Removing the shock tower braces

[Thin Lizzy 37]

Hi All,

The shock tower braces on my car have surface rust and I was thinking of restoring them. 

Can you please tell me, if I remove the 4 bolts that secure them, is it going to effect the shock absorber?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Mark.

[69ShelbyGT350H 61]

Which brace and 4 bolts are you referring to? 

Possibly 2 on each side that hold the top of the shock absorbers? If so, no issues as long as you do not have gas charged shocks and you do not drive the car with them off. 

[RPM 1,190]

 With the car static, unless your Mustang is a rust bucket, removing the braces is fine. Mark, ditch the braces and install  this export brace:

https://www.npdlink.com/store/products/mustang_export_brace_black_oe_style_deep-102509-2912.html

When installing it I'd support the car with jack stands at the torque boxes and check bolt hole alignment. On some cars the bolts slip right on, others need help. DO NOT drill out the misaligned holes to fit the bolts. 

[69ShelbyGT350H 61]

Ah, the shock tower to cowl braces. You need to remove the 2 nuts on the upper shock support and the 2 bolts on the cowl to remove each of them. The should come right off. As RPM stated, the export brace is a better option than the stock braces. 

Edited December 9, 2017 by 69ShelbyGT350H
correction, the brace goes on top of the shock mount, not under it.

[RPM 1,190]

11 minutes ago, 69ShelbyGT350H said:

Ah, the shock tower to cowl braces. 

I just assumed that's what he's referring to, but I'm often wrong. 

[69ShelbyGT350H 61]

Just now, RPM said:

I just assumed that's what he's referring to, but I'm often wrong. 

As it seems, I am often wrong as well. 

Over at http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php , they say the tower to cowl braces from factory should be painted "slop" grey.

I do not recall any of my braces being, or having grey under the semi-flat/satin black. 

[Mach1 Driver 560]

mine are original and the semi-flat/satin black you mention

[Thin Lizzy 37]

Great, thanks for your help.  Yes shock tower to cowl brace.  Is the export brace more rigid?

The car is rot free,  just trying to tidy up the engine bay.

[69ShelbyGT350H 61]

1 minute ago, Thin Lizzy said:

Great, thanks for your help.  Yes shocker tower to cowl.  Is the export brace more rigid?

My car is rot free,  just trying to tidy up the engine bay.

 

2

 

Does anyone else have issues when you insert an image all your typed text disappears? 

Yes, an export brace is more rigid. It is a heavy steel single part that replaces the two thin stamped parts. This helps stiffen up the front end and helps with upper shock tower flexing. To stiffen the towers even more in cases where the towers have bent apart or closer together, a Montecarlo bar is used to keep the upper towers in place. This is usually needed when the car is used in motorsports.

[TexasEd 188]

Mine were original and satin black before I removed them for the export brace.

[69RavenConv 286]

6 hours ago, 69ShelbyGT350H said:

Over at http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php , they say the tower to cowl braces from factory should be painted "slop" grey.

I do not recall any of my braces being, or having grey under the semi-flat/satin black. 

Yeah, here's a link to the info you cited (you may have to register to view it)

http://concoursmustang.com/speegle/Articles/69/Article-69-70BatchIllustrated 1B.pdf

My original braces (June Dearborn build) sure look black to me as well. Slop grey could be a range of shades but almost always much darker than the pic you posted; sort of faded black to a battleship grey color. I painted my export brace satin black to match the braces I replaced. Other "slop grey" parts on my car were much more grey and I used NPD's rattle can which was a great match for my parts (YMMV.)

Since Jeff Speegle has forgotten more about Mustangs than I will ever know, I'm not going to argue he's wrong. I will just say that most braces I've seen are almost black. So maybe that particular "slop" gray" tended to be a much blacker shade of gray than, say, the hood latch.

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Yes ,do the export brace ,but do the good one not the cheap one .The cheaper one does not fit well and is quite a bit lighter gauge than the good ford replacement . 

[Brian Conway 264]

If you decide to go with the one piece export brace;  the Scott drake reproduction. pictured, is the most accurate part out there.  Brian

[Thin Lizzy 37]

Thanks for your help.  Found an Export Brace locally so will fit in the New Year.  For the time being, I'll restore the original ones.

The braces came off easy.  The black / grey paint is thin and no primer.  Using wet and dry to remove the surface rust.

 

[RPM 1,190]

7 hours ago, Thin Lizzy said:

Found an Export Brace locally...

The braces came off easy.  

Yes, the individual braces do come of easily, because they're connected pinky from the cowl to the one shock tower.  Fitting the export brace can be more difficult  as it ties both shock towers and the cowl together.

But as Brian, Jim and I have pointed out,  the Scott Drake heavy wall and proper contour is the ONLY one you should use.  Unless you are comparing the 2 styles side by side it's difficult to know if you have the proper one. We're just looking out for you. 

[1969_Mach1 333]

On ‎12‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 10:29 AM, RPM said:

 With the car static, unless your Mustang is a rust bucket, removing the braces is fine. Mark, ditch the braces and install  this export brace:

https://www.npdlink.com/store/products/mustang_export_brace_black_oe_style_deep-102509-2912.html

When installing it I'd support the car with jack stands at the torque boxes and check bolt hole alignment. On some cars the bolts slip right on, others need help. DO NOT drill out the misaligned holes to fit the bolts. 

The other issue that arises is the shock towers have moved inward at the top.  If that occurs, one work around is to (1) loosen the top fender bolts except the front and rear bolts,  (2)  lift the car with two jacks on the frame where the lower control arms attach to the frame.  Doing this causes the top of the shock towers to move outward. When doing this, loosening the two motor mount thru bolts might help a little as well.  After installing the export brace, retighten the fender bolts and motor mount bolts (if the motor mount bolts were loosened).