Latest and hopefully the last LTB. Tip owners look!!!

[Chas]

Well here is my idea to solve the ground clearance issue for Tip B5's and B5.5's in cold hard aluminum. It was a good day of manufacturing for me. And I am kinda excited about this one.

Take a look. I have the bar fitted to my 5 spd B5 first to test fitment issues. Obviously there were none for my car.









Now I want to test fit one to a Tip car to be sure it work there too.

The new LTB is a nice looking piece that just feels solid. It takes a bit of work to make the end brackets and to fit them to the bar. But over all I think this bar will be stiffer and ofer the ground clearance that Tip owners want and desire.[/url]

This looks like it will fit the ticket perfectly.   It looks solid and it looks like it may be just about flush with the exhaust bracket.  :wink:  I can't wait.  Let me know if you need a test subject.

[03Indigo]

Well done Chas, well done.

[reem01]

Chas how does tomorrow sound?  I could be down there late morning, or lunch time so you can test it on my car.

Mike

[velo]

That bar looks tight Chas!  It looks kinda like the AWE drive train stabilizer.  Maybe next you can figure out how to attach your bar to the tranny?  

[shummer]

That looks meaty! How much to upgrade Chas?

[Chas]

I need to make sure it works for the Tip cars first guys. I drove around a bit tonight with this on my car. And to tell you the truth, I couldn't feel a difference between my standard 5 spd LTB and the new design of the TIP bar. That's great news! This thing is beefy and stiff too!! But now will it clear the tranny and that bracket on the Tip cars???

The idea of this bar is that instead of going down under the exhaust bracket, the bar goes around to the front of the bracket, thus saving the ground clearance space.         Also, this puts the bar more forward of the previous mounting position and even less likely that it will snag on stuff.

[WendyDarling]

:shock: WOW! Chas that looks great!  Very professional looking, I can't wait to see it on a tip

~Wen

[ColoradoB5]

Chas, wow that looks nice!

You are going to have to put that into production!

[Chas]

It did feel kind of neat to just hold that beefy bar. It wieghs in at about a tickle over 2 pounds! That's the amazing part!!  :shock: It's just too cool to look at.

What makes me most upset about this bar isn't anything to do with the bar, it's great, but the fact that I didn't see this design in my head before I built the other bars. The idea isn't an earth shaking one, but I guess I needed to eventually arrive at this design.

Hopefully Mike is going to be stopping by arouind lunch time today and we'll see what else needs to be done to this bad boy to make it work on a Tip car. I'm hoping not much. That tranny bracket should be cleared by the bar passing in front of it and under the tranny oil pan. At least this is my vision. :roll:  :roll:  

I guess I should go and take it off my car now.    

[Chas]

Well, now my new baby is on Mike's car. With only a slight adjustment to the design and some straightening out of the bottom side of Mike's car, the bar fit right on just like it was suppose to. Thanks to Jon and Mike for thier input today in making this go as well as it did!!!



Mike, what do you think???

[reem01]

First off it looks bad ass!

When I drove it right out of your neighborhood with Jon holding the monitor it felt damn solid.  I will keep testing this bar out and let you know, but so far so good, and there are no more extra vibrations or sounds.

Where are the pictures?

Thanks

[Chas]

Look again!! Ha!!! I was editing my post while you where posting. Also look over at CB5 in the general forum.

[reem01]

Pictures look good, it is amazing at how light that bar is.  Now what Chas needs is a sticker that he can put on all the bars he sells.

I need to clean the underside of my car a little but...

[Chas]

I need to clean the underside of my car a little but...

Not anymore Mike. I think I did that today for you while I was under there. You should see my shirt!!  :shock:  :shock: Just kidding!!

Anyhow, It was fun to have you and Jon out today. I'm glad we got it on your car and figured out a few things with it. So I gather that it never hit the bottom of the tranny under full throttle? I bet we could shorten those spacer parts just a bit more and still be safe. that would give you even more ground clearance.

Also, I have to say that for a B5 with only springs on, Mike's car is the shortest I have ever seen. I mean, it's Winston car short!   :shock:  :shock: there was no way to get his car raised without jacking it up twice before we could get the stands under it. No wonder you banged your first bar. Just be careful out there! OK?

[reem01]

Yeah my car is low!  I always scrap going in and out of the driveway, no matter how careful I am.

Maybe another day we can look at shortening those spacers, but as of now, there are no issues, no hitting and no scrapping as of yet...

[shummer]

Chas,

Was your goal to go "no spacers" when installed on the tip? I scraped this weekend on the on-ramp from Sante Fe to I-25 southbound. The stinking grooves in the roads are deep.

