| Home Made TBI Strut Tower Brace |
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| This is going to be a general how-to of making a Strut Tower Brace for pretty much any car. There really shouldn't be any difference in the way the brace is made, but just the size and shape. |
| First of all, I spent a total of about $10 on this brace in the state you see it now. All you will need to finish it off is a can of self-etching paint and actual paint. I would probably go with some higher temp paint since this brace will get hot being right on top of the engine. Tools: -Grinder of some sort. -Hack-saw -Socket set or wrenches -Tape measure -Welder, or someone to weld for you Materials: -Steel tubing(round or square) size does not really matter. I went with 1/8"thick 1x1" square steel tubing -Flat steel bar for mounting to strut tower -Nuts/bolts/washers for mounting brace. I used zinc coated nuts/bolts/washers for this to help prevent rust. |
| Step #1 The first step in this whole process is to figure out the best path for the brace to follw and still keep it resonably straight. The straighter the brace is with the least bends will make it stronger. Once you have planned out the bends and have cut the bar to length(I suggest going long since it would be hard to add to it), begin bending the steel tubing to fit the contours of the engine. Some cars may not have enough clearance under the hood, so you must also take that into consideration when beginning this project. You will need to use many means of bending to make the brace, I actually used our truck to make the curve around the air filter. Amazing what seting a truck on the bar will do. I actually had our Dodge Ram 1500 driver's side front tire held up by this bar. The bend you see there was as much as the bar would bend. That actually supported the weight of the truck in that corner. So, now that this brace will support the weight or a truck, I figured it was good enough to work on a car. |
| Step #2 The second step in this project is to make any other bends in the brace that you might need. I had to bring the ends of the bar down as you can see. To do this, I first cut the bar a ways in from either end and carefully ground out the cut so that the bar would tip down. After you get the bends cut and welded up, you can begin cutting the angles for the ends so that they meet the towers evenly. |
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