Latest version of the NICO FSTB

[Jeff Williams]

I spent 2 hours cutting drilling grinding, grinding, re-drilling, test fitting, grinding, test fitting, grinding, cutting, test fitting, grinding, test fitting, and finally more grinding. Then I barely got the bar to fit on Lola. It is tight, but seems very solid.

What do you think?

[Jeff Williams]

Here's a close-up of the hat.

[elwesso]

hotness jeff!!

[Jeff Williams]

The hats are an easy mod, but I have to cut the center bar, the lock nuts, and the end links. If I had a band saw, it would be much easier. There is plenty of plenum clearance.

[kimrober]

Wow... looks great!! Good job man!

[Heath]

Okay I know I already have one on my car, but its cold outside and I'm to lazy to go look... Can you post a pic of the older version too Jeff for comparison???

[Jeff Williams]

Okay I know I already have one on my car, but its cold outside and I'm to lazy to go look... Can you post a pic of the older version too Jeff for comparison???

Look in the other post on the FSTB. There are a few picture of it on various cars. The difference is, the modifications required to make it fit, basically. The hats seem to be a little thicker steel, but won't really make a difference, because the angle of force applied to the metal.

[bravetex]

What is the purpose of the bar?

[Jeff Williams]

What is the purpose of the bar?

Quick answer: It braces the upper mounting points of the struts. The brace keeps the towers from flexing individually. It transfers the force from one tower to the other, stiffening the body flex.

It makes the car handle better, and gives you quicker steering response.

I would suggest replacing all the struts, tension rods, sway bar bushings, upper links, and strut mounts before adding the FSTB.

[elwesso]

I would suggest replacing all the struts, tension rods, sway bar bushings, upper links, and strut mounts before adding the FSTB.

And a good set of tires. you wont feel it at all if all your car is doing is understeering..... Rear sway bar is key.

[Jesda]

This bar is fantastic! For once, my Q isn't understeering off of highway onramps. My fondness for the 5-series is finally waning.

[96Qowner]

Yep, a startling improvement. Every G50 should have one.

Kudos to Jeff for producing them at such a ridiculous price!

[maxnix]

I would suggest replacing all the struts, tension rods, sway bar bushings, upper links, and strut mounts before adding the FSTB.

Amen! First things first. I would add inspecting steering rack mounts also. And like Wes says, if you have funky tires, what's the point?

[Q45tech]

You can evenutually bend the shock towers back to as designed oem spacing with such a bar assumming the threads/nuts are strong enough....every 0.1 degree of excess negative camber hurts tire life and increases braking distances.............provided you have good tires

[Flagship-Q]

And a good set of tires. you wont feel it at all if all your car is doing is understeering..... Rear sway bar is key.

AMEN! This quickens the initial steering response so much the rear can't follow as fast.....kinda scary to me. Enough so that I have the active rear sway bar on the way to cor rect this.

[Jeff Williams]

This bar is fantastic! For once, my Q isn't understeering off of highway onramps. My fondness for the 5-series is finally waning.

That's great, Jesda!

Now, I need to get my wife off her 750i kick.

Every time we see one, she is "Oooh, there goes one!" She did it yesterday, while driving the Corvette!

[redmanfx]

Nice job Jeff. I think it's time to replace my bent TB.

red