assembly questions

[Pakrat 1,043]

OK, here's the first one, why do the ends of my shock tower braces look different? Is something missing or is that they way it is supposed to be?

 

[69grandecj 0]

My Grande has the type on the right with the extra bracing. I believe they were used on big block cars. Maybe since yours is a convertible they also used that style. If that is the case the other one must have been swapped out.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well that stinks, I can't believe I never noticed that they didn't match until now. Guess it's a good time to get a one piece export brace then.

[musman 10]

Well that stinks, I can't believe I never noticed that they didn't match until now. Guess it's a good time to get a one piece export brace then.

I got one of those from MU, and let me tell you that it is a lot of fitting, bendind and drilling to fit them...took me and my friend one complete evening to finally fit them, and of course repainting them cuz we had to grind some material as well.....but it's doable...much mure stronger than the original 2 piece ones..

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well that's good to know, thanks. Good thing I am not interested in a chrome one if that is the case. Maybe I will just leave it for now until I come across another that matches one of them or a better option comes out on the market. I would love the one piece unit from maier but it's way expensive.

[BlackGMC 10]

Don't get the cheaper 1 peice export brace, the metal is alot thinner than the orginal ford piece. Let me clarify, the repo export brace is kinda on the thin side, the orginal tooling export brace is really nice and thick metal

[burritoboi5 10]

I've heard good things about the export braces. May be worth the effort to get one.

[musman 10]

That's why i got them in the first place, the metal is much more thick than the original Ford ones....the look is great once finished, i got the black ones so i could repair any scratches afterwards...which i did...

[chillininnh 21]

I agree that it is a great time to install a one piece export brace. I went with the heavy-duty chrome piece and although it was a bit of a bear to install, I know the benefits once the car is on the road will be worth it.

 

[Protowrxs 111]

Pak, I have a chrome export hanging around if you are interested. It is much thicker than the stock factory support but I cannot vouch in regard to other products. I bought it and used it as a placeholder for the shock tower replacement but ending up building my own for the EFI setup.

 

Just let me know.

 

-Stephen

[Pakrat 1,043]

Pak, I have a chrome export hanging around if you are interested. It is much thicker than the stock factory support but I cannot vouch in regard to other products. I bought it and used it as a placeholder for the shock tower replacement but ending up building my own for the EFI setup.

 

Just let me know.

 

-Stephen

 

Yeah sure. I was thinking just black but if you need to get rid of it I can go chrome, it looks good on Chillin's car. I did not get the new Monte bar yet so I guess I could go chrome on that too. Let me know what you're asking and shipping for it and we'll see. So if you used it for alignment I guess it fit OK then? I was going to get that Laurel Mountain cheap version of the Maier one but then I saw the issues you had with it and scraped that idea.

 

I was looking at them in Virginia Classic tonight and I see they had two versions now, the standard chepaer one and a great fitting concours quality one so that must be due to the fit issue that musman mentioned.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I almost forgot my new question. How do you get the cowl panel to line up with the fender height at the windshield? I reinstalled my wiper assemblies today and I notice that it sags their. The assmebly manual makes no note as to anything going there and I see nothing in the weatherstrip parts section but I know there has to be something that goes in their somewhere like a spacer.

 

Tomorrow I have to post pics of some miscelaneous hardware. I went and splurged for the entire master body hardware kit and they used it to dry fit the car so not only do I have to strip primer paint off all my new bolts but they are all just thrown in a box instead of in nice labeled bags so I have no idea what some of it is for.

[railblazer82 10]

That brings up a good point, i just took out my wiper assembly and am wondering about that grommet that the wires pass through (should i say molded two) and was wondering how you get a new one in???? Had to cut it out!!! Adam

[Pakrat 1,043]

That brings up a good point, i just took out my wiper assembly and am wondering about that grommet that the wires pass through (should i say molded two) and was wondering how you get a new one in???? Had to cut it out!!! Adam

 

Hunh, I was able to reuse mine, I just pushed it out and then pushed it back in.

