Just finished homemade STB and wonder why I didn't do this sooner. I used 1.25x.095" mild steel tubing and 3/16" plate for brackets. Tightened up the front end of the car; I can definitely feel the difference.

Total weight with hardware after paint 7.8lbs

Total cost $60 for steel and $5 for paint

Well worth it!!

 

Looks good! I'm surprised the tubing even costs that much.

Is it painted in the picture? The STB almost looks bare metal.

 

You'll need to spend another $60 on a grinder to cut it back off the day you need to pull the motor for whatever reason.

 

Is it bolted or welded? Looks like the lower welds on the mounting brackets might be to the bottom plate, well i hope it is bolted in!

 

Looks to me that his bracket is welded together and then bolted to the strut tower area.

I could be wrong, but I'm sure Lo-tec will tell us.

 

The lower plate is bolted to the strut tower with two 3/8" bolts per side. Takes about 2 minutes to remove. The nuts are welded onto the lower plate below tubing, and the bolts go in from the underside of the strut tower. STB is not painted in this pic, but is now a nice shade of low gloss black.

 

bolt pics

 

and another

 

Lotec, I wasn't certain from the picture, it looked like you had welded the braces directly to the chassis. Great job on the end bracket strength and the bolt-on provisions, that is the strongest lateral supporting STB I have seen.

 

Thanks RTFC

 

I was just talking about building one on a different thread, I like it. You gave some inspiration

 

Made this one nine years ago.....

 

If I ever get caught up on other projects I will add these finally...

 

If you guys put up some plans you should move the thread over to fabrication... you know, for HELPING people instead of bragging .
I really like your brace, great job from an ME stand point. Typical bolt-in STBs have just 1 bolt on each side which does NOT strengthen the chassis fully. What you've done is prevent the strut towers from deflecting with reference to the frame... very good. Infact you've inspired me to make my own. Takes a lot to inspire me (considering I already have a 3 point STB).

 

not to high jack this thread but....
where have you seen these typical STBs with only one bolted point per side?

 

Typical "bolt in" setups are put in tension and compression. An example of a "weak" STB;

His bar puts bending moments on the STB in addition to the tension and compression. This makes it inherintly more useful in stiffening up the front end geometry.
Example of another "strong" STB;

 

JPrevost, do you have any more pics of the stronger STB you showed? Or can you direct me to some?

 

Hey Tim, when are you making one for my car? Or am I going to have to make my own and show people how it's done?

 

It's already done, you just have to put it together!!

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED (cutting, welding, grinding, painting etc.)

 

How long is that tube?

 

Tube is 49" long. If fabbing one you have to watch the lip under the hood that is a couple inches in from the edge. To set the height I spaced the tube about 3/4" above my fuel rails and worked backwards from there. The lower plates are 2" X 5", and the spacing on the support plates (vertical height from lower plate to centerline of tubing) was 1" on the outside and 2" on inside.

 

I was going to do this with some square tubing I picked up, but I think it's a tiny bit short, and I believe it's about the same thickness, anyway, I just used it to practice welding on...

That's what I wanted to ask, I figured 1/8" was a good thickness, but that tube you have is only... 13 gauge, compared to 11....
Think that's thick enough to work well? I don't doubt your results, but would 1/8" round work significantly better?
-J

 

The tubing is .095" thick, and could probably be a little thinner for the purpose it is serving, since it is loaded primarily in tension and compression and there are no bends in the tubing to flex. I could easily support the motor with this without damaging it. The problem with using thicker tubing is the overall weight and adverse effect on handling of the boat anchor sitting that high in the engine compartment. If you look at some of the availble ones by SLP, Hotchkis, etc. that have bends in them, they still don't use thicker tubing. I would weigh the bar you plan to use to see how much heavier it would be...this bar with mounting hardware weighed in at 7.8lbs...not really light but not bad.

 

Put the battery in the back and we'll call it even. (With Better Traction).

Great Job!