Everytime I write that word it makes me think Wonderbra... lol. Anyway. The other day I bid on a wonderbar for my car on Ebay. This was a piece included on TAs and IROCs so my car was without it. But I thought I would post here what a difference in handling it made! If you guys are running wider tires like 16x8 like I am, you're aware of how the car sometimes likes to follow grooves in the road. For some reason this really helped the car! Also I have a stronger feeling in the steering wheel. It feels might tighter and more responsive.

The reason I post this in the V6 board is becuase all of our cars don't have this part and the installation is a little different becuase of our cars being V6s. The lower radiator hose braket will need to be moved out approx. 1" so that it clears where the wonderbar runs directly across. That was the only modification needed. Othewise all that was needed to be done was disconnect the front sway bar at both sides, put the wonderbar on top of the swaybar mounts, and bolt them both back down together. Next is when I extended the bracket an inch by adding galvanized metal extentions to both sides. Then put the radiator hose back in and presto!

If this interests you guys or you'd like pictures or more information let me know and I'd gladly snap some pictures and such. I just thought I would contribute this to you guys.

 

Quote:

Everytime I write that word it makes me think Wonderbra... lol

lol, I was gonna say that...


definitely post pics....

 

I agree the wonder, uh, bar, gives much improvement. Quick question, since you had to unbolt your front sway bar anyway, did you put new bushings in there? On my Sport Coupe, I upgraded to 36mm front, 24mm rear sway bars, wonderBAR, new bushings and end links. Now that made a hell of a difference.


Still, ain't nuthin like an IROC

 

Putting my wonderbra on this weekend. Thanks for the advice.

 

Yes I did. Now I'm in search of front and rear IROC sway bars. And I'm probably going to be purchasing a set of the subframe connectors from Sophn with my upcomming birthday! :hail: :lala:

 

Can you hook me up with a link on them sub frame connectors. :hail:

 

Mark, could you send me some pics with dimensions? i wonder how hard it is to make one yourself.

 

Sure thing. http://www.spohn.net/index.cfm?fusea...t&productid=31
If that doesn't work just go to Spohn's Website and navigate your way there.

Edited for spelling improvements... lol

 

Attached is the picture from the auction I won. I didn't think to take another picture of it before installing it. I will try to take some pictures of it today from under the car of it installed. Also here is a link to another one that is up for bidding on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1865010954

 

Nice.
When you get the wonderbar in give us some pictures.

 

Thanks for the link.

That wonderbar is close to mine. The holes on mine were smaller, and painted gray. Cross rod looks about the same.

I noticed a MAJOR improvment just in that part. Let alone if I was to install a STD, and the Iroc sways.

Best 40 bux I have spent on this car so far

 

oops, ment STB :sillylol:

 

HOLY CRAP THAT ONE WAS AT 102 DOLLARS i can get them 20 bucks a peace from GM plus 10 bucks shipping i think im gonna buy me a few and sell them on EBAY.

 

Not from GM...They are discontinued.

 

I dont think so i bought one several months ago unless they stopped making them with in the past 6 months.

 

I guess they are discontinued i shoulda bought a stockpile of them if i had known this i woulda been rich i paied 20 bucks for mine from gmpartsdirect plus shipping.

 

FAST RS
Nothing for nothing, but are you sure we are talking about the same thing? The brace known as the "wonderbar" has been discontinued for some time. There is another brace now with the same part number (I believe it is a fender brace or something liked that). Were you able to get the "wonderbar" from from GMPARTS Direct. Or were you using the part number to search. I kinda got caught up in the same situation about 6 or 8 months ago. I finally ordered one from Top Down Solutions out in California. See Ya.............

 

WWasem

Was moving the radiator hose hard? Did you have to lose some antifreeze?

 

The hose did not need to be disconnected. All I had to do was take the house out of the bracket then unmount the bracket and then straighten them then add a new 90 degree bend with holes and remount. This will extend the bracket out approx. 1" and out far enough not to interfere with the wonderbar. Then simply place the hose back into the bracket and presto!

 

I purchased it from gmpartsdirect id say around 6 months ago maybe a little longer then that.

 

FAST RS.......if thats the case you done good...good luck with it.. mine did "wonders"

 

ThunderRacing sells one made by Global West.

 

WWasem

Do you have pictures of your lower radiator hose? Do you have a molded hose or one of those flex kind?

 

I have the rubber molded hoses. By relocating the hose it did not effect the cooling at all and did not put a strain on the hose or anything. The bends are all still normal and not pinched. Here are finally some pictures from under the car. I lowered the resolution on these to make them 56K friendly. I have the high resolution ones though if someone would like a better look.


In this picture you can see the newly relocated lower coolant hose. It is now right above the front lower strut bar. Where as before it was right where the wonderbar now runs.


This is another angle showing it.

 

Looks good. So what kind of a difference have you found it to make?

 

I ended up not putting it on because of the lower radiator hose so i sold it on ebay got about 60 bucks for it.

 

You guys with the 3.1 V6's have a different radiator hose routing. My 2.8's lower hose goes into the radiator on the driver's side. If anyone has a wonderbar on a 2.8 I would like to know if you had problems fitting it by the hose. Otherwise I am going to call up the place that sells them and ask what they know.

 

Like I said one of the most noticeable things is that the steering feels much more right and secure, for lack of better words. And also that with the wide tires up front the car used to follow a lot of the gooves in the road and now it holds it's a bit better.

 

Well you might wanna give it some thought again. It really wasn't all together that hard to do the little modification to bring the bracket out an inch. I think it's a very helpful and easy modification.

 

Im done with my camaro for now now my focus is on modifying the hell outta my firebird.

 

Close to mine, I bent mine so it is ABOVE the wonderbar, not behind it. But I guess its 50/50, its outta the way, either way. Some hand bending with a few cuss words took care of it I am MUCH pleased with my 40 bux, and recommend it to anyone that has the wennie sway bars like us.

 

I installed it into my 2.8L firebird about 2 weeks ago with no major problems (except getting the occasional dust & rust chunk falling on my face!) No modifications or hose rerouting necessary. The lower radiator hose does touch the wonderbar but just barely, and it's not compressed by it, and has good coolant flow. Heck it's more compressed by the factory belt strap.

Make sure you slide in the wonderbar on the driver's side first, then the passenger's side last; this will make the job a LOT easier since space is pretty tight on the driver's side.

Also if you are using a stock GM wonderbar, make sure the open ends of the wonderbar sleeves and the weld marks are facing up, and the covered part of the bar is facing down, as I don't think it will work the other way around, plus that's the way it was installed on the IROC I removed it from. A friend of mine did it successfully upside down, but that was on a V8 where there is no hose in the way. ( see his pics here, if interested : http://www.geezernet.nu/transam/ud0401/wonderbar.html )

Below is a picture of the post-installation on my 2.8 mpfi. It's the black bar running down the center of the pic. Hope this helps, GT