The brace arrived about two weeks ago, but I wanted to stay in the D-Stock class for the Autocross I did last weekend, so didn't install it until now.

The instructions were in Japanese, so I just had to go by the pictures. The installation is pretty simple though, so that wasn't entirely necessary...

You need 3 sockets, 12, 17, and 19mm. An 8mm Allen wrench, and a 17mm box wrench. A pliers will help pulling out the cable ties that hold two cable bundles that need to be moved.

I took some pictures in the garage last night, but the flash on my phone wasn't up to the task. These are from the parking lot at work this morning. Excuse the shadow of my hand holding the camera...

I haven't removed the blue plastic protective layer yet. I left it on to see if anything rubbed, but after the drive in the morning, I see no evidence of rubbing.

 

Mine didn't seem to rub at all either at first, but after a very spirited drive all day a little while back I can see where it has rubbed on both sides.

 

Looks good....I have these marks on the top of the bar that match up to the padding on the underside of the hood.

 

Nice I Love the Cusco Bars. Did you remember to put the car on a lift when you installed the strut bar though?

 

No, I did it in my garage last night. I made sure that the wheels were straight when I pulled in.

 

Why would he need to have the car on a lift when installing it?

 

So you can get that Little Giant ladder out of the garage and finally put it to good use.....

 

you need to have your strut towers at a fully relaxed position before you install the bar, which means having your tires off the ground. That way it stiffens up your chassis. If you dont it defeats the purpose because the pressure on the strut towers are already pushed inwards

 

Nice, looks good. Throw some painters tape on the top of the bar so it wont get scratched up.

 

hmmmmmm....

 

That is not my understanding of how a strut brace is supposed to work. I'm certain that when I installed a Stillen brace on my '95 Maxima many years ago it was very explicit about not having the car on a lift during installation.

 

Trust me on this I work at a shop. The point of the strut bar is to eliminate the stress and flex on the strut towers. Putting the car on the lift will relieve the stress on the towers so when you install the brace the pressure is applied to the brace so the towers do not flex anymore.

 

I understand that you work at a shop Bluestick G, and I know it's function and how it works, but why is it that everything I read bout it says exactly opposite of what you are saying?

Cusco has a video explaining its function and it does not state or show the suspension being unladen for installation.

 

okay

 

Well, I was also under the impression that all suspension parts should be install/torqued with all tires on a flat ground. However, I just looked up the installation instructions from the 370z service manual, since it comes with a stock strut bar:

INSTALLALLATION
Note the following, and install in the reverse order of removal.
• Perform final tightening of bolts and nuts at the vehicle installation position, under condition with all tires above level ground.