Strut Bar For E12

[UKDM323]

Im about to order a Tom's strut bar but want some info first so may as well wait till nxt week, its regarding the ABS pipe? i looked at a post not long ago someone bought a Cusco one & they slightly bent that pipe no problems-ok thats fine.... but i dont really want to bend it incase i bent it more than i have too to a point that causes expensive problems!!! so anyone know if its the case with other brands of strut bar like Tom's(i interested in), whiteline or some other brands ? perhaps anyone fitted a front strut bar to their E12/TS ??

Thanks

[theenemywithin]

Im about to order a Tom's strut bar but want some info first so may as well wait till nxt week, its regarding the ABS pipe? i looked at a post not long ago someone bought a Cusco one & they slightly bent that pipe no problems-ok thats fine.... but i dont really want to bend it incase i bent it more than i have too to a point that causes expensive problems!!! so anyone know if its the case with other brands of strut bar like Tom's(i interested in), whiteline or some other brands ? perhaps anyone fitted a front strut bar to their E12/TS ??

Thanks

I've got a Whiteline Strut Brace Fitted to mine. You don't have to bend the Pipe to far.

You'll find that it's difficult to bend it anyway s there is no fear f yu going to far.

[UKDM323]

Where did you buy the whiteline one from & what did u pay? just wanna see what others cost so far TRD cost the most.....

Im about to order a Tom's strut bar but want some info first so may as well wait till nxt week, its regarding the ABS pipe? i looked at a post not long ago someone bought a Cusco one & they slightly bent that pipe no problems-ok thats fine.... but i dont really want to bend it incase i bent it more than i have too to a point that causes expensive problems!!! so anyone know if its the case with other brands of strut bar like Tom's(i interested in), whiteline or some other brands ? perhaps anyone fitted a front strut bar to their E12/TS ??

Thanks

I've got a Whiteline Strut Brace Fitted to mine. You don't have to bend the Pipe to far.

You'll find that it's difficult to bend it anyway s there is no fear f yu going to far.

[MarcTS]

Fensport sell the white line strut as well as the TRD one. It is comparatively very cheap (price wise I mean) as far as E12 front struts go.

[Armz]

Sorry about the late reply.

RE the ABS pipe. If you bend it from the correct position i don't see why it should get damaged at all.

I did have an old chinese brace which i used as leverage with a crowbar, to fit my cusco. (funnily enough the cheap chinese fit perfectly, bought from eBay for 30). So the only thing i can suggest is to bolt something onto the side where the brace fits, then place a metal crowbar underneath the bolted area as leverage, then slightly pull downwards on the crowbar, this should move the top pipe down in a uniform fashion and not a 'bend' the pipe out of shape. The trick is to move the entire top pipe down as opposed to just the small area. The top mount will help serve as a perfect leverage point without damaging a single thing.

I wish i had taken a picture of the process so to better explain. My car is in the bodyshop so won't be able to take a pic either. I might have a pic on my home machine, i can check later when i get home from work.

MiniMarc used a different method and used his hand to bash it down. Must have been painful as the pipe is very stiff.

I will post later if i find a pic, or i get a chance to go to the bodyshop on monday to check the status of my complete respray, facelift bumper, sideskirts, tte grill are coming along. Should have the car back by Friday! :P

Cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

Thanks guess i see when i get either one of the strut bars........

I emailed fensport regarding whiteline under £100 is cheap since i paid more in the past for a strut bar hopefully they got one in stock

Armz sound like your TS is gonna be good not that a standard one isnt !!did u get side skirts from mr t ?thats only place i can find them & £330+vat.......may settle for half length ones at £200+ since im getting the car lowered eventually anyway

Thanks people...

[Armz]

Thanks guess i see when i get either one of the strut bars........

