JGA

Hi
I just had an Edelbrock 3 pt strut brace intalled on my 4th gen F body. I know most people believe these braces are just for eye candy, but it made a big difference to the feel of my car. I am realy happy with the change.

However, the guy who installed it handed me a metal bracket with 2 nuts welded onto it. He said the bracket is intended to fit into the cowl area for the 2 bolts that attach the brace to the cowl. He said it did not fit into the cowl space and he resorted to using nuts/flat washers to attach the brace to the cowl. Tomorrow I am going to remove the wipers and cowl grill and have a look for myself.

Does anyone have experience installing this part? Any input on the install of this bracket would be appreciated.

Thanks JA

'01LS1

May I ask what you found as I was just going to order the very same STB this week? Your input much appreciated!

JGA

I took it off. It's built well and performs well. In fact it may be one of the stiffest designs out there. The problem is that a 3 pt is not pracitcal. You have to remove the wippers and cowl grill to install it. Not to mention drilling 2 holes in a very tight compartment (you will need an angle drill). If you are going to do it yourself its not too bad, but if you plan to have a shop do it, plan on atleast 4 hours work. It will be very expensive.

Also, if you ever need repairs or do mods, it will most likely have to come off. This means pulling the wippers and cowl appart every time. Unfortunately Edelbrock did not design it to be removed without removing the wippers and cowl grill. This realy pissed me off. Also, it covers up the holes above the shocks which means you will not be able to adjust Konis without removing it. Most of the other ones also cover the holes, but they are easy to remove so it's not a problem.

A 2 pt takes about 1/2 hour to install. It's the way to go. The Edelbrock design is not practical. I am thinking of trying to mod it into 2 pieces that bolt together somehow. That is what should have been done in the first place.

JA

'01LS1

JA, Again thanks so much for the info. After reading what you wrote I wondered what other sorts of problems may arise with the Edelbrock STB hooking into the cowl and being so stiff in an area the factory may not have designed it to be. Not sure if it would affect anything negatively or not. And since I have zero interest in being a test project....lol.
Anyway after reading pages here at this site I think I am going to go with UMI Performances chromoly STB.

JGA

Hi

For what it's worth, I did try it with it bolted into the cowl and with the bolts removed. It does work better as a 3pt. So I beleive there is some advantage, but not worth the trouble.
I think I will try a Hotchkis.

Thanks JA

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

As I remember, Edelbrock says to install that plate with the 2 nuts welded to it with RTV (Silicone) on the face of it. That will "stick" it in place and allow you to remove the bar without pulling the cowl panel (once you remove the bolts, it will just stay there). Also, if this is a 4th gen, you adjust Koni's from under the fender, not above the shock mount (where the STB attaches), so it would not impact your ability to adjust the shocks (I've got Koni DA's on my 4th gen and had SA's on my 3rd gen).

JGA

Hi

Thanks I did not know that about the Konis. As for the bead of silicone, believe me it won't work. It will never hold it in place. You will remove the bolts and then when you reinstall them, the plate will fall off back into the cowl space. You will then have to remove the wippers and cowl grill anyway to fish out the bracket.

If the bracket could be tack welded in place that would be great, but there is so little room back their to get into the space in the cowl. I suppose you could fabricate something the could be tacked welded in place, but by then your costs will be getting up there. I still say it is not a practcal design.

Thanks JA

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

I never got my Edelbrock 3 point installed (the car had 400 miles on it and I couldn't get the wipers off to remove the cowl). I was just going by memory from the instructions. I can't say if it would stay or not since I didn't try it, I just mentioned it for discussion. You very well may be correct.

JGA

Hi

Sorry, I agree the discussion is what is important. Getting the facts out. I had trouble getting my wippers off also. I ended up buying a small battery terminal puller. You then cut the threaded shaft down to allow it to fit under the edge of the hood on the driver's side. After you cut the end off, you need to tack weld a nut on the end so you can put a wrench on it. If you cannot tack weld, you can get one of those acorn shapped nuts (I forget what they are called) and screw it on the end. It costs about 7 or 8 bucks to make but once you have it you can always get your wippers off.

Thanks JA

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

I tried a battery terminal puller on mine too. It wouldn't budge (and I bent the puller), so I finally just went to a 2 point STB and saved the hassle, but I agree, the edelbrock 3 point looks to be a much more solid design.

TOO Z MAXX

If you must have a STB go with a 2 point. The thin metal at the cowl isnt very strong and I doubt it would help stiffen the front end up. On a 4th gen Camaro I stlii think these things are just appearance mods anyhow.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Mine seemed to remove some cowl shake from my car. Or, it just made me feel better, but it's not heavy and seems not to hurt and possibly help. I'll keep it.

pharmpod

I have the Edelbrock STB on my convertible.
I initially installed it w/o mounting to the firewall.
I drove it like this for a week. When I removed it
to finish the install, I found the firewall scratched up,
with a deflection of about 1 inch on either side.
I also found the 3rd point difficult to mount.
So I modified the bar. I cut off the 3rd point mount.
I smoothed it out. Filled it with plumbers epoxy.
Smoothed it again, and then painted it.
Came out good.
Also fits well with FRC's

Benny