ALL* the Cusco bracing - A Review

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by dragoontwo

There's always rivnuts if they aren't. Assuming the other holes line up nice.

True, but who knows if a riv nut is strong enough to support the forces of a chassis brace haha.

Originally Posted by gpvecchi

You need the 50515A and B parts, too. They have the holes that are not present in old cars.

I noticed that last night too...obviously making it much more expensive of an endeavor.

What are these center bolts used for on the older gen car?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

True, but who knows if a riv nut is strong enough to support the forces of a chassis brace haha.







I noticed that last night too...obviously making it much more expensive of an endeavor.



What are these center bolts used for on the older gen car?

Going to depend a bit on the direction of force applied to the brace and fastener size. If you can get full torque on an 8mm fastener with a rivnut, it's probably going to have enough clamping force for most braces. Won't know till you try. I'd avoid the socket in a socket style rivnuts, they don't seem as strong in my experience with them.

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Going to depend a bit on the direction of force applied to the brace and fastener size. If you can get full torque on an 8mm fastener with a rivnut, it's probably going to have enough clamping force for most braces. Won't know till you try. I'd avoid the socket in a socket style rivnuts, they don't seem as strong in my experience with them.

That's good to know, I certainly won't discount the idea in the future.



But I figured everything is threaded for the conversion, however the parts needed make it more expensive than the STi draw stiffeners.

You not only need the engine cross member braces like @gpvecchi said ($100), but you also need to rethread the rear, center 2 skid plate bolts from accepting an m8 fastener to a m10 fasteners. The center 2 skid plate bolts are relocated to the 2 new subframe braces ($32). This opens up the lovely opportunity of now needing a GR86 skid plate ($218) which means you might as well get the new transmission cover lol ($91).

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

That's good to know, I certainly won't discount the idea in the future.



But I figured everything is threaded for the conversion, however the parts needed make it more expensive than the STi draw stiffeners.

You not only need the engine cross member braces like @gpvecchi said ($100), but you also need to rethread the rear, center 2 skid plate bolts from accepting an m8 fastener to a m10 fasteners. The center 2 skid plate bolts are relocated to the 2 new subframe braces ($32). This opens up the lovely opportunity of now needing a GR86 skid plate ($218) which means you might as well get the new transmission cover lol ($91).

Yeah, it all depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go as far as retro fitting, or spending money on all the needed parts. You can pull up generic charts to kind of get an idea on bolt/nut size and grade will get you the sheer strength and clamping load if you want to go the modify route and get an idea of what you may need as far as fasteners.

[gpvecchi]

I'd go with the TRD member brace set, the result would be similar and even better.

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by gpvecchi

I'd go with the TRD member brace set, the result would be similar and even better.

Yes their "split" member brace is really ideal to not add too much nvh, and I love how it connects the front subframe to the steering rack bolts. I would really like to purchase that piece separate from the others but as we know that is impossible.

I've toyed with the idea of buying this ultra cheap ebay brace, cutting out the middle support, painting it red and saying look Ma I have TRD braces now.

[Racecomp Engineering]

The Carbing brace seems like the one to get IMO in terms of design, just expensive...twice as much as the Cusco one.



- Andrew

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

The Carbing brace seems like the one to get IMO in terms of design, just expensive...twice as much as the Cusco one.



- Andrew

I’m glad to see they are comfortable using the standard m8 bolts for that front mounting point. If I ever do the swap to the gr86 braces, I’ll probably leave those bolts m8 while the other 2 bolts will be factory m10.