Mk1 Rear Strut Tower Brace

Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 12:04:01 +0000
From: Mo Moscovitz (momosc@mail.cruzio.com)
Reply-To: momosc@mail.cruzio.com
Subject: Mk1 Rear Strut Tower Brace

Mk1 Owners

	In my efforts to add a rear strut tower brace to my '87, I discovered
the following:

	The only company listing such a piece is GAB. Model #STR177. I bought
mine mail order from Auto Innovations in Milpitas, CA. They gave me good
service. The bar cost $230 (can't remember if that included shipping and
tax).

	Upon installing it, I became concerned that the bar portion was too
short. There was too much thread showing on the turnbuckles, and only
3/8" of thread inside the bar on either end. With the lock nuts
tightened, the assembly was reasonably stiff, but not as stiff as I
thought such a bar should be. For instance, the OEM front bar is
perfectly stiff.

	The quality of the bar seemed fine, but  after several weeks I started
noticing some rust on the turnbuckles and bolts. This sucks as I was
going for appearance as well as function and GAB is supposed to be good
stuff. I contacted GAB. They told me the STR177 is the proper bar for
all MR2's (!) and that the stiffness was sufficient. They suggested that
my engine cleaner was causing the rust.

	I told them I use Simple Green to clean the engine bay and that I was
dissatisfied with the quality of the unit (especially for that kind of
money!) To their credit they authorized a refund under warranty.

	Meanwhile, through a slight miscommunication with another distributor,
I learned that GReddy makes a rear bar for my car under the GREX name.
It's only about $100. I ordered it and when it arrived, found it was a
front bar not a rear (they don't make a rear bar), but I really liked
the look of the bar part, so I adapted it to the GAB strut tower anchors
(I had to grind a bit of material from the GREX turnbuckles to get them
to slide into the GAB pieces).
 
	I now own the world's most expensive strut tower brace, but I'm finally
happy (what's money for if not to improve our MR2's)?

	Installation is simple: The bodywork pieces on either side of the hood
remove with three screws completely expoing the strut towers. There may
be a ground attached to the passenger side piece.  With the car on the
ground, remove the stock bolts, install the anchors and torque the bolts
back down to 20 or 25 ft/lbs. You will need to remove the splash guard
from your coolant overflow tank and grind down the tabs that it was
mounted to. The bar will block the cap to that tank, but you can get it
on and off with some difficulty. Follow the mfrs instructions on how to
mount the turnbuckles into the bar and the bar/turnbuckle assembly into
the anchors at either end.

	Does it work? Well, I have a highly developed suspension on my car
which works very well, (see separate article in near future) and I
believe it helps. Counterpoint to my opinion is that of Select Sales who
feel that the strut towers are locked together structurally at the back
of a Mk1 and that more benefit can be gained by reversing the anchors
and running the bar closer to the middle of the engine bay. This would
foul the throttle linkage tower, necessitating fabriction of a new,
differently designed one.

	There you have all I know on the subject. I hope it helps some of you.

Mo Moscovitz
momosc@bbs.cruzio.com