strut tower brace swap.

realitygt · Sep 27, 2007

one of my friends has a 94 or a 95 mustang gt, his car came stock with a struttower brace that connect each strut tower and it connects to the firewall (mine didn't), he's getting a new engine for it and he's getting rid of the brace , now my question is that will the brace just bolt right up to mine while clearing the engine and hood? i noticed that it attaches to the front of the shock tower so i would have to drill a couple holes for that but i think it will fit regardless

95-stang · Sep 27, 2007

I thought they all had the holes from the factory, mine does, but then mine had the factory brace.

tommybunz · Sep 28, 2007

some do some dont mine did not have the brace but i got one now. if you want you can just drill and tap holes BUT make sure you mock up the holes because some of the bars dont line up exact all the time

95-stang · Sep 28, 2007

Your right there, when i unbolted the standard brace, it almost flew off like it was under tension, the Cobra brace, which i also had fitted later, fitted perfectly.

And thats with factory parts.

realitygt · Sep 28, 2007

im getting it for free, so lets hope it fits lol

reivaxtorres · Sep 28, 2007

realitygt said:
one of my friends has a 94 or a 95 mustang gt, his car came stock with a struttower brace that connect each strut tower and it connects to the firewall (mine didn't), he's getting a new engine for it and he's getting rid of the brace , now my question is that will the brace just bolt right up to mine while clearing the engine and hood? i noticed that it attaches to the front of the shock tower so i would have to drill a couple holes for that but i think it will fit regardless

if your car is a 1998 model, then it may or may not have the holes pre-drilled. if it doesnt, consider yourself lucky later on as you mod the car, but screwed right now :hammer:

to install a brace from a 94/95 GT onto a 96-98 (or 99-04) you need to make sure it will actually work. most companies sell one for the 5.0 and one for the 4.6, so make sure it even works.

for the strut towers, you need to drill the holes on the towers by lining up the brace and marking the locations. mark ALL LOCATIONS, firewall included, before you drill anything.

for the firewall, if you dont have the holes on the towers you wont have them on the firewall either. on the stock brace, they mount vertically onto a metal plate that extends horizontally from the firewall. since you dont have this, you have to remove the plastic cover from the firewall, line up the brace, see where the best locations are for you to drill holes thru, then you have to drill horizontal holes thru the brace and then thru the firewall. (hint: drill the holes on the brace 1st, then line it up, mark the firewall, then drill thru the firewall, then install the brace).

aftermarket ones have provisions for both the stock mounting locations and the aftermarket mounting locations. let me see if i can dig up a pic of where the firewall bolts are supposed to be

EDIT: here are a few pics i have. the engine is a little dirty, but you can see where they are supposed to mount up to:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ender03/100_4649.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ender03/100_3671.jpg (<-- you can zoom in on this one)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a267/ender03/Picture061.jpg (<-- look at the firewall and you can see where its been cutout to accomodate the brace)