Well after 6 and a half weeks i got my cp racing tri strut bar. Go to install and man does it require alot of work. I had to move my Charcoal canister i think its called(black thing iwth 2 hoses connected on strut tower)had to move my clutch master cylinder line, and am having clearance issues with the break master cylinder. Anyone have these issues,m i got an 84 -se btw

 

not yet. still waiting on my braces

 

yea, the charcoal canister has to be moved (I put mine where the now nonexistant subzero bottle was), as does the little vin plate thing (has the color code on it) because thats where one of the firewall bars attaches too. And yes the clutch hard line needs to be either moved or slightly bent (or you could grind down part of the mounting plate on the bar) and it either rubs or just barely clears the brake masters cap. Also, I had to remove my wiper rack in order to get at the bolts for the left side firewall bar. I had it on there for about a month, very little improvement, and ended up removing it when I had to do some brake work (had to put fluid in, couldn't with the bar in teh way) and just left it off. More trouble and money than its worth IMO. Hopefully I'll think higher of the rack and pinion kit when I get that....

 

The CP bar that I tried to install in my SA was way off kilter. When rested on a flat piece of ground, there was at least an inch underneath the drivers side strut mount, suggesting that the entire unit had either been tweaked during shipping or built incorrectly. Neither scenario speaks well of CP's bar. Either their quality control sucks or the bar is so flimsy that it won't serve any purpose.

 

I have this bar as well. When I got mine the mounting brackets that go on the strut towers were way off. I ended up cutting one of them off and welding it back on in the right place. Repainted it and you can't tell the difference, but I shouldn't have had to rebuild the thing myself. Needless to say I was kinda ticked off after paying for the thing and it doesn't even fit right. How hard can it be?

 

Mine wasn't really tweaked (not enough to notice by eye that is) but its definatly not a drop in fit, I'll probably be putting it back in my car, but I'm going to do a little grinding here and there, and repaint it, man the paintjob on mine sucks.

 

yea mine flaked off in alot of spots already

 

Racing Beat, guys - you get what you pay for...



As you can see in this picture, I'm bleeding the brakes through the MC without any clearance issues due to holes that were pre-planned into the design. Additionally, once the brackets are in place, it's 8 nuts for the strut tops and the forged aluminum risers, 8 more bolts and washers on the strut brace itself, followed by removal and reinstallation of the hood latch to finalize the install. Total time is less than 2 hours, and that's taking your time - no fitment issues, no rewelding required, no hassles, and no clearance problems or relocating parts to get it to fit.

Racing Beat has their act together on parts like this - there are certainly cheaper solutions, but then you have to deal with crap like you're describing. My time is worth something...