pawpaws toy

Anyone here used the Eckler brand spreader bar? It looks like their mounting bracket is adjustable but a little flimsy looking.

bobs77vet

spreader bars are not that common on street driven C3s.....are you going to autocross it?

Bhus

This one? Part #: 25-294403-1
I got this on my `71, fits with original pulleys and mechanical fan.
Not sure it makes a big differense, maybe the car feels a bit more stable to handle.

jb78L-82

bobs77vet

do you also see the difference on street driven c3s? or more for the auto cross environment? once I switched to the rack and pinion I was pretty happy with how everything handled

pawpaws toy

No. My problem is that the shock towers have sprung inward and there is little camber adjustment left. I am hoping a spreader bar will improve this.

pawpaws toy

Yes, that is the one. Is it solidly built?

mrvette

IMO, in order of importance on handling.....wheels/tires is by far #1 I mindful of cost, went with '89 vette wheels 17x9.5 and 275/50/17 in rear 255/50 in front moved the brake cable in back to clear the tires, limited the steering radius in front....next was Rack steering instead of 3.75 r/l lock, 2.75 and better control was the score.....after that, the spreader bar was MOST noticeable......

in the rear I went with a plastic 360 lbs spring for RIDE comfort, the steel springs suck....I also put Billy Stein sport shocks on all 4 corners......

bobs77vet

may be go to a frame shop first and get your towers pulled then put the spreader on them. I can see a spreader stopping some compression and movement, but it sounds like you actually want to push the frame open with it?

cagotzmann

Spreader bar is not to fix a frame problem / alignment problem. As for helping you will get varied opinions.
First measure the distance upper arm to upper arm. Then properly support the front frame and lift the car in the front so both wheels are hanging. Then measure the same difference. My 78 only changes by 1/16". My front end is pretty stiff without a spreader bar. Not all cars are the same.

The only change the spreader bar install that I noticed is less car rattle. I use my car for track days and I cannot notice a difference with it connected vs disconnected. Some claim the car turns in quicker handles better, I don't know how you would measure this other than a metal impression. Will you notice a improvement, it depends on how tight the front end is now. But for the cost of the parts its cheap enough that if it doesn't get noticed its not a big loss.

bobs77vet

on one of my sports cars they made offset upper control arms to fix this problem...I am thinking it was the C3...would this fix your problem
https://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corv...1963-1982.html

gkull

I have Morroso solid steel motor mounts, frame seem welded up, and some frame gusseting like the corvette power book tells you install. I road raced for years like that using 295/30/17 R1 road racing slicks with 700# springs on my QA-1 dual adjust coil over setup. Just for the heck of it I installed the big spreader bar. I didn't notice any difference. I really think that solid motor mounts are how to hold the frame rails stiff.

TCracingCA

Torqued Off

Would you define Goodrich Radial TA 255/6/0/R15 as wider tires? I installed the Speed Direct Spreader bar, but wondering if it made a difference. I thought it did, but you sometimes convince yourself that money spent has to make a difference. When I see multiple posts with guys who race cars saying they make no difference, I start to question it. To make matter worse, I recently had a lot of driveline work done at Bairs Corvette, they sent my alignment to a local guy, and for one thing, he grabbed my aluminum spreader bar with channel locks and tore it up.....which really pisses me off. It does not require that, as they can be turned by hand to preload per the instructions....so I need to see how tight it is now. I also need to fix the alignment specs, cause they set me up with positive camber on my front tires, too much toe, too much negative camber on the back......and who knows what the hell they did with my spreader bar.

Mooser

Is the frame actually collapsed? The distance from control arm mounting surface to mounting surface is 26 3/8" where the control arm shims touch the frame side to side

As for flex, only you can judge as to if you need it or not, it doesn't hurt anything and it's reversible so...

Here's something I did a couple of years back

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...rame-flex.html

M

Mooser

I took my spreader bar off when it went for an alignment last time, even removed the brackets since they require a 12pt socket to loosen off for the shims, the less they have to think about it the less damage I hope they do
M

Torqued Off

Yes, I wish I would have thought of it. I just expected more out of them, but turns out once again a so-called expert failed me.

Mooser

OldCarBum

Got my spreader bar from Van Steel.
Great quality and stout.

cv67

Doesnt cost much to make a stout one.. i think some kind of K brace would help about any full framed car.
Take a peek under any late model Silverado, not hard to make.