Lower Stress Bar Group Buy

[Kirk]

LOWER STRESS BAR GROUP BUY

Details on the lower stress bar can be found here:

Driving Impressions: Lower Stress Bar

This is a group buy for the following:

1) One main, adjustable lower stress bar made out of 3/4" steel tube that is yellow zinc chromate plated with heavy duty heim joints on each end. These heim joints are rated for over 9,000 lbs in static load. Included are installation instructions with photos and all necessary installation hardware. The main bar is adjustable to fit the 986 and 987 Boxster and probably also the Cayman, although I have not had the chance to test fit one on this car. Price is $65 plus $10 fixed shipping cost (continental U.S. only) for the main lower stress bar.

2) The complete kit (pictured below) includes the main lower stress bar, as described above, and also the two side lower stress bars. The side lower stress bars are made out of aluminum tubing and aluminum, heavy duty heim joints. These heim joints are rated for almost 8,000 lbs in static load. Included are installation instructions and all necessary hardware, including special conical spacers to make these large bars fit. Price is $160 total (for all three bars) plus $10 fixed shipping cost (continental U.S. only).

Note - There is a small tab on the end of the aluminum braces on each side of the car where the side bars mount in the forward position. This tab in the brace about 3/4" long X 1/8" thick needs to be removed (dremel works in seconds) to fit the heim joints of the side bars. Not a big deal at all, but something I thought I should note. More details with photos are in the instructions.

3) Pricing for side bars (a pair) only with mounting hardware (for those who already have a main bar) is $95 plus $10 shipping. The mounting hardware has longer bolts that should fit a Mantis bar with rod ends. I can't confirm whether or not the longer bolts will be long enough to fit a home-made solid bar. However, you can get the right length of bolts at almost any hardware store for under $2.

PayPal me (I accept credit cards) at kbristol@lycos.com. I will also accept personal checks, money orders, etc. PM or e-mail me for my mailing address. I need to get at least 15 orders for the main bar to get this pricing from the manufacturer.

The lead time for this group buy is about four to six weeks, so I plan to be ready to ship to folks by the end of February. The hold up is that the main bar is custom made for me and after being made needs to be shipped back out for plating. The main bar heim joints are also a special order item. I’m having a larger quantity of these main bars made up for this group buy so that I can get the low pricing quoted above.

Feel free to PM or e-mail me if you have any questions.

Kirk Bristol

[Topless]

Kirk,
It looks like you have your R&D completed and you have a fine finished product. I believe I will have one of the lower stress bars. Count me in. Since I am also in Calif. would you please arrange to have it delivered by your assistant . Many thanks.

[Kirk]

To answer some questions and clarify a bit, let me give some more detail on the group buy.

You've got until January 25th (2 weeks) to put in your order by PayPal or check/money order. So far I see NO issue with getting enough orders for the 15 piece minimum. The question I need to answer is just how many to have made up (15, 20, 25 sets?). I want to limit my speculation as much as possible by getting advanced orders so nobody is slighted and I order enough. I'll order about three sets as extras though just in case someone misses the cutoff.

If I order by the 25th I should then be able to ship out finished kits to everyone (bars, mounting hardware, and instructions) by the end of February.

Kirk

[Gary in BR]

Kirk,

I'm interested in getting a lower stress bar but i am afraid that my intercooler may be in the way.

Hopefully you can tell if it will fit by looking at the pictures.

I have attached a few pictures from beneath my car. See what you think and let me know.

[dmcutter]

Ditto what Gary said. I'll be adding the Turbowerx turbo and i/c this spring...clearance issues?

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by Gary in BR

Kirk,

I'm interested in getting a lower stress bar but i am afraid that my intercooler may be in the way.

Hopefully you can tell if it will fit by looking at the pictures.

I have attached a few pictures from beneath my car. See what you think and let me know.

Gary, you and I have talked before over on 6speed about your need for bracing with that intercooler. Unfortunately though, looking at your pictures I don't think the main bar would fit with the intercooler there. I'm not 100% on that, but it's my best guess from the photos. I think the only option would be to use a spacer to drop the bar down lower, but then you might have ground clearance issues.

If you're ever up in Northern California (which I don't expect), I'd be happy to take a look and probably work something out for you...

Otherwise the side bars look like they should fit fine.

Kirk

[Gary in BR]

kirk,

i need to fly you down to louisiana to do his project and the boost controlled muffler bypass!

i would like to do all 3 bars.
Tonight I measured and my intercooler is 5 inches from the ground and my rear sway bar is 4 1/2 inches from the earth.

If only the side bars will fit. will they make a difference?

What other measurements do you need from me to decide if we can make the bar fit?

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by Gary in BR

kirk,

i need to fly you down to louisiana to do his project and the boost controlled muffler bypass!

i would like to do all 3 bars.
Tonight I measured and my intercooler is 5 inches from the ground and my rear sway bar is 4 1/2 inches from the earth.

If only the side bars will fit. will they make a difference?

What other measurements do you need from me to decide if we can make the bar fit?

