93rotorhead

I have a new diff brace and I cant seem to make it fit right. I changed the diff and axels and everything bolted up ok but the brace just wont fit. I feel sure the brace is ok , just from looking at pics of others so its got to be somthing Im doing wrong?

Thanks

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Bolt it up to the frame first. Then, to get it to fit onto the diff, you will need to use a big *** prybar, and you may literally need to lower the car onto it and use the power of gravity to get it to slip onto those 21mm studs.

Mine was a HUGE pita to install b/c my frame has been tweaked and everything does not line exactly up. Now that it is on though, I love it.

AntiVenom7

Agreed, just pry the bastard into place. You will love it once its on there.

93rotorhead

Thanks, the rear of my car is on jacks so that make sence. Ill need a pry bar to.

WaLieN

Yeah, the install is quite the PITA on jack stands. I didn't use a prybar, I just pushed it into place. I first bolted a few of the small bolts, then I tried to line it up with the differential studs. Also, I had to cut my center cat's hanger off to get it to fit.

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

I found it easier to open the holes on the brace up about 1/16" It was enough to allow it to fit without breaking out the prybar. I thought that would be better than stressing out the bolts by tugging on it with a prybar.

jsplit

Which diff brace? Fd3boost and I just did the KGparts one on my car, all you need to do is widen up the 4 holes at the top and it goes on pretty easy. We just used jack stands and did the whole thing while it was up on the stands.

artguy

im happy with mine too...vibrated for 300 miles and then settled in just fine.



I am glad I paid to have that done. I would have gone nuts doing it. Kudos to those with patience there.


J

93rotorhead

Its the kg parts diff brace. Looks like I will be wideing the holes a little tonight

jsplit

Yeah, we tried to get mine on "out of the box" and the top 4 holes looked like they were clear but we could never get the bolts to thread. Just widened them a bit and it went on like a champ.

WaLieN

I dunno about the settling thing, I just think you are getting used to the high-rpm vibrations.

AntiVenom7

^agreed

as far as prying it into place it's not like you have to move it inches with the prybar just a couple of millimeters. I found it much easier than crawling out from underneath the car and drilling out holes.

allenhah

iTrader: (4)

Same here...I have had noticable vibrations from 5K and up since I installed it a few thousand miles ago. I was concerned about it at first, but after several track events, it's held up perfectly.

Below 5k, it feels rock solid.

WaLieN

Yeah, the vibrations are definately noticeable at high rpms (not to mention the massive amounts of drivetrain noise it transmits into the cabin). As for the drilling that some have talked about, I really don't know if it is really necessary. If your chasis is straight, you should be able to line it up by just pusing it with your hands (or at least it worked in my case).

r0gu3

You guys are lucky you were able to install your. All the mounts on my frame were stripped or seemed non-existant when trying to screw in. Now I have a diff brace just laying around.

WaLieN

Are you talking about the 4 bolts that hold that stock silver brace in? Did you even have that silver brace"

r0gu3

Yeah, those 4 bolts. The original silver brace was damaged and had two bolts completely missing and the other two were barely in.

AntiVenom7

you could try and retap it.

r0gu3

I don't know if two of them are able to be retapped. You can just slide the bolt in and out with ease for it doesn't catch on anything.

WaLieN

Oh man, that's bad.

TailHappy

Spent a while searching on the subject and haven't come up with anything. I bought a KGParts diff brace from a friend who had bought the part but never installed it. I knew there was possibly going to be some grinding involved, but what I found was that the angle on the brace seemed completely wrong. I was going to have interference between my midpipe hanger and the brace, but the PPF was also hitting the back of the brace so there was a good 2 inches left between cross part of the brace and the car. I didn't see any way that was going to be able to work without rebending the brace, which didn't seem like a viable option given how thick it is. Am I just doing something wrong? Unfortunately I had no instructions to go by, as the KGParts link says you're supposed to get a valid link after you buy it, but it seemed like the installation would be straightfoward anyway.

It sounded like people were having to either force it on, or drill the holes? It didn't seem like the holes were a problem, and I would be afraid forcing this on would unneccesarily stress the PPF in the situation I'm describing.

Thanks in advance for any tips...

WaLieN

You need to place a jack under the differential and jack it up. Then undo all the bolts (it might be safer to do them before jacking up the diff.). After that, it's just a matter of prying it into place. Email him if you need instructions.