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Got my Key Brace fresh in country from FedEx yesterday.
I'll be shooting a diy video for the install, and creating a photo diy for them to use should anyone else buy one. It's a nice product.
I'll have to trim some off the end if ground clearance is less for any reason, but these are the first few units. The next gen will have a shorter tube on the bottom. I can safely trim 1" -1.5" if needed.
-Byron Don't mind the paint dings, customs has opened and handled and "expertly" repackaged everything at least 3 times during it's trip to Abu Dhabi. I'm quite sure that the ones you get stateside will be perfect and most likely not handled by circus monkeys prior to arriving. Here is a picture of one installed to give you a reference of how it attaches. (Not my Car)
Got my Key Brace fresh in country from FedEx yesterday.
I'll be shooting a diy video for the install, and creating a photo diy for them to use should anyone else buy one. It's a nice product.
I'll have to trim some off the end if ground clearance is less for any reason, but these are the first few units. The next gen will have a shorter tube on the bottom. I can safely trim 1" -1.5" if needed.
-Byron
Don't mind the paint dings, customs has opened and handled and "expertly" repackaged everything at least 3 times during it's trip to Abu Dhabi. I'm quite sure that the ones you get stateside will be perfect and most likely not handled by circus monkeys prior to arriving.
Looks like a KARS *lite* type of brace. Interesting. Are you having wheelop issues?
Looks like a KARS *lite* type of brace. Interesting. Are you having wheelop issues?
It's more of a support the community buy to be honest. I don't get a lot of hop, but I do get a bit. I'm more interested in taking some of the slop out of the cradle by adding 2 additional points of contact.
The full bar they offer basically add a 5th and 6th point of contact and would be the most rigid, but it for sure would have ground clearance issues for me in Abu Dhabi.
Plus I didn't want to ship the full shebang international when I believe this will do just fine for my needs.
One interesting thing is it has 2 positions. One puts a preload on the cradle (track use only setting) and the second only put preload when under load. (they neutral position). It's a super simple design and does look quite similar to the old Kars brace.
It's more of a support the community buy to be honest. I don't get a lot of hop, but I do get a bit. I'm more interested in taking some of the slop out of the cradle by adding 2 additional points of contact.
The full bar they offer basically add a 5th and 6th point of contact and would be the most rigid, but it for sure would have ground clearance issues for me in Abu Dhabi.
Plus I didn't want to ship the full shebang international when I believe this will do just fine for my needs.
One interesting thing is it has 2 positions. One puts a preload on the cradle (track use only setting) and the second only put preload when under load. (they neutral position). It's a super simple design and does look quite similar to the old Kars brace.
-Byron
Ahh I see. I really only get wheelhop on cold tires and rain nowadays (which is pretty much impossible to get rid of on any car).
It's a pretty simple design and should work good. The full bar I saw on their website sits way too low. That's just asking for trouble on any road really.
For a daily driver, I think it's going to increase the cabin noise by quite a bit as you are essentially hard mounting the cradle to the floor now. So expect some more differential noise and tactile suspension/road vibrations coming through into the cabin with this brace installed.
Ahh I see. I really only get wheelhop on cold tires and rain nowadays (which is pretty much impossible to get rid of on any car).
It's a pretty simple design and should work good. The full bar I saw on their website sits way too low. That's just asking for trouble on any road really.
For a daily driver, I think it's going to increase the cabin noise by quite a bit as you are essentially hard mounting the cradle to the floor now. So expect some more differential noise and tactile suspension/road vibrations coming through into the cabin with this brace installed.
On top of everything you mentioned, I have full CS trailing arms in red, cradle bushings in black/street, 12k and 15k springs on my beast already.
Adding the st sways will be the icing on the cake in my mind. I can always reset to KW recommended settings and see if it dials some of the harshness down somewhat.
if you haven’t replaced your rear UCA bushings you should.
Originally Posted by Byron
On top of everything you mentioned, I have full CS trailing arms in red, cradle bushings in black/street, 12k and 15k springs on my beast already.
Adding the st sways will be the icing on the cake in my mind. I can always reset to KW recommended settings and see if it dials some of the harshness down somewhat.
I am not a YouTube star, nor a first class video editor, so keep that in mind when you see it. The stills I took will also tell the tail of ground clearance issues, as they would defiantly sit below the trailing arms as is making them the lowest point of contact on the car.
