I made this strut tower brace out of 1" square steel tubing, .090 thickness. I measured the distance I wanted between the strut towers, and cut the tubing to size. Then I found a long, square iron tube bolted to some heavy machinery at work, about belt high, and I bent the tubing using a little persuasive leverage. Then I ground the ends of the tubing to match the slope of the strut tower tops. With a little trial and error, and more grinding and bending, I got it to the shape I wanted, with clearance for both the plenum and the hood. then I made two mounting plates out of .216 thickness steel, set everything back in for a test fit, and had one of my friends weld the mounting plates to the cross tube. Then I drilled 3/8" holes in the mounting plates, set the STB in place, and marked inside the holes on the top of the strut towers with a magic marker for the hole locations. Next I drilled 3/8" holes in the strut towers (Watch the tires!) and bolted everything in place. I used 3/8" by 1" zinc plated steel bolts, with 3/4" washers on top and underneath.

The difference in handling is amazing! Steering is much firmer, and the front end no longer wanders all over the road. Under hard cornering, I no longer get the feeling that the front corner is trying to fold itsef under the car. There's a lot more feedback from the front suspension, and body squeaks and creaks are a lot less noticeable. I highly recommend a STB for all third - gen owners! Even if you don't have the resources to make your own, an aftermarket brace would be well worth the money spent.

I have put about a hundred miles on mine, and so far no rubs, or loosening. Next step is to take it off and paint it. I noticed that after a long run, the brace is too hot to touch, from engine heat and possibly friction, so I will probably have to use a VHT type paint. I noticed elsewhere on the boards that people had problems with their powder coating flaking off, could be a result of all the heat cycling.

Thanks for this great resource, all your input and information sharing gave me the knowledge and motivation to make this. Any comments and suggestions would be welcome!

 

other views:

 

one more:

 

Well done !
Tennis clap
Want to make one for a TBI car ?

 

NICE!!!!

 

I'm going to be trying to get a hold of some metal pretty soon. I thought I would try to come up with a STB for my TBI. If everything turns out alright, I will be very happy.
I was wondering how the braces were attached to the strut towers, but I guess you just make some holes in it and bolt it down?
Well, I am going to try to make a 3 pt. STB. I might give up in the middle, and end up with just one that crosses over.
I am also going to box the LCA and a few of those other stupid U shaped parts under there. I figure every little bit will help. Even if it does only cost me $50-60 in metal for all these projects. I figure that's a lot saved considering all those combined would be probably $500+
I just need to find someone who can weld for me now. Or else I might be paying quite a bit for that as well.

Looks good though.

 

Looks good, and I'm sure it performs as well as any aftermarket STB.

I just put the edelbrock 3 point on my car and I have to agree, that these things make a major difference in the handling department.

BTW, after seeing yours it kind of made me wish I would've just made my own too. Lessons learned, I guess.

 

hey DSaylor,
how heavy is your aftermarket STB? I just got back from a scrap yard and was thinking of making a 3 PT brace out of the 1" square tube steel, but that thing is heavy. I had to go with 1/8" thick. I am thinking of just going straight across now.

Does the 3 PT make that much of a difference, or will the single be good enough? I know it will be a lot better than nothing at all though.

 

TZFBird,
I can't give you an exact weight, but it is pretty hefty for it's size, a little heavier than I was hoping, but i'm a real freak about keeping my cars weight down.

I used to think the 3 point made a big difference, but after seeing how mine was built, i personally don't believe it does anymore.

I love the clean looks of this edelbrock piece and it saved me a little time buying it, but if I were to do it over again, I think I'd go Charlies route and build a good 2 point.

 

Wow! Very nice work Charlie87!

 

Thanks DSaylor
I guess I will just build a pretty strong 2 point and see where that get's me. I guess anything will be good for as cheap as they are to make. Probably $50 at most.
I told my dad what I was doing and he can't see any point in it. "Mainly for looks". I guess we'll find out. Guess he's really going to laugh at me when I want to make some Sub-Frame Connectors.
He has a Vette, so he doesn't have to think about these things I guess.

 

Excellent fab work!!

You'll be slotting the holes the first time you have to have the car aligned though.

 

Well, lets get that thing painted a bright "Red". Great job !!

Auggie

 

why would you have to slot the holes in the stb to get the car aligned.the stb isent connected to the strut bolts. hope the advice in your other 4000 posts is better than this.as the stb has nothing at all to do with alignment.

