19mike66

I am having some troubles re-installing the export brace on my 66 coupe. I can get only 2 mounting points attached. Either the 2 shock towers bolt up and then the mtg holes on firewall are off by 3/8" or I can get firewall and one shock tower but then other tower mtg holes are off by 3/8-1/2".
I have tried jacking the car on each corner, putting stands under various positions to get the car to flex a bit, but nothing is helping.
My next thought is to put a bottle jack between the towers, parallel to the firewall. Put a 4x4 at either end and apply pressure to force the towers apart. But, it has got to be easier than that......right??
Any suggestions?

thanks
Mike

guitarman376

Sorry I honestly don't know what you should do, but this thread is giving me worries about the export bar I have yet to try installing...

Deviousfred

I ran into a similar problem. It seems from what you posted that the shock towers need to move away from the firewall. I placed stands under the floor supports just behind the firewall and allowed the car sit like this for several days. When I came back to try again, I had someone stand on the radiator support crossmember. It helped enough to get the bolts in. I had the luxury of this being a project and the front end being disassembled.

crunchyskippy

It took me a combination of things to get mine finally on. You're doing the right thing with placing the jack stands on the frame rail behind the front wheels. You'll want to go as far back as (safely) possible from the front wheels to get a leveraging affect. As Fred said, having someone stand on the front - probably the bumper - will have a similar affect.

Lastly, I only started a couple bolts. Then alternating tightening each of them and used a drift to try to start others. It takes time and use patience.

I was unable to use my bottle jack because it wouldn't work on it's side. I suppose repositioning it would work but I couldn't get leverage to jack it then.

Good luck.

gjz30075

Mike, you said "re-installing" so I presume it was already on the car. Did you install it the first time, or did you buy the car with it installed? Could be the export brace is incorrectly made. If it's off the car now, get some measurements and compare to another (off the car). This all said, yes, it can be a b*&^h to install.

Coupe

Last year I had a chrome one that I got with the car and it would not fit correctly so I ended up moving the holes on the brace and said screw it. This spring I ordered the heavy duty drake unit and it basically dropped in place. Turns out the chrome cheapy was just wrong from the get go.

Just a FYI.

RC65

I did the Scott Drake heavy brace also, installed with ease!

2+2GT

This has been my experience. The cheaper braces, which probably have half the strength, are not quite right dimensionally. The excellent Drake brace is maybe $15 more than the cheap ones.

crunchyskippy

While I agree about the dimensional correctness of the cheaper brace, I have to question the comment on being half as strong. How exactly are you measuring the tensile and compressional strength of an export brace?

Deviousfred

I would be hesitant to put a numerical value on how many time stronger the Scott Drake unit is over the cheaper ones, but there is no doubt about it that it is stronger. The sheet metal used on the Drake unit is substantially thicker.

Fred