midnightride42

i have now bought the front upper strut bar twice of ebay and i cant seem to figure out how the hell to make it work. i took the first one and grinded it down in the midle to the point where you could see it was hollow inside just do it would somewhat work. still it grinded on the alternator and hit the hood too. makes a horrible sound when at idle you can hear the grinding and when slowly accelerating too. i bought the secone one thinking it was different sence the pic was diff but when i got the item in the mail it turned out to be the exact same item just from a different company.
does anyone know what my problem is ? besides bying cheap stuff of ebay? im sure some of us have made these things work. the issue i am facing is the bar wont clear the alternator on top. i tried grinding a bit of it too but still there is no room. tried putting it in front of it and that wont work either.
any help would be greatly appreciated and perhaps photos too.
thanks a lot
andy

i have a 87 N/a

SureShot

The horizontal bolt attachment point arms can be bent upwards almost 3/8" before contacting the hood.
The cross bar can be rotated forward about 15 degrees.
You may need to replace the alternator belt. A worn belt will make the alternator set way high to get tension.

midnightride42

anyone else have pics of the N/a or info on how to make this thing work. ?
thanks for the help
andy

YearsOfDecay

1) IF you altenator belt is old, get a new one... this will lower the altenator a bit.. you might also try and get one slightly smalle in diameter.

2) Make shure you have the front end of the car off the ground on jack stands before you put the strut bar on. Also, Make sure the strut bar is adusted as far out as possible to get it on over the bolts.

3) if that fails.. go with the bending... BUT don't go apesh!t or you will ruin the integrity of the bar

midnightride42

the belt should be new even it i got a new one i dont think it would work well because i already grinded on the alternator. but what i was reading , to put washers under the mounting brackets and that should work so i think i will try that .
thanks for all the help. i guess a lot of us have had those prob and someone mentioned putting spacers/ washers under it we will see how that work.


also why do i need to jack the front of the car up to install the upper strut bar ?

SureShot

It's called pre-loading.
It adds stiffness to the front end structure, which can be felt earilier when turning into a corner.

JGard18

Dude, it's an ebay one? Throw it away.

I bought one with an open mind last fall. Last weekend, I took it off to check it out. When I put it on, it was touching the alternator, and just didn't fit right.

When I took it off and looked at the bar, the alt. had worn away at the bar to the point where I could see the inside of the bar...in three places! There were two other places in the engine that were rubbing on the bar. There are metal sheers all over my engine bay.

Yeah, if you have to grind through the bar, it's lost all stiffness and is absolutely worthless.

Since you've done that, you may as well throw it away.

dorifc3s

Which Ebay one did you get?

I got mine from EBAY and it fits fine. it almost touches the radiatir cap but it doesnt mess my car up or anything. before it made my car's front vibrate but after tuning it and making it not touch the radiator cap (i didnt have to sand or cut or drill anything) it worked fine no problems.

SureShot

If I have to do an hour of fabrication to save over $100 - I'm happy.

Tofuball

If you're going to be fabricating:

Make one yourself And while you're at it, put in a firewall brace, and if you really want to go overboard, an engine brace as well.

(You can use higher quality/thicker materials, make it fit for sure, and it will be much better in the long run)

SureShot

My material cost would have been more the the Megan Racing bar shipped..

I did make the torque brace.

JGard18

you save yourself $100, but you're wasting $20.

The money you've spent will do nothing to upgrade the performance on your car...especially after the fabrication you had to do with it.

But hey, to each their own... If it makes you happy, then cool. just giving my .02¢

SureShot

It sure feels good on turn in.

I got a 1st in BP at the last Auto-X..

OK - I was lucky - But it still feels good.

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

Buy a bar from me it actually fits (with a shorter alt belt) it is made b y toucan industries (ractive) and i will ship it to you for $55 i have a chrome one and a blue one. I ordered one and my dad bought me one too...let me know..

JGard18

hah, yeah, the strut bar made all the difference in an AutoX! hahahah

As I said, to each their own. My bar, personally, didn't do a goddamn thing.

SureShot

The crisp turn in is subjective, but there are other absolute benefits:

Holds the oil fill funnel up straight when adding oil.

Nice to lean on when working on the top of the motor.

Gets you out of the very competitive BS class.

JGard18

touche on the lean-post. That was great when I had it

As for AutoX class, I want to stay stock, can't remember which class that is (maybe it is BS)... Looking at the local BMW club's classifications (I wont' run with SCCA), I'll be one of few in my class if I'm stock...so...sweet.

jon88se

the GReddy/Trust front bar on an S4 FC will rub the radiator cap if it's an aftermarket piece. It will JUST clear an OEM cap but I put the bar in a vice anyway to get a bit more clearance - gotta take engine movement into account.

midnightride42

ok so last night i went and got spacers . two sets just incase . i tried every combination and i still can not clear the radiator. even with having the top of the radiator somewhat grinded down. ill keep working with it i guess. i may have to try and bend the bar now sence some of you have dont this for the bar to clear. if the bolts were longer i could use more spacers but i only have so much to use
i also installed the rear strut bar , sheeeees man that was a bitch cutting a hole in the metal and then getting those nuts loose pain in the *** my hands are still hurting .
again anyone else with some great tips for the front let me know .
the one i got of ebay are the black ones. i have two one i tried to grind on so it would clear and the other one i ordered just this past week looking at the pic thinking it would be different cause the picture was diff but ended up getting the same item i already had.
anyways thanks for the help and i guess ill have to keep trying.
also the alternator belt is new, got redone when the new engine was put in about 10 000 miles ago.