DIY heavy reinforced export tower brace

[juit 34]

I went to a friend shop and he offered to reinforce my export brace

 

so what the heck! I was going to change it anyway

 

I was impressed how sturdy it feals now! now Im planing to keep it :icon_bike:

 

 

 

 

gonna do the same to my montecarlo bar :icon_hyper:

[maxum96 32]

Why mess around with the backyard attempt at building your own export brace when you can buy them so cheap?

 

http://www.cjponyparts.com/export-brace-black-1964-1970/p/EB1/

[juit 34]

Why mess around with the backyard attempt at building your own export brace when you can buy them so cheap?

 

http://www.cjponyparts.com/export-brace-black-1964-1970/p/EB1/

 

first of all "read" :detective:

 

I went to a friend shop and he offered to reinforce my export brace

 

so what the heck! I was going to change it anyway.....

 

 

 

BECAUSE IT WAS FREE ALSO

[maxum96 32]

To each his own

[fvike 173]

Looks like heavy duty stuff! I like it!

[ashleesmach1 28]

good job!

[juit 34]

Thanks guys

[RPM 1,190]

To each his own

 

What he said. Those crimped ends look rather funky to me.

 

Bob

[juit 34]

Hahaha Silly henchmen

[Angel 24]

Out of curiosity, can you explain how this was done? I know you used some kind of bar or tube to join the two braces together. But did you remove the braces first or were you able to just weld it in place?

[juit 34]

2 inch pipe bended to fit with braces on, the they did 2 spot welds on each side, took it off to do a full weld, all this was done at a mufler chop

[Angel 24]

Yeah I figured that's how it was done. It's definitely an economical way of doing it. However, you still might be missing out on some of the benefits of buying an actual export brace. The original two piece braces weren't very good at keeping the towers in place. With time, they usual collapse a bit towards the engine. The one piece export braces are built to OE spec and usually do not bolt on without first unloading the suspension and allowing the towers to return to their original position.

 

Your brace is now keeping them from further collapsing but it is not locating the towers where they should be. They are still in their collapsed state. Assuming they haven't been repaired and reinforced to avoid this already. In either case, what you have is better than nothing. I bought a new export brace from a member years ago for $15. But even at $50-70, it's still worth it to upgrade.

[juit 34]

The montecarlo bar was a direct bolt down when i bought it new, maybe my towers are not that bad?

[Pakrat 1,043]

I'm not sure what all the combinations of elements are that cause most to sag but it is possible. When I bought the one piece export brace for my car it practically bolted right into place, was off by just millimeters in fact. My car had very low miles and sat rust free in its California birth state for over 20 years though which is pretty rare.

[juit 34]

ohhh! I forgot something, you are so dam right! great eye on the ball bro!

 

the first time that I wanted to take them out I changed the shocks when I took the export braces they were a big pain to remove them

 

3 months later I installed the montecarlo bar I was lifting one end of the car that's why it was so easy to drill it

 

then when I took the braces on this project after they were weld spoted they were so easy to uninstall them I just could not believe it

 

so prolly is someone doing this it would be recommended to install a montecarlo bar first and the do this

Edited May 7, 2013 by juit

[buening 63]

A way to maximize its benefit would have been to use a continuous piece of pipe bent in a U (to mimic the shape of the export brace), and weld to the braces. The biggest need of strength is at the firewall connection, not the midpoint of the braces themselves.

[juit 34]

that's how it was made

 

1 piece pipe welded to the braces also they spot welded the bottom holes to the pipe to ground it better

 

planing to do the L shelby brace to reinforce the firewall

 

the first attempt was a A shaped one but I didn't like it, V connected in the middle almost touching the fillter

Edited May 7, 2013 by juit

[buening 63]

Ah hell, it appears only the third picture loaded at home. Nevermind

[manley 13]

Ah hell, it appears only the third picture loaded at home. Nevermind

 

I was wondering how you missed that, but I didn't want to be the jerk to call you out on it. lol :1eye:

[juit 34]

try: CTRL F5