I got a deal on the strut bar, but it came with no instructions, i dont have a level surface to install my parts on, does anyone know if i am going to have problems? i honestly thought you just unbolted the nuts on the strut tower and bolted it on but its being a bit more of a bitch than that.

can you all offer some advice

 

I had to take off all the nuts on the passenger side, and jack the car up so the studs dropped down a little to get that side of the strut bar on. This was in the instructions.

I would think it should be done on a level surface though.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the torque spec on our strut bolts?

 

when i put mine on, i didnt jack the car up. this is how the instructions said to do it and i did it accordingly:

1> under the cowl weather stripping (where wipers sit), lift up and back off bolt on driver side (10mm screw). once that is back out follow to step 2.

2> losen the 2 bolts on the strut tower on the driver and passenger side

3> wrestle strut bar into place

4> tighten down strut tower bolts

5> screw 10mm screw in cowl back down



and thats it

 

Think it is between 16 and 24. I put mine to 16 without a problem and then worked my way up to 24.

 

You forgot to take off the cap for the power steering filler, haha

 

^ oh yea, duh! take the cap off the brake resovior(sp)

 

you shouldnt need to jack up the car. the springs and suspension are fully compressed, should be a 15 min install for both front and rear. not rocket science

 

Where do you find a torque wrench small enough for the bolts on the suspention? The smallest one I could find went from 20 lbs to like 150 or something and was freaking huge? Where can you get a smaller one for like tires and the strut bolts etc?

also when we talk lbs are we talking foot lbs or inch lbs etc?

 

they make a rear one?

 

thanks guys, CivicKiller came over and showed me how to do it earlier today, we took the fuse box cover off and then loosened the tower bolts/took off tower bolts. didnt need anything else. i felt like such an idiot.

 

Do you really have to torque the screws that hold it in place to a certain lb/ft? The directions dont state this?

 

sounds about right, its in the manual... i put my strut bar on a few days ago and it went on pretty much perfectly all i had to do was losen the third bolt (the one in which the bar isnt bolting up to) and then it went right into place. you dont have to jack the car up at all or anything. maybe the reason you got the strut bar so cheap is because its messed up.

 

oops didnt read through the post completely glad to hear that you got it on.

 

I wanted to just because of my OCD. Both my JBP instructions and a GM tech I know confirmed that the torque spec for our strut tower bolts is 18ft/lbs. A torque wrench is a good invenstment even for something as simple as rotating your own tires. Mine is half inch drive which is a pretty common size for sockets so no worries there, and you can always buy adaptors and stuff.

EDIT - Also, the instructions with my JBP bar did tell me to toruque them down. Just about everything of significance that's bolted on our cars has a torque spec, it's usually a good idea to find out what it is and follow it. I would hope poly engine and tranny mounts would tell you the spec in the instructions when you buy them, for example...

 

I went to sears and the smallest torque wrench they had was like huge and costed 50 bucks. The bolts on the strut tower are way smaller then what that torque wrench would allow.

I guess I could always install it and then take it to autozone and borrow their torque wrench if its small enough to fit. I wonder if they would have bits that would fit it or if I would have to provide those

 

This is what you want: 1/2" drive torque wrench

But jeez don't go buying a torque wrench just to install a strut bar. Was just trying to say that they are handy if you plan on working on your car. Torque specs are important a lot of the time... Especially when it comes to messing with your wheels.

 

yep thats exactly what i used to torque mine.

 

For those of you who don't have torque wrench I'll try to explain how to torque the nuts to 20lbs using the two index finger method. Use the pressure (strenght ) from two index fingers and a wrench ( it works best with a wrench ) and tighten the nuts down. By pressure from your index fingers I mean just that, not your hand or arms....just the two index fingers. That's the best way I can explain it.