haygeebaby

Boys
The GT2 strut bar arrived in the mail a few days ago - along with some wevo blacks. Has anyone installed the fabspeed GT2 evo front strut bar ?

I'm having a few problems. First the mounting holes needed a little adjustment to fit. Next - I notice that the screws on the stock mount flange is not long enough to accomodate the bar and the nut. What's the solution ?

TIA, regards

Ken

bart1

As far as lining up, try jacking up one corner at a time and see if that helps.

Is yours a factory piece? Or Fabspeed or some other aftermarket?

Paul902

I have the Matter-clone from Gert. The points on top of the studs just come proud with the top of the nuts. Not ideal, but have had no probs since installing over 5 yrs ago.

Remember that the torque spec on those nuts is very small, 33Nm, so go gently.

haygeebaby

Thanks for the pointers Paul/Bart.
The bar is definetly not a perfect fit. I had to drill and file to get that custom fit.
Jacking one side of the car up didn't help - it moved things way off.
So I put both sides on stands and went about resizing the holes until things sat nicely.

Took me about an hour all up. Thought it was going to be a simple bolt on job but it took some work - definetly not direct bolt on as advertised. Make sure you have a round file and possibly a 10mm drill bit if you decided to do this project with the Fabspeed GT2 Evo strut bar. Good thing is that the metal is pretty soft and easy to work on.

A little difficult to make out from the pics but the tip of the thread sits just above the tip of the nut. I am able to tighten the nut down pretty well. A few turns on each nut makes the bar sit a little better as well. I might get some thread lock on them tomorrow for some piece of mind.

I'll post some driving impressions when I've had the wevo black MM's installed. Not looking forward to the removing the bolt on the stock MM's - they are hell tight !!!

Thanks again ...

bart1

I don't like those holes not fitting. As you know, the torque is not very much so will that allow te bar to move around in use? I have the adjustable factory Heigo-made RS bar in mine.

AOW162435

I would pay dearly for the real-deal Matter GT2 bar. Unfortunately, they're no longer made.

There's an interesting story behind the Fabspeed bars and why one set of holes was elongated...

With the low torque value assigned to these nuts, the holes of the bar should fit the studs perfectly. With elongated holes and weak clamping force, the bar will most likely shift over time.


Andreas

Paul902

OK, Andreas, I'll bite... What is the interesting story, and is the one Gert sold made by Fabspeed?

AOW162435

Since Gert is on the forum, I think it would be prudent for him to determine what gets said here, about the above.

That said, I'll PM you...


Andreas

Full Boost

Ken,

Not to rain on your parade - but that junk wont do a bloody thing to make the car handle better.......

Fabspeed BLAH GT2 BLAH evo BLAH.....what total BS!!!

The forces created when cornering and the pissweak amount of torque applied (or able to be applied) to those nuts will not stop the towers from flexing - especially when the holes are as elongated as the ones in your pic....

Sorry - I dont have any knowledge on the Fabspeed / Gert thing - or any knowledge of where to get a good one but from an engineering POV - that sucks!!!

Sorry

Simon.

haygeebaby

Yeah - that's probably true too.
The two end screws are a pretty goo fit though. I visit a metal shop and see if we can make thing a little better.

Cheers for the input.

Regards

EckFe1

I wouldn't leave that thing on there as it is. The stud of the dome flange doesn't even clear the nut. That is a dangerous set up now. Do you even have 3 turns on the thread?
There are much better strut bars out there with the form fit and function you desire.
I'm sorry but that looks completely butchered.
Ed

Targajack

I just bought a racing dynamic bar, hope it will fit better,

haygeebaby

Ok - back from the metal shop. Gaps have been welded and sanded down. A very firm fit now. Jacking up one side like Bart said actually worked this time.

Driving impressions to follow.

bart1

Better. Too bad you had to go through all that hassle.

EckFe1

You still don't have very many turns on the studs. Any chance to shave some material off to at least get the mounting nuts on there correctly?
Maybe counterbore?