Thanks for the comments so far on this piece. Ive taken another shot at this with some of the recomendations. As you can see the main height of the piece is now at 1-1/4" minus the bar that jets up at an angle.
Brian - I would like to know that dimension for the height of the bar to fit on a 2002 modle.
Yes this is a complicated design, but ease of manufacturing will be on the light scale, considering that large pieces of aluminium are expensive and take long to machine. Breaking it down makes it easier and faster to produce. It also makes for 2 universal pieces, the light green piece and the purple bracket. The dark green mounting piece will need to be made for each side.
What I do like about this design is that you hide the mounting bolts under the light green cap, just a bonus. Also, you dont want these 6 bolts nor the strut mounting bolts to shear, you want the bolt(s) holding the actual rod to shear and not caus any damage to the car.
I will still be elongating the holes on the light green piece for adjustability and alingment purposes, for each car is going to be slightly different.
On the eye bolt design, is that an added bonus to be able to pre load these bars? I could easily accomodate that with this design and make the eye bolts on the bar itslef.
Yes, im going for the straight bar all the way across, in case your wondering...the bent bar does ad some flex to the design, but flex is what you are trying to eliminate with the STB. Besides with a striaght bar I could engrave your name or some cool saying into the top of it, not to mention that it is a direct transfer of load from one strut to the other and that is what you are trying to achieve.
Yes, you can get specific sheer strengths bolts for assembly as to not damamge the strut mounting bolts in the case you happen to be trying to run down your g/f and hit a curb in the process..
More coments are welcome with the evolution of this...
Much Regards,
Pat
www.customsteel.com