 

TZF, I just recharged the A/C on my buddies '91 Cadillac, and he had a 2 point STB on there from the factory. I thought this was pretty cool, and it definately rules out your dad's "mainly for looks" theory.

 

man thats sweet....

 

Looks great!

I have a question...yours seems much more rigid than any aftermarket model I have seen. They all have a bolt connecting the cross bar to each stb mount. This bolt is a pivot point where yours doesn't have any pivot point. Your design makes more sense to me, however I wonder why there aren't any manufactured without the pivot bolt?

anybody have an idea why?

 

I agree. Solid bars would be better IMO. I see a lot of one piece 4th gen bars.

Ed

 

Must be for easy maintenance, you only have to remove the bolts in the bar but not the base, but I think this model would be more rigid and that made up the added hasle.

 

One reason is "ease of assembly"
The angle associated with the top of the tower
is not a closely held spec across 82-92.
Where a "custom" stb is exactly right
for a given car it might not be "right" for
slightly "bonked" cars...
With joints it'll fit even severly "bonked" cars

 

I studied a lot of different styles of STB's before I decided on my design, and a couple things made me choose the BMR style brace over the Edelbrock / Jamex type of design.
As was mentioned, the Edelbrock / Jamex type of 2 point brace is 3 pieces, and it seems to me that 3 pieces would have more potential for flexing and distortion under load conditions (ie: cornering) than a solid design. Also, the two additional flex points of a straight bar design are a few inches above the strut tower itself, whereas a solid bar design puts that stress directly on the top of the strut tower, at a lower center of gravity. So a solid piece will react quicker to changes, transfer the weight shift sooner than an elevated piece (straight bar) with 2 additional flex points. Which is not to say that 3 piece designs are junk, I'm sure Edelbrock style braces do a good job. But I think where physics are concerned, one piece is inherently stiffer than 3 pieces of equal thickness tied together. Also, I wanted my bar to be different than the BMR design in that mine is one long, gradual curve, vs 2 curves flowing into a flat center section. Because structurally, an arch will support more weight than a straigt beam. For example, stadium roofs and suspension bridges being flowing radii rather than flat on top. Urbman makes a logical point, though. A solid, mass produced bar like the BMR with a set mounting plate angle would have more fit problems than a three point design. So unless you make a custom fit bar, you could concieveably have to do some minor tweaking to an assembly line bar.

Here is a link to the BMR one piece brace. I know a few guys on this board have them on their cars, and have good things to say about them:

https://secure.gnetworks.com/store/g...t&product=1462

 

Welll...
Any chance you would errr ummmm like
to "expand" your repetoire to include a stb
for a tbi config
(embeded subliminal suggestion ,
Yeah doit for urbman, end subliminal suggestion)

 

No prob...been going to weld on the firewall braces for years. LOL

 

And....you can remove it in less than a minute to work on things if you desire. The 1/2-13 grade 8 bolts that fasten it down thread into a nut bar under the strut tower. Actually about 15 seconds with an impact wrench.

 

Awsome man!! I was thinking about fabbing a STB too cause $139 plus $95 shipping for a KennyBrown 3pt STB is kinda ridiculeous what if you weld the bolt heads to the chasis (from under the car) to ease removal? Or upsidedown bolts on the mounting plate.(think wheel adapters). Solid job! Hell I can do that too!!! even a custom wonderbar!!

 

I just threaded the bolts up from the fenderwell and put the nuts on top, mainly because my inside holes are pretty close to the underside of the bar and the bolts don't drop in from the top too easily. But with the washers on both top and bottom of the strut mount, I didn't even need a wrench on the underside to tighten it down. Just used a 3/8 box wrench on the nuts and they cinched up real tight. You can thread the nuts on real easy while holding the bolts up with your other hand in the fenderwell, although it might not be that easy if your car is lowered. It actually worked out better with the nuts on top, because it's easier to tighten a nut from the top than it would be from inside the fenderwell.
I suppose one could use wing nuts in place of hex nuts if you are gonna be taking it off and putting it back on regularly. But even with hex nuts, it only takes me less than a minute to remove it or put it back on.

 

Ok, finally got the STB painted. I used Duplicolor Engine Enamel, Cast Coat Aluminum color. Shot a couple of coats of Duplicolor High Performance Wheel Coating clearcoat over it. Buffed it up with a terry towel, put it back in, and it's good to go!

