I made some strut bars so the front and rear using some bars that were used from a pull out bed chair-type thing.
The bars are hollow but a good inch round and they could hold my weight when I stood on them without bending.
I simply cut them from the frame and measured the lengths cut and measured where the hole needed to be made drilled and checked the holes
In order to get the front hood strut clearance I had to flatten the mounting points and give a slight bend in one area to fit around the throttle body area (LN2 95)
Bolt in and repeated for a second bar on the front running a dual instead of a single with a plate fitting the two bolts together. The way I did the bars they are preloaded and stiff as h@ll.
The rear bar is a single system due to the angle needed for the bars to clear the body. But I made a brace that attaches the bar to a set of bars running vertical to it bracing and keeping it from flexing AT ALL.
The result is a stiffer ride that doesnt sway much in turns and at highway speeds it like I can feel the rear wheels more.
I'll post pic in the morning.
Next is rear tie bar-like sway bar that I will tie in with the in-trunk sway bar look for the build specs later.
http//www.umods.org/drift.html
umods@live.com/ddiaz@umods.org
Subscribed. Awaiting pictures...
I wouldnt trust you anywhere near my car to even check the air pressure after your weed wacker turbo idea...let alone start making strut bars now.. yilkes...
"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."
^why not? I'm sure these bars were well thought out and are in good proportion so that they don't cause too much under/over steer. Don't worry about the weedwhacker idea... hes moved on to better ideas...
Senorguitar19 wrote:I wouldnt trust you anywhere near my car to even check the air pressure after your weed wacker turbo idea...let alone start making strut bars now.. yilkes...
gotta say i agree. do you wonder why your friends give you hack nicknames, i know someone you can hang out with though
I wonder what will happen if we give this guy some rope...
I'm all for making your own parts, hell I have done it before. But remember, its not just your life you are risking with half 'assed parts, its everyone else on the road too.
i'm curious to see pictures....
um.. why make you're own when you can pick up aluminum ADJUSTABLE ones on ebay for like $40 shipped TOGETHER?
just wondering...
Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.
I don't see why all the bitching is going on.
It's a strut bar. It's not like our cars see insane amounts of stress in those areas.
Hell, I have seen a piece of metal with washers welded on used as one and it held up fine. Although I wouldn't advise it...(Forget the members name though)
EcoCav *DesertTuners.com* wrote:I wonder what will happen if we give this guy some rope...
I'm all for making your own parts, hell I have done it before. But remember, its not just your life you are risking with half 'assed parts, its everyone else on the road too.
Its a strut bar, get off his ass.
Now if he said he made a way to make coilovers out of the stock suspension parts, then start worrying.
z yaaaa wrote:um.. why make you're own when you can pick up aluminum ADJUSTABLE ones on ebay for like $40 shipped TOGETHER?
just wondering...
The only advantage I could see is if it is a properly welded 1 piece. Other than the vert bar and access to a junkyard 1 pieces arent as cheap. After getting rid of my 1 piece vert bar for the pair of 40 dollar adjustable ebay ones I could notice the difference and was very dissapointed. I just went back to the junk yard and got another vert bar.
Zs Z wrote:z yaaaa wrote:um.. why make you're own when you can pick up aluminum ADJUSTABLE ones on ebay for like $40 shipped TOGETHER?
just wondering...
The only advantage I could see is if it is a properly welded 1 piece. Other than the vert bar and access to a junkyard 1 pieces arent as cheap. After getting rid of my 1 piece vert bar for the pair of 40 dollar adjustable ebay ones I could notice the difference and was very dissapointed. I just went back to the junk yard and got another vert bar.
Wow, first ever review of anyone doing this and going back to the factory vert bar.
I'm curious to see some pictures too as I'm also known to be a ghetto builder too.
Nothing like having a car built out of junkyard parts to make something work.
Subscribed to possibly learn something.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO! 
Ok so here are some of the pics of the bars like I said I would post:
This last pic is of the bars used to make everything the top was from the front two, the middle is from the back, and the third is factory sway bar.
Did this so you can see the diffrence in sizes, so if anyone trys to say they are weak or will break under load the bars are bigger and lighter then the stuff used OEM.(I did I say they cost zero dollars)
More pics of the car can be seen at my photo bucket account
1995 Sunfire Pics
http//www.umods.org/drift.html
umods@live.com/ddiaz@umods.org
Why pay extra money for something I can make for free?
If you want to pay for something like this and wait 2 weeks for it to come in power to you,
I'm just showing people out there that if you don't have a grip of cash to throw at your ride you can Do it yourself with some effort and research.
