Front Shock Tower Brace Install Issues...

Thomas A

Registered User
This question is for anyone that has installed a Kenny Brown front shock tower brace. I attempted to test fit one on my Cougar tonight, and it doesn't seem to fit? :confused:

If I place it to where the angled bracket end is tight against the body, the other side has 1/2" gap. It is as if the pipe section is long enough. This was previously on a MN12, so it had to fit before. Is it possible something is really askew with my car, or has anyone else come across this issue?

ShockTower_Brace1.JPG


ShockTower_Brace2.JPG


Thomas
 
Here are a couple of photos of mine. I had trouble clearing the 85mm throttle body and made some aluminum spacers from a 3" extruded plate to pick it up and take up the space. Look at how I made them different on each side, bending one side under the bar. I bent it by putting it in a vise and hammering it until the angle matched. They worked out really good because I drilled and theaded them and bolted them on upside down from inside the fenderwell. The bolts are long enough to hold the STB and a nut. It makes it easy to remove the STB to work on the motor. The bolts won't fall out because they're threaded and torqued into the plates. I used stainless steel bolts and the bottoms of the nuts are grooved to help lock them in place when torqued down. I did have trouble clearing the hood strut on the driver's side and had to grind a groove for it to clear.
 

Attachments

  • TSB.jpg
    TSB.jpg
    239.3 KB · Views: 108
  • STB spacer 2.jpg
    STB spacer 2.jpg
    223.7 KB · Views: 95
Nah...its cool Tom. Just cut a piece of 1/4 flat stock and put it under there. There are several reasons it could be pushed out. It could have been curbed before you owned it or it should have had the brace sooner in its life. Either way, you can shim it and be good. If you need, cut a piece out of cardboard, measure it, post a pic with the dimentions and I will ship you the correct size shim.

SWS
 
Is it possible to maybe get a ratchet strap and pull the inner towers back in place? Or is it really not a concern at this point?
 
i had a similar problem with the fitting of mine and what i did to get it closer was to load the suspension by jacking up the car, pulling the front wheels off then putting stands under the shocks and gently lowering the weight down to load the front suspension. i was able to take up the small ammount of gap to make mine fit really well.
 
Mine has been sitting on jack stands with the suspension out of the car for the past couple of months. Is there anyway that the car could of settled? The k-member was also out for a about 5 days??

Thomas
 
Mine has been sitting on jack stands with the suspension out of the car for the past couple of months. Is there anyway that the car could of settled? The k-member was also out for a about 5 days??

Thomas


I would suggest doing it like Mike mentioned above. Then when you try to fit the brace when the car is on the ground and find the bolt holes don't line up, just slot the holes on the brace and tighten down the nuts.

You can check chassis settling by measure the distance between the shock towers now. Then move the position of your jack stands to either carry the weight on the subframe, or on the frame of the car. See if it changes in either position.
 
So...the engine is out of it now? I would wench that bad boy back into place. I just thought the engine was in it and it would/could hang up on, or break something.

SWS
 
No, the engine is in the car now. I just had the k-member lowered for a few days, and it has been on jack stands for a couple months. I think I will wait until the car is back together and on the ground supporting it's own weight, and assess the situation then.

Thomas
 
Back
Top