DIY Strut Brace With Master Cylinder brace
 

Check it out, Im aware that I made a miscalculation and had to cut my bar in half and reweld it, but I definately feel a difference, in both braking and front end stiffness.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7811911_n.jpg

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._8205520_n.jpg

Looks good. Wanna make me one for the rear? I live in Sauga too.

After I make one for the rear sure, that is my next on list of things to do.

Finally a purpose for the shock tower brace (on miatas)

How to?

Id love to post up a "how to" with pics, but my genious father deleted all of the pics I took for the process, something about my 16gb SD card not having enough space? I dont know, but the process was pretty simple:

1) make a mock up out of plywood and wooden dowel
Mine bolted in and cleared everything

2) Get materials
I used aluminum which I got for free from a friend, he owed me a favour

3) Start cutting
It was aluminum so I used a Jigsaw and wd-40 as a lubricant. I went slow and got pretty good cuts

4) Once I had everything cut to length I cleaned all my areas for welding, tacked it together, and welded it in assuming that my first calculations were correct

5) *this step is unneccessary if you measure twice* cut the tube in the middle and take out the section that is causing your strutbrace to be too large

6) Get a peice of aluminum to thread for the master cylinder brace, cut it on an angle so it mounts parallel to the ground once on the side of the strut brace

7) Drill and tap the master cylinder brace for a bolt

8) Measure twice, tack, check fit and go weld

9) Install and be UBER happy for FIRM brakes

can you sell me one for the rear?

^^ You really did just do that, didn't you?

jackass.

I found a better way to deal with MC area flexing. All it took was testing out a few ideas.

A variation on that theme

I made it out of steel tubing. And triangulated back to the cowl and then to the firewall behind the cowl.

The engine bay portion of this brace the first diy mod I did to my car way back in 1994 I think.

Bob

Omg.

FWIW I think this DIY brace made a bigger difference in the feel of the front end of the car however.

Bob

Dammit! I was gonna be the first to do DIY frog arms!

Looks nice, wonder if there's a way to do this without a welder, bolts, square tube, and flat bar only.

I think there's a decent market for people who just want the brace, without the bar... anyone want to make one?

Very nice Bob! Time to break out the welder again and let the sparks fly!
If I had to add a bit of weight back in, this is why I would do it.

Box in the uprights and you will eliminate any torsional flex they might still present. Good DIY solution and fab. ;)

I've done the same thing with a raceland (or same kind of shit) strut tower brace bought for 30 euros, it's now my master cylinder brace :

http://joel.da.costa.free.fr/TutosMx...e/IMGP1813.JPG

I do have to comment that I think yours looks like a pretty good job for both the design and fabrication. It should work better than many I have seen on the market, many of which i suspect are worthless. Nice work.

Bob

After I had everything installed, I felt a huge improvement on my brake feel, but the brace flexes upwards, guess the booster brace isn't not 100% parallel with the MC........

The brace itself works great though. I had to install a new engine and the mounts were slightly taller so now it rests on the engine when its bolted down. I'm considering copying bbuny's brace to the firewall. I thought about it at the time but I wasn't convinced that my current brace would actually make a difference.

I bought an eBay STB for this very purpose (actually was thinking of just using the driver's side mount alone, like joeldc13's), but the stupid thing arrived bent. Have to take it over to my dad's house and use his benchvise to flatten it back out.