Cusco Power Brace on RA?
Apr 8, 2013, 10:07 AM
#32
Alright. Write up time.
WARNING there will be quite a few pictures and they are of a higher resolution so idk if it will take a while to load the page for some people or not. Just an FYI
So I had saw the Cusco Front Power Brace on several Evos and thought, "hmm.. ive never seen one on an RA. I wonder if they would fit?" Thus this thread was created. Thanks to Lanzer and his awesome photo finding powers I felt pretty confident that the brace would fit. And as if fate wanted me to have this for some reason I found an already red painted brace in the marketplace for sale from member karmaSRT.
To use a picture Ive used several times now...
To install the brace you have to take out 6 bolts that hold on your crash bar I had to use wrenches as a socket wouldnt fit and seemed like i was turning on those things forever to get them out... Now the black bar above the crash bar which your bumper mounts to in four places (a clip on each outer corner under the headlights and two bolts behind each grill insert) I kind of over looked it or imagined that it was smaller and would fit behind the new brace... Well I was sadly mistaken. My solution? Cut a chunk out of it! Oh dont mind the tape on it the previous owner had blue neon tube attached there, i promptly ripped them out... haha
So as you can see I cut pretty close to the holes that you bolt the bumper to so that I could still use those. Now if you refer back to the picture of my car minus the front bumper you'll see two shiny bolts that hold each head light in. Above those are duller bolts on each side. You have to pull these out too. However the nut is inside a bushing near the radiator in the engine bay and was just spinning inside of it. I had to move my overflow tank and the throttle cable hook on the other side to make room to hold those bushings. So I pinched those until the nuts inside wouldnt move then removed the bolts. I then had to cut a small corner out of the plastic that holds the headlight on. Then connected the brace at the top.
At this point i realized something slightly annoying (as if hacking up my car this much hasnt been...) I had to remove the brace again and cut an angle into the black bar just under the bolt hole.
So I then put in two bolts on each side (four total) into the lower part of the brace where the crash bar was and it was on! Here is also a picture of the space it left between the brace and the black bar. I didnt need to cut out as much as I did but I removed about half of its width.
TADA ITS ON!!! I was highly tempted to not put the front bumper back on and just drive around like that. lol But now to put the bumper back on. Get it setup and I think, "what the hell? Its not fitting..." Guess what? More cutting involved... much more cutting involved... This is the bracket that connected to the black bar that I chopped up.
Everything to the right of the hole there had to go or else it wouldnt fit. Time to start cutting again....
Right on now that fits. But wait something isnt right down at the bottom... The big metal braces actually interfere with the black bezel and a tiny bit of the bumper in the hole in the bottom. So pulling out the cutter again Im starting to think that I never imagined having to chop my RA up this much... Oh well Its what I get for trying something new, and spending $210 on a brace... lol So in the pictures below I had to cut out the zig zag line on each side and the chunk at the top. I realize now that I didnt need to cut down as far as I did but it doesnt look bad and is hardly noticeable unless looking for it.
FINALLY! The bumper fits back on. Here is a picture of what the part at the bottom I cutout looks like once finished. Also while I was chopping up the bumper I trimmed some of the styrofoam down in the middle of the bumper, there was a big block and I just cut it back to match the depth of the rest of it. I forgot to get pictures of that part...
Bolting the bumper back on it fit tighter than it ever has and once put on felt more solid than ever before. I had to use a screwdriver and a press against the bumper to line up the brackets because I think I warped them a tiny bit when chopping them up but everything went back together well. Here are some pics of the finished product.
And thats that. I snapped a few more pics of the car but they were for the show and shine to show off my battery relocate and engine bay. But there it is, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, or you wanna go for it yourself feel free to ask. I'll help how I can, but I hope this guide proves pretty helpful if nothing else.
WARNING there will be quite a few pictures and they are of a higher resolution so idk if it will take a while to load the page for some people or not. Just an FYI
So I had saw the Cusco Front Power Brace on several Evos and thought, "hmm.. ive never seen one on an RA. I wonder if they would fit?" Thus this thread was created. Thanks to Lanzer and his awesome photo finding powers I felt pretty confident that the brace would fit. And as if fate wanted me to have this for some reason I found an already red painted brace in the marketplace for sale from member karmaSRT.
To use a picture Ive used several times now...
To install the brace you have to take out 6 bolts that hold on your crash bar I had to use wrenches as a socket wouldnt fit and seemed like i was turning on those things forever to get them out... Now the black bar above the crash bar which your bumper mounts to in four places (a clip on each outer corner under the headlights and two bolts behind each grill insert) I kind of over looked it or imagined that it was smaller and would fit behind the new brace... Well I was sadly mistaken. My solution? Cut a chunk out of it! Oh dont mind the tape on it the previous owner had blue neon tube attached there, i promptly ripped them out... haha
So as you can see I cut pretty close to the holes that you bolt the bumper to so that I could still use those. Now if you refer back to the picture of my car minus the front bumper you'll see two shiny bolts that hold each head light in. Above those are duller bolts on each side. You have to pull these out too. However the nut is inside a bushing near the radiator in the engine bay and was just spinning inside of it. I had to move my overflow tank and the throttle cable hook on the other side to make room to hold those bushings. So I pinched those until the nuts inside wouldnt move then removed the bolts. I then had to cut a small corner out of the plastic that holds the headlight on. Then connected the brace at the top.
