Strut tower bar installation

One of the enhancements that I decided to make to my car was the installation of a strut tower bar.  Convertibles are notably less stiff than the hardtop models, so I felt anything that I could do to improve chassis stiffness would be beneficial.

  I selected a bar made by Ractive (Toucan Industries) based upon the type of construction (1061-T6 aluminum bar, powder coated ends) and price. 

Although this unit is one of the more economical bars on the market, I was very pleased with the overall construction of the unit.  It fit perfectly,  looks good, and was an absolute breeze to install.

The installation consists of assembling the unit (mine was actuallly assembled in the box, although it includes instructions on how to put it together) and actually installing it.  Since mine was assembled I will skip that and go right to the install.


Tools:

You will need a 10mm socket, rachet, and an allen wrench to fit the bolt for the strut bar ends.  (Sorry, I forgot what size!)  Alternatively, the outside of this bolt is knurled, and you could grip it carfully with pliers or vice-grips, etc.

Procedure:

Remove the rubber covers from the top of the shock towers to expose the 4 10mm nuts on the upper strut mounts.   Remove the 4 nuts from each side.   Place one of the bar end mounts over the exposed bolts and loosly reinstall the nuts.  The bar is quite likely to be either too long or too short, however, place the other end as close as possible to the correct position. 

Ensure that the retaining nuts on the threaded parts going into the bar are not tight.  IMPORTANT:  They are not threaded the same on both ends, please be careful which direction you turn to tighten and loosen!  Rotate the actual bar while keeping the ends in place to adjust the length.  When it is correct, fit the second bar mount over the exposed bolts on the other shock tower,  Install the nuts, and torque both sides to proper specs.  Tighten the retaining nuts against the ends of the actualy bar, and tighten all remaining hardware.  Reinstall the rubber  shock tower covers if so desired.

That's it!    Now go for a drive and enjoy the added stiffness of the chassis as you drift though corners!  

Disclaimer:

Drifting is not legal and should never be attempted on a public roadway.  This is a description and review of a modification made to my personal vehicle.  Should you choose to make the same modification to your own vehicle, you do so at your own risk.  The comments made are striclty my opinion, and I accept no responsibility for the results that you may experience.