[DIY] strut bar

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!


Aim: to install a rear strut bar without spending $$$ on a brand name one. And to eat up a little of your time. dont do this if you expect a massive gain from it
Required: socket or spanner set, hammer, stanley knife(or something to cut through the trim), drill and bits, and maybe a file.
Steps:

i heard of this from the user JohnL, and so decided to do it myself. here is the process.

note: this is not a hard project, but you do need to be good with at least a drill.

ok, the material i used is 3m of a 19mm steel tube with a 2mm wall, of which i still have 1.9m sitting in the hallway waiting for me to do something with it. i was going to make a front strut, but its too hard to get around the intake and manifold and stuff, especially since its a hollow bar.


1. first, get your boot, and cut the trim so you can get to the top of the shock towers. if your lucky, the trim will have caps that you can simply remove, otherwise you'll have to cut it. you have 2 choices here, a) plan it out and measure your cuts, or b) what i did, and cut to see where it is, and cut till it would fit. make sure you leave room to manouver in the bar as it is one piece.

i wasnt really careful with mine, as they already has scratches all over it.

pic: view of the cut in the trim (left side) and measurement of shock bolt.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2197.jpg

2. next, get a tape measure, and best as you can, measure the distance between the two bolts on both sides of the car (make sure its the same, front or back, on both sides), and add to it. remember here to always go long if your unsure, you can cut more off your bar, you cant put it back on [easily or reliably]. on my ek 110cm was a good length to cover the bolts and go a little further to be safe.

3. 'fabricate' the strut bar. cut your steel bar to the length you worked out before, you can just do this with a hacksaw. then you get each end on a block of wood and hit it with a hammer (you can also squash the ends between an old vice without padding if you want).

pic: view of whole bar (i couldnt find a hammer at the time, so i used the blunt end of that axe sitting there)
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2194.jpg
pic: view of bar end. i have since flattened it out more with a vice
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2195.jpg

4. then take the flat ends and color them in with whiteboard marker. put the bar into position and move it around a little. when you take it back out the whiteboard marker shouldhave been taken away in the places that you need to drill the holes.

pic: end with whiteboard marker showing drill point (i have cleaned the spot up a little with extra marker)
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2196.jpg

5. mark the drilling spot with a punch, and start drilling away. its always better to start with a smaller drill and get bigger untill theyre big enough. the bolt size on the ek was roughly 9.91 mm, so you'll need to go bigger then that. i didnt actually have a drill that big, so once i got to 9.5mm, i had to get the rest out with a file. ( i had also stuffed up and drilled the holes a little too close to the middle, i just filed the holes across untill they fitted properly :) )

6. test fit to make sure it does fit, and fix it up if it dosent
if holes are too far/not far enough apart, just file them out. drills would just slip into the already made holes, unless you go to drill bigger, rather then just out.
if the bar is too long and is against the wall, you can just cut it back with a hack saw.
if it fits, remove the bolts from the mount points and bolt in the bar :)
done!

pic: view of strut in car
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2198.jpg
pic: view of strut where it is attached to shock tower. (i know its dirty...lol. i cbf cleaning it out when i did it.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...h/IMG_2199.jpg

Other comments: its a nice mod, and you can definately feel that the car is more solid, but as i mentioned earlier, its not a huge effect. its good to eat up a little time when your bored too.

Patiently waiting for pics :)

Sounds good!

lol wtf
cant wait to see picks
does it actually work?

pics up.
chunky, yes, you can feel its more solid. its not huge, but its there

that actually looks pretty good :thumbsup:
nice work

thanks :thumbsup:

That's way cool man!

How about adding 3 more :)

You could put that bar on the other bolt above it,then run 3 more as shown.There should be 2 bolts at the rear there.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l287/beeza2/555.jpg

LOL thats ghetto as!! Well done man.

Connies ftw.

thanks everyone!

beeza: sounds good, i'll check out my boot, and sizing. i still wanna get my spare tyre out, but by the looks of the lines you put there, i'll still be able to. :thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by redefine

thanks everyone!

beeza: sounds good, i'll check out my boot, and sizing. i still wanna get my spare tyre out, but by the looks of the lines you put there, i'll still be able to. :thumbsup:

---

if not atleast put another length on the other free bolt of strut

Yes,true and the bar at the rear,not neccessarily the 2 side ones.

thats awsome man :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Just check if it has bent from time to time,more bars the stronger.

so wait, what are you telling me to do?
put another bar across the other bolts, i got that much, but then what? across the back, under where the boot is?

I'm not telling you to do anything,just suggesting.

I think a bar next to that one making it 2 there and a bar at the rear.

FUUUUU!!! soo gethoooo lol.. is a damn good idea.. lol.. +1 rep for u mate..

WD. hope it works as good as one you can buy. :confused:

very creative.. i like!

i think you have gotten confused by beeza's suggestion. the bar across the back that he talks about is not in the bottom of the boot near the spare, its on the inside of your interior trim on the back of the boot, near where you would change you tail light globes.
if you take off the plastic trim covering the inside there you will see x2 holes accross the back of your boot...i think that is where he is suggesting a bar could also be good

TECDUP: yeah thats what i was confused by. thanks.

i would like to say its as good as a brand name one, but i havent really used a brand name one to compare.

That's it!

probably works better than those stupid egay bars with a single bolt at each end holding some hollow bar to some mounts
good work mate

do not watse your time with those ebay ones. this would be much much much better

why not fill the pole with some expanding polyfoam? would stiffen things up more i reckon... i've seen it done when chassis tuning, this would be no different.

