After hunting around I was surprised I could not find a DIY on the Axial Brake Brace. Somebody probably did this and I couldn’t find it, anyway- here you go. This DIY is you damaging your car and affecting your brake system. It’s all you.
http://www.axialflow.com/products.htm
The brace cost $70 + $12 in shipping. It did require “modifying” the stock engine strut bar to install.
Mine came in blue – I neglected to mention what color I wanted, but I didn’t care, as I was going to paint it anyway. Maybe they come default in smurf color.

 

Tools you need: A Drill, 1 ¼” hole saw, a 14 mm socket, a 12 mm socket, a 7/8" socket, a 17mm end wrench, channel locks, paper, pencil, scissors, hole punch, hammer, small steel punch, wax pencil, steel file, vice. (the website calls for much less and a “hose saw” -weird.)

1.Open the Hood, Remove the Engine Cover.

2.Remove the 4 nuts attaching the strut bar. 2 on the right, 2 on the left. 12mm. Remove the bar.

3.Here I templated the hole to drill. There are any number of ways to do this. I just took a piece of paper and stenciled the top of the studs, cut the stencil into a rough circle, then punched out the holes. Once you have a good fit you have a template.

 

4.Flip the template onto the bottom of the strut brace (make sure you have the right holes lined up and template facing the right way) Mark a small dot for where you will drill the hole in the bar.

5.Here I used a small steel punch to tap into my mark for a centered hole.

 

6.Vice clamp the bar, drill a small hole. I carried the bar back over to the car and set it back on to make sure I was centered up over the top of the stud. Although there is a little slack in moving the bar around you want this to be centered up before moving to the next step. If necessary, re-template and drill another small hole in just the right spot.

 

7.Drill motor and hole saw. Make sure your materials are held firmly in place. Take your time making this cut. Axialflow recommends a 1 ¾” or 1 ½” hole saw. I thought that was going to be a little big so I went with 1 ¼”.

8.Use a rat tail file or steel rasp to clean up the edges, be careful they will be sharp.

9.Again, make sure the hole is centered up. I removed the 2 nuts from the top of the strut brace where the axial brace will go. Set the axial brace onto the studs. There will be a slight clearance issue. Mark either side of the strut brace.

 

10.Back to the vice. Clamp down the bar and use the channel locks to *gently* pull down the edge of the hole and outer edge of the “fin” on the bar until you have enough room to get the brace situated properly. I wrapped a few layers of rags between the bar and the channel locks to keep from damaging the paint much.

11.Put it all together. As you can see I painted my brace. Krylon Fusion Gloss Black. Situate the bar and brace in place. Remove the axial brace to reinstall the nuts on the strut bar. Attach the included bolt and jam nut to the brace and place the included shim/ washers onto the mounting bolts. 7/8” socket to tighten.

12.Unscrew the bolt to firm position against the master cylinder. Adjust the jam nut against the brace. Gently tighten both.
Put the engine cover back on, close the hood, and that’s it. Yes, there are other products out there that do this. This was a less expensive option I wanted to do. I tried some hard braking and there is a real improvement. Hope this helps someone.

 

I'm surprised nobody else has commented on this. I have my smurf brace in-hand and plan to do the install this weekend. My brace didn't even come with instructions so I'm happy to have found yours. Thanks for the great write-up.

 

This was pretty easy, I just thought their directions were a little lax. I think more people go with more "exotic" solutions for this. ex. the mazdaspeed tower bar. This brace is also a little heavy-handed. I installed steel brake lines and really enjoy the improved/ firmer brake feel, this brace was just the next step. Hopefully I'll be able to step up to a bigger brake package one day.

 

I thought I would weigh in on this after doing my install. I initially wanted to make the hole in my strut bar as small as possible and explored the 1 1/4" route but after doing the measurements I realized that 1 1/4" would not work. I decided to go with 1 3/8" instead. I made a template and drilled my pilot hole. I placed the strut bar back on the car without bolting it down and the pilot hole was directly above the strut tower bolt as it should be. I then drilled my 1 3/8" hole. What came next was rather annoying but is probably why Axial Flow recommends using 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" hole saw. I don't know if my strut brace was manufactured differently or if maybe the tolerances are not very precise but even though the brake brace would fit through the hole, a portion of the strut tower bar was interfering with it seating properly. I basically had to take the bar back off and drill the hole out even bigger than 1 3/8". Even then, with the hole larger than it needed to be, there was still slight interference on the edge of the tower bar. I ended up having to whack the tower with a ball peen hammer to bend the very edge of the bar so that I could bolt the brace down without it being gouged by the edge of the strut tower bar. Long story short, I would recommend using at least the 1 1/2" hole saw and be prepared for whacking the edge.

 

In short, No matter the size of the hole made, the strut bar does have to be modified in some way for clearances (step 10). The hole saw size is totally up to the installer.

 

Ok, now that I read your step 10 more closely, I see that you bent down the edge of the hole in addition to the outer edge of the "fin". So you dealt with the same thing I did but a little more precisely. Unfortunately, although I have a full set of tools, I live in an apartment and do not have a table vice. My methods were more crude as a result. I tried bending the edge at first but without a vice, it didn't work, so the hole got bigger. Thank you for the great write up.

 

Nice

 

nice writeup but...even after reading the website's blurb about this product, i seriously dont understand what it does, or claims to do.

I've never heard of ANYONE complaining that the brakes on this car are "soft" in some aspect beyond anything that can't be remedied with the proper pads or fluid.

 

^ The firewall and master cylinder flexes. Though the amount of flex may be dismal and should be no more than a few millimeters in travel, there is added solidification with a brace of this sort. In some cases it can be felt. Look at the Mazdaspeed strut tower bar. The only reason to even install that over the stock strut tower bar is because the MS adds a MC brace.

Is the brace necessary? No. Does it work? In most cases, yes. Can it be felt? Too many variables to say, so results may vary. Bottom line is, a MC brace may add more stiffness and feel, but it isn't necessary. If anyone has problems with mushy brakes, that would have nothing to do with the MC or firewall flexing.

 

^ Actually the Mazdaspeed Front Strut Bar serves two purposes. The brake master cylinder brace and easy access to the tops of the struts.

If you have adjustable shocks it's a must have, and is the only reason why I'm currently looking for one.

 

You think this brace would work with the greddy strut bar?