View attachment 1425

this is the strut brace here on my mk2 punto , the guy on ebay had it listed as a mk2 brace and it is a mk1 strut brace .

my qusetion is do you think it will still do the job ?

cheers

Just a side question, how does it bolts onto the car? I know the cento one goes onto the top mounts.

With the stilo i don't quite agree with screwing it on...

Ming

theres two holes for bolts

Yeah, you could well use that, but whether it's suitable for the mk2 is another question. I know they're not a million miles away in terms of design similarities, etc, but I'm sure strut braces are designed individually for each car. Using the wrong brace may not be the way to go - I'd be tempted to sell it on and get the right one.

And yeah, the one in the Stilo bolts on or in my case screws on (see attached). You have the option of either using bolts with nylock nuts, but this can only be done when the struts are out of the way ie off the car due to the access you need from the underside. Because of the issues I had with suspension and the delivery time of the brace I bought, I ended up using self tappers and drilling holes around the top mounts, which is what many people do. So long as you use a good amount of copper grease and check it periodically it should be fine - or so I've been told, not had any issues with mine in the 10 months or so I've had it on.

As I say though, I'm not sure about using a brace designed for another car.

See Rob, i see you drilled it onto the suspension turrets, are you sure it actually drill through and attached to the top mounts??

If i got it correctly, a struct brace works by leveling both side of suspensions when you are conering. IF the brace is only on the chassis, you kinda lose the affect of having one.

I just don't get how it would work if is not attached to the suspension top mounts.

Ming

YcMing said:

See Rob, i see you drilled it onto the suspension turrets, are you sure it actually drill through and attached to the top mounts??

If i got it correctly, a struct brace works by leveling both side of suspensions when you are conering. IF the brace is only on the chassis, you kinda lose the affect of having one.

I just don't get how it would work if is not attached to the suspension top mounts.

Ming

Click to expand...

Yeah, can see what you're talking about. I think it's the design of the OMP though and even using bolts the brace would've only been bolted to the same place as it is with the tappers, I didn't really get a great chance to look at the the underside when I had the struts off the last time ie when I was changing the suspension.

I think you could be right about it just being attached to the chassis, though when I did drill I made sure I got as close to the groove laid out by the top mount area as I could - I'll show you what I mean next time I see you. There's an odd sort of threaded headless bolt that's welded or attached to every Stilo that the OMP brace has a hole for on the OS. When the brace is off some of the wiring's held in place around it with a clip - this kind of also governs the placement of the brace.

I have noticed a mild difference in the handling even if it's not the best brace in the world. Not a massive one, but the steering does feel a little better when going through the bends an a-road or b-road gives. Tempted to fit a rear brace as well to see if that helps with the handling further and Phil (PNL) has linked to some other braces of the lower variety that could also be utilised if I'm so inclined.

Dunno how much longer I'll keep the Stilo though, after all the finance will be finished this time next year and I have plans :happy:

the brace doesnt have to be connected to the suspension, its to stop chassis and body flex that compromises the suspension geometry in corners. if you stop the body flexying, you stop the chassis flexing and stop the suspension geometry getting mucked up.

if its connected to body, it stops the body flexing thereby keeping the suspension in the same position at all times.

if its connected to the top mounts, it keeps the suspension the same distance apart at all times and stops the body flexing.

same results, different routes of getting it .

Can;t agree with the same result, you can strength the chassis yes. But it doesn't not alter the suspensions like how strut brace should work. So let's assume brace connected to chassis only at the tower. When rob goes for a fast coner car dips to one side, one side of the suspensions compressed, but the brace WILL not alter the other side strut. Yes the chassis will incur less flex.

I just don't see how chassis strenghting is the same as altering your suspension geometry.

That's like saying, just drill you Anti roll bar on without connecting to the lower arm ? You would reduce flex in the chassis but not pulling the wheel down when it has lift.

Taken from wiki, just for some ref:

A strut bar is designed to reduce this strut tower flex by tying two parallel strut towers together. This transmits the load of each strut tower during cornering via tension and compression of the strut bar which shares the load between both towers and reduces chassis flex.

