Well I cleaned up Paul Hughes wonderbar, painted it and installed it. Pretty easy work I'd say.

When I installed the Jamex STB I could not tell the difference. With the wonderbar installed I can tell the diff the car is not so loose. Nice to do an upgrade and tell the diff.

thx,
RP.

 

It is amazing how such a s h i t y looking bar can make a difference

 

I still don't understand why it didn't come on the Firebirds. Very strange.

 

what's a wunderbar?

are you guys talking about chocolate bars?

please share!!!

 

A wonderbar helps stiffen the front end of the car and was an Iroc specific item. Being that your car is a 92 it more than likely didn't come from the factory with one, although there are some cases of 91 Z28's leaving the factory with them, perhaps a leftover stock situation.Here is a pic of one.

 

yah i know those things

u bolt em on and they're suppose to keep your engine from moving, in effect giving you better acceleration or so i hear

where can i buy one and how much and do i have to screw it in and make holes somewhere?!?!?

 

I got mine for $46 at Global West

If you install two wonder bars you get an exponential increase in acceleration but you need a left handed pry bar to get the second one on the car and you have to get that direct from GM Performance Products for another $46.

 

Easyspeed I think you're a little confused. The wonderbar bolts in right near your front sway bar(Just under or near the rad). It doesn't help acceleration but lends additional support to the steering box aiding in cornering(Adds regidity). I believe you are thinking of a torque arm wich bolts up to the transmission and rear axle.The torque arm helps plant the rear in a spirited acceleration run. Your car has one of these(although a little on the flimsy side).Check under the front of your car in the area I mentioned and see if you have one. Like I said in the previous post your car probably didn't leave the factory with one but they are a popular add on.

 

Now that is funnnnnny ! Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Just read it again and it is EXPONENTIALLY FUNNY hahahahahahaha.... !!!

RP

 

Palric - Glad to hear you noticed a difference with this mod. But out of curiousity, do you still have the STB installed or did you remove it? If you didn't remove it, then why don't you and see if there's any difference? Maybe the two installed are giving better performance than just the one. Again I'm just curious. The two items are not expensive($46 for wonderbar) and sound pretty cheap for the benifits they provide.

Let me know.

 

Heck of an idea '88. I'll try it this weekend after all it is only two bolts to pull the STB. I'll let you know if there is any diff ?

RP.

 

It's $46 US plus shipping and brokerage for the Global West bar.

A bit expensive but it is a nice piece; powdercoated and heavier than the GM original.

Wonder bars can be difficult to locate as GM doesn't have them anymore and there aren't many of them in junkyards waiting to be picked up for $5.00.

 

STB's IMO are a waste of money on our cars... our strut towers move very very VERY slightly in hard cornering.....

OK.. they do look cool and I read one person's post somewhere that said it's a good place to hang your rags when you are working under the hood.... but performance wise?? ummm nope, don't think they are worth the money...

Now a Wonderbar... definitely, they do make a difference and I am glad my car has one bolted underneath

 

Stan, I have to disagree. The STB and the SFC's were two of the more worthwhile mods that I did. I used to get shake on the highway above 110. Installed the STB and the shake improved until 125. Installed the SFC's and the shake is gone until about 145. Not to mention going over speed bumps slowly now I don't actually feel the frame twisting now. For t-tops cars I think both the mods are mandatory.

 

As for bracing the chassis generally - there are also some tri-angel pieces, about 9 inches on all three sides, and you install two of them on the car. I read about these on a post a few months ago but did not retain a copy. They are apparently still available from GM and by the sounds of it can't be that expensive.

Does anyone know what these are.

 

Try and find the thread, i'd like to read about that. Maybe they're the parts ASC(or whoever) grafted onto the chassis of ragtops?

 

SFC's is a definite must for our t-top cars... a must do in my mind (wish I had a set installed, got all ****ed up with the body shop and now it will have to wait until next spring)

STB's... can't see it improving the handling all that much... I suppose it has to improve it very slightly...but not something that I am running out to get in the near future

I was told by many people that the strut tower deflection on our cars is very minimal.... but I could be wrong and most likely will get a STB but you can guarentee that it will be the last thing I will buy

 

Don't do it for the sake of handling, do it for the purpose of preventative maintaince. I didn't notice any difference in handling specifically, but the creaks and groans being minimized was nice.

 

Hey IROCKER....

I went to performance improvements and they told me this...

1) Bolts on are far better than weld ons(maybe because the bolt ons were more expensive? HMMMMMMMMMMMMM

2) MAC is no longer available in Canada because the Canadian supplier retired.

3) Only Competition Enginering was available at $286 for weld-ons and $865 for the bolt-ons.

Can you please give me the name and phone number of the store you purchased your SFC's from. Thanks.

Also, when it was installed was anything required to be moved or taken out of the way to install. I'm asking this to know specificlly what's involved because the body shop next to my unlce said that if I brought my car in on a Saturday afternoon, he would instal them for free provided it's a straight install and no B/S.

Thanks man

 

well with the weld on (and likely the bolt ons too?????..i am not sure) subframe connectors the weight of the car has to be on the wheels...ie the car cant be on a frame hoist where there is no load on the suspension...so the shop will have to have a drive on ramp to do the sub frame connectors.....i am sure someone will it explain it better

 

I call today and see if I can get you a set. And whomever told you bolt-ons are the way to go has his head up his ****! The weld-ons are the best way hands down. The only thing that had to be moved was the cat. They didn't have to take it right out, just moved it slightly to fit the front part of the one bar in. My exhaust is fully welded in, so if you have clamps, then dropping the intermediate pipe down shouldn't be an issue.

 

hehe.. I need a set as well... but most likely I will wait until next spring...but depending on the price I maybe convinced to do it before the snow flies!!!

 

88redxtsy: if you read this post before 3:30 today, drop me an email at work...The place I go to can get them.

 

call Fast Toys in Winnipeg..They carry Spohn SFC's which I think are beefier than CE..Maybe you can get the tubular version if youre lucky..Go to Spohn's site

Daz

 

This should be a picture of the triangle braces lifted from a thread on the chassis board entitled "Rear Sway Bar and Front Steering Braces." There are three of them and you may have to downsize the image on paintshop to see all three.

Edit: well the image is supposedly to big to attach although it's on the thread referred to above - so go look at it for yourself.