Srtut Brace Damage

[NIS200K]

I was just browsing through the new gallery :) when I spotted a picture of a damaged cusco strut brace, does anyone know how this damage was caused?, was it while it was fitted? only I've just fitted on myself

any thoughts would be appreciated, better still if anyone knows who posted the photo then straight from the horses mouth would be great. Cheers

[ifraz]

This does not look 'damaged'. It looks like someone has cut a bit out so it fits over the supercharger downpipe on the IS.

[Mr Singh]

That can't be good, doesn't serve quite as well as a Strut Brace seen as half way round its had a chunk removed.. mmmm

[NIS200K]

That can't be good, doesn't serve quite as well as a Strut Brace seen as half way round its had a chunk removed.. mmmm

←

I would have too agree with you both it does look cut out, but as suggested this would defeat the purpose of having a strut brace beacuse that would take all of the strength out of it, plus if it was intentional it's pretty messy!!!!

[GRiM]

The simple fact is, the CUSCO strut brace was originally designed to work only with the normally aspirated 3S-GE 4 cylinder based Altezza RS200 and the normally aspirated 1G-FE 6 cylinder based Altezza AS200.

The CUSCO strut brace only fits the normally aspirated european IS200, because in Europe we only have the 1G-FE engine. (Same as the Altezza AS200)

CUSCO currently do not make a strut brace for the 6 cylinder 1G-FE engine based IS200, when it's fitted with the TTE compressor.

What was found out in the early days, is that if the CUSCO strut brace rubbed against the TTE compressor piping, the only way to get it to fit, was to skim or cut out a section of the strut brace.

You could even try and bend it, (although, as it's made of aluminium, this is strongly not advised, without the appropriate equipment). Bending it will weaken or may even break the strut brace, and would most likely effect it's longevity.

Some people were lucky, in that when their cars where fitted with the TTE compressor, the compressor piping did not rub against the CUSCO strut brace.

Another way was to put spacers on the strut towers, to get the CUSCO to fit, but that weakened the effect of the strut brace.

It seems it was almost a case of pot luck whether the CUSCO strut brace would rub on a car fitted with the TTE compressor, and the only way to tell if it did, was to try it.

Unfortunatley, the fact remains that most of the cars fitted with a TTE compressor do rub against the CUSCO strut brace.

As there was no alternative to solve this problem, some people took the drastic action of skimming or cutting away the offending part of the strut brace that abrasied against the TTE compressor piping.

Hence the reason you see the cut-out on the picture above.

I'm afraid if you are looking for a strut brace that suits all applications, then your only current option is provided by our friends at Prolex, as they have come to the rescue, and have a solution for everyone.

They can provide a custom fabricated strut brace that CAN be fitted to both a normally aspirated 1G-FE 6 cylinder engine and also to when it's fitted with the TTE compressor, without compromising the effectiveness of the strut brace.

For your information, see here for further details of the Prolex Strut brace.

http://www.prolex-uk.com/store/product_inf...?products_id=86

You will see that it fits both normally aspirated 1G-FE IS200's and those fitted with the TTE compressor.

If fact, I believe the Prolex strut brace, can not only fit the standard 6 cylinder IS200, and a supercharged IS200, but their strut brace will also fit the soon to be released Prolex Turbo conversion Kit for the 1G-FE 6 cylinder IS200.

However, check with Prolex for full compatibility.

[NIS200K]

Thanks for the clarification.

[AMH]

Easy enough to repair if you know a good ali welder ...