Ming

remind me what the struts are connected to

as long as its stopping the flex in the boduy and chassis that makes the struts move from there natural point, it doesnt matter how or where its connected imo.

i agree having them on top of the strut itself is probably more effective, but as long as they stiffen the area nearest the strut mounts, any difference will be marginal.

its difficult to explain without making a model, lol

as he said its hard to explain, i can see how to explain it in my head but dont know how to put it up on here, centos right ming.

its not changing the geometry, more stopping it changing!

right, if you draw a square (this would be like looking straight on at the front of the car) btm left and right corners are the wheels, and top corners are the strut tops. if you removed the top line (brace) the struts would fall inwards.

I have to say I wish mine and probably Puntoaj's braces attached directly to the top mounts. The amount of time I spent drilling was ridiculous - didn't help that I had crap drill bits and a rather low rent drill of course.

My mate Ally with his 106 - it was a case of park car, take off the bolts on the top mounts, attach E-Tech brace, re-attach bolts, adjust brace to preferred setting and away you go...took 10 minutes (though he did sheer a bolt ). Mine took about an hour and a half and 2 broken drill bits. Oh and he also only paid £20 down the scrappies for his brace.

The idea of a strut brace is to stiffen chassis performance..this in turn affects and controls suspension reaction..

Here is a link to what it does they tell it better than I do ..

http://www.jdm-option.com/eng/pr_CUSCO/towerbar.html

Thanks for the post, indeed am in the wrong!

Could be just personal believe, I just don't believe in drilling in the suspension turrets to fit the brace.

Ming

Welll ming I have to say I aint a big fan of the way fiat mount their front suspension legs on their cars..cheap and chearfull is the only way to discribe the fiat suspension on many of the range..I myself prefer the way Ford/vauxhall/mitubishi/lotus to name a few mount theirs..three studs up through the inner wing which in turn as it happens are connected to the leg..its those manufacturers to my way of thinking that have thought it out well..this brings the chassis and suspension together more as a unit unlike the fiat way of bunging a shock up through an inner wing and then capping it off with a blommin great rubber cap /washer and nut..to my way of thinking the shock is liable to float around to much compared to a shock thats fitted to three studs from a shock..this is why OPM have designed the braces to be fixed in place by tapping bolts..when I built the brace for GSR for the stilo [never went into production ..long story] I looked long and hard to see if it could have been done another way ..it wasnt possible to do it and have the chassis and suspension working together if the brace was conected to the shock alone. I did alter the way it was fitted on the stilo tho because I dont believe in having to take the damn thing off every time you need to do work to the engine..so I made the new brace removable from the mounting plates as done by other manufacturers [the best way] OMP suck with many of their products because of this but they simply had no option on this one and with many of the fiat range of braces..blame fiat..thats where the fault lays..

Very true, on the cento is the 3 studs up to the chassis .

When i first looked at the Punto Mk2, i was really really confused on how the shocks was connected to the car!

After market top mounts?

Ming

seems you guys have been havin a good chat about this - good reading !!!!
anyways im gonna fit it , ive been phoning a few places and sending emails for adivse and all said its fine to fit this brace on a mk2 punto .
got some M8 and M10 cap screws bolts, washers and nuts at work (borrowed)lol so i'll fit it once my indiction kit comes ..

i'll get back soon ..

Think, you may have to take the shocks and springs out first.

Ming

i've had the wheels off and had a look up into the top mount , theres two small holes there @ the moment so i'll use them just need to open them up abit .

for the other holes i'll drill a small hole first to make sure im away from the rubber mount ..

YcMing said:

Think, you may have to take the shocks and springs out first.

Ming

Click to expand...

The honourable gent is correct :agree:..if you want to bolt the brace in place both front legs will need to be dropped..

PNL said:

The honourable gent is correct :agree:..if you want to bolt the brace in place both front legs will need to be dropped..

Click to expand...

cheers , i'll soon find out