thinking of cutting the strut brace????

[SATAN]

I dont know if you guys remember the pics of my engine right now but... The q45 trottle body sits right in front of the hood latch making it pretty difficult to run a bend before the T/B.
If I remove it and run hood pins and then run an actual strut tower brace do you guys think that would be adaquate? Or do you think It would need more reiforcement than a normal strut tower brace?

[roastin300]

I have seen a pic before of that done because of a big front mounted turbo. I think a strut brace is better than nothing but i doubt as strong as stock. You could always cut it, weld a tube bar going down like 6 inches, across and back up and run the pipe over it straight into the TB. It will look gay and take up some room in that empty spot behind the radiator, but should be as strong as stock but let you run the pipe.

[OR-Zman]

Are you talking about cutting the cross member piece that the hood latch is housed in?

If so...I would think that welding/bolting a piece of flat metal in its place (top or bottom, bent whatever) and adding the strut brace should help. Its hard to say just how much that front cross member piece really adds to the frame and front suspension rigidity. In my mind anything you can do to tie it back together would probably be worth the effort.

[utjon]

If it is the core support piece... I have been thinking of making a removable one made out of tubing. I figured that I would weld some plates on by each headlight and drill out some holes. Basically make a nice bar that goes accross and use 2 bolts on each side to secure it. It makes it a lot easier to pull the motor if you have that open space imo. Mine is already jacked up from a front end collision so I just want to get rid of the ugly shit Will definitely have to use hood pins but thats ok

I think you could do something to that extent but make it work around your setup. I have seen many pictures of people just cutting them off but I don't like that idea... I would secure it in *some* fashion. I'm no engineer though, so take my advice for whats its worth.

[84z31]

i had to cut the core support in my toyota truck to fit the supra motor. it was never the same. there is a lot of rigidity in those support pieces. before i did it the cab wouldn't twist.

i noticed afterward while i was out 4 wheeling that the windshield was starting to crack. there weren't any rock chips in the window. i had a 4 point roll-cage in my truck as well. you could really see some twist if you had the suspension maxed out.

id say notch it if you can for clearence. then weld some plate in to add some rigidity back in.

[Dave88SS]

utjon wrote: If it is the core support piece... I have been thinking of making a removable one made out of tubing. I figured that I would weld some plates on by each headlight and drill out some holes. Basically make a nice bar that goes accross and use 2 bolts on each side to secure it. It makes it a lot easier to pull the motor if you have that open space imo.

That's essentially how my audi is:


The upper radiator support bolts in and completes the box of the front subframe. There's not terribly much to it, but the nose is much shorter than the Z's as well.

[MrwassmanNA2T]

that engine is a monster

[Shiro-Steve]

We had to modify the Front Rad support on my buddy's Toyota in order to fit the Rad when we did the 350 swap. It took extensive welding to reinforce the front end. Remember If that Rad support gets bent in an accident the car is essentially a Write-Off. If your going to do it consult a Frame repair shop or someone with expierence doing welding on such things and ask them what they think.

[Racinjitter]

I did remove my upper core support, and am capping off all of the poen ends and making it a bolt in. I will also be adding one vertical X brace in the opening in front of the engine and one X brace hotizontally between the headlight housings. Once I have it running I will tell if this is adequate support for this modification. Pics are in my RB project thread.

[SATAN]

Well I decided not to cut it entirely. I removed the hood latch and cut a half circle where the hood latch used to be. Still plenty of meat left in the core support. Now I have to run ricer hood pins ops: I guess its not rice if its function over fasion.