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

No hood gap here. Something is out of whack there.

it's probably the angle of the camera. I don't have any gap, especially now that the foam has settled a bit.

I didn't have any hood gap with mine either.

Got my bar today - I'm a little shocked at how much I had to elongate the holes (there's barely any material on the edge now, maybe 3/32). Maybe the strut bolts are closer together on Moog strut mounts? I'm also surprised at how tall a spacer stack I need to clear the brake fluid reservoir. I couldn't install it - need to get a bag of washers tomorrow.

I will definitely be looking into welding a metal piece on the bottom and counter-sinking the nuts.

So what about this thin-tube bar? Would it be worth pulling the tube out and putting in a solid bar?

Depends on the forces a STB deals with to brace the sides of the car. If all it deals with are tension and compression, even a thin hollow tube should work. If there are torsional stresses involved, a solid bar could help. I'm not sure, but it would seem to me the bar doesn't twist that much.

I got mine in the DAY I had to drive the car up to college. The Riv went back home with my parents, because the exhaust tips were still not in.

Installation was grand for my '98. The STB went in, just gapped it with some nice washers and it was over. Glad to have a '98 for this mod. Funny thing is, I haven't driven it yet - my parents drove it up here when they moved me in.

I had the same experience with my 98, the STB practically installed itself. No mods to the brackets, just a couple washers at each bolt, plus I bought slightly longer bolts. You should easily notice the handling improvement in cornering.

I should mention that I got longer 10.9 test bolts (which are the same as what's already on our car). They had black ones but they were half the strength (or hardness, however they're measured).

I will recommend that everyone do the same, because I imagine there's a structual issue if you don't get a hard enough bolt.

1998 Riv wrote:

I had the same experience with my 98, the STB practically installed itself. No mods to the brackets, just a couple washers at each bolt, plus I bought slightly longer bolts.

Mine was so far off the problem must be with the Moog strut mounts, not the year of the car.

mine was WAY off too, but i only have one washer under each except for the driver front, which has 2 washers. also i didnt need to drill out the holes, i just bent it around to make it strech. very frustrating but well worth the effort,time, and cost for the added corner speed

Quote :

but well worth the effort,time, and cost for the added corner speed

you should do swabars then. The increase is a lot more noticeable.

I've got mine installed, and did a test drive. What's been said so far about the STB is pretty accurate. What impresses me the most is how much better the car is over rough surfaces - which I drive over plenty of. I don't do so much "tiptoeing" over the rough spots anymore - I hit them more or less at speed and the suspension soaks them up like normal road (almost ) This alone makes the STB worthwhile.

With the window rolled all the way up, the door shuts like a more expensive car. Nice. With the window rolled partially down, the glass bounces around too much. But I think it always did that. I haven't tried it with the window rolled all the way down yet, but I suspect it will sound good again.

I'm not noticing a huge improvement in curves. At first I thought it was turning better, but I'm really not sure.

Ride at speed is greatly improved. 75 feels like 65. Now I've got to relearn the subtle cues that tell me how fast the car is going because I'm automatically driving 10 mph faster than before.

I've got a few pics. Let me emphasize how temporary this install is - I'll be calling my mechanic tonight about welding a spacer across the bottom and countersinking the front nuts into the new material.



I had to grind out a buttload of material to get the bar on.



I will be checking the front nuts after every drive. So far they're holding but this ain't good!



The Rivi's engine bay looks naked without one of these! It's worth $30 just for looking so cool



I think I've got the hood gap problem worked out - the hoods aren't aligned right to begin with. I noticed before I put the STB on that the gap was large on the driver's side. I took a closer look today and noticed the driver's side gap was much larger than the passenger's side gap. At least twice as large. I tried bending it down some which seemed to help but not much. It didn't feel like the hood was hitting the STB. Anyway I checked the grill and, lo and behold, the hood isn't on straight. I'll check this all again next time the STB is off but I think if it was going to press the hood up it would do so evenly. I've got the same washer setup on each side.

Well, you've convinced me, Jack. I'm getting one of these for my next mod.

Hey Jack, glad to hear it's turning out ok for you. My feeling about the better cornering is that I notice the improvement most when cornering at my former usual speeds. It stays much flatter than before. But if I'm pushing it harder thru an on ramp curve, for instance, the front end roll is still evident, though not as bad as before. Like Jason said, you'll probably get a much better effect with the Addco sway bars added. I decided against doing the bars, considering my normal driving habits.

