I've had an old nasty looking strut tower brace that used to be on my car a long time ago. I believe it's either an old Hotchkis or Edelbrock brace. Anyways, the previous owner had painted it burgundy at some point and then I rattle canned it black, and it never really looked good. The paint was flaking real bad and showing red through.

I took it off when I did the engine swap and never got around to fixing it up real nice to re-install. Then this week a local powder coater added me on facebook and I decided (out of impulse) to get the darn thing sand blasted and powder coated.

I just picked it up from his house tonight, and it looks AMAZING. It's a high gloss black and is really going to look good under the hood. I think I'm going to have to adjust the hood up slightly so that the insulation doesn't start putting scuff marks on it though.



Here's a tease for you. It's in plastic bags, and I'm going to get some chrome hardware from the local hardware store to install it this weekend. This is one of the short arms that goes from the center bar to the firewall.








For reference, this is the style stb that it is, since the above pictures only show one piece of it.
(REALLLY OLD PICTURE)








Anyways like i said I'm going to get some chrome bolts and nuts for it before installing. But I believe they only come up to Grade 3. i don't see this being an issue, but can someone maybe verify this?

 

Just order something from http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex Im sure they have better then grade 3 in what you need. Id also just go with a nice stainless bolt.

Gloss black always looks awesome. Ive done some Alt. brackets and lots of other stuff. You can see your reflection in like a mirror.

 

I didn't even think about Fastenal. There's a store a few miles from my house I'll just go there and pick out what I need there.

 

Looks great! I would probably powder everything I could remove from my car and fit in the oven... its additictive... Chris knows! LOL

Post up finished pics after you get the hardware on!

 

very nice, i too am a fan of keeping the suspension upgrade goodies black (although a nice hammertone finish can go a long way too). looking forward to seeing it over the engine swap. i grabbed an edelbrock (looks like yours is the Hotchkis, as the edlebrock ones are a 1pc) one going on sometime this spring too

 

The TBI version of Edelbrocks strut tower brace is one piece, the TPI version is a 3 piece design.

 

my oops

 

After searching online I've come to the conclusion this is an edelbrock peice, the hotchkis bars are much different

 

It's an Edelbrock, I have one that looks exactly like it. Mine is in need of some sanding and paint as well.

 

My brace used to be on the car before I did my engine swap and it never got put back on. I've since had an alignment done and now the brace won't fit. The gap between the holes for the race and the shock mounts is smaller than it was before the alignment was done and now the base of the brace won't fit there.

Does anyone know how I can easily fix this? If I mount the brace with new holes where it is wanting to sit now, it sits a little to high and is causing a bit of stress on the hood. Does anyone sell a shock plate that has more adjustment? I realize the forward and backward adjustment is under the fender on the wish one shaped bracket, right?




For reference it has moved forward enough to also throw the firewall holes out of alignment

 

VERY nice STB. Black suits.

 

Bar looks good. Side question, how much negative camber do you have? I haven't seen strut mounts maxed out like that before...

 

Founder's Performance makes excellent suspension components for thirdgens, including strut towers, and their prices are the lowest. Look for outstanding reviews in the two venders' forums.

http://www.foundersperformance.com/p...er-Plates.html

Or for a different, simpler strut tower brace, MAC makes a two-point brace for thirdgens, and it mounts on the strut towers' own mounting bolts, no drilling, no misaligned holes. You could probably adapt the cowl braces from your current brace to the MAC brace to turn it into a multi-point brace.

 

Ian I'm not sure it's been about two years since it was aligned haha

I don't have any weird tire wear though. I saw those founders plates, think I'm gonna pick up a set here soon.

 

I ended up loosening the nuts on the caster plates and knocking those back enough to mount the STB, and I'm going to order the J&M or Founders plates soon, probably next month for my birthday. I believe those will give me the extra room I need, and I'll take the car to my brother's tech school to get aligned for free.

I'll get pictures of the new brace installed next weekend hopefully, with my good camera.

 

Just an FYI...J&M and Founders are the same company.

There is a thread here on TGO somewhere.

Go with whichever you can find cheaper or the UMI one.