Thanks to Mr. Ron Love for his assistence, I now have a beautiful strut tower brace for my Z! The following picture shows the installation which was fairly easy. On an '86 like mine, I simply had to tweak the position of a few components. All-in-all , I spent about an hour working on it (which included a little cleaning). I think it looks great! Again, kudos to Ron. Working with him was an A-1, first class experience.
On another note, does anyone know of an easier way to remove rust-proofing than a rag and mineral spirits? Is there anything that could be sprayed on to disolve it? This stuff is unsightly visually and a pain in the you know what! Thanks!
Strut tower brace is next on my list. The towers look great all cleaned up. Don't know of anything to clean them with, but I am sure someone on here has a better solution.
Pressure washer. That is what I always used and spray on degreaser a day or so before.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Part looks awesome on your ride.That gook on is tough,I might suggest brake cleaner on a rag(use lightly it cuts thru that mess better at least on my use).My tip on removing the goo.Plus dries clean and no residue.
I second Ron's idea of brake cleaner. That's what I used to clean up the disaster of an engine bay I had when I bought mine.
I also used Simple Green, undiluted to clean out under the hood.
I can't seem to get my brace to fit...
here it is on the right tower, with an AC hose moved out of the way:
and it doesn't quite fit to the left tower:
Then when I put it nice on the left tower, I think if it fit the right tower there would just be enough clearance with the lines, but look how close it is:
and it doesn't reach the right tower:
Anyone else with a 1.8 do this? I don't see any reason it wouldn't fit in a Skyhawk.
That is normal. They are a pain to put on if your car never had one. When I put one on my 89 which is the exact same bar 1st gens use it was an absolute pain. You have to account for 25 years of body flex. There is also a subframe brace you can get to connect the subframes, They are universal from 83-94 or when ever the 1st gens were first made.
To get that bar on get a friend to help you and you have to manually force that bar on. Try to get both sices on at the same time. It is near impossible to do one side at a time. What ever you do, do not modify it. Took me an hour or two to get mine on the first time. Once it is on for a few days it will go on and off like cake.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
ok - hold up a bit with the forcing until you move the power steering bracket where the two hoses connect. By moving I mean reverse it so it sits closer to the firewall. This should make it much easier to install. At least you don't have to move your washer bottle like I did on my 84. If you do a thread search, I did a writeup on this a few years back that may have some pics/text that might help.
Well the forcing makes some sense, and so glad to know I can reverse the bracket since I really didn't like the looks of that clearance.
Of course, I would get in a situation to make this harder to figure out how to do it...
I took the bar of a 2nd gen at the junkyard, then walked over to a 1st gen Z, and it went right on with no forcing anything, so forcing would've been the last thing I would've expected.
My only thought was to mod the bar itself by drilling new holes, but I'll give the bracket/forcing a try sometime.
At the junk yard the cars are off the ground so there is no pressure on the strut towers. When you car is on the ground the strut towers may bend in some depending on the amount of abuse the chassis has been put through. You could try jacking the car up by the rockers then putting the bar on.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Jacking is a good idea. I know when I jack-up my cavert I can see the door seams open up about 1/4 inch. It has done it since new and kind of concerned me the first time I noticed it. My 84 Eldo Convertible ASC converted car did it really bad.
Interesting thought about jacking it up--will definitely try that this weekend.
The one in the junkyard was on the ground though, but yeah, most yard cars are in the air.
I did one on a newer car and had no problem, but with older cars, the trick is to take the bolts you need to remove off, place the bar on however it fits closest, don't bolt anything up yet, and jack up the front so that the tires are still on the ground but the suspension is elevated.
For working on older cars, I find Project Car Tuner has a lot of tips (like this one from an S13 build they featured) to help you deal with little problems like this.
2010 Honda Fit LX
Use jack stands on the front behind the wheels then lower down takes weight off and drop jack down so it rest on the stand.My strut bar fits fine bolts line up,but do have to tweek some firewall items for a no rub deal.My two cents
Okay, what exactly does the "strut tower brace" do and should I look at getting one for my 84 Bird convertible?
You should get one along with the subframe connector. It will help wih handling along with body flex. It locks the strut towered in position to stop them from flexing towards and away from each other.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
This subframe connector thing sounds like a winner of an idea, anyone have pics of this part and is there anything not obvious about removing it?
Now that I know of this, I want one and a sway bar!
Paul, I found your earlier pic of the strut tower bar, but do you have any pics from the driver side showing how you reversed the bracket and moved the PS lines out of the way?
Brian the only place is usually a junk yard or pull a part bc they are no longer made.I already have a standing order of 3 request from our 1st gen board.So as I find them I ship to each person in the order that they were asked for.John masson have one on hold(number 2) is yet to be found,2nd is john mac and 3rd is terry biddle(a second gen) but his car needs this size.If you go junkyarding any 82-91 cavalier or sunbird bar will work.The 92-94 are designed different bc the strut towers for the studs are spread further apart and will not fit.Check the Z24 models bc alot of these are where I have located the strut bars.I guess I am the parts counter here and do find alot of hard to find parts being NC has a good source of jbody old stuff.Have not been looking this wk taking a break from the junkyards doing other duties.So if you want one as you said I can put you on my list at #4 for said item and ship fedex ground so you would pay for the part plus shpg cost and I use paypal.I hope to check some other sources to find these in the soon.
If you look at my video here, you can see where the 2 bolts are that hold it on at 0:57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaT9lNf7Xeg
And in this video you can see the bar under the tranny that bolts to both subframes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaoc4JEM7WA
The bar can be found on an 1st or 2nd gen. They are more popular on 2nd gens, especially convertibles. Almost all of them come with them and strut bars. The subframe connector will fit first gens, 2nd gens phase 1 and 2. I believe the bolts should be in the subframe from factory. Double check as I put one of these on all my jbodys. I am pretty sure those bolts connect the subframe to the body.. They are very long, about 6inches. If you are getting them from a junkyard, make sure you take a battery impact gun and a long breaker bar, maybe a 2 or 3 foot one. They are an absolute pain to break looks and take forever to remove by hand with a ratchet.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
Just a thought, Brian.
I'm thinking your situation might be a bit more trying upon installation due to the fact your J was hit so badly. I doubt the mounting points are going to be nearly as close now.
Brain, call the place and complain that fixed your car. It is suppose to be fixed to factory specs when repaired due to an accident. Federal law requires them to be liable for the life of the car if the work is not done correctly. My family has been doing body work for 40 years now. They should of cross measured the car before returning it to you. Your car may fail inspection also if your state measures wheel distance and it is off by too much. I would definitely have the car rechecked. Hear where I am at of you measure the wheels from center front to center back and it is off by more then a 1/4 in it fails. I believe most collision shops are required to fix cars within a 1/16 of and inch. It may be 1/8, you would have to check. I know it is a very tight tolerance. That su why auto collision shops have to have such rediculous insurance of a million dollars or more. The shop you mushy have had fix your car could of tried to pull everything back out and replace bent pieces without trying to straighten the frame. I would take it to another garage and have them check It then take it to the garage that did the work.
On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.
