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Last week I was sipping and surfing and pulled the trigger on a spreader bar from Speed Direct. Well long story short I should have done some homework. I am running a 91 Caprice serpentine setup and the spreader bar will not clear the nose of the power steering pump. Unfortunately Speed Direct charges a re stocking fee which makes it uneconomical to return. This was totally on me for not doing a better job of researching the project. I believe I will either modify the brackets that came with the kit or build a completely new set. This is a gotcha I thought I would share.
I made my own. The bracket design is a copy from someone here on the forum.
I made the brackets from 1/4" plywood first to get the exact measurements, then cut out the steel plate.
The bar parts were from Speedway Motors.
I made my own. The bracket design is a copy from someone here on the forum.
I made the brackets from 1/4" plywood first to get the exact measurements, then cut out the steel plate.
The bar parts were from Speedway Motors.
I made my own. The bracket design is a copy from someone here on the forum.
I made the brackets from 1/4" plywood first to get the exact measurements, then cut out the steel plate.
The bar parts were from Speedway Motors.
Thanks for the parts list. I may make a complete setup now.
I made my own. The bracket design is a copy from someone here on the forum.
I made the brackets from 1/4" plywood first to get the exact measurements, then cut out the steel plate.
The bar parts were from Speedway Motors.
This is one of the best spreader bars I have seen. The design should put the ends of the bar as close as possible to the shock towers.
Most are a few inches off the center-line between the two respective towers and there is no way the the bracket is going to compensate for a bar that is right on the money parallel from one shock tower to the other.
Anyone out there using a home built spreader bar on a big block with mechanical fan?
The kits you can buy are for small block with or without mechanical fan, but for big block they can only be used if you have electric fans.
Anyone out there using a home built spreader bar on a big block with mechanical fan?
The kits you can buy are for small block with or without mechanical fan, but for big block they can only be used if you have electric fans.
/Karsten
Mine's with electric fans also but I think the only one I've seen was done with mechanical fan was by spacing the fan out a little
Search Günther-C3 and ti should be there somewhere
M
I made my own. The bracket design is a copy from someone here on the forum.
I made the brackets from 1/4" plywood first to get the exact measurements, then cut out the steel plate.
The bar parts were from Speedway Motors.
Barry, Looks real nice and you have the same setup as I do meaning no power anything, no AC just a water pump and alternator. What would you charge to make me some brackets? I do weld but I suck something terrible at it.
Anyone out there using a home built spreader bar on a big block with mechanical fan?
The kits you can buy are for small block with or without mechanical fan, but for big block they can only be used if you have electric fans.
/Karsten
Originally Posted by Mooser
Mine's with electric fans also but I think the only one I've seen was done with mechanical fan was by spacing the fan out a little
Search Günther-C3 and ti should be there somewhere
M
Gunther was nice enough to PM me the link to his thread. Here it is-
Barry, Looks real nice and you have the same setup as I do meaning no power anything, no AC just a water pump and alternator. What would you charge to make me some brackets? I do weld but I suck something terrible at it.
Thanks for the compliment. It's very difficult to construct the brackets for another car.
I don't think there were two Corvettes ever made that were exactly the same. The bar itself is very close to the WP pulley. Chances are my brackets would not work another Corvette.
All this talk about "tightness" etc, but no actual measurement mentioned by anyone. In the Corvette Power book, there is a GM designated ideal distance between the two damper mounting bolts. I stand to be corrected, but it was something like 21-3/8" or 26-3/8" and this will allow the front wheels to reach the optimum camber angle with otherwise stock suspension.
10-18-2016, 06:02 PM
Tough lesson learned about spreader bars!
and pulled the trigger on a spreader bar from Speed Direct. Well long story short I should have done some homework. I am running a 91 Caprice serpentine setup and the spreader bar will not clear the nose of the power steering pump.
Unfortunately Speed Direct charges a re stocking fee which makes it uneconomical to return. This was totally on me for not doing a better job of researching the project. I believe I will either modify the brackets that came with the kit or build a completely new set. This is a gotcha I thought I would share. 
