11-25-2011, 03:03 AM
I decided to work off some of the effects of the Thanksgiving gluttony by installing my recently-arrived firewall brace, and it went very smoothly. My engine is out of the car, which may have helped with the installation process a little, but not a whole lot, I don't believe (so there's no need for Flash to add "Remove engine" as the first step of the installation process on future kits <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/tongue.png" class="smilie" alt="" /> ).
Since my front struts are also out of the car at the moment, my goal was to permanently attach the firewall bracket to the clutch master cylinder, with the strut brace bracket temporarily held in place by four bolts and nuts to confirm the fitment of the tower bracket to the firewall bracket and strut tower bracket. I'll tighten the rest of the nuts and bolts down when I install my new Moton Clubsports, which probably won't be until after I put the engine back in. It is a tight squeeze in there, but I found a method that worked very well for me:
1. Place the clutch master cylinder's left-most nut into a 13 mm socket.
2. Attach the socket to a universal joint, which is attached to a 3" extension, which is attached to a 12" extension.
3. Attach a telescoping magnet to the socket, and use the magnet to keep the socket in a horizontal position while maneuvering the socket toward the clutch master cylinder's stud.
I ended up attaching the firewall bracket to the clutch master cylinder stud using this method (without the loctite), then hand tightening the tower bracket to the firewall bracket, and to the strut tower bracket to confirm the fit of everything. Then I removed just the clutch master cylinder nut, applied the loctite, and used this method to maneuver underneath the fully assembled parts described above, and torqued the nut down.
This is a very high quality product, and I would encourage everybody to add it to your list of things to do for you 968. It isn't expensive, so it's very cheap insurance against the firewall integrity problems that are so common in these cars. It just feels solid as a rock. Five stars!
Since my front struts are also out of the car at the moment, my goal was to permanently attach the firewall bracket to the clutch master cylinder, with the strut brace bracket temporarily held in place by four bolts and nuts to confirm the fitment of the tower bracket to the firewall bracket and strut tower bracket. I'll tighten the rest of the nuts and bolts down when I install my new Moton Clubsports, which probably won't be until after I put the engine back in. It is a tight squeeze in there, but I found a method that worked very well for me:
1. Place the clutch master cylinder's left-most nut into a 13 mm socket.
2. Attach the socket to a universal joint, which is attached to a 3" extension, which is attached to a 12" extension.
3. Attach a telescoping magnet to the socket, and use the magnet to keep the socket in a horizontal position while maneuvering the socket toward the clutch master cylinder's stud.
I ended up attaching the firewall bracket to the clutch master cylinder stud using this method (without the loctite), then hand tightening the tower bracket to the firewall bracket, and to the strut tower bracket to confirm the fit of everything. Then I removed just the clutch master cylinder nut, applied the loctite, and used this method to maneuver underneath the fully assembled parts described above, and torqued the nut down.
This is a very high quality product, and I would encourage everybody to add it to your list of things to do for you 968. It isn't expensive, so it's very cheap insurance against the firewall integrity problems that are so common in these cars. It just feels solid as a rock. Five stars!
(This post was last modified: 11-25-2011, 03:04 AM by Cloud9...68.)
