Strut tower bars - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

willtotheumm · 03-24-2008, 11:40 PM

I just scored both front and rear strut tower bars for my Supra off of eBay. Not any cool brand like JIC or anything but they are better than nothing (am I right?). Plus you can't beat under $100 for both. $85 to be exact after shipping and tax.

Now I have a few questions. Don't most tower bars require TEMS to be removed? I plan on taking TEMS out anyway, but would be nice to enjoy the fact that I have them for awhile.

And I know I have to cut the plastic out of the back for the bars. Does anyone know an easy way to measure where to cut the plastic? I would like to cut the hole and take the bar apart, and slide it over the plastic if I could. I'd send pics but my Supra is in a temporary home (aka Storage) about 90 miles north of here and hopefully will be down where i'm living soon.

Once I get the bars in the mail i'll take pictures and post them on here for you to see.

Jeeves · 03-25-2008, 01:15 AM

For most strut tower bars 86.5-88, they did require removal. After 89 (I believe that was an '89+ change) they went to smaller TEMS actuators which could in most cases stay in place with a STB on.

I've got both front and back as well, for the rear, I basically started taking measurements. One side I got spot on, the other required some tweaking.

willtotheumm · 03-25-2008, 03:11 PM

Dang why do the 89+ Supras have to be better lol. Since my Supra isn't running at the moment i'll leave them off. I've ridden in a TEMS equipped Supra but I want to drive mine to see what it's all about.

Kinda nervous about cutting plastic because once it's cut... it's cut lol

Jeeves, do you have any pictures of your rear tower bar installation?

shaeff · 03-25-2008, 05:28 PM

They don't really do much for our cars anyway. Mostly a placebo effect.

Jeeves · 03-25-2008, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willtotheumm

Dang why do the 89+ Supras have to be better lol. Since my Supra isn't running at the moment i'll leave them off. I've ridden in a TEMS equipped Supra but I want to drive mine to see what it's all about.

Kinda nervous about cutting plastic because once it's cut... it's cut lol

Jeeves, do you have any pictures of your rear tower bar installation?

Will, I'll get some posted. I've got 'em lying around. Apparently my server company is working on the server right now.

TEMS was pretty worthless IMO.

willtotheumm · 03-26-2008, 05:19 PM

lol that i've heard about TEMS. Still a cool idea... I guess.

Sweet Jeeves thanks. I'm actually gonna be in my storage today so i'll get to see my baby. No word on my bars yet though...

willtotheumm · 03-29-2008, 09:25 PM

Sweet I got my strut tower bar in the mail today! Its the rear one. I should be getting my front one soon. Sadly I can't take pics because I wasn't here at my apartment when it was dropped off so it's sitting in the office. My only hope is that the office is open tomorrow or else I wont be getting it til Monday

Jeeves · 04-01-2008, 08:54 AM

Gah, I forgot to post photos.

/me scribbles a note.

Jeeves · 04-01-2008, 07:17 PM

[img]http://www.**********s.com/supra/images/RearSTB/RearSTB-03.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.**********s.com/supra/images/RearSTB/RearSTB-05.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.**********s.com/supra/images/RearSTB/RearSTB-02.jpg[/img]

willtotheumm · 04-07-2008, 03:51 AM

very cool! thanks for the pics Jeeves

I got my rear bar now. The first one I got I thought was the rear but it was the front lol. Here's a pic of what they look like...

(if it makes sense, the one in front is the rear and back one is front lol)

Now they might not be the best of quality like I said, but they're better than nothing lol

Jeeves · 04-07-2008, 04:33 PM

These days there's only so many styles. Your rear STB looks like a Cusco clone, and the top one is a generic clone, near identical to the one I have.

willtotheumm · 04-08-2008, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeeves

These days there's only so many styles. Your rear STB looks like a Cusco clone, and the top one is a generic clone, near identical to the one I have.

I thought my rear looked like a Cusco too. Too bad it aint lol. The part where it bolts on worries me though. It sits flush but part of the welding looks weird. I'll get a pic of what i'm talking about...