A shoutout for the technobrace and Pedro.
 

After the last few times I worked under my boxster I was finding that the lower aluminum plate was getting harder and harder to line up properly and install back on the car. I ordered the technobrace from Pedro. I did call him directly as I did not want to email credit card information as I just replaced a credit card due to being recently compromised. He was very professional, informative, and helpful. The brace was mailed out within 30 minutes of my order with a tracking number. It arrived today and I did not waste any time to install it after arriving home from work. It took about 30 minutes to install from the time I began pulling the jacks out. I did need to use a ratchet strap to pull the lower suspension together to get the holes to precisely line up but it worked great. The lower aluminum plate lined right up without a bit of hassle. The technobrace is a very high quality piece and I could not be happier.

I went out for a test drive and the car seemed much more stable and planted around hard turns. This is how the car was intended to perform.

Thank you Pedro!

After reading the thread about getting the support plate back on, I think this brace is going to be my next modification
For the obvious reason
But I use these suspension points as my starter jacking points
Also if one makes the modification of drilling a whole in the plate to allow trans oil draining, it would seem that would weaken this vital plate

I get the impression you removed the plate, did you have to?
So I guess you would now need a rear wheel alignment
If one installed but did not remove the plate, would a wheel alignment be necessary?

That "vital plate" is made of soft aluminum and is not a structural member. We have literally dozens of cars running around on both the street and track with 2 1/2 inch holes cut in them, and the only thing that has happened is they all got older.

Agree.

When racing at California Speedway two weeks ago, I went off track and bent the rear plate. Back in the paddock, we removed it in a few mins (6 or 8 bolts) and I raced the rest of the day without it. There was no change in handling even at 135mph on the NASCAR banking.

I ordered a used replacement plate from Woody and will install it this weekend as I like the additional protection to mitigate my off-road excursions (which will likely happen again).

Tom and his Spec Baja Boxster. :D

I have a question about the plate. I was told if I remove the plate with the wheels off the ground and don't set the car down I will not need an alignment. Is this rue?

I will probably have an alignment done sometime soon as I am due for one. I did need to take the lower aluminum plate off to install it. It is installed above the plate.

Remember thre is a diy alternative to the Technobrace. It has been covered with links just recently. Search term "Ernie bar"

My personal favorite over the techno part is this:

http://www.rennline.com/images/E35-5.jpg

Well made, light, adjustable, and adds rear tie down points at the same time. We have several installed on customer cars, and I have them on both of mine. A little more money, but a very nice overall addition.

I have seen that too, I will see if I can find the reference.

Edit: Here it is: http://986forum.com/forums/439796-post4.html

No, you will not need an alignment unless the reason you took off the plate was to replace your hub carriers.

Rear Subframe Stabilizer With Tie Downs (Rear)-Rennline, Inc.

I installed the Techno Brace about five years ago on my '99 and haven't really noticed any difference in handling on the track or AX. Tires seem to make the most difference in how the car handles as did the ROW M030 suspension.:cheers:

One advantge of the Rennline over the Pedro part is that rennline is adjustable.Pedro's is not. But Pedro's fits ,so why bother with adjustment ? Not sure . If you want to go diy + adjustable ,suggest you investigate this:
Speedway IMCA Approved 3/4 Thread Swedged Steel Tube + heim joints
Swedged Steel Tube, 3/4 Inch Thread

I believe that in accordance to the club lingo, he was farming.. :p

Some of our "track rats" say they "preload" the chassis using adjustable bars like the RennLine (there are other manufacturers), I haven't tried it, so I do not know what the outcome would be. I do know that customers that regularly trailer their cars like the tie downs.

no need an alignment unless the reason you took off the plate