im in the process of building a strut tower brace for my 86 carb GL wagon. im mocking up a piece of steel tube to bend around the spare tire, between the tire and air box and to the other side and welding it to the stock dinky little one.

 

monday im bending the tubing, and ill bring it home and trial fit it, if it works ill take mine off and weld the new pipe to the old one.

 

i will also doucument the whole process. so if anyone is intrested in having me make you one please speak up now. im going to start building custom parts for my subaru now so my car will be the guinea pig for them like all my other cars. in the past i have built custom lowering blocks for my 78 C10, a strut tower brace, sub-frame connectors and lower control arms along with reinforcing my panhard bar on my 83 camaro i had. ive never had a problem.

 

so if your intrested please speak up.

 

Thanks

Shean

How much would you charge for a brace? I might be interested if the price is right.

yeah same here..

 

they shouldnt be more then 40 bucks for nice one..

Originally posted by torxxx

yeah same here..

 

they shouldnt be more then 40 bucks for nice one..

 

http://www.subspeed.com/LoyStrutBar.htm

 

Not more than $40?

 

Scooby. I would be concerned about the strength of a bent/molded piece of metal .. In my experience, strut bars have always been.. well.. straight. Not to say it won't work. Hope it does. Let me know how it comes out.

Caleb, although I agree with you, the one on my GL turbo wagon is straight for this purpose.

The do make them to fit the app.

Here is my 2.5RS

The one on the rear is also curved.

and yes they were a little more than 40 GWs each.

Now with CAD they can be reinforced to take the loading.

Maybe Shean can use pict to help in his design?

I also would be a bit leery of a curved piece. Why not just move the spare tire and make a straight one, kinda like this.

a straight brace won't lend itself well to some intercooler setups..

I'd be in. Perhaps we could get together and you could make me a custom one. Since I have some neat goodies I have to take into account.

 

After you get the bar in, PM me and we can get together. I'd like to see it.

Straight bars also afford a decent place to mount some types of ICs (nice job Snowman)

well then i will leave it up to the buyer if you want one that is out of the way, or a strait one.

 

it will be $30 fot the curved, and $20 for the strait then, plus you pay shipping.

Can you bend me one so I can still put my spare tire under the hood..

I like that one on the 2.5 RS

3 piece design..

 

hmmm

I might have to mess around and see what I can come up with

torxxx, i can try, but i was going to have it bend around the back of the air cleaner on my carbed EA82. i can try making on the does that but im not promising anything.

Very interested, PM me or email me. I'd like to see what you've done. And we can talk about what I'd like. I'd be willing ot pay a bit over since it will be "custom"

the only thing about going around the back of the airbox is people with hitachis, you wouldnt be able to put a full size spare in the spot

Originally posted by torxxx

the only thing about going around the back of the airbox is people with hitachis, you wouldnt be able to put a full size spare in the spot

 

incorrect, i built a prototype today, i have a hitachi, and its fits with plenty of room tog et the spare in and out, the vehicle i tested it on was my friends wagon, he bought it before i took it home so i couldn't get pictures. fit perfect. and i decided im leaving my sparetire in the back of the wagon, so i made a strait round tube one in like 15 minutes today. i just was given the wrong mesurements by my mom, she said 35 and 1/8th when it was actually shorter, so i am going to redo it tonight and make her fit, even though its raining, and try to get you all some pictures,

 

now please understand, mine looks like crap because the shop saw brke the last blade, we where running low on gas for the welders so my welds look like crap, and i had to use an acedlyine torch to cut it because the ait compressor is still in the shop so i couldnt use the plasma cutter.

ok, here are the pictures. best i can get until i paint and mount on the car. i again threw this one together in like 10 to 20 minutes. thats why its so crappy looking, it was just a trail fit and strength test.

2, sorry for it being so blurry, couldn't get the darn camera to focus right.

3, maybe this one will look better for you guys. they are VERY strong welds, i can grind them smooth for you, your choice. i cant paint almost any color, and try to do any bend, shape you want, connecting anyway you want.

 

but again this will all cost more.

paint, other then black or n/a is $5.00

grind welds is $5.00

complex bending, like all the way around the spare tire, $30.00

strait or slight bended $20.00

 

PM me and we can talk about what you want, also im thinking of picking up some metal to build some sub-frame connectors. because form what i saw from taking a quick peak is it a sub frame car, can someone please tell me if it is full frame or sub-frame, because if its sub then i will also, hopefully, be making some SFC's to stiffen up the car even more.

sorry, forgot the picture.

looks good

 

can u get ahold of stainless steel? (that would be one strong rump roast brace)

 

and did you stick weld or wire feed that?

i can try to find some, but ifso then the price will go up depending on the price i can find it as.

 

i did mig wire feed with our gas lincoln 175amp welder at school. im more used to building exhaust systems, not this miticouls beatiful looking welding. i did for my X-mas presents but that doesn't count because its been like 3 weeks now and i suck again on the beatiful part, strength is there.

ok i finally got off my lazy arse and got it finished, been bussy at school and such, so i had a friend help my out, he drilled the wholes, grinded the botom of the mount to fit the strut tower, and bolted her on.

 

sorry for the crappy pictures.

 

 

 

 

still got to paint it. but you get the general idear.