I emailed fensport regarding whiteline under £100 is cheap since i paid more in the past for a strut bar hopefully they got one in stock

Armz sound like your TS is gonna be good not that a standard one isnt !!did u get side skirts from mr t ?thats only place i can find them & £330+vat.......may settle for half length ones at £200+ since im getting the car lowered eventually anyway

Thanks people...

I got the skirts after one year of not bothering, they were on eBay for 60 +20 delivery for both 3 and 5 door. I stupidly didn't buy them as i didn;t want to keep the car long. Since then i changed my mind and tried to get them off eBay to only find the seller had sold out of 3 door completely, only 5 door left. After searching for another 2 months, with a stroke of luck i found somebody re-selling his ones on eBay, start price of 40. I emailed him an offer of 130+20delivery straight away and he accepted. Turns out he bought them from the same seller a few months before, never fitted them, AND he was a member on this board.

To cut a long story short i laughed at Mr T when he quoted me 350+ vat plus another 400+vat to prime spray and fit, and am thankful i got mine for 150 all in. I'm not sure how much it's costing to prime spray and fit but i don;t think much at all.

All the work being done to my car is this. My car got rear ended, so thats being fixed which was quoted 450. that leaves the rest of the 1000 they charged me towards the complete respray, prime, spray and fit facelift bumper and air diffuser spoilers, full length side skirts, engine cover, engine front heatsheild, fusebox cover, TTE grill, and red painted brake calipers and anything else i can think of while it's in there.

I'll have to ask for an individual price breakdown because i think i'm getting an absolute bargain here and would love to know how much the engine cover would cost for example.

Cheers

Armz.

[MarcTS]

MiniMarc used a different method and used his hand to bash it down. Must have been painful as the pipe is very stiff.

I AM MAN, I FEEL NO PAIN :D

hehe Basically what I did was grab a small hand towel and folded it over a few times them put it over the pipe and then put a lot of weight over if for a short time and repeated so it was slowly moved downwards as I didn't want to push it down too fast and risk any damage.

[MarcTS]

bleh double post.

[Armz]

MiniMarc used a different method and used his hand to bash it down. Must have been painful as the pipe is very stiff.

I AM MAN, I FEEL NO PAIN :D

hehe Basically what I did was grab a small hand towel and folded it over a few times them put it over the pipe and then put a lot of weight over if for a short time and repeated so it was slowly moved downwards as I didn't want to push it down too fast and risk any damage.

LOL!, i tried that method and it just wasn't moving at all, maybe 1-2mm MAX. I'm not that heavy maybe 11stone so not much weight to put behind it. :P

Found some pics i took before.

The first pic shows the area i bent down, shown by the red arrows, that entire area. The green arrow is where i used a crowbar under an old brace bolted down as leverage and gently pulled the crowbar down onto the pipe, that pushed it down, while all the time watching the brake master cyclinder head and that no pressure was being transferred to that.

Cheers

Armz.

[UKDM323]

From few peoples experience guessing thats a no no for the pipe to go above that bit of strut bar...... & a thought if its a one piece strut bar like the Tom's or TRD if its possible to press down that pipe with the strut bar while tightening the bolts may take 2 people to fit it tho....if not then guess is using minimarc & armz's method....thanks for pic & illustrations......

[ae102]

Im about to order a Tom's strut bar but want some info first so may as well wait till nxt week, its regarding the ABS pipe? i looked at a post not long ago someone bought a Cusco one & they slightly bent that pipe no problems-ok thats fine.... but i dont really want to bend it incase i bent it more than i have too to a point that causes expensive problems!!! so anyone know if its the case with other brands of strut bar like Tom's(i interested in), whiteline or some other brands ? perhaps anyone fitted a front strut bar to their E12/TS ??

Thanks

i fitted a trd brace to mine - when i came to fit it the abs pipe was in the way. I toiled with the idea of bending it but wasnt too keen. I had the pipe replaced with an abs pipe from a facelift model. the trd brace looks mint - a lot better than the chromed ones in my opinion.

regards mike

ps dont fit a trd sticker to the car as t128 will get very upset - armz knows wot im on about!!! much better too put blitz stickers on your car then youll be smokin everyone!!!!

