Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM - Page 6 - Suspension and Brake Forum

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Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 5:37 AM
im working on it...

i should have one side finished up here soon. im doing more stuff like sanding all that area down and undercoating etc so its taking a bit of time.



180hp in 1989 or 145hp in 2002, you decide. >

Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 5:43 AM
I know the feeling Brad I've been trying to find time to even touch the car, I finally found 30 seconds to reinstall turn signals for inspection tho


I <3 JGM
I think bigfoot is blurry,
that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry. And that's extra
scary to me. There's a large, out-of-focus monster, roaming the countryside.
"Run! He's fuzzy!" "Get outta here!"

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005

Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Thursday, August 19, 2010 4:46 PM
Back from the dead topic.....
So.... anyone ever get these installed, pics, review etc?
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Thursday, August 19, 2010 8:43 PM
unfortunately still not i. i just got the damn thing running again, so i'm hoping to find a weekend somewhere to get the fenders off and go to town before the end of summer. but the weekends fill up too fast with other crap.



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Friday, August 20, 2010 5:56 AM
I think brad said one of the tabs was welding backwards. i checked and could not seem to find out how. If so just send it back and we can reweld it.


http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Friday, August 20, 2010 10:01 AM
yes, absolutely on that deal mark. the lower tab on at least my driver side was flipped around backwards. i had it cut off and re-welded the correct orientation and it fit a lot better.

however, it still isnt fitting the greatest. the tabs dont even come close to being flush up against where the bolts in the door hinges go. at least mine arent anyway. also, the slots in the tabs are not in the correct place for the bolts either, nothing a die grinder cant fix though.

its hard to explain without pictures but basically i dont see how these bolted on you're car, mark. maybe the jig got messed up or something?

im planning on using some threaded rod and then putting a nut underneath the tab to hold the hinge in place, then another nut on top of the tab to hold the brace in place. and finally, use the supplied bolts for added strength...



Oldsmobile all motor > Saab/Opel boosted
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Friday, August 20, 2010 8:08 PM
z yaaaa wrote:yes, absolutely on that deal mark. the lower tab on at least my driver side was flipped around backwards. i had it cut off and re-welded the correct orientation and it fit a lot better.

however, it still isnt fitting the greatest. the tabs dont even come close to being flush up against where the bolts in the door hinges go. at least mine arent anyway. also, the slots in the tabs are not in the correct place for the bolts either, nothing a die grinder cant fix though.

its hard to explain without pictures but basically i dont see how these bolted on you're car, mark. maybe the jig got messed up or something?

im planning on using some threaded rod and then putting a nut underneath the tab to hold the hinge in place, then another nut on top of the tab to hold the brace in place. and finally, use the supplied bolts for added strength...


not something i like hearing.



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Friday, September 03, 2010 2:46 PM
Jon D wrote:
z yaaaa wrote:yes, absolutely on that deal mark. the lower tab on at least my driver side was flipped around backwards. i had it cut off and re-welded the correct orientation and it fit a lot better.

however, it still isnt fitting the greatest. the tabs dont even come close to being flush up against where the bolts in the door hinges go. at least mine arent anyway. also, the slots in the tabs are not in the correct place for the bolts either, nothing a die grinder cant fix though.

its hard to explain without pictures but basically i dont see how these bolted on you're car, mark. maybe the jig got messed up or something?

im planning on using some threaded rod and then putting a nut underneath the tab to hold the hinge in place, then another nut on top of the tab to hold the brace in place. and finally, use the supplied bolts for added strength...


not something i like hearing.


Nu uh, me either..... If OEM gets them fixed though
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Sunday, September 05, 2010 2:20 PM
finally got around to install these today. all went smooth. no real issues. ill post up some pics later.



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Sunday, September 05, 2010 4:40 PM
Jon D wrote:finally got around to install these today. all went smooth. no real issues. ill post up some pics later.


