DIY Custom Strong Strut rear 'bar...need dimensions
 

I need the dimensions of a 318 ti Strong Strut rear bar. Were' going to be (attempting) fabbing up one of these this week at my freinds custom muffler shop.

He has a ton of cold rolled' steel, exotic aluminum, stainless, alloy stock etc + the buff hydraulic machines, drills and jigs to pull off a legit version for a fraction of the price. He's got mad skills when it comes to working/welding with metal. I've seen the Strong Strut rear bar pics on their website but just need the exact measurements.

I think we could probably make 8 of these (including hardware) for the same price as the original minus the powdercoating and hopefully they won't looked hacked and homemade

Anyone?

I don't think anybody on here has one... It shouldn't be to hard to measure it out though if you can get the car up on a lift...

I don't get why you're trying to make it if it's going to cost the same.

he said cost will be an 1/8th of the strong one

Ah, okay. That reads a little weird.

Here's a picture

http://www.strong-strut.com/Butt-Strut.htm

^yeah we have that pic...no dimensions listed on the website of course. It would be nice to have them but we'll probably just figure it out as we go. It's a 1/2" thick piece of cold rolled metal with a couple bends, some holes and washers:wink:. Shouldn't be too hard.

I've read good things over on Z3 sites about them and how it tightens up the rear....the one thing I've noticed is that the rear on the 'ti is damn loose. The struts don't seem to be doing there job to the fullest ie body flex.

I was originally thinking I neededd an upper bar. Now I'm thinking it needs an X brace that triangulates the rear. I had something like that on my STi and really stiffened the helll outta' the rear on that car. Of course they cost about as much as a left nut too lol. Not sure I want to go that far a I would lose alot of trunk space. Maybe a quick release set up for track and single guys hehe

hmm. never seen or read about that kind of strut before. how much better is that than the rear strut bar that goes in the trunk?
to me it resembles a x-brace.

It doesn't impede my valuable cargo room.

Go check out the ful body brace offered for the z3 guys. Its from the front to the rear and i guess does a great job but it also lowers your ground clearance somewhere around an inch.

If you guys are getting them down to ~$40/each I'd be willing to buy one. Keep this thread updated on your progress.

seems like this with the added strength of the inside one would be quite the addition!

Rear strut tower bars don't really do much in the ti, mostly due to the type of suspension and the proximity of the rear part of the frame to the towers.

Basically a semi trailing-arm setup doesn't introduce a lot of lateral flex to the towers; it comes from the wheel to the hub, goes through the arm and then to the subframe (a known weak point in higher power setups).

The x-brace differs in that it ties the control arms to the frame. The Butt-Strut ties the suspension to itself. In conjunction with the rear sway, it creates a solid trapezoid.

Yup. A rear strut brace is pretty pointless. They do, very, very little.

The only time they would be helpful would be if you converted the rear suspension to a true coilover suspension. There are some E30 race cars out there that have a true rear coilover, and in those cars the cage usually re-enforces the strut towers and ties it all into the frame, and sub frame...

You can do the strong-strut reinforcement inside of the car much easier, but it ruins the interior...