First round of parts arrived today. I went ahead and got the K&N air filter and the Cusco front and rear strut bars installed. I was doing most of this after dark, so not only are the pictures below a bit lacking in lighting, but I didn't quite have the time/energy to do the Shrader rear seat delete kit install tonight too. I'll probably do that this weekend if I don't get a bee in my bonnet before then.
Packages arrived!:
Rear strut bar installed (plus the spare fits under it fine):
Front strut bar w/ master cylinder brace installed:
You can see the master cylinder brace and how I removed the bracket holding the wire harness in place (this is an AT car, bracket and harness is only there on AT cars):
I just got back from doing a couple of shakedown cruises. I did the first one and then came back and retorque everything. After that I did a more spirited/elongated shakedown cruise. I definitely feel like the brakes are firmer and more responsive, I don't know that the strut bar really did anything otherwise. It mostly feels the same handling. I also peeled off the blue plastic to expose the aluminum bar after I got done retorquing from my first shakedown cruise.
For those who are wondering (or may need to know), I used the following torque specs:
* 14mm nuts on rear strut tower: 14.2 lb/ft
* 12mm nuts on front strut tower: 17 lb/ft
* 12mm nuts on front strut tower brace: 17 lb/ft
After I get the rear seat delete kit in, I plan to carefully reinstall much of the interior trim and then take out the bar on the rear so I can cleanly cut through the carpet just enough to fit the brackets and then reinstall the bar. Hopefully the end result will be a nice clean look. I don't want to leave the car stripped completely.