[borodaz]

got a pic of the trd one matey ?

[ae102]

got a pic of the trd one matey ?

i will take a pic later and upload it - bit dark n wet at moment. i did take some pics pre fitment for fensport as this brake pipe situation they hadnt come across before i bought mine last christmas.

[Armz]

From few peoples experience guessing thats a no no for the pipe to go above that bit of strut bar...... & a thought if its a one piece strut bar like the Tom's or TRD if its possible to press down that pipe with the strut bar while tightening the bolts may take 2 people to fit it tho....if not then guess is using minimarc & armz's method....thanks for pic & illustrations......

I tried that method of using the cusco half bolted down and using that as a downforce lever but i didn;t want to damage the brace. So a crowbar made more sense.

But you will need something bolted down on that side to the mount to be able to use it as a leverage point to place the crowbar tip underneath.

Cheers

Armz.

[ae102]

got a pic of the trd one matey ?

i will take that photo 2moz - forgot all abou it.

[UKDM323]

Hmm bringing up a old post there....... i got the Tom's strut bar now liek most other strut bars that ABS pipe is well & truely in the way when looking at engine bay did try move that pipe but didnt try hard enough looks quite tough to move so looks like a challenge which hopefully be a sucess or as some said they got a facelift abs pipe that solved the problem, the Tom's one looks similer shape as the cusco one but rather than 3 piece its a 1 piece strut bar the Tom's one hopefully i get this little problem sorted soon but we'll see

[ae102]

Hmm bringing up a old post there....... i got the Tom's strut bar now liek most other strut bars that ABS pipe is well & truely in the way when looking at engine bay did try move that pipe but didnt try hard enough looks quite tough to move so looks like a challenge which hopefully be a sucess or as some said they got a facelift abs pipe that solved the problem, the Tom's one looks similer shape as the cusco one but rather than 3 piece its a 1 piece strut bar the Tom's one hopefully i get this little problem sorted soon but we'll see

couple of pisc for you - a will take one of the new pipe tomorrow....... soz the quality isnt great but i only have a camera on me phone. just tried to upload and says file to big? can put picture of car on but picture of brace says too big....... taken with same camera? :(

[UKDM323]

Hmm bringing up a old post there....... i got the Tom's strut bar now liek most other strut bars that ABS pipe is well & truely in the way when looking at engine bay did try move that pipe but didnt try hard enough looks quite tough to move so looks like a challenge which hopefully be a sucess or as some said they got a facelift abs pipe that solved the problem, the Tom's one looks similer shape as the cusco one but rather than 3 piece its a 1 piece strut bar the Tom's one hopefully i get this little problem sorted soon but we'll see

couple of pisc for you - a will take one of the new pipe tomorrow....... soz the quality isnt great but i only have a camera on me phone. just tried to upload and says file to big? can put picture of car on but picture of brace says too big....... taken with same camera? :(

Cant see any pics... :( jst use imageshack but thanks for the pm !!

[Armz]

Hmm bringing up a old post there....... i got the Tom's strut bar now liek most other strut bars that ABS pipe is well & truely in the way when looking at engine bay did try move that pipe but didnt try hard enough looks quite tough to move so looks like a challenge which hopefully be a sucess or as some said they got a facelift abs pipe that solved the problem, the Tom's one looks similer shape as the cusco one but rather than 3 piece its a 1 piece strut bar the Tom's one hopefully i get this little problem sorted soon but we'll see

couple of pisc for you - a will take one of the new pipe tomorrow....... soz the quality isnt great but i only have a camera on me phone. just tried to upload and says file to big? can put picture of car on but picture of brace says too big....... taken with same camera? :(

Cant see any pics... :( jst use imageshack but thanks for the pm !!

PM sent mate. :D

Cheers

Armz.