It was previously brought up if you can modify the 92-94 strut bar to fit earlier years and here is how I have done it. First of all it was mentioned that the later bar is longer, that doesn't matter since the curved cutouts still lineup on top of the strut towers. The bar on top is what you are starting out with and the bottom one is the end result.

Here is an original pre 92 strut tower brace, you will notice how it has a finger extending forward, on the inner attachment, on each side to bolt to the upper strut mount. 92 and later the upper strut mounts were changed and the top of the towers were changed accordingly so that the two rear attaching bolts were parallel to the firewall.



The first thing to be done is to lay the bar to be modified on top of the strut towers lining up the circular cutout on each side with the raised lip in the center of the strut tower, leaving a slight set back. You will see that none of the holes on the bar will line up with any of studs on the upper strut mount. The rearmost mounting stud falls about 1 1/4 " inward from the outer mounting hole. You want to mark its location on the bar and drill a new hole on each side where it would come through the bar. I have found that it is usually best to enlongate the hole as they did with the existing holes. The next step is to make a template for the extensions you have to make on each side for the inner mount. I took a piece of paper and put over the inner mounting stud and then mounted the bar to the tower with new holes were drilled in it. With the bar in place over the paper, I then marked out the edge of the bar and drew the shape of the extension I want to add to it on the paper.

I then got a piece of flat stock an 1/8" thick and about 2" wide and traced out my templates and cut the out. These were then welded on and the hole for the stud was drilled in each. At the same time I also trimmed off the outer part of the bar where the old mounting hole was, just for appearance.


All that remains is to trial fit it, adjusting the holes as need be and painting the bar.
Here is the finished product, next to the original pre 92 bar.

This is just what I was looking for; thank you!

Whats that bar made of may I ask? 1/8" steel plates and 1/8" thick -1" rectanguler a tubing ?

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

I know that the plates are 1/8" and the tubing is 1" square, but I don't know how thick it is.

I have a spare that fits earlier years if you guys are interested...

Frank, you are a WIZ with sheetmetal!!

Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks!! Great stuff



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May be a dumb question. Why not just use the 88-90 bar? I haven't tried one for years. Pretty sure I had one on my 87. Have a pile of them laying around no.

Maybe because they are few and far between, while later turn up more often.