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I am looking for recommendations for a shock tower brace. I had a BMR that I removed so that I could install a vented oil cap; it wouldn't fit under what I had. I can absolutely tell the difference in not having one.
I figure it will either sit higher for clearance or the bar angles back.
I am a little confused as to why your strut tower brace would be blocking a vented oil cap. What style of BMR brace? The wider ones with multiple tubes or the one that is a single tube from strut tower to strut tower?
A single tube brace like this: shouldn't be blocking anything in the oil cap area.
I am a little confused as to why your strut tower brace would be blocking a vented oil cap. What style of BMR brace? The wider ones with multiple tubes or the one that is a single tube from strut tower to strut tower?
A single tube brace like this: shouldn't be blocking anything in the oil cap area.
Hard to tell by the pic as to what the clearance is. The tower brace runs right over the oil cap. It may have a couple of inches of clearance but with the cap that I now have, I need 4 inches.
Typical 2pt 4th Gen Shock Tower Brace goes on top and runs between the shock towers like this Hotchkiss. Some are single tube like BMR & some are twintube like Hotchkiss. Both are marginal in any sort of normal street driving but they look nice. There's also a 3pt etc that ties back to the cowl area.
Hotchkiss & LS6 intake w/90mm snout. Lots of room. No spacers needed.
The Hotchkiss is easy to fit with a 102 LSXR intake. Just needs a small spacer under the mount points to raise it slightly.
Same idea may work with BMR, I don't know.
Strano's special brake master cylinder Brace to prevent fire wall flex under extreme braking only fits with the BMR style from what I gather.
Yeah ... I was looking at that Hotchkis piece and was actually curious if it Strano's MC brace would work with it ... and there were the pics that you sent! I have one and love it .....
I may have to look into spacing what I have .... or go with some other solution to my vented cap, because I can definitely feel the difference without the brace. I'm sure I would get used to it over time, but I'd rather not get used to it!
Hard to tell by the pic as to what the clearance is. The tower brace runs right over the oil cap. It may have a couple of inches of clearance but with the cap that I now have, I need 4 inches.
I see now. I just checked the single tube BMR brace on mine and no, that breather cap will not fit under it. There is only about 2 1/2 inches.
Here are a couple of pics to further illustrate what's going on. Obviously the bar is not bolted down. I was running a breather that was at 90 degrees under the bar, but it allowed unmetered air into the intake. That piece has a check valve and will not allow air into the crankcase - only out. I'm just trying to control the amount of oil that I'm using. If I could attached that breather straight to the valve cover itself, I'd do that. I use a funnel anyhow - when I add oil.
Would a STB for a v6 car work? They are taller to clear the alternator.
It's possible ... but I'm probably just going to scrap the vented cap idea and put my BMR bar back on it. The reason for it all was to try to curb the amount of oil that my newly built stroker is using. It didn't make any difference.
Here are a couple of pics to further illustrate what's going on. Obviously the bar is not bolted down. I was running a breather that was at 90 degrees under the bar, but it allowed unmetered air into the intake. That piece has a check valve and will not allow air into the crankcase - only out. I'm just trying to control the amount of oil that I'm using. If I could attached that breather straight to the valve cover itself, I'd do that. I use a funnel anyhow - when I add oil.
I’m not all that certain about unmetered air going in via the valve cover. The VC isn’t under vacuum, if you stick your hand over the breather and rev the motor you won’t feel any suction.
I’ve been running one for years and years on a supercharged OBDI car without issue. I’ve never data-logged but it’s been on the dyno and the tuner never mentioned it. If unmetered air was getting in the motor would probably stumble a little I’m guessing. Kind of like a vacuum leak. You can remove the oil fill cap with the engine running and nothing at all will happen. That’s a pretty big hole for air to get into if it were going to. Maybe a little air does get in, but I’ve only seen steam coming out and it runs the same no matter which cap is on.
FWIW it also has a strut tower brace but I can’t really tell a difference when it’s off or on. It looks cooler on though.
03-31-2022, 10:56 AM
Shock Tower Brace 
