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Old 25-03-2015, 07:48 AM   #51
Rupewrecht
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: melb.vic.au
Car: AZ-1, Astina Hardtop Turbo, BJ Protege, Beetle
Posts: 16,525
Haven't updated this much, but will add to it in the coming days.


Bought some Mazdaspeed/M2 1015 strut braces a while back, and they've been hanging in the garage for a while.

Went to fit them last weekend, and ran into a few hurdles. lets start with the rear one.



The rear one was going to foul massively on the intake pipe in the engine bay...and there was no way of making it fit. Until i realised that someone had assembled it incorrectly, and that the RHS bracket actually was a lower profile on side - specifically for the intake clearance.






They're supposed to be silver, but I decided to go gloss black on it. Haven't installed it yet, am leaving it to dry for a while.






Now, for the front...yeah, well that's not going to fit.

The clearance with the spare there is pretty bloody tight - and if i ever want to use it,I'd need to remove the strut brace :laughing:
But the weird thing is, i'll have to shave down the bolt end on the bonnet, as the foremost bolt end is hitting the leading edge of the strut brace, which forces the bonnet up when it tries to close. Not a biggie, but i just CBFed shaving them off when i was doing the rear one. With the ends trimmed it should be fine, but then I'll actually be able to tell i the middle bar clears the spare and the bonnet. Not too sure on that one.





You can see the offending bolts, and the little mark just opposite that fender bolt on the strut brace.




Still need to update all the interior work I've done.
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