I don't even bother responsding (most of the time
) to hater remarks cuz I don't care. If you want to bash then I'll read your comments and take into consideration what you have
to say, if I can apply it to my porjects then thank you. If you are just running your mouth about me then Have A Nice Day, I would rather spend my time on my Ghetto Projects then try and knock someone else. This is not directed you Z, so don't I'm throwing hate at you just a general comment.
I have done alot of things that may look half aced, and just out out of wack. But please belive I know more about cars and performance mods then most people,
this is why I apply that knowledge to WHAT I HAVE LYING AROUND THE HOUSE.
I just want to do something from nothing and hope to help someone out there do the same an maybe save them some cash along the way.
So Have a nice day!!!
http//www.umods.org/drift.html
umods@live.com/ddiaz@umods.org
need better pics of the rear.
the fronts,.......well they're definately ghetto. but, if they do the job then what the hey.
I wouldn't call it ghetto because the basis what these bars are supposed to do is there and serve their function.
I did something similar with mine but use it in conjunction with the double wall vert strut bar.
I added the extra bar as a support bar which in theory should make the overall strut bars a strong setup.
Here's a pic and used 1/2 inch galvanized steel electrical conduit to make the bar using a shop press to make the end tabs work nicely.
I can't really see enough of what's going on in the rear so can't really comment.
But I do like the fact that some will try different things to achieve the same effect as something that is bought.
Junkyard and ghetto engineers ftw, when it works.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
just checked out the pics of your ride and all i have to say is wow dude!!
only positive thing about this. is that you won't be threating anyone's lives making your car unsafe! (thats if u don't drive it like a retard now)
WiGM-Tuners member.
I don't get the use of strut bars. The center to center on those do not move. This is not an old muscle car we are talking about here.
I appreciate doing things yourself but I think you wasted your time. I think people buying the ones that are premade are a waste of time on a J-body too.
99 cav 2.2L 212,000 miles
97 cav 2.2L 110,000 miles
91 cav 2.2L 236,000 miles RIP
04 Silverado Z71 Ext.Cab 55,000 miles
01 Suzuki SV650 22,000 miles
97 Arctic Cat ZRT 600 6,000 miles
I also finished the rear tie bar today, I used the same size bar as the front ones (ran out of the larger ones)
the way I did it was cut a pair of 1/4 inch thick steel plates and drilled a hole to mount the bars. The way I fitted the bars to the strut was
really easy and anyone with a grinder could also, just cut about 1 1/2 inches into the plates made them so the plate will fit around the
factory strut bolt (the bottom ones) un-tightened the nut and slipped in torqued back down and done!
Looks ok, works just fine gave me car a few zigg zaggs around the block to see how everything is working.
The car still leans a little bit under hard turns, but the biggest gains I can say is how fast it recovers from the leaning and
is good to go, the rear made a big diffrence and I plan on finishing up the bars later.
I will be either attaching a second bar to the rear and then bolt that to the frame and maybe drill through the trunk and attach
pair of rods to the stabilzer bars in-trunk.
Check back for more updates.
Later
http//www.umods.org/drift.html
umods@live.com/ddiaz@umods.org
matt wrote:I don't get the use of strut bars. The center to center on those do not move. This is not an old muscle car we are talking about here.
I appreciate doing things yourself but I think you wasted your time. I think people buying the ones that are premade are a waste of time on a J-body too.
So why are you even here if you don't put money or time into your car and oppose anything that is performance oriented with our cars.
I don't understand your philosophy at all with this.
David Diaz, if you don't have any heim joints on the ends of these bars, you might as well have a completely solid axle then because that's exactly what you're doing.
That's not the point of having the tie bar for our cars. The point is to keep the twist beams parallel with each other but still allow what independence they have to do it's job.
Pictures of what you have will better help us understand what you've done.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
matt wrote:I don't get the use of strut bars. The center to center on those do not move. This is not an old muscle car we are talking about here.
I appreciate doing things yourself but I think you wasted your time. I think people buying the ones that are premade are a waste of time on a J-body too.
You don't get the use of them because you obviously don't understand how they work and what they do.
they dont make sturt bars for nothing.....
This thread needs some serious help and so does your car! I will just make a few quick points.
I had an ebay strut tower bar. It was shtt! The thing was not much stronger than a curtain rod I kid you not.
A quality strut tower DOES make a BIG difference on a jbody. I think yours will work quite well. I would not put it on my car but and I don't see anything wrong with it on your car.
I have not caught wind of your weed eater turbo but why bother with a weed eater?? Go straight to a leaf blower. See video below.
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Leaf-Blower-Bolt-on-Dyno_7514.htm
I probably should not have showed you that.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
