Bracing a ST165?

My 88 AllTrac seems to be a bit more flexy than modern cars. It will squeek and creek when going over uneven terrain. I'm not sure if I want to cage the whole car. What is the most effective way to strengthen the chassis? I will be building a strut bar for the rear strut towers. Also, my rear seats are long gone, so the room for the rear seats can be occupied by other things. Maybe a simple roll hoop linked to the rear strut towers? This car will remain primarily a street car.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Is it squeaking from suspension parts moving or from the actual chassis flexing? From my understanding the STxx5's are supposed to be quite stiff out of the box, which is part of why they're so heavy.
 

GT4_DRED

New member
In my experience, most of the squeeking has been from interior panels and using felt strips has helped. As for the creeking, mines were mostly due to bushings (poly and rubber) and the oem body kit/mounts wearing/moving about over 25+ years. As for the flexing, a rear strut bar will help and also a front bar to triangulate the towers to the firewall. A roll-bar would def. tighten it up as well and I would also tie the strut towers together using the same tubing. Im also considering fabricating a bar to tie the front of the lower control arms together or back to the chassis leg. HTH
 
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