Write-Up: Installing a Front Strut Tower Brace (STB)

97rivsc wrote:

ya im probably gonna just get it from a salvage yard, screw gmpartsdirect

call a cadillac dealer... i did got mine for 33 bucks.. WOOT

I had a hard time finding a salvage yard that had that exact Caddy to take the STB off. In fact, no salvage yard had one... and I called quite a few of them! I would just pay the $30 for a new one, it's easy, relatively cheap, and fast. Which is also how I like my women.

That's not the issue guys. The problem is NO ONE in the frickin' country has one anymore!! GM may very well have decided not to produce any more of them. I'd start working the local yards asap.

If I had an extra bar, I might have our shop take a look at making some, but I'm not so sure we use that size of steel pipe.

well I just cancelled my order from gmpartsdirect, and they just told me that they cannot refund me the 73 dollars I gave them for two bars. They said that they received no money. I am so pissed right now

Well, how did you pay them? Isn't a credit card required at time of ordering? Have you checked to see if your card was ever charged? I do not believe they've charged mine at time of order, for parts that were not in stock.

My experience has been that they don't charge your credit card until they ship the parts.

they charged mine immediately, and claim that they didn't, I checked online right after I ordered them.

I believe you have 60 days to file a dispute with your credit card company. I'd get documentation asap of the charges on your card, call them with the info, and give them a chance to get this right. If they give you a hard time right away, just tell them you'll be filing a dispute with your CC company. They KNOW they will lose. Gotta be patient though, the dispute process can take some time, I've been thru it.

Are you sure it was an actual charge, rather than an authorization for the amount of the order? Tons of companies run an authorization on your card at time of order, which ties up that dollar amount, then at ship time they run the actual charge with shipping.

I'd print off pics of Ewolfe's custom STB's and have them custom made locally.

It's really not all that hard to custom make. You need two flat plates of steel, cut a few arcs, drill a few holes, then have a piece of pipe cut to length, flattened on the ends and welded to the plates. Not such a big deal. If you made your own, you can even make sure there are no clearance issues to the brake reservoir.

ya im probably gonna go with jack's suggestion, derek I would do what you said except I have no tools what so ever not to mention a welder lying around somewhere

You can have the welding done for you for cheap. I usually only pay a few bucks or get it for free.

Someone ought to make a pattern for the mount portions, then you could print it of and take it to a machine shop to have that part made.

I'm pretty sure the tops of the strut towers have the same dimensions as a GTP (just by looks, never really measured it), so we might be able to just "extend" one of the GTP bars... Don't quote me on the strut tower bolt pattern idea though.

I dunno, why replace one STB hack with another? It isn't that much work to do it right.

I did see a W-body STB that had ends like these:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#tie-rod-ends/=zwqgg with ball joint tie rod ends, and the bar in the middle had left- and right- handed threads, so it could adjust like a turnbuckle. I always thought we could use one of them because we might be able to get longer tie rod ends if they weren't long enough already.

I've heard about adjustable STB's. Perhaps for no justifiable reason they scare me.

does it just bolt up to a 95 or what

eagleblanks13 wrote:

does it just bolt up to a 95 or what

NO.

is there anyway to make it work or any other options

eagleblanks13 wrote:

is there anyway to make it work or any other options

custom

eagleblanks13 wrote:

is there anyway to make it work or any other options

Read from page 1 of this write up for info on fitting the STS bar to your car.

Well, I recieved another E-mail from GM Part Direct today. It looks like my STS front STB is finally being removed from backorder status and will ship out very soon.

Just a heads up for anybody else wondering if/when they will have more available.

Cheers

Good news, thanks for the update.