 

Aw man, I think you should of painted it a nice bright "Red" to match your ride

Auggie

 

I thought about that, Auggie..... but the bar gets very hot, and the closest High - Temp color I could find at my local parts stores was a Chevy Orange-Red, which was not quite a match. And the paint that they did have which was coded to be a match for my year was not High -Temp paint. I think I would rather have a contrasting color than one that looks like it's close to body color but not quite. The aluminum color goes good with the plenum and runners, and who knows...... I may repaint sometime,

Duplicolor also has a color changing paint kit, was 18 bucks for the 3 can set. Looked really cool on the display cards! I toyed with the idea of shooting the STB with it as a test, cause I think color changing paint would be cool for wheel centers, or other stuff. They have 4 diff color combos, one being a sweet gold / magenta. Here's a link to their site if anyone's interested in some inexpensive color changing paint:

www.duplicolor.com

 

Finally got my TBI STB made. Took forever. But I could have got it done a lot sooner had I found someone to weld it for me.
I'll post a pic up tomorrow if I can. It doesn't look too bad considering it cost me:
$10 - 10' steel tubing
$2 - Nuts, bolts, washers
$5 - Welding
$?? - Paint

I could make another and try to sell it as a "name brand" one.

I'll get a pic though.

 

wheres da pic

 

the stb looks good!

 

Well, here's a finished pic of it. I got lucky that the spray paint I used turned out to be pretty close to the coor of the engine bay. It alsmot looks stock though. The How-to is on my website, or in my sig. Sorry... can't post 2 at a time. Don't have a photo host yet.

 

I'm currently planning a wonderbar and just started on some LCA relocation brackets. Those will be a littl tricky make. Can't do any shoddy work on those. I also put in the larger anit-sway arms. I think they were off an Iroc-Z or Z28. Not sure. It's the one with the larger bars anyway. They were the best deal I have got yet. I traded them for my old ones.

 

Ok, 10 months later, STB is still doing the job, haven't touched it, bolts still tight, no weird tire wear. Got some new Falken XIEX P245 50ZR 16's and it corners like it's on rails.

STB has been in my experience one of the cheapest and most effective handling upgrades you will ever do to your 3rd Gen. If you don't have one yet, I really recommend buying or fabricating one, you won't regret it!

 

Well, mine is also holding up. I've also made a wonderbar and LCA relocation brackets(not quite finished...still need a better rear first). This week I'm going to make some Sub Frames/ box the LCAs.
Would you believe that all these chassis upgrades will probably end up costing me between $50 and $60! You can't even buy one of them for that much. I'm going to say that these have been the best bang for buck mods done yet. I've also been asked to make parts for other cars as well, so as soon as I get started on that, I might have a little side job. I LOVE STEEL!!

 

man thats awsome it beats paying 100+ for one

 

I'm in the market for STB. Anyone wanna make me one?
I have the LT1

 

I bought one (Edelbrock strut tower brace for TBI/carb.) but in the rush to get it I didn't check that it wouldn't fit on cars with the A/C on the driver's side... does any one want to buy it? $120 takes it!

 

gotta love ppl who make it instead of buy it, great idea

 

A JOB WELL DONE
Charlie
Your STBs are just are what I have been looking for, I have a 1986 TPI IROC I live in australia and over here you cant just walk int a shop and buy anything U.S built cars of the shelf or even get hold of one to copy , to import one it works out about 3 times the U.S price , which meens if you want it you have to make it . I love the look of your design and Iam going to make one the same can you supply any measurements and and the clearance that you have allowed under the bar between the bar and the engine any help would be great

regards Steve

 

Thanks! There really wasn't much measuring involved, just a lot of eyeballing, test fitting, grinding, sawing, bending and such until it fit the way I wanted it to. There's only about a quarter of an inch of clearance between the bar and the intake, but after almost 2 years there are no rub marks and the bar hasn't loosened or bent at all. Well worth the time and material!

 

I painted mine with ceramic engine paint. You can find it a walmart, CSK, NAPA, or anywhere else. It works really good and gives a "hard" finish that doesn't scratch or chip.

 

HAHAH slow.. hahah

 

Nice work guys

 

Hey Guys
I ended up getting a an aloy polished Hotchkis bar for my car , a buddy was in the U.S SC visiting his mom and dad he picked it up for me , cost heaps with duty tax etc to get it here but it should look great , I will post some pics when it is fitted . keep in touch Regards Steve

 

sounds like a good idea has anyone made a 3 point and has pics of it just wondering

 

heres mine

 

topless89rs.....looks good!!

How does it fasten to the firewall?

DM

 

right now it isn't fastened yet but i am going to get some bolts with low profile heads to bolt it to the firewall