I tried last night to fit a strut brave to my xr4x4 race car and it's about an inch too long
tried it on another xr4x4 and it's exactly the same!
I have a pic of the very strut brace I have bought fitted to a cossie so I know it fits a sierra somehow!!!
before I cut carve it and weld it up is there anything Im missing here?

steve

 

no mate

all the same, ive had it before where ive had to porta power the struts to get strut brace on lol

try it on your escort first, s its unliely these will move becuasethey have th strenghtening braces welded on the strut tops where sierras dont

 

good idea m8, will try it on my escort tonight,
was suprised it didn't fit specially as the other sierra I tried it on it was out exactly the same amount!

steve

 

very common that for the inner wings to come inwards on a sierra

 

jack the car up off the ground when trying.

 

40" centre to centre iirc

 

ragging it round a track for 7 years probably hasn't helped!!

craig I tried the trick of jacking it up, it did nothing lol

cheers m8 will check it
I tried the brace on my escort tonight and it's fitted perfectly!

looks like my race cars a bit on the piss lol
is there anything I can do short of cutting the brace down?
might also brace the strut top to the inner wing escort cos style

steve

 

the struts coming in an inch cant be good!!

:shock:

blimey

 

a quick pic to show how far it's out



steve

 

have you tried spinning the bar around,mine only fits one way.

 

Very common to see sierra strut tops at least an inch closer together than std! The strut tops are very weak, and you'll notice the inner wing below the wing hanging rails will now be curved inwards rather than being vertical!

 

yea it's actually meant to be the other way round but I tried that and it's still won't fit

I might use some ratchet straps to pull them out then weld a brace to the inner wing!

Will have a look Karl and see if it's as you say but it's looking that way..

steve

 

get hold of a porta power if you can and push the struts apart

be wise to weld braces like the escos has, thats why i said test it on the escort

the jacking up doesnt usually work as the subframe still holds it all together

 

bought a 4 ton porta power at the weekend and it worked a treat.

got the strut brace on, just need to weld in the braces I made up to match the ones on my esc cos

steve

 

Should tighten things up nice now mate!!!

 

im sure there is a company that actually do the plates ready to be welded in, i just carnt think of the name at the minute, possible rally design maybe

 

possibly but I made some up the other night, metal fab is something im quite good at after rebuilding my 100E all those years ago lol

vaughant, yes it does seem to have tightened the front up on the short test drive I had.

steve

 

what id say at alater date, if a philloy brace comes up for sale get that, becuase there a lot better design as they push against the strut not on top

but every little helps

 

Just measured my XR4x4 and it's 39 inch and 3/8's



The previous owner had ragged it about a bit, and it is 22 years young.

Going to check my Saff when I get up.