Some of you guys know I've been working on strengthening my strut towers. At first I just worked outside the engine bay, trying to add a bit of gusseting to the towers themselves. I had a bit of success with the gussets stopping some of the flexing of the tower sheet metal while turning, but I knew this would never keep the towers from bending, an across the engine brace from tower to tower was needed to really address the bending issue.
Originally, I wasn't going to mess with it because I'd have to relocate some things to get to the towers from inside the engine bay. Now that I'm outa work, I have the time so I figured I'd just dig in and get it done. This is what I ended up with:  The first mods were to the tower frame itself.

Part two, an across the engine brace. The Brace itself is a Generic item I purchased off ebay, $6. Cost more to ship!  It had the right bend to it, adjustable link ends, and of course was CHEAP. I couldn't make one for what I got it for. I did want the brace to be easily removable for service to engine, and the adjustable ends gave me some room for error in my fab work.  The tower brackets were made once again from materials I had laying around in the shop, a couple of Chevy exhaust flanges, some 1/4" plate circles left over from the water jet guy ( he gave me a bunch awhile ago, I never throw anything useful away!) and some left over sched 40 steel tubing.  Fitting everything required the use once again of my CAD program ( cardboard aided design) and I was able to get everything cut and welded up in an afternoon. I had to angle it back a bit for clearance of engine parts, and my hood fan. It took another afternoon to make up new mounting plates for my scavenge pump and Cruise module. this is the end result:

I'm sure some of you engineering types out there will be able to find fault with this design, but overall it's quite rigid, easily removable for service work, and considering I don't jump my rig  ( intentionally ! ) it should offer some measure of insurance against tower bending. Total cost: about $30 in materials including shipping for the bar.

Dude... you should consider doing this stuff for a living.

Thanks. Tired that with bikes once, sucked the love right out of it. Wouldn't mind working with someone else though.

That looks good, I wasn't sure how much space there would be in the engine compartment to put the cross bar.

What type of car was the bar originally for?

Nice...looks plenty strong to me. 

That looks good, I wasn't sure how much space there would be in the engine compartment to put the cross bar.

What type of car was the bar originally for?

Honda Accord, what else? You can find 'em on ebay for as little as $6 + shipping. I think the shipping was $17. I've seen hundreds of them on ebay for as little as $20 in lots of shapes and configs. A bit longer might have made it easier, maybe not.

i think the length is perfect. if it was to long u would lose the angle of the brackets and that will most likely loose your strength. I would work with you mike. i did alot of work with my gpop he has all the right stuff but these days he lives to far. 

So i decided to photoshop what i think you should do to it. if you do this its not going anywhere. i got this from helping my friends with there road racing rabbits and jettas we usually use them in the back also

i took a guess on the mounting position. im not sure what is behind it but a good weld should handle it.

Nice, Thanks Bob. They actually sell a brace with the second member. They're all over ebay as well. I'm just concerned that a a brace tied into the frame via the strut towers, and then to the body, could suffer from some tearing or shearing forces due to the body moving around on the frame mounts. It probably works great on a unibody car, but our seperate frames is what makes them a REAL truck. Hows that swap coming?

im going to look at the sidekick in my yard and see if i could come up away to mount it secure. only problem i got no motor in mine so i wont be sure about clearances.



its doing ok. i just keep running into little problems here in there. my tool box is at work so all the tools i have are scattered on the front seats of the samurai and in cardboard boxes in my work shed.

Hey Bob, thanks again for the Parts!