At this point i realized something slightly annoying (as if hacking up my car this much hasnt been...) I had to remove the brace again and cut an angle into the black bar just under the bolt hole.
So I then put in two bolts on each side (four total) into the lower part of the brace where the crash bar was and it was on! Here is also a picture of the space it left between the brace and the black bar. I didnt need to cut out as much as I did but I removed about half of its width.
TADA ITS ON!!! I was highly tempted to not put the front bumper back on and just drive around like that. lol But now to put the bumper back on. Get it setup and I think, "what the hell? Its not fitting..." Guess what? More cutting involved... much more cutting involved... This is the bracket that connected to the black bar that I chopped up.
Everything to the right of the hole there had to go or else it wouldnt fit. Time to start cutting again....
Right on now that fits. But wait something isnt right down at the bottom... The big metal braces actually interfere with the black bezel and a tiny bit of the bumper in the hole in the bottom. So pulling out the cutter again Im starting to think that I never imagined having to chop my RA up this much... Oh well Its what I get for trying something new, and spending $210 on a brace... lol So in the pictures below I had to cut out the zig zag line on each side and the chunk at the top. I realize now that I didnt need to cut down as far as I did but it doesnt look bad and is hardly noticeable unless looking for it.
FINALLY! The bumper fits back on. Here is a picture of what the part at the bottom I cutout looks like once finished. Also while I was chopping up the bumper I trimmed some of the styrofoam down in the middle of the bumper, there was a big block and I just cut it back to match the depth of the rest of it. I forgot to get pictures of that part...
Bolting the bumper back on it fit tighter than it ever has and once put on felt more solid than ever before. I had to use a screwdriver and a press against the bumper to line up the brackets because I think I warped them a tiny bit when chopping them up but everything went back together well. Here are some pics of the finished product.
And thats that. I snapped a few more pics of the car but they were for the show and shine to show off my battery relocate and engine bay. But there it is, if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, or you wanna go for it yourself feel free to ask. I'll help how I can, but I hope this guide proves pretty helpful if nothing else.
Last edited by bakuro117; Apr 8, 2013 at 10:11 AM.
i dont like hacking up my car anymore than necessary
Apr 8, 2013, 08:57 PM
#36
Awesome!! My first stickied thread! I feel accomplished now. HAHA Thanks Lanzer! Should I probably edit the big post into the opening one so its right there and people wont have to dig for it in the future?
@Manolo: Yea I thought about the mesh grill thing or just leaving my grill inserts out for a while. But its actually pretty tucked down in there compared to how it looks on Evos. You have to be standing over it to really see it. And I kinda like how its peaking out from behind the stock grill now for some reason. Almost like its hiding... haha
@Raikiri: You know you want it man! :P Just keep telling yourself its necessary!
I feel accomplished now. HAHA Thanks Lanzer! Should I probably edit the big post into the opening one so its right there and people wont have to dig for it in the future?@Manolo: Yea I thought about the mesh grill thing or just leaving my grill inserts out for a while. But its actually pretty tucked down in there compared to how it looks on Evos. You have to be standing over it to really see it. And I kinda like how its peaking out from behind the stock grill now for some reason. Almost like its hiding... haha
@Raikiri: You know you want it man! :P Just keep telling yourself its necessary!
Apr 16, 2013, 11:18 AM
#43
The most noticeable difference? Well other than the cool red bar peeking out from behind my bumper in places I did notice a little bit of suspension difference. But its something that just normal driving wouldn't reveal to you.
I noticed before having this brace installed that during hard/high speed cornering you can feel the weight transfer to the outer tires and feel the inside tires lose grip and get a little lift where the weight isn't on them as much as during a straight away. For me this was more noticeable during a right corner because you can look out over the hood and see the passenger side raise a bit. After installing this brace that bit of lift is reduced. I'm not claiming that its gone or anything. But it feels like the weight doesn't transfer off of that side as easily as it did before. Sort of what a strut brace is suppose to do but I guess it helps accomplish that similar effect further forward on the frame, while weighting something like half as much as the stock crash bar.
I noticed before having this brace installed that during hard/high speed cornering you can feel the weight transfer to the outer tires and feel the inside tires lose grip and get a little lift where the weight isn't on them as much as during a straight away. For me this was more noticeable during a right corner because you can look out over the hood and see the passenger side raise a bit. After installing this brace that bit of lift is reduced. I'm not claiming that its gone or anything. But it feels like the weight doesn't transfer off of that side as easily as it did before. Sort of what a strut brace is suppose to do but I guess it helps accomplish that similar effect further forward on the frame, while weighting something like half as much as the stock crash bar.
Jun 28, 2013, 10:16 AM
#45
if so i'd think it doen't work since our rear struts have a different mounting point...inside a cubby in the wheel well compared to the evo's sticking out in plain sight...
or if it's just the bar that goes just behind the tails i'd think that one should fit...it's the same chasis right..?
and inside the trunk there's really nothing in the way there, so it should fit no problem..
but anyway my opinion is no, nobody's tried it....yet...but i could be wrong..