #3
Carson City
Nevada 89706

 

Yup, I posted above. I ordered mine today

 

BMR is good

 

I just got mine today. Unopened but scratched up too. I figure that's why they're so cheap but hey, it does the job and I paid next to nothing for it.

 

I didn't read the posts all the way down, but for all of you skeptics... I already won the bid, recieved, and installed the Jamex strut tower brace. It looks great, and the car is so much tighter now. It clears, and it fully adjustable. No complaints whatsoever.

 

Will it line up with any of the factory bolts? or no? I really do not want to drill into a high load area like that....

 

you gotta drill

 

Forget that then... I will use a bender and awelder and make one that will use the stock mounting points.

 

ok, have fun. i installed mine in under an hour...

later,
Jesse

 

I got my 20.00 bar and I am very happy. Best deal I've had in a while.

 

You can't mount a STB using stock mounting bolts due to the way the strut towers are made on thirdgens. There's not enough hood clearance on the sides. All aftermarket STBs require drilling to mount and fit properly.