Woo
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Sunday, September 05, 2010 6:36 PM
k i have time to do this now.


this install may not be for everyone. not to push anyone away from purchasing this product, but its definitely a bit of a pain and some may not have the abilities or access to the certain tools that can make this install as do-able as it was for me.

taking the fenders off takes a bit of time, but its easy enough.
take off the front wheels, take off the splash shields attached to the bumper, remove the 2 bolts that hold the fender to the bumper, remove the fender support bracket from the inside front of the wheel well (connects from the body to the bumper). remove the 8 push clips from the inner fender (the splash shield toward the rear of the wheel well). a panel removal tool helps. i left mine at work, so i destroyed them all getting them out and replaced them with some i had laying around. (if you have skirts) remove the single phillips head screw holding the skirt to the inner fender and yank that @!#$ out. remove the 3 push pins holding the inner fender insulator in. again, i destroyed mine. remove the 7mm screw behind the insulator, this holds the fender to the inner fender bracket. mark and remove the top bolts in the engine bay. mark and remove the 2 bolts that hold the lower hood hinge and fender to the body. open the door and remove the 7mm bolt between the door and body that holds the fender to the inner fender bracket. if you have side skirts remove the 2 forward most bolts that hold the skirts to the body, then take a flathead screwdriver and pop the 2 forward most clips out of the body. DON'T JUST YANK ON THE SKIRT, THE TABS WILL BREAK. learned that one the hard way... gently pull the skirt away from the body and remove the 2 bolts holding the bottom of the fender to the pinch weld. 95-99 guys can just pull the bulb out of the corner lens and the lens will come off with the fender. like this:

thats it. pull your fender off. you'll need to take the inner fender bracket out as well. once you get the fender off its 2 7mm bolts.

first thing i noticed after getting my fenders off was this

no box on mine. instead theres just a hole. both sides. in all honesty the hole helps with the install, as i don't know how i would've gotten the front two bolts on without it.

if you have the box, i wish you luck as i have no idea how the front hardware is supposed to go in. seeing as how i had the hole, i did something different. but ill get to that.

next i removed the door hinge hardware (the door will drop a bit, just make sure its closed and latched before you remove the hardware). throw out the 2 bolts that come out of each side, just un-thread the nuts enough to slide the braces onto the studs. i tried sliding the braces on, and noticed the slots on the braces didn't lineup 100% to the studs. i took my air powered grinder to the slots to open them up a bit more. after being able to slide the braces on i noticed (on both sides) that the bottom bolt holes didn't lineup. this was because the brace was hitting the door hinge in a spot. i had to notch out the bottom of the brace a tad to make it work, so i went at it with the grinder again:


now for hardware, i used almost all my own. out of the 8 or 10 or so bolts that mark sent, i only used 2. allen keys suck for that tight of an area. i used metric bolts with 13mm heads, made life a lot easier for me. if you use mark's hardware i would at the very least suggest picking up some good lock washers. i used a washers and lock washers on each bolt.
after sliding the brace onto the studs i installed the 2 bolts on each door just hand tight. picked 2 good spots to drill, and went to town with a 5/16 drill bit on the front of the brace, then drilled straight through the steel body. i then removed the braces.
at this point if you don't have the hole in the body i have 0 idea how you would make this work. i picked 2 long enough bolts and 2 good washers and stuck them through the holes i made in the body through the opening from the inside. slide the braces back on over the bolts in the body, put a washer and lock washer and nut on each bolt sticking through and hit it with my 3/8 impact gun. got em as tight as that could, then installed the bolts in the door hinges. blasted them back in and tightened up the nuts.



next is re-install of the fender. its pretty much the same as removal, only you have to do a bit of modifying to the inner fender bracket.
you have to trim a good amount of material off of the bracket to get it to fit over the brace. it took a lot of back and forth test fitting and grinding. i had to elongate the top bolt hole where the bracket bolts to the body, and very slightly bend the bracket to get it to fit 100%. it worked out pretty well though.


