Strut Tower Brace

[deepthinker22]

All set to install, Just one thing... HOw... I know bolts come off bracket goes on, but do I jack up the car first, what tourque for the bolts etc. HELP!!!

[latenight72]

No need to jack it up. Just remove the bolts, put on brackets, re-tighten bolts.

[deepthinker22]

Thanks. Just one last thing. Does anybody know the tourque specs on the strut towers?

[unirok]

deepthinker22 said:

Thanks. Just one last thing. Does anybody know the tourque specs on the strut towers?

I guess it depends on how strong you are on tightening them? I did not use a torque wrench when I installed mine.

[Todd Jason Rice]

I just installed mine. Here are a couple of options to the status quo.

1 if the bar is 1/4 bolt too short, start the car, I got the bar up to 150 degrees and it expanded to even closer. I also put a couple of small hits where the mounts are bent to increase height. This spreads the mount and gets an additional 1/4" or so.

My bar was a little long between the north and south bolts. I put the nut on the rear and then placed a 3/4" bar under the mount and and bent the front down shortening the distance.

I didn't use any washers. I tightened the nuts until the bar was touching the brake fluid tank. Then I used the same 3/4" bar and my 97 has a hole in the firewall perfect for the bar to fit in and then using a 4' cheater pipe on the bar I pried the stb up and then tightened the nuts prying as necessary just clearing the tank with no washers necessary

[oldsjake]

There are no aftermarket strut tower bars? Even for a caddy that could interchange? Maybe an adjustable one? Perhaps we need to design and build!! Hmm.... Then again, it's $26.

[diablo]

is there a STB for the back or is it the same one?

[sall]

After the STB was brought up in one of Shelby's threads the other day, I looked back in to getting one for my Classic. I looked at several of the GM parts sites(PartsDirect, PartsGiant, etc) the ones that have it listed as still available have read my emails(receipt notification) but have not returned them.

I found one used in what appeared to be great shape on eBay, 'bought' but ultimately backed out because I found a NOS stash of them about 30 minutes later. NOS Part# 25653157 STB $50.64 + $7.58 FedEx Ground shipping. New part for less than used one... This company 'Vintage Parts' shows 38 still in stock so I would not even bother hassling GM dealer to find one for you. So quite the price increase over a few years but what do you expect? Still a relatively inexpensive 'mod' which I hope will make a difference.

The install looks to be relatively painless unless you get unlucky. I will post some new pictures since most of the ones here seem to have broken links now.

[XJSman89]

Nice find on the stash, if it works then I'll buy one as well. I always look for one at the yard but have been unlucky so far.

[sall]

Jun 20, 2012 5:48:50 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

Nice find on the stash, if it works then I'll buy one as well. I always look for one at the yard but have been unlucky so far.

Yeah I think you had to have the FE3 suspension on the Caddy to get the brace, but I don't know. Hopefully, since I have poly sway bar and end link bushings front and rear I won't need to upgrade the rear sway bar to larger diamter to compensate. Should be fine though. I do not look for this to make huge improvements.

[sall]

Oct 24, 2005 20:02:14 GMT -6 luvmybravada said:

Okay guys, I just got my bar from GMPartsdirect. I noticed the mounting holes don't match with the studs on the strut towers.

Oct 30, 2005 19:06:40 GMT -6 95mushroom said:

Black96Aurora and Scotty, mine didn't line up either. I just widened the holes with a dremel.

Yes, for '95-'96 widening the holes slightly wider is a necessity it seems.


I've played with mine a bit and have decided I'll be modifying the brake fluid reservoir for a perfect fit. The bar hits the hood and bows it as others have stated. It's not off by much and likely not noticeable to others but unacceptable to me.

I'll post some pictures once my new master cylinder has arrived. Cheaper to buy new master then a new OEM reservoir and now I'll have a new master if/when it fails. I'll modify the reservoir and swap it on the old master cylinder.

[XJSman89]

Sounds like a plan. I'm not interested in bowing my hood at all either, It will be good to see what you come up with. I debated dremeling/modifying the underneath part of the hood but dismissed the idea pretty quickly.

[sall]

Jun 25, 2012 11:05:12 GMT -6 XJSman89 said:

Sounds like a plan. I'm not interested in bowing my hood at all either, It will be good to see what you come up with. I debated dremeling/modifying the underneath part of the hood but dismissed the idea pretty quickly.

Even a mm of bow would be unacceptable to me haha. You very well could trim the hood in that portion as it's two layered pieces and still have it covered by the hood blanket.

Either way it is going to take a bit more modification to get it exactly right. I was happy with the feel though. I've got pretty much all new suspension and poly sway and end-links though too. I took the bar out until I get around to modifying the fluid reservoir.

[jayy]

Thanks Sall for the VINTAGE PARTS link......finally after far too many junk yard searches I just ordered the Strut Tower brace for my '95. Fifty three bucks plus shipping to Canada. I will know tomorrow about the shipping cost, but I'm done caring, just want it in before I do the ground wire mod on the strut tower to the coil pack frame!

[sall]

No problem. Shipping was cheap from them.

Make sure you look at this thread for fitment concerns on 95-96...



Classic STB Modification

[Randy T.]