[Max Power 74]

I prefer the black, the chrome gets dirty fairly easily, and dirty chrome under the hood looks like crap.

 

These things are so tough to install cuz our shock towers are all in a virtual state of collapse. Mine are almost an inch off on a rust free cali car.

[R4K 10]

Huhn, that's strange. I got the one-piece aftermarket chrome one (and man, it must be 3x as thick as the stock 2-piecer!), and it goes on fairly easy.

[BlackGMC 10]

Maybe the new repo 1 piece export braces are better than they used to be, probably.... Now that I think about it, it was like 8 years ago when purchased mine.

[railblazer82 10]

Hunh, I was able to reuse mine, I just pushed it out and then pushed it back in.

 

 

Hopefully they make that cone looking grommet. I havent checked yet.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Just in case this is getting lost in the thread I'll repost my last question.

 

How do you get the cowl panel to line up with the fender height at the windshield? I reinstalled my wiper assemblies today and I notice that it sags their. The assmebly manual makes no note as to anything going there and I see nothing in the weatherstrip parts section but I know there has to be something that goes in their somewhere like a spacer.

[chillininnh 21]

I am also in the midst of tackling this problem Pak. Although there is no mention of them in the assembly manual, there are 3 rubber/foam cushions that are glued onto the lower cowl that support the upper cowl after it is installed. They are positioned one on each side and one in the middle. When I disassembled my car the middle one was gone, the passy was in the cowl drain, and the drivers was still in place. In this pic, see the black square just under the drivers side wiper shaft? That was where the support was installed.

They don't reproduce these so you must source something to use as a substitute. The first thing that comes to mind is a thick sponge of some sort. I will take a pic of the one I do have and post it.

[bnickel 10,004]

they were rubber coated foam blocks to act as spacers/supports for the cowl panel. my car only had 2 installed at the factory, one on each side.

 

as an added note when adding an aftermarket export brace the easiest way to get everything lined up is to jack the car up and support it with jack stands under the frame rails about where the torque boxes are and then just leave it that way for a few days. this will allow the shock towers to relax and the weight of the engine will help them get close to their original position. if that doesn't work you may need to use a porta-power or even the hydraulic ram from an engine hoist to push them back out a little more. i'll probably be using the latter method when the time comes, mine is probably at least an inch off as well. i do not recommend modifying the export brace to fit the car, but rather modify the car to fit the brace, the braces are a lot more accurate than your 40 year old shock towers even if the car has never been wrecked or driven hard. my car was never wrecked but it was driven hard.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Hmm, what's weird about that spot in your pic though Chillin is it is no where near the widnshield, I thought for sure that was where it would be since that is where it sags most. I am sure I can find some piece of self adhesive weatherstrip that will do the trick just as good though, thanks. I'll bet my car had it still before the media blasting too, even with 3 prior coats of paint it had never been apart before in it's life. I bought some foam weatherstrip for the underside of the vert winshield trim and I'll bet it's thick enough.

 

For my next question, where the hell do these two brackets go? Also, what are these 4 bolts for? They have a thick neck and a rubber bushing and look important.

 

BTW rail, that cone is part of the whole wiring and probably only comes as the whole motor unit assembly. You lmight be able to make something up though with a rubber stopper at your local hardware store.

[chillininnh 21]

Those are brackets for the headlight buckets. They anchor the bucket behind the inner headlights, attaching the bucket to the radiator support, directly beneath the hood bumpers.

[chillininnh 21]

The foam block is about 4" long, 2" wide and 2" thick JFYI.

[burritoboi5 10]

Ok Ok here's what you have all been wanting the source to my infinite knowledge :1eye: Actually just a good website how to that I thought may be of interest in this thread, if not disregard it.

 

http://www.fly-ford.com/MM0105-How_To_Install_an_Export_Brace_and_a_Monte_Carlo_Bar.html