Well I got my brand new Sparco bar for $85 yesterday, so before we put it on my car, Robby (boom-monkey) came over so we could test fit it on his M42 '91 318iS because he wanted to buy one.
Well, it fit on his M42. It was really close, but we even revved his engine up and everything to make sure engine movement wouldn't make it hit. It was fine. All we did was jacked the car up from the subframe, and used 2 small washers on each strut bearing bolt to give us a tad bit more clearance. There is a bracket for the throttle cable that attaches to the driver's strut tower that had to be moved as well, but that was easy.
Fitting it onto my car was a little bit hard. When I test fitted it with the car on the ground, it was almost an inch too long. Jacking my car up by the subframe made the bar fit, although it was still tight. The bar hit my cruise control, but of course that is an easy fix... The hood liner seems to rub on the top of the bar too, not really a good thing but it doesn't really matter.
Now, my first impression of the bar is mixed. It helped so much that my car understeers a whole lot more now, since the front flexes so much less. When the fitment was so far off from my strut towers sagging, I knew that it would help a lot. The front end feels a lot more solid now though, so solid that the tires are having trouble hooking up. I am going to have to experiment with tire pressures to cure this issue now. But it's worth it...
Time to paint the bar a different color, and drill the 3rd bolt.
Well, it fit on his M42. It was really close, but we even revved his engine up and everything to make sure engine movement wouldn't make it hit. It was fine. All we did was jacked the car up from the subframe, and used 2 small washers on each strut bearing bolt to give us a tad bit more clearance. There is a bracket for the throttle cable that attaches to the driver's strut tower that had to be moved as well, but that was easy.
Fitting it onto my car was a little bit hard. When I test fitted it with the car on the ground, it was almost an inch too long. Jacking my car up by the subframe made the bar fit, although it was still tight. The bar hit my cruise control, but of course that is an easy fix... The hood liner seems to rub on the top of the bar too, not really a good thing but it doesn't really matter.
Now, my first impression of the bar is mixed. It helped so much that my car understeers a whole lot more now, since the front flexes so much less. When the fitment was so far off from my strut towers sagging, I knew that it would help a lot. The front end feels a lot more solid now though, so solid that the tires are having trouble hooking up. I am going to have to experiment with tire pressures to cure this issue now. But it's worth it...
Time to paint the bar a different color, and drill the 3rd bolt.
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