Strut Tower Brace missing from your engine bay?

Unless you ordered your Mustang GT with a Performance Pack, or the 20" wheel option, your engine bay looks like this:



At first, I was perplexed as to why I only had half of a black "brace" going from the firewall to the passenger side strut tower. It turns out that it really isn't a brace at all. It is plastic and is only used to support the battery cover and the cowl.

The plastic part uses the exact same hardware as the full black brace. If you want to swap it out, you'll need to remove two nuts, four bolts, three battery cover clips (only two in the pic since I lost one), and six cowl clips:



I purchased the full black brace from the dealer, and here is the comparison between the half "brace" and the full brace:



Unfortunately it ships as seen above (no packaging) and needed to be painted:



It then slips right into place, exactly where the plastic piece was, but of course now goes to both strut towers (removing the positive battery cable makes it much easier to install):



I also purchased the stock Strut Tower Brace that comes on the Performance Pack and LE. Installing it is as easy as placing it across the strut towers, and installing the four nuts.

Here is the finished product!



Here are the part numbers that you'll need if you would also like to do this easy swap. You can order from your dealer, or Tasca has very good prices (click on the part numbers):

Full Black Brace: FR3Z-16K038-A

Strut Tower Brace: FR3Z-16A200-A

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

89Trooper said:

Unless you ordered your Mustang GT with a Performance Pack, or the 20" wheel option, your engine bay looks like this:



At first, I was perplexed as to why I only had half of a black "brace" going from the firewall to the passenger side strut tower. It turns out that it really isn't a brace at all. It is plastic and is only used to support the battery cover and the cowl.

The plastic part uses the exact same hardware as the full black brace. If you want to swap it out, you'll need to remove two nuts, four bolts, three battery cover clips (only two in the pic since I lost one), and six cowl clips:



I purchased the full black brace from the dealer, and here is the comparison between the half "brace" and the full brace:



Unfortunately it ships as seen above (no packaging) and needed to be painted:



It then slips right into place, exactly where the plastic piece was, but of course now goes to both strut towers (removing the positive battery cable makes it much easier to install):



I also purchased the stock Strut Tower Brace that comes on the Performance Pack and LE. Installing it is as easy as placing it across the strut towers, and installing the four nuts.

Here is the finished product!


]

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Cool, I think the black brace (K-Brace) is something everyone should install. For the money it ties the entire car together. It a substantial chunk of formed plate steel, it really is impressive.

Tim I see you installed a strut brace FR3Z-16A200-A ? This is the same part number for strut brace for 2011-2014 Mustang? I guess it fits no problem on 2015 as well?

DJGold said:

Tim I see you installed a strut brace FR3Z-16A200-A ? This is the same part number for strut brace for 2011-2014 Mustang? I guess it fits no problem on 2015 as well?

Click to expand...

Wait what? I was quoting Tom's (89Trooper) post. Tom installed all the PP components on his '15 GT. Scroll up ;)

I got the purpose of the strut brace but what is the black thingy for?
Looks only?

cyril185 said:

I got the purpose of the strut brace but what is the black thingy for?
Looks only?

Click to expand...

The K-Brace likely has more function to tie the strut towers together than the Strut tower brace but in concert together eliminate all flex. The black thingy is almost completely invisible BTW.

Isn't it closer to the dash wall and the a pillars?
Plenty of rigidity there...
I thought the front of the engine compartment is what lacked rigidity?

Oh sorry I rechecked the photos
They both are strut braces...

So what real world difference does this make? I want to get the Strut Tower Brace because it seems like a logical piece that should be on all of the Mustangs, but wonder if it is a noticeable improvement in body roll/flexing. It also looks tough! And does the short black brace work in conjunction with it or another purpose?

jimijammer said:

So what real world difference does this make? I want to get the Strut Tower Brace because it seems like a logical piece that should be on all of the Mustangs, but wonder if it is a noticeable improvement in body roll/flexing. It also looks tough! And does the short black brace work in conjunction with it or another purpose?

Click to expand...

The short black piece is not a brace at all. It only supports the battery cover and the cowl. The full black brace provides rigidity from the firewall to the strut towers (and it also supports the battery cover and the cowl).

If you install the Strut Tower Brace without swapping the black piece, you will have to put spacers under it on the driver's side or it'll be crooked (higher on the passenger side).

Tim Hilliard said:

Wait what? I was quoting Tom's (89Trooper) post. Tom installed all the PP components on his '15 GT. Scroll up ;)

Click to expand...

I saw it, I just found some ebay strut bars from 2011-2014 with same Ford OEM part number that you listed but with E instead of F as first character in part number. Are they compatible? Would a strut bar from 2011-2014 fit on 2015 would be the better question.

DJGold said:

I saw it, I just found some ebay strut bars from 2011-2014 with same Ford OEM part number that you listed but with E instead of F as first character in part number. Are they compatible? Would a strut bar from 2011-2014 fit on 2015 would be the better question.

Click to expand...

No I had a 2014 GT it is not the same and it will not fit the 2015

Tim Hilliard said:

Cool, I think the black brace (K-Brace) is something everyone should install. For the money it ties the entire car together. It a substantial chunk of formed plate steel, it really is impressive.

Click to expand...

I agree. I am still surprised that it just didn't come on all of the cars in the first place.

Tim Hilliard said:

The K-Brace likely has more function to tie the strut towers together than the Strut tower brace but in concert together eliminate all flex. The black thingy is almost completely invisible BTW.

Click to expand...

Yep - the battery cover and the cowl cover most of it. Where you can really see it is on the driver's side. I still had to paint it because it was scratched up along the edge from shipping - and you do see almost the entire edge since it sticks out a bit from under the cowl.

jimijammer said:

So what real world difference does this make? I want to get the Strut Tower Brace because it seems like a logical piece that should be on all of the Mustangs, but wonder if it is a noticeable improvement in body roll/flexing. It also looks tough! And does the short black brace work in conjunction with it or another purpose?

Click to expand...

Honestly, I will never drive the car hard enough to make it worth while. I did it for looks. And I figured if I was going to install the strut tower brace, I might as well do it right and install the black brace as well.

scoobydoonut said:

No I had a 2014 GT it is not the same and it will not fit the 2015

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Yep... completely different!

Dude I hate you
Just ordered the back brace, waiting until I get the strut brace too
Wasn't planning for that at all ;)

89Trooper, thanks for the info. Will be adding to my car too!