(for a before pic of the bracket, look at the pic of the hole)

the way i saw it, theres almost no way to use the fender insulators without some heavy cutting. so i left them out. they're just plastic, and sit behind the splash shields, so i see no use for em.

the rest of the install is the same as removal.



overall its not a super hard install. everything that i did with a grinder can be done with a hacksaw, or file, it would just take much longer that way. and again, it your car has the box on the body, i'm clueless as to how the front hardware is supposed to mount up.

i also had a bit of time to take the car on a little drive through some of my favorite twisties. my initial feelings about this are very good. seems like more of a positive feel in cornering. theres one very tight hairpin uphill corner in the route i take, and i was able to noticeably take it faster than i usually am. i can definitely tell theres less flex in the front, and that the suspension is being forced to do its job more. it seems to have smoothed out the ride a bit as a bi-product of that. so far i'm very happy with it.




Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Sunday, September 05, 2010 7:32 PM
cool man! i may have to order a set of these
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Monday, September 06, 2010 7:30 AM
Sounds like a typical installation for any tuner to do and pretty much standard.
Not every mod is going to be a simple bolt on without some kind of modification to make it work.
Great review too and one that I knew would be a good one for sure.
I would also imagine that if there was more existing chassis modifications to your car, you'd have felt its stiffening effects much more with this mod.
Wonderful news on the OEM fender braces and the work to install these seems like common fare compared to some of the work I've done with my car.
I've always considered the fender braces my last chassis mod and by the looks of the install and review, may very well be.
I'm stoked.
Thanks JonD and Mark @OEM for all this.

Oh, btw, even if you don't have the 'hole' for you to be able to access the bolts for installation, it's nothing to take a grinder with a cutting wheel and simply cut out an opening to replicate the hole as is with Jon's case. So don't let this stop you from having one of the best stiffening mods for the front of the chassis keep you from doing this.


Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!





Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Monday, September 06, 2010 12:23 PM
what does this stiffen?



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Monday, September 06, 2010 3:20 PM
It stiffens the junction between the front frame to the door/ strut tower for support and less flex in those areas.
Most of your 4wd vehicles like Evo's and Sti's have these from the factory for further stiffening in hard use environments.
They're not only good for the rally cars but race cars too since they're there to stiffen up that part of the chassis.
I've even seen these on 240's and Honda's too for those connoisseurs of carving pavement called road courses.



Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!





Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Monday, September 06, 2010 4:10 PM
today i went on a 3 hour, over 100 mile drive through some of the best twisties, tight corners and enjoyable roads i know of. i still wasn't pushing it as hard as i'd like to, but i'm still trying to take it easy on the new engine. i LOVE what these have done for me. i agree 'blu, if i had some more stiffening mods i'd probably get an even better feel from it, but i'm extremely happy with what these have done. bit smoother ride for sure, much tighter feel, less give in the front on turns, even bumps feel better, lol. 2 thumbs up from me.
the work isn't really all that much. it can just be a PITA if all you have to work with is a hacksaw and file. or less. it really does help having basically any tool i could ever need between what i and my father own. lol. this is the kinda work i love though. tearing into something new that few have done before(in this community at least). i hope i didn't discourage anyone from buying these, because as Misnblu said it really would be as easy as taking a cutting wheel to the frame to cut a hole for access if need be. i just have no clue what the intended use for the given hardware would be, knowing that these were meant to just bolt rite up with nothing more than a couple holes drilled. either way, they definately do what they're supposed to and there are no real complaints from me.




Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Monday, September 06, 2010 4:50 PM


Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 9:54 AM
ok, my car was setup identical to ur's from what i can see (mine is a 97). it does not have the 'box' glued to the body like marks, its just like urs. all i had to do was hammer those two tabs that stick up around the hole down, no big deal.

and wow... i want CLOSE UP pics of the hinge area... thats really the only issue i am having. i will post up pictures to prove it as more than a few people have told me i am nuts and they should go right on. mine are way off.

ill use the top hinge as example for this question...

mine has two bolts, one smaller one closer to the hole, and the larger one that holds the main body of the hinge. which bolt did you use?! i thought you were supposed to use the smaller bolt but then upon further investigation it looks more like the larger bolt would be the one mark used but my 'slots' still dont line up.