The main lower stress bar sits about 1/2" higher than the lowest spot on the rear sway bar (when the car is raised up). But it mounts below the sway bar mounts... I've looked under my car three times now and looked at your pictures and I still can't say 100%, but to me it doesn't look like it will fit. Complicating matters is that I've got a 6 speed transmission which confuses things when looking at your 5 speed. What matters more than the height of your intercooler is how far forward from the sway bar it's mounted. The stress bar mounts just forward of the sway bar and it looks like it would interfere with the rear-facing pipe on your intercooler.

Again, with a spacer though you could mount the lower stress bar below the support braces that run along each side of the car, rather than on top of them, but you'd lose about an inch of clearance in the rear. On a lowered car that could be a big problem.

You could also grind out a section of the braces (they're aluminum) to make room for the lower stress bar heim joints to mount them from below without a spacer, but I would not recommend this.

In your case I think the side braces could make a big difference simply because you don't have your stress plate installed at all now!

Kirk

[HammerESQ]

Kirk,
I would be interested in the complete set.. When will they be available for purchase?
Ie.. You knowing if you have enough orders.

-Eric

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by HammerESQ

Kirk,
I would be interested in the complete set.. When will they be available for purchase?
Ie.. You knowing if you have enough orders.

-Eric

The group buy has the green light. I've got enough orders to make it happen.

I'm going to order about three extra sets too just in case someone misses the deadline of January 25th. If you want to make sure you're on the list to get a set just send payment before the 25th via PayPal to kbristol@lycos.com or PM me for my mailing address. That will get you locked in to receive a set at the group buy price.

Basically I'm looking for folks to commit to buying sets by paying up front. That reduces my personal risk and speculation. I don't mind getting stuck with the three extra sets I'm ordering as I'm sure I can always sell them on eBay. I'm sure some folks will miss the deadline and want these stress bars later.

Kirk

[dcporsche99]

Thanks Kirk! Can't wait to try 'em out!!

[Kirk]

Just some more info regarding the fit of the lower stress bars on the 987 and Cayman.

The guys at Niello Porsche in Sacramento, CA were very kind today and let me and my assistant crawl under their new 987's and Caymans, including the new 987 special edition and the Cayman S by Porsche Design. We were getting measurements and checking the fit on parts. Here's what I found:

A few things have changed from the 986, but the key dimensions between the mounting points for the bars has not changed. In fact the 987 and Cayman dimensions are exactly the same as my 986. The only things that I've seen different are:

1. The newer cars have a coating on the Porsche stress plate that the stress bars reinforce.

2. The newer 6 speed transmission gives a lot more room for installation.

3. The suspension point where the main bar mounts is a bit different, but dimensionally still the same.

4. The side braces are different, but still have the same kind of tab that needs to be removed to install the side braces. I took some photos for the instructions.

That's about it. I even tried fitting some side bars in place to see if there was enough room and there were no problems.

So spread the word. If you've got a 987 Boxster/Boxster S or a Cayman/Cayman S these lower stress bars will definitely fit.

Here's a photo of my assistant hard at work doing some measurements and test fitting.

Kirk

[blinkwatt]

Kirk does it fit the Carrera GT they have on the showroom floor?

[Sammy]

Kirk,

I looked forward to trying them out! The arrival should be just before I start de-winterizing my car.

:dance:

Sammy

[JP-s-in st. louis]

I honestly would like to try these but really how much of a difference do these make? And what is the difference between the 1 bar and all 3 bars?

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by JP-s-in st. louis

I honestly would like to try these but really how much of a difference do these make? And what is the difference between the 1 bar and all 3 bars?

For daily driving I don't think you'd notice a difference, which probably is a good thing. The difference is with aggressive driving and track days. The lower stress bar was originally developed by Mantis Motorsports for their race Cayman. Insite on our board here picked one up, installed it on his 986, tracked it, and documented the improvements in the original post. Check out the first couple pages of the original post and you'll see some of these details.

Here's specifically what Mantis says about it on The Cayman Club:

"Designed to eliminate and reduce camber/toe change due to rear suspension mounting castings flexing. This caused by the fact that castings are only mounted to the chassis at the top. They are not connected at the bottom other than the aluminum transmission plate, now with a 1" bar between the two castings no more flexing. Also if you cannot adjust camber evenly, by twisting the stress bar heim ends , you can shift the castings side to side. The alignment guy will like that."

The side bars are just more of the same thing - strengthening and stiffening the suspension at the bottom. I don't have any track data though to quantify how much of a difference you get with the side bars.

Kirk

[Kirk]

I'm going to close the group buy tomorrow (Friday) at noon and get the parts on order. If you have not sent payment or received a personal message/e-mail from me directly stating that I received your payment and have added you to the list, then you're not included in the group buy. To get on board, simply send me a PayPal payment at kbristol@lycos.com

Kirk

[Kirk]

I placed the order for parts today. I'll follow up with everyone who has an order in by e-mail. The group buy was split exactly 50/50 between main bars only and complete sets. So I've also ordered 3 extra main bars and 3 extra complete sets.

[dcporsche99]

Thanks for the update!

[Topless]

Hey Kirk,

How is your lower stress bar production coming? My first AutoX is next weekend and I am curious if it will be with my all new tighter rear end.... Somehow that didn't sound right!

Do you have a planned ship date?