Schnell Strut Brace Fitment??
 

I just purchased a set of strut braces Schnell, and I'm having trouble with the front bar fitting behind the battery. The aluminum bar is too fat to fit between the firewall and the battery. If I could force it down in place, it would rub against the back of the battery and the two heater hoses that protrude from the forewall and do a 90 down.

Has anyone had trouble installing a strut bar?

Mark
2001 Seal Grey 986
San Antonio, Tx

Do you have an aftermarket battery? If so then itd be easiest to buy a new one.

New Battery??
 

Don't know, but would venture to guess the original was replaced. It's a 2001 with 40k miles. The PO kept her in a garage and only drover her occasionally. I can't image a battery surviving minimal use and infrequent charging. The battery is an all white case, without any significant markings except the usual "caution" label.

Even with the battery out of the mix, the bar would rest against/pinch the heater hoses causing other problems in the future.

Still look'in.

Mark
2001 Seal Grey 986
San Antonio, Tx

Hi,
I was going to post a pick of my Schnell anodized strut braces that I put on this past summer, but unfortunately I just found out that both my front and rear trunk lids do not want to open. I'll have to look this up on our site to find a solution. Otherwise, I will make a new post for this new issue :mad: .

Anyway, I had the same trouble where the front brace is just snug to the back of the battery (re: I used the last two fittings for the nuts on both sides). It worked out fine and hasn't given me any problems since.

However, the mid-strut brace is a bit of a pain in the rear (no pun intended :) ). You have to play with it for a bit (re: lengthening one side while the other side is partially secured with one or both of the nuts threaded halfway in to allow for some play). Once, I got the holes aligned close enough on the other side, I ended up having to TAP LIGHTLY on that one side with a hammer to get the fittings in just enough so that I could put the nuts back on to re-tighten them.

But both are fine and have been IMO a good investment for me.

Good luck.

Hi,

I have the Racing Dynamics braces and a replacement battery as well. The installation was a little snug, but I had enough play in the Battery placement to get the bar behind it with no clearance issues, but there isn't any extra room either.

Your choice of mounting holes is limited - you have no choice. But both the battery and the battery tray have some play in them, not much mind you, but probably enough for this purpose.

Lots of guys have used the schnell brace and this is the 1st time, IIRC, that anyone had any clearance issues. Think it through and I'm sure you'll be OK. Good Luck!...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Well.......It's In!
 

The strut bar is in place! Vertex Tech Help was great!

For those who will be installing a strut bar in the future, my advice is assemble the bar prior to placing it in the car. There is no way to install the mounts on the shock towers and then bolt on the bar.

The bar does contact the back side of the battey, the windshield washer hose(s) and the two heater hoses that do a 90 out of the firewall. Since there should be minimal movement of the bar, I don't anticipate any friction damage

I have pics, but the file server will not allow mw to upload them due to their size.

Marl
2001 Seal Grey 986
San Antonio, Texas

I thought others here have complained about the fitment of the Schnell brace.

I choose the Racing Dynamics brace based on MNBoxster's recommendation, and purchased from www.********************************************************************.com.

"I thought others here have complained about the fitment of the Schnell brace.

I, personally, didn't experience any fitment issues (1999). I just found the mid-strut brace a bit tedious to install especially because the work space is limited. I think the most challenging part of that install (re: mid strut brace) was getting the length just right. I found that I had to remove the brace several times before I had the correct length to work with....even using a measuring tape and trying to calculate the exact length didn't work well without a few tries. But both front and mid braces have been pretty good so far. No complaints.