[Chas]

Yeah Andrew, that was my first thought. I first fitted the bar to my car to make sure it fit the basic car correctly. Once I had it up under my car I thought, "Man, this is going to work like a ton of Bricks!!" because I had a good 5 inches of space between the bottom of my tranny and the bar. Well, that Tip gearbox is freaking huge!! I was hoping that I wouldn't need the spacers to get under the gearbox. I was able to shorten the spacers some, and I could probably go a little more than what I did on Mike's car, but the spacers have to be in there to clear that massive tranny.      Anyhow, I think I would like to try again and see if I can't shorten the spacers some more and get the bar a bit closer to the trans belly pan.

[reem01]

Yeah, if we can shorten them a little that would always be good.  Driving up Washington the other night, all of a sudden I scraped on something, didn't feel a bump or anything, and haven't looked at the bar yet, but think it was pretty mild.  So maybe I will come down again, and let you work some more magic.

[Chas]

I had an idea about how to shorten the spacers. Well seeings how you and Jon were such squeemish wimps and cringed at the sight of me trimming those 1 inch spacers with that killer table saw of mine, I was thinking of counter sinking (flat bottom hole drilling) the end bracket part. that way the spacer would sit down into the bracket part and it would also help lock the spacer in place. It would never be able to move then. Nolt that I think that is a problem. I have only had one person say that was an issue. And I'm not sure he knew what he was doing.  :roll:  :roll:

Anyhow, To do this to Mike's bar I would deffinantly need the drill press to make the counter sink exactly right. Thank goodness the nieghbor has one!!  

[03Indigo]

It is not that I am squeemish...just that i had no emergency supplies for when you cut your hand off...I guess you probably had some duct-tape around there somewhere, that'd do it just fine...

I just did not want to be there when you actually do cut your fingers off, don't say we didn't warn you

Man it sounds good to be waiting for the re-re-re-revised version.  Hey Shum, that is the same location the I hit my bar.  Need to call that the "Pit".  Chas, let me know when you can be available.  I will make the time.  Hope all is well with the family.

[Chas]

Hey guys, I haven't been able to get online as much as of late. SO I haven't checked this site too much. Bad, I know. Anyhow. I think I have this new design bar down now. I made a whole new one the other night in what I think is a record time and with very little waste on my part. Anyhow, the first "real" sale of one of these bars goes out on Monday. I just have to figure out how I am really going to ship it out. In a tube like I have been doing or wrapped in cardboard. the new design is wider than the last one, so the 2 inch round tubes don't cut it. Anyhow, I think that is it for the Tip LTB as far as any more new designs go.

Hey Mike, how's your bar doing BTW?

[reem01]

My bar is doing good, although I hit some wicked ruts the other day and scrapped that bar a good 20 feet.  Scarred to look at it.  I feel like I am disrespecting the ChasBar and that can't be good!  Have you made any changes to the bar, from what I have?

[Chas]

Not really Mike. I did change the spacers a bit. I'm using a block of 3/4" thick alu. plate. I then drill a hole in it. I'm not really sure if that design will stay, but that's how I made the last one I just shipped out. The block spacer should give a slightly better foot print for the spacer once it's all tightened down. But I'm not sure if that's a huge improvement over the round spacer. I like the fact that I don't have to drill any holes with the round spacer. Always a plus! And I can't really adjust the hieght with the block spacer. the round spacer has to be cut to the desired hieght. The plate aluminum I got is 3/4" think and it's hard to adjust it.

[UberGrrl]

So Chas.. is this the universal bar you're putting on all cars now- even manuals? Just wondering what mine's gonna look like. Too bad Jon didn't take off his bar, we could have put that one on my car. I am psyched to try out the 'real' bar.

[Chas]

Amanda, there is really no reason to have the 5 spd bar be the same as the Tip bar. The 5 spd is best served by the straight shot across the two mounting points. The only reason to make a bar like the Tip is if you are going to have the two extra mounting holes that makes the LTB even stiffer yet. I call that one the RV5 (Race Version 5 spd) LTB.





I created one for my car and had it on for a couple of days before I took it off. I thought the bar needed more work and I was hearing all sorts of noises that I thought were coming from the bar. In fact, the noises I was hearing were coming from my completely thrashed front struts. Even with the standard two hole 5 spd LTB I have the noises. Once I have worked the RV5 bar over in my head a little while longer I'll make a new one and reinstall it. I'm not real sure there is a true need for it though. I mean the standard 5 spd LTb is a great thing and does much of the work without the two extra holes. But for those people that really want something special and very tight, this is the bar![/img]