Strut Tower Brace missing from your engine bay?

[Chameleon]

Found it in Ford Racing manual.


- Install the new strut tower cross brace with new nuts. [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Torque[/FONT][/FONT]: 41 lb.ft (55 Nm)

Glad you found the correct info. i'll smack myself now.

Sponsored

 

[Duttch]

I think 26 ft lb-ft.

You are right, but that is for K brace on some locations close to the wipers.


Thanks for the info.

 

[kcphoto21]

Do we need to buy new nuts for the strut tower brace or we can use the same ones?

Thanks!

 

[kcphoto21]

Thanks in advance guys, this is a great forum.

 

[CTH621]

Do we need to buy new nuts for the strut tower brace or we can use the same ones?

Thanks!

When you're dealing with nyloc nuts, once you remove them from the bolts, it is recommended to replace with new nuts as nyloc nuts slightly lose their locking ability after being removed.

 

[kcphoto21]

Thanks CTH621.

 

[Sc00ter]

Installed my Ford Racing strut tower brace and crossmember yesterday and HOLY CRAP, what a difference! Instant response to steering input - almost twitchy, compared to without it. If you've been thinking about adding it and haven't because you're not sure you'll feel a difference, you absolutely will.


A couple of tips for the install:
1) You don't need to remove the wiper blades. As someone else here said with the hold-down clips removed, the plastic shroud lifts up enough to get a wrench on the bolts on top of the firewall to remove them. As for torquing them back in, I didn't worry that I couldn't get a torque wrench on them. 26 ft/lbs isn't that tight, so I just judged the feel from the ones I could.

2) The brace will hang up on the plastic shroud covering the driver side wiper motor shaft if you slide it under while standing next to the battery. Stand on the driver's side and lift up that spot while you do it, and it'll slide in fine.

3) When you're sliding the end of the brace onto the strut tower studs next to the battery case on the passenger side, be sure you don't push the brace against the battery case as you do it. that will shove the edge of the soft rubber case down, and you'll have to pull the brace up and start over again. (PIA)

4) The battery cover hold-down clips are easy screw-in expansion types. But to get the windshield wiper motor cover clips out, you need to pry the center part up out of the circular surround using 2 thin flat screwdrivers, one on each side directly across from one another.

Using these tips, the install will take you a half hour or so (without the tips it took me a good hour, including learning what not to do).
Easy-Peasy.

 

[racer24crm]

Install was easy and Scooter's post above have the same tips I would offer. The front is so much tighter feeling now that the rear end feels loose. Good thing I'll be throwing some steeda IRS subframe braces on soon.

 

[Sc00ter]

Install was easy and Scooter's post above have the same tips I would offer. The front is so much tighter feeling now that the rear end feels loose. Good thing I'll be throwing some steeda IRS subframe braces on soon.

Let me know how the irs subframe braces work taming the looseness. I wonder if the PP rear sway bar would cure it, too?

Update: I'll be starting with the PP sway bar... Plenty of them available here on the forum used.

 

[racer24crm]

Let me know how the irs subframe braces work taming the looseness. I wonder if the PP rear sway bar would cure it, too?

Update: I'll be starting with the PP sway bar... Plenty of them available here on the forum used.

Nice, let me know if you think it helps. The looseness I feel is almost like the car's rear end is slightly floating over bumps and changes in the road surface so I'm hoping that locking the irs subframe down tighter it will help.

 

[Sc00ter]

Nice, let me know if you think it helps. The looseness I feel is almost like the car's rear end is slightly floating over bumps and changes in the road surface so I'm hoping that locking the irs subframe down tighter it will help.

Steering effort has increased some, too. Not bad necessarily, just different. Did you notice a difference?

 

[kcphoto21]

Two Additional Nuts: -W712334-S442 (it says "rotor nuts", but they are the same)

hey 89Trooper, thanks for taking the time for the post. I wanted to confirm that I need 4 nyloc nuts not just two like you mentioned, or am I looking at a wrong part number.

Many thanks.

 

[racer24crm]

Steering effort has increased some, too. Not bad necessarily, just different. Did you notice a difference?

I wouldn't steering effort has increased, just feels tighter and more precise. I definitely think this is a worthwhile upgrade. Really makes the front end feel like a different car. Bumps are smoother, especially on bumpy turns and I have noticed much less tram lining, almost to the point of not existing anymore. I used to get tugged side to side at intersection where the road has sunk in from traffic sitting there all the time. I'm more than impressed by the difference it's made.

 

[StrongFord]

I installed my Ford Racing strut brace. The box was ripped open when delivered and the nuts were missing. Ford's standard pack size is 3 nuts (W712334-S442 as noted). Go figure! So I reused 1 nut.

If you lose a battery cover rivet they are W716510-S300.

I haven't driven with the strut brace yet as the car is in winter storage, but it sure came out looking good.

 

[Sc00ter]

I installed my Ford Racing strut brace. The box was ripped open when delivered and the nuts were missing. Ford's standard pack size is 3 nuts (W712334-S442 as noted). Go figure! So I reused 1 nut.

If you lose a battery cover rivet they are W716510-S300.

I haven't driven with the strut brace yet as the car is in winter storage, but it sure came out looking good.

It's a pretty noticeable difference — you'll like it!

Sponsored