I wonder if the Bonneville GXP STB would work on the '98 and up Aurora? It would also probably work on the rest of the years with little modification. I know they share the same suspension and everything, but I don't know if the tower to tower span would be the same. Maybe we could get some measurements and compare if someone doesn't know the answer. The GXP brace looks a lot sturdier, but on the downside, it's harder to find and it cost more.

[Randy T.]

Here is a review of the part numbers since they are buried in this thread and kind of difficult to find.

For '95-'96 with modification, and '97 and up with lesser modification discussed in the thread.

25653157 (Cadillac Seville 1998-2004?)

Front strut tower brace 25653157


Salls link is probably a better place to find them, I don't know about the one I linked above.

Jun 19, 2012 13:35:26 GMT -6 sall said:

I found one used in what appeared to be great shape on eBay, 'bought' but ultimately backed out because I found a NOS stash of them about 30 minutes later. NOS Part# 25653157 STB $50.64 + $7.58 FedEx Ground shipping. New part for less than used one... This company 'Vintage Parts' shows 38 still in stock so I would not even bother hassling GM dealer to find one for you. So quite the price increase over a few years but what do you expect? Still a relatively inexpensive 'mod' which I hope will make a difference.

Cadillac forum discussion on the subject: strut tower/brace

According to the above linked thread from Cadillac forums, the STB on '98-'04 Sevilles only came out stock on Japanese export models, so finding them in a salvage yard is about impossible.


Confirmed fit for the 3.5 and 4.0 '01-'03 2nd gen Aurora. Unknown, but may also fit all Auroras.

'04-'05 Pontiac Bonneville GXP 4.6 V8 Front strut tower brace 3 pieces.

Bar 25768516
Bracket left 10360987
Bracket right 25768515

Bar 25768516

Bracket left 10360987

Bracket right 25768515


2nd Gen strut tower brace thread

[Randy T.]

Here is a link to a writeup on a Riveria forum on installing the Cadillac style STB. It's like 38 pages long!

rivperformance.editboard.com/t109-write-up-installing-a-front-strut-tower-brace-stb

[kbpickle]

I've reported before that the Bonneville GXP STB can be made to fit. My mechanic made three minor modifications to make the Bonneville GXP strut tower brace work on my 1999 Aurora:

1. Modification 1: On the Aurora, the top end of each strut bolts up through the engine bay metal. That metal has three raised positioners/stiffeners stamped into it. But the Pontiac bracket has matching recessed depressions for only two of the three stamped positioners. So my mechanic had to slice through one of the stampings (Dremmel?), and hammer the cut ends down flush with the surrounding metal., leaving just two of the stamped postioners to match up with the Pontiac bracket. No problem with that.

2. Modification 2: As previously reported with the Cadillac STB, as a straight bolt on the STB rides a little high, and contacts the underside of the hood, and causes the hood to bow up just a bit (~1/8"?). The bow is visible at the hood to fender gap, where the hood can be seen just a little higher than the smooth continuation of the fender line (looking across the hood from left to right and vice versa.) So, he had to bend each bracket down just a tad to clear the underside of the hood. Sledge hammer, maybe? I didn't ask him.

3. Modification 3: Mine came from a junk yard GXP, so my mechanic painted it a new shiny black to go into my 1999.


Although this is a workable substitute for the Cadillac STB, I have to wonder how likely it is to find a GXP STB, compared to the Cadillac. There must have been many more Cadillacs than Bonnevilles built, no? We were just lucky that my mechanic knew I was looking for the Cadillac STB, and had the idea to try the Bonnevile.

This has been on my car since March 2011.

[awehlage]

The brackets from OE Parts HQ come to $55 shipped. Get the bar from gmpartsgiant.com for $80 shipped.

Sent from my XT901 using proboards

[awehlage]

Mar 19, 2013 8:07:07 GMT -6 awehlage said:

The brackets from OE Parts HQ come to $55 shipped. Get the bar from gmpartsgiant.com for $80 shipped.

Sent from my XT901 using proboards

Correction. For 2g owners go to www.vpartsinc.com for brackets.

Left Bracket - 10360988 $60
Right Bracket - 10360987 $50


Sent from my XT901 using proboards

[Randy T.]

Just ordered the 25653157 Cadillac STB, I found one for a decent deal at the link below, it was $40.38 with shipping. I am still interested in going GXP Bonneville STB eventually.

www.newgmparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=213815

[Randy T.]

Well, that didn't happen. They apparently did not have the part and them finding it raises the price by about $20. I will shop around a little before I pay that, that is getting close to GXP stb price.

[RCA1186]

Salvage yard, saw one the other day

[XJSman89]

Lucky! I never find them!

[Randy T.]

Finding one in a salvage yard is almost impossible, someone must have knew about it and added it to the Cadillac you saw. I read this bar did not come out on any American Cadillacs. I see them on a lot of other Cadillac types, but none of those will come close to working on an Aurora.

[RCA1186]

Hmm maybe i should have grabbed it haha it would have been cheap I'm sure

[XJSman89]

You should have grabbed it! Go back and get it! I'll pay for it if you can send it to me haha

[sall]

Jun 19, 2012 13:35:26 GMT -6 sall said:

NOS Part# 25653157 STB $50.64 + $7.58 FedEx Ground shipping. New part for less than used one... This company 'Vintage Parts' shows 38 still in stock so I would not even bother hassling GM dealer to find one for you. So quite the price increase over a few years but what do you expect?

Just pay $60 shipped for a new one... modify it if you need to, throw it on.