I was looking into getting the edelbrock strut tower brace for my 86Z because of its traingle design seems to me to be stiffer and better than just the brace going straight across, but my question is I have an LT1 engine in my car and coil packs mounted on the driver side valve cover... will the brace be able to clear my coil packs or does this tower brace come pretty close to the engine... I imagine my intake is about the same size as one would be on the TPI cars and i don't think the packs come much higher than that. Just wondering if anyone has one, how they like it, and what kind of clearences over the engine it has. Thanks!

AFAIK, the LT1 intake is slightly lower, or equal to the TPI, so I wouldn't see any problem doing that.

As for 3-pt vs 2-pt.....I switched from the Edelbrock 3-pt to a UMI 2-pt & noticed ZERO difference. What I did notice though, was that the UMI one was WAY easier to install (mounts to 2 existing strut tower studs & has 1 optional mounting bolt hole to drill). I never have bothered to drill the 2 optional holes, but now I have 6 extra holes from mounting the Edelbrock STB.

Besides that....Good luck drilling the 2 cowl mounting holes, with the hood still on. I have a 90 degree drill adapter, so I was able to drill the holes with the hood still on.

I had JUST enough clearance over my TPI plenum, to slip a magazine subscription reply card in. When I took the Edelbrock off, I noticed some rub marks, from where the engine had torqued over & caused the rub to happen.

Here's some info on install and a few pics as well as some commentary that you may find usedful:

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/su...-3-pt-stb.html (Edelbrock 3-pt STB Installers)

James

so i guess what your saying is that the 3 mount strut brace isnt worth the extra effort, thanks for your experience with that

Exactly. My 2-pt UMI feels just as tight as the 3-pt did, without the extra effort.

No need to drill the extra holes.....remove the hood to or buy a right angle drill adapter to reach.

Check with Ryan @ www.umiperformance.com & he may know better (from previous customer experience) as to their STB fit on a LT1 intake in a 3rd gen.

ya cool thanks for the info man.... do you have sub-frame connectors on your car? because I just put those on and ive been told that its night and day from not having them. So can you really get that much more stiffness with the strut connectors? cuz i've even heard ppl say its a waste of money if you already have the sub frames

haha and incase your wondering i havent driven my car yet... the engine runs, did the break in, just it runs real rich so I'm getting it dyno tuned within the month; plus i was having rear end troubles.. but anywase back to the strut brace

I bought a set of Kenny Brown Double Diamonds from a TGO member who said they were for 3rd gens.....Come to find out later, they are 4th gen ones. So they aren't on.....

I felt a difference. With my 275s up front, the front end definately grips better than the 245/16s did. Maybe that is why the STB noticeably helps?