Hey fellas,

I'm thinking more and more about purchasing one of these RB engine torque braces, or possibly making my own. Do any of you have one? I am wanting some GOOD pics of how it installs, specifically where the rod bolts to the inside of the engine bay.





Racing beat has one picture on their site, but it's not the greatest. If any of you have this piece please let me know what you think of it, and provide some pics! Thanks!

Jamie
Glazedham42

 

hmm id also like some pics of this installed on an FB...i am interested in buying one soon as well.

 

 

The installation picture on their website is "exactly" how it looks installed. I wish they would have had that link 10 years ago when I bought mine. I'm including two photos of mine installed, but it's hard to see with the strut brace installed. The brace mounts at the hoist point for the engine. The rod gets anchored through a hole you have to drill in the engine bay (the specifics are included with the installation instructions.) You notice the nut and washer on the rod in the photo? Well there is another nut that goes on the other side of the fenderwell (you have to dop down the fender liner to install this rod (and a brace, lock washer and nut.) Two things worth mentioning here that RB doesn't. One: Extremely close clearance to cap on the clutch master cylinder (can make it difficult to get cap on and off when fluid is needed.) Two: I recommend using a lock washer on the nut installed on engine bay side of rod to eliminate the possibility of the nut will backing-off off due to frame vibration. Hope this helped.

 

ALL RIGHT! Thanks a ton for the pics! I just have one question for you about installation. When you drill the mounting hole in the engine bay, how do you get in there to put the nut on the back? Do you drill through all the way through the body and then put the nut on from inside the fender? Any pics or description of how that mounting point is handled would be great.

Thanks again for the awesome pics.

 

SGT Fox,

Can you take a couple more pictures for me where the Brace actually mounts to the engine? Does it use the bellhousing to tranny bolts? Starter bolt? Lifting hook bolt?

THanks!

Jamie

 

lol, read his post again Hammy, he already answered both of your questions.

 

Ooops! I must've been typing my last question as my fellow Hoosier was answering it. Okay, so everything makes sense now pretty much except for one thing. The engine bracket has TWO mounts on it. One goes to the lifting point. Where does the bottom one go to??

Jamie

 

Addendum to my previous post above: It's been 10 years since I installed it and was relying on memory (not a good idea at my age). I mentioned the brace mounts at the engine hoist point but it does not (it mounts over it). If I remeber correctley I had to either move or remove the hoist bracket when I installed my brace. If you take the brace and lower it over the hoist point you will see the bolts that the brace arms will bolt to. Just remove the two nuts and slide the brace over the two corresponding studs and reinstall the nuts. It easy to figure out with the brace in-hand.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the clarification. The reason I'm wanting to know so bad is that I'm thinking about making my own torque brace. I'm just wondering how Racing Beat did it to see if I can adopt or improve any of their ideas. I was thinking that the bellhousing bolts were used for mounting locations, but am I wrong there? You mentioned that there are studs for the brace to slip over. That certainly would be the bellhousing bolts then....

 

They are the bellhousing bolts/studs.

 

Hot DAWG!! Now I'm in business! Much obliged to you sir. Can't thank you enough for the clear, speedy replies. This will definitely help me in my efforts to create my own torque brace. Or, help me know when to give up and pay the $60 to Racing Beat. Maybe if I'm in the Indy area with Rosie someday we can go for a cruise.

A big for all of you that helped out!

Jamie

 

Working around that torque brace is a pain. Trying to access bolts to undo beehive for example, master cylinder as mentioned, probably clutch slave cylinder too ... The Idea is there ... but it really a tight sqeeze

 

Thankfully I don't have the beehive to fight with anymore. I'm thinking that I can make up something similar to the RB design for about $20-30. The tricky part is going to be that engine bracket. I can see how they made it, but without have the sheetmetal blank to work with, it's gonna be tricky getting the bends to come out right...