^^ Great Idea!

lol, i like it, another ghetto DIY addition that a normal person can do :) I'll do this on the weekend hehe. good effort on the measurements too.

update: got the second bar in!, its just another bar across the other bolts, should give it a little more stiffness.

also, i had the chance to look at my mates '02 imprezza rs the other day, which had struts in it. the diy strut is actually stiffer then his strut in the up-down direction cause the imprezza one is flat, but the single bar is less stiff in the front-back direction (again because of the shape)

Awesome, please get some pics when the whole thing is looking schmick :) Interested to see how it goes. I've given up on buying the eBay or brand name strut bars...I'll be fabbing mine up from now on.

ROFLCOPTER!!!! that looks el-cheapo

is that safe?

single hollow bar, check
bolted down tight at each end, check

i don't see why its not safe? unless you carry bodies in your boot

Seems perfectly fine to me. It'd probably be better to put a bend before each anchor point to lessen the stress on the bar, yet keeping the torsion levels high enough to have an affect. Other than that, it seems pretty strong to me.

hmmmmm this also gives me and idea of making a ghetto B-pillar for my DC5R

to the thread creator, how is the bar holding up in your car?
is it stiff enough to handle any chassis flex? i'd like to give it a shot with my own car but i dont wanna waste time if yours got bent. :(

i have a feeling that it bent

Interesting.

Results OP?

i took a good look at it the other day whilst installing my sub, hasnt bent so far. still in, still going strong. though i do have 2 bars in across each of the bolts in the rear struts now. not sure how the single bar would hold up, though it should be fine aswell. and probably good to note that this is with no sway bar, not sure if that'll make a difference or not. i wanna install one sometime soon, so i'll see.

i bought a cheap ebay one didn't like the bracket as it was to thin and weak. i made up a 5mm plate that bolted to the strut tower and the ebay bar in a almost boomerang shape and the difference was night and day. this is with 22mm rsb and asr. it create a straight line betwwen the 2 towers which i think is the most important thing

do you have a pic of the plate you made?

Ghetto!

the only branded strut will be a front strut bar for me, but im gonna try this DIY lol..

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9...trutbrace2.jpg
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/838...trutbrace1.jpg


quick details of my sussy setup and the reason why i think it made such a vast difference. car is a eg5 with; pedders low springs, kyb adjustable shocks, stock 21mm front sway, 22mm whiteline on stiffest setting on rear, asr brace, ebay front strut brace, cabin floor brace, rear camber kit (-1 degree), front castor kit with upper control arm swap (5+ degrees castor) on 215/45/15 toyos

k this is going to sound weird but the once driving the immediate impression i got from installing the rear strut brace was it made the car UNDERSTEER MORE!. It honestly felt like i had a few passengers in the rear to put more weight over the back wheels and make them grip more and sit flatter but more on that later.

making the plate was easy. made a mock up with card board then got a mate to make one with 5mm plate steel. cut up the plastic mounted it and easy done.

i instantly noticed when backing out of my driveway my car felt more rigid backing of my driveway which before would make my car creak. it instead followed the gutter drop off more teateringly. driving away i noticed quick jabs at the steering wheel had less nose dive and a even stronger pull back to centre like a go kart.

turn in was a lot better but mid corner where i could usually pull the wheel harder and the back step out, it understeered more just like i had people in the rear to hold it flatter and grip more. the rear wheel grip had increased not front wheel grip decrease. to counter this i bumped up the stiffness of my rear shocks and problem resolved. the arse is very alive now almost feeling like it is lifting off the ground during hard corners.

my guess. the rear must have twisted in a way that unweighted the inside rear wheel more when i had no rear brace. as the rest of the car is well enough braced the rear was the only place where substantial bracing was needed and flex could happen (and being a hatch where it is most needed). before the brace, the top of the towers could have moved closer together, both twisting the rear and lifting/unweighting the inside rear wheel, hence oversteer. now it is more alive in the fact that it reacts from every input. that little mid corner jab now brings alive that oversteer but alot more predictable and solid. weight shifts is also alot quicker and dramatic. the mid corner brake touch or pedal off the accel feels like it gets the rear tyre air born with matching oversteer.

the fact i needed to bump up my shocks stiffness makes me think that i increased the effectiveness of my rear sussy as now more emphasis is on making the suspension work harder and not the chassis.

my long winded review and effect on my suspension setup this brace had. i over analyze everything. thats what i do.

mad props, good post

fkn awesome post dude.

next on the agenda is doing it for the front. a flat bar strait across the shocks is no good as it hits the engine (top of the throttle body iirc). any suggestions on raising it a little. i dont wanna put bends in the strut, as that weakens it. i was thinking of using a bracket to raise the point where the bar is mounted, but i wanna make that as rigid as possible. i'll come back with some ideas later.

i've got some steel at home that i could use to raise it. looks like 7-8mm l brackets. its not ideal cause i cant get it around to both bolts, but it should do.

pics of it
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._1800576_n.jpg
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._2523077_n.jpg

FOAM FTMFW :P i didnt really worry about looks, i jsut wanted it to stop bouncing around, and the foam was already at home, and does that well :P

who look in you boot anyway. i've still got my space saver spare jack etc in there. made the box myself to fit perfectly on top like it does. and is a perfect 30L for my planned idq 12"

what size socket (or wrench) to take off that bolt btw??

the bolts on the shock towers?? 14mm iirc

yes it is