Here is the install video. As it is not my shop, nor my lift I had to work with the guys to get everything installed vs having the freedom to do everything myself. Trailing arm nut is 66 ftlbs and the 2 mount nuts on the plate are 25 ftlbs.
They are a great shop to work with, and I will post pics from the install on the next post when my phone recharges a bit.
I trimmed 1 inch off each side as at 360mm square ride height, it would have potentially caused a ground clearance issue. The new models of the brace have been adjusted based on my input and a few other guinea pigs.
After installing it, I now see the genius in the design. It will add 2 points of mounting to the existing cradle mounts, the full bar would be overkill as I don't intend to go in straight lines with the car. It plus my existing suspension mods and my upcoming ST sway bars will be a perfect addition and should work in harmony to provide the performance I am looking for. Yes I am aware of other brands and types of sway bars, but the ST bars are perfect for my setup with my 12k and 15k springs and KW var 3 coils, and existing poly bushings everywhere. I will be retaining the CS black hardness cradle bushings for some hope of a decent ride quality as a daily.
About 3 weeks till my ST sway bars arrive and I will begin buying wheels 1 or 2 at a time. I am going with either Team Dynamic pro race 1.3 in 19" or Ispiri ISR 1. Both are about 20lbs in an 19X9 wheel and +38 fitment. I may save a few bucks and just do 18". Either way tire size will be 255/40r19 or r18 square which will add 1/2" to ride height of the car, and I believe it will be about the best contact patch I will require for my goals.
Heads fully cleaned after porting and lapping in the valves. Rolled the hoist outside yesterday and cleaned the block best I could, came out pretty nice. New cam's in, new timing chain on, new oil pump on, picked up a pan gasket this morning and a starter solonoid repair harness. Lost my new oil pressure sensor and socket in the move a few months back so had to buy another one. $55 at NAPA. WTF. Needless to say I'm still looking for the lost one. Put one of the heads together before calling it quits last night. Bout to slap the pan and front cover on and put the other head together. Might slide'r back in tonight.
Anyone else’s side mirror paint flaking off? Mine were and to get them painted was going to be $200. Went on eBay and found some used ones that had better paint than mine and put them on. Total cost of used mirrors was $70 shipped for L/R.
Drove it and enjoyed listening to the stupid ******* high oil temp alarm going off repeatedly. I'm guessing the ground wire (routed to the ground point on the passenger strut tower) has broken or the connection needs to be cleaned up, because the temperature was jumping around, and was rising and falling depending on whether I had my foot on or off the brake pedal.
Ground bolt at the strut tower was loose. I haven't touched that in a while, so it's been that way for a few months; not sure why it took so long for the temperature indication to start going high. Should be good to go now.
Of course, stupid me went for a drive with my infrared pyrometer to verify the indicated temps were wrong, then came home and looked under the hood and immediately found the bolt was loose. Should've done that in reverse since I was 99% certain it was a grounding issue - could've looked under the hood first, fixed the loose bolt, then gone for a drive to verify things were indicating properly. Ah well...
Anyone else’s side mirror paint flaking off? Mine were and to get them painted was going to be $200. Went on eBay and found some used ones that had better paint than mine and put them on. Total cost of used mirrors was $70 shipped for L/R.
My ps mirror is dull and crappy looking, ds is fine aside from a few stone chips. Car is black, just like my dad's old 99 century that had the same issue. It looks ok after I hit it with some CG Blacklight but fades again pretty quickly.
Not a good day. Drove to a local store and the car ran fine. I finished shopping and engine failure with a knock. Got it towed home, opened up the drivers side valve cover and found below. I got the spring off and also noticed the valve seal was broken. I would see smoke when I would WOT so maybe I need to change all my valve seals. It does have 225K on the engine. Just going to do the one valve spring and seal when the dealership opens tomorrow.
While I was swapping wheels I adjusted the parking brake on the driver side. I had tried to do that when I put the cold weather wheels & tires on, but apparently I did a shitty job of it, because I think it ended up even worse. I think I got it right this time.
05-03-2020, 11:53 PM
I'm guessing the ground wire (routed to the ground point on the passenger strut tower) has broken or the connection needs to be cleaned up, because the temperature was jumping around, and was rising and falling depending on whether I had my foot on or off the brake pedal.
