Recommendations for Strut Tower Brace

['76mintgrün'02]

I installed an IE strut brace when I first bought my car.

Later, I decided to put a stock air cleaner on my Weber, so the strut brace had to go.

I was curious how much flex there was, so I removed the bar and installed a piece of bamboo in its place, with a pencil in the middle and attached a piece of paper to the firewall.  It did not indicate any movement.

(that line you see was me being clumsy during setup) 

Then I cut the bamboo and put a piece of spring between them to let them move.  

and two pencils to the arms and went for a little drive to check for movement.

The pencil tips stayed put, indicating zero side to side flex at the strut tops.

 

One of the things that stood out in Toby's link were that the amount of flex can vary with the degree to which the car has been driven hard.  I believe mine has had an easy life.  This is a '76 and I know early cars are a bit more flexible than the later ones, but I don't know how that applies to the strut tops.  I do know that in my case, the brace seemed unnecessary (and in my way), so I sold it.

 

This was a hokey setup, but I believe it had some merit.  I'd like to see someone else's study for comparison.

 

On a RacEcaR with stiff springs/shocks/struts/bushings it'd be a different equation. 

 

Tom