[DIY] strut bar

[redefine]

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.


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)

pic: view of bar end. i have since flattened it out more with a vice


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)


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

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.


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.

[beeza]

Patiently waiting for pics

Sounds good!

[chunky]

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

[redefine]

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

[chunky]

that actually looks pretty good
nice work

[redefine]

thanks

[beeza]

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.

[Gio]

LOL thats ghetto as!! Well done man.

Connies ftw.

[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.

[TECDUP]

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.

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

[beeza]

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

[Jokkahk]

thats awsome man