[Royster]

Having taken delivery of the strut brace from another of Foxy's fabulous groupbuys. I decided to fit it this afternoon.

This guide is intended for information purposes. I will not be held responsible for any injury you sustain, damage to your car or third party should you follow this how to..

Be safe working on your car please! You will be jacking it!

Firstly you will need the following:

Jacking equipment

Pistol Drill

Starting drill bit (you choose size) I used an 8mm bit

10mm drill bit

Centre Punch (I used a HSS Tap because it's tough steel)

Hammer for centre punch

Countersink bit (or deburring tool/file) *important*

8mm Hex key (Allen key)

17mm Spanner (or socket if you can get it to fit!)

and Patience (not shown!)

Firstly offer the brace up to the car and get a snug fit. It may, at this point be wise to remove or trim the engine cover as this will be difficult to remove once the brace is fitted.

Decide the best position for the brace and drill 1 hole on each suspension tower and loosely assemble with a couple of the M10 bolts supplied (do not fit nuts at this point)

Now mark out the remaining holes, pilot drill whilst the brace is positioned if neccessary then remove the brace. If you get it right you will not have to elongate any holes during fitting *so take your time* Mine were fine...

Deburr all holes or your brace will not sit flush with your car and you could get all sorts of bizzare creaking from the mounting positions!!!

Now again loosely assemble the brace with a bolt and washer in all holes. and jack your car up. Now fully fit and torque tighten all bolts and lower back down.

Before

After

Remove all tools and swarf from the engine bay *critical*

Test drive car and re-tighten any bolts. Listen for any creaking or knocking.

Check tighten all bolts at a convenient interval and that should be it!

Early results appear to have stopped tyre squeal and more sure footed through corners!

Time taken approx 1-2 hours depending on your personal skills..

I hope you find this helpful! Enjoy![^]

Seeing as I couldn't torque the bolts up enough I inverted the bolts so I could get a 17mm socket on top and that's sorted it a treat. No rattles at all now.

 

[GaryM]

Nice write up Roy but where on earth did you dig that drill and hammer out from?? []

 

[Royster]

The deep depths of a dark corner of my factory![)] Just really to show that any tool is useful in the right hands! and you don't need expensive tools either![:I][][]

 

[PJ52GLY]

you must have a lot of balls drilling that

 

[Royster]

LOL! one, two... and three! yep still there![]

 

[matte]

Without the engine cover is the engine noise much louder?

 

[Royster]

Not that I've noticed.

 

[TDI_Boy]

Roy, Did you put any rust proofing on the edges of the drilled holes?

 

[MattyV5]

why does it have to be jacked up and why do u have to remove the cover ? is it the same on all golfs or just the tdi ?

 

[GaryM]

You will have to jack it up to get to the underneath of the suspension tower to fix your nuts and bolts.

 

[MattyV5]

so you have to take the arch liners out also ? can u not just screw it ? not strong enough ?

 

[Royster]

The inside of the strut tower is covered in wax and this would be adequate to maintain the seal but I am trying to find some old Royal Navy anti rusting stuff I still have, I just can't find it yet. You don't need to take any arch liners out... Seriously if you follow this guide you'll have fitted your strut brace!

I wouldn't trust a screw personally As Foxy's kit comes with Nyloc nuts. Infact the hardest part of the job was getting the nylon over the bolt head but even with my Arthritic fingers I managed it without hassle once the length of the nylon is cut (through the tightening process) it continues to tighten quite easily.

As I stated above you won't get the cover off once the brace is fitted and I've only fitted it to a TDI so far.....[]

 

[Giddy]

Nice write up Royster... one question thou, does the engine cover not fit with the strut brace? i.e. if I want a strut brace I have to remove my engine cover?

 

[Royster]

It does but you might not get it off should you need to unless you do what I'm gonna do and get one from the scrappers and carve the back end away...

EDIT: As an update I can't torque these bolts up enough with my arthritic fingers and I am experiencing some minor rattling when going over big bumps. So I will either replace said bolts, get a friend to do them up or locktight them in or all three...[)]

 

[Mister_E]

use a socket set and cheater bar?

 

[Mister_E]

Am I imagining it or does the engine cover on my tdi 110 look lower than the one in Roysters pics of his PD?

 

[Royster]

Quickie update uptop.. ^