from look at the way mine are set up if i were to simply hog out the slot it would work but then the flange does not sit FLUSH with the hinge, i would physically have to tighten the bolt down and HOPE it crushed the flange flush.

i gotta get some help here, this is ridiculus... ive been looking at these for months now with absolutely no idea on how to mount them LOL



I feel like taking a tinkle on an ecNOtec...
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 11:44 AM
Awesome, always glad to hear when something goes well for a change


http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 8:35 PM
the way mine is setup is theres a bolt through each hinge (top and bottom) toward the front of the car and a stud (top and bottom) coming out of the body, through the hinge, closest to the door. i had to remove all the hardware to get the brace on. the slots went over the studs and the holes in the braces went over the bolt holes in the hinge/body. with both top and bottom hinges unbolted i had to lift the front of the door slightly to be able to slide the braces on. it wasn't 100% perfect, but after tightening everything down it all became pretty flush.
i enlarged a couple of the pics to give a better idea. this is the lower hinge on the driver's side. the top looks identical, only the bolt hole is offset on top instead of bottom.
how mine looks stock

with the brace on

hope that maybe helps a little lol.



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:23 AM
yep, same setup as mine but its off. even with flopping my flange around so it was like 1/2 inch CLOSER to the bolt and stud location (on the bottom) its off still.

i will be getting pics tonight.



I feel like taking a tinkle on an ecNOtec...
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:00 PM
^^ interesting. now i gotta see.




Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:12 PM
nevermind, turns out i failed miserably.

maybe i shouldnt be drunk when i work on my car....



I feel like taking a tinkle on an ecNOtec...
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Thursday, September 09, 2010 3:46 PM
z yaaaa wrote:nevermind, turns out i failed miserably.

maybe i shouldnt be drunk when i work on my car....


LOL. i know the feeling man.



Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Saturday, September 25, 2010 6:25 PM
ok so i refrained from massive quantities of alcohol this time and got my driver side completely installed. i must say, it was a job but it wasnt that horrible once i finally knuckled down and went at it. all in all, i gotta be brutally honest.. these are just a starting point mod, if you want to just bolt them on and go these are not for you. i do give props to mark and OEM though, once i handled the fine details they were flawless. and i can definitely see how they are going to help, that area is flimsy as hell. if you wiggle the door up and down you will see what i mean, you can actually SEE the steel moving around. this isnt good.

i used the supplied hardware no biggie... jon, i have no idea how the hell you stuck ur hand in the hole to hold the back nuts for you're setup once the brace was in place, the hole is big enough but when you have the brace on there its not! LOL (maybe i just have big hands/arms?) the clips are tricky to figure out but you just drill a hole for the bolt to go through, the another directly to the right of it and then enlarge it so the clip can go through. viola! i used a die grinder to get a square shape, but realistically a large circle would be fine.

i cut my fender bracket/brace to fit over my aluminum brace so i could retain it, just like you did jon... i also chopped some off the aluminum brace to get it to fit just right. i am going out to try and fit the rubber wind noise suppressor thingy in there right now. id really like to keep this...

i have been taking pics so ill have some up in the future...





Underdog Racing
Re: Fender Braces- Yep, Built by OEM
Saturday, September 25, 2010 7:07 PM
Funny how I kept pushing for this to happen since it was a mod that most of the top tuners had access to but not the Jbody.
Now that we finally have these (thanks Mark ) and everyone is having good reviews on these, I'm jobless.
So now I can't get one of the last chassis mods that I've been wanting to complete for some time.
Such is life.

But I'm so glad that this is getting rave reviews now. Like anything that you do to your car, some work is involved with installation and is a part of modding your car which is no different than rebuilding your engine.

Thank you again Mark @ OEM for doing what others haven't thought about and for keeping an open mind and ear to the Jbody community.
Brad, glad you gave a good review and got off your lazy butt to do the work.
Pics ftw.


Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!





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