Jason, I've faxed requests twice to Addco to supply me with the front bar bushings and brackets etc, that they sent you, but they apparently don't feel a need to comply. Jack in OK has my bars now, and I've been trying to get these for him. Addco gets a BIG thumbs down from me on this whole f*n deal, as does Never Enough Auto for basically dropping this in OUR laps like a hot potato, instead of badgering Addco to get it RIGHT. I didn't buy from Addco, we all paid Brad for this stuff.

AA wrote:

Well, you've convinced me, Jack. I'm getting one of these for my next mod.

First the CV, now this! I'm unstoppable!

I agree with you Dave. I am using stock bushings, and I don't feel a big difference in handling. Maybe a set of harder bushings would make the difference? It hardly matters because Brad never returned my email or sent me the bushings as I asked. And like you, I don't feel it's my responsibility to deal directly with Addco, but I may have to. Either that or make my own set of bushings.

I've been trying to get these nylon bushings of Camlifter's drilled out for 97-size sway bars. My mechanic had to order a new bit to do the front bushings. I may still need to order 96 brackets (hopefully they will bolt right up). If I ever get these things on I'll let you know how they work.

so you don't want the hassle of dialing a 1-800 number and getting your parts shipped to you for free? I think it will take less time to deal with the addco tech guy (John) directly than to make your own bushings.

If you really want to avoid talking to him, I have a set of front brackets & bushings, as well as a pair of rear 22mm bushings available. All you'd need would be to get 2 small metal plates to go under the bushings and drill them so the holes line up. Realize though that addco ships these out at their expense, so it will be cheaper to go through them. PM me.

Back to the subject at hand, the strut tower brace is awesome. Everyone who hasn't done this yet, go do it now.

I took my car out for it's 2nd run with the STB yesterday, and my opinion of it is only going up. In fact I'm thinking maybe I should stop modding because I came up on a cop doing 15 over. Between the STB absorbing the bumps and the newly-repaired A/C letting me drive with the windows up, I've lost all conception of how fast the car is going.

But I'm also wondering if I could put an STB in back and dial the Rancho's down. They aren't super-bad but I'm really appreciating how well the front end glides over bumps. It's most excellent.

I'm also wondering WTF GM was thinking by not putting these on stock? If they're selling the STB for $18 it probably only costs them $2 to make it. Motherfuckers.

My mechanic doesn't think the bar is working as good propped up with washers as it would be mounted flat.

I'm not sure - it seems like it would have more leverage to work that way, and all the forces are being transferred through 35 ft/lbs of friction joint (if that makes any sense) so the forces the STB is creating are probably not enough to bend or flex the studs.

He ordered special nuts for the front of the STB. They sound like barrel nuts, I'll take pics and show you what they are. I should be getting those tomorrow, as well as camlifter's nylon bushings bored out for 97 sway bars.

I don't think a couple of washers on the mounting studs have any negative impact on the bar's effectiveness whatsoever. It's not like we're autocrossing, right?

Heh I bet I've got nearly 1/2" of spacers up front.

FWIW, I dug out my old GM nuts and got rid of the rusted out nuts Moog supplied. I can't believe a "quality" supplier like Moog sent non-stainless nuts. Ugly rusted out nuts ruining my engine bay . . .

Jack the R wrote:

Heh I bet I've got nearly 1/2" of spacers up front.

. . .

Wow, you really had clearance issues! I'm just under 1/4" with 2 washers, except for needing 3 at the front bolt on driver side. I have no more than 1/16" clearance to the brake fluid res, which I consider to be plenty. I think if I needed 1/2" added, I'd have looked into having spacers welded to the bar's brackets for a more solid mount. Might have tried washers first though.

I didn't use stainless bolts to replace my OEM bolts either, regret that now. I'll have to stop by our hardware supplier one of these days and get some.

did any of you guys ever try jacking the car on just one side to get the bar to fit ?

Jason wrote:

did any of you guys ever try jacking the car on just one side to get the bar to fit ?

This is in reference to the bolt holes not lining up well for all model years, correct? I could see doing that if the holes were VERY close, but not if they were off as far as some guy's seemed to be.

1998 Riv wrote:

Jack the R wrote:

Heh I bet I've got nearly 1/2" of spacers up front.

. . .

Wow, you really had clearance issues! I'm just under 1/4" with 2 washers, except for needing 3 at the front bolt on driver side. I have no more than 1/16" clearance to the brake fluid res, which I consider to be plenty. I think if I needed 1/2" added, I'd have looked into having spacers welded to the bar's brackets for a more solid mount. Might have tried washers first though.

I exagerrated, it was 7/16." The trick with getting a spacer welded on is getting the angle right on the spacer. It can't be flat.