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Strut tower brace


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That's a copy of the custom strut bar I first made for Chet Wittel's ITS 240Z race cars about 6 years ago. It was copied by Tom Thorman's now defunct Z Service Unlimited and has probably most recently been done by Jim Thompson at Sunbelt Performance Engines, or by Sunbelt for Balanced Performance in Suwanee, GA. Nicely done, who's car is it?

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I found that picture while I was looking at the GA Z club member rides page. The guy who owns the car is Steve Huetter. I emailed him but haven't gotten a response yet.

 

Katman...Do you still make them? If so how much do you charge?

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Alas, the wife, kids, and minivan have conspired to eliminate the machine shop from my current list of liabilities. The strut bar was a n attractive yet very light and stiff piece, but not necessarily any better than some of the other "limited edition" ones others have made. The downfall IMHO of most of the aftermarket ones is the wimpy attachment to the strut tower. The bar part is just a rectangular tube aluminum extrusion, something like 1 inch by 2 inch by 1/2 wall, with lightening holes machined in it for looks. The key is the tower attachment, which on Chet's race cars captured about 4 of the aircraft screws in the Tilton camber plate and about 12 more down the side of the tower to distribute the loads out. I haven't seen Steve's bar up close to see how close to the original design intent he kept it, but if you get in touch with him AND he has means of fabrication I'd be happy to review it (if he wanted me to) to ensure it is as stiff as the original. Looks good though, eh?

 

This would be a great application for carbon fiber since the loads are simple, but I digress...

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