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#1
03-13-2007, 01:28 AM
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REVIEW: G35 VRT Strut Tower Brace
REVIEW: G35 VRT Strut Tower Brace
(pics follow in subsequent posts) Ordering The VRT strut tower brace (STB) is ordered through e-mail by contacting Scott via his hotmail account wa2good@hotmail.com. He builds them to order so like exhaust systems, there is a delay for delivery. My order was adversely affected by delays incurred ordering just before the holidays and then a further delay because of an issue with his powder coater. However Scott responded to my PMs and e-mails within 24 hrs (or at the latest the next business day). There was a constant open channel of communication that reassured me that while things were moving along much more slowly than I would have liked, they were indeed moving! Shipping and Packaging and Material Quality A single medium sized box finally arrived and the contents were found to be well packed with brief instructions. I was surprised how light the contents were. I was expecting steel, so expected it to be heavy - but it was really quite light. The bar and the brackets appear to be some kind of steel alloy that are then powdercoated black. The brackets are made from welded pieces of what appears to be carefully bent steel tubing. The main bar is actually has a slight contour at the two ends but is predominantly straight and flat. It feels hollow (it can't be solid and be that light, can it?). Anyway the material is VERY rigid - as is you can put your weight into it and not see or feel any visible movement. The welds look fine - there are no irregularities, spurs, shavings, etc. There are no sharp edges. The powdercoating provides a nice durable finish. Installation Ok, installation is what I was worried about. I think the only reason you might consider getting something else is fear of the install. You might have seen the DIY guide posted on this site by "InTgr8r", which is awesome (thanks InTgr8r!). But that dude is handy with tools no question and apparently fearless. I'd like to think I can figure most things out, but I'm a first-timer (aka "virgin") when it comes to most car stuff. I've learned all sorts of cool stuff about cars after buying the "G", so I thought this would be nice challenge! In any case, I wanted the most rigid, strongest STB support, so by golly I was going to get this on my car. And it took some doing, but read on, as I have some tips to make this a cake walk really. First off is that Scott will readily admit that his experience installing this piece on stock cars is limited. Most of the cars he has worked on all have after market intakes. That makes a world of difference. He states 2 people have gotten it to work with the stock airbox by using a heat gun and molding the shape. Ok, I'm game. I went and bought a heat gun and molded. Boy did I mold. I molded a hole! Ha - not that bad really. I actually repaired it by getting some more plastic and patching (melting) it to cover the hole. Amazing how gooey that stuff becomes when its warm (hot!). Anyway that was the wrong path to go down. I do NOT recommend it. Too hard, too risky and completely unnecessary. If you have the Stillen airbox, then you have to do what InTgr8r did to move it slightly towards the passenger side. This is in essence what makes the stock airbox incompatible as well. The fact is that the driver's side brace pushes the air intake about 2 cm towards the passenger side. This is incompatible with the stock airbox location (or the Stillen without modification) for that matter. If you have a cold air intake or the JWT pop charger, it is not an issue. So Scott offered to ship me a JWT pop charger at cost and with free shipping. Great deal on a pop charger, no more installation headaches, and complete my NA setup for my G. Deal! (Thanks Scott!) Seriously, I provided some tips for Scott to modify the bracket to make it work a little easier with the stock airbox (essentially just move the the bracket 2 cm towards the outside. That would mean making the bar longer. If you guys can get Scott to do this it would greatly simplify installation. The other installation issue is on the passenger side. The bracket on that side hit the top corner of the power steering fluid bracket. Take a look at the pic below. There was no way around this, I had to cut the top of the bracket out. It's made out of steel so still plenty strong to hold the power steering container. However, I could not remove the bracket from the power steering fluid container, so I had to do the cutting while it was all still in the car. Yikes! I padded all the surrounding structures and went to it with my rotary tool. Cut like butter and I breathed a sigh of relief 15 mins later when it was all done and sanded. I have seen pics of other people who seem to have got this on without any modification so I don't get why my car was different (2004.5 5AT coupe). Anyway, again a slight change to the angle of the tubing at this point would make a world of difference in simplifying the process. The final part of the install is the good news! To get the longer A-arm bolts in place, the instructions indicate that you should loosen the strut bolts and then pull down and away to give room to place the longer bolt in. No way, no how man. I am not Arnold. I can't pull the dang strut down, screws loose or not. InTgr8r explains how to take the suspension apart to get the strut to fall down and out of the way. Well guess what - that might work for his after market suspension (probably cause it's shorter), but it won't work for the stock suspension! It's sits about a 1/4 too high to pull down. Aargh. Except guess what - you don't need to touch the suspension. Heck, you don't even need to loosen the strut bolts (well you do need to take the lower two off to put the bracket on). Look at the pic below. The whole issue is that the rubber boot that covers the top of the strut gets in the way. Well guess what? That part just pulls right down and gives you oodles of room to work. No problem just sliding that bolt in and tightening by hand. No tools even required. Man, wish someone had told me that before. I wrestled for about 2 hours gripping the bolt with a pair of pliers and jamming it into that hole on the driver side. But on the passenger side, once I realized that rubber boot just pulls down, took like 10 secs. Nice! So, in summary, the A arm bolts are a breeze. Just take the wheels off, pull the rubber boots down, take out old bolt, put in new, clip boot back up in place (using finger power, baby!), done. Less than 10 mins at most each side. The driver's side bracket is a breeze with a CAI or pop charger. Until Scott gives 2 cm more clearance, don't mess with it - just take the opportunity to upgrade! The passenger side bracket may or may not require cutting of the power steering fluid bracket. If it does, just cover the hoses and what not in the area if you want to work inside the car with a rotary tool. Last issue was no torque specs were provided. I used 45 ft-lbs cause that seemed reasonable. Someone correct me here if that's off. I used 65 ft-lbs for the A-arm bolt cause I think that is what InTgr8r mentioned. The Performance Un-freaking-believably solid. Wow! The last part of the install is putting the bar on. One thing you'll notice is that the bar is actually a tad bit longer than the space between the brackets. This means you MUST put the bar on while the suspension is pulling the chassis down and apart (as this moves the brackets slightly farther apart). All the bolts must be loose. Then you put one side of the bar in place with a bolt (loosely), then with all your might pull back on the other bracket while you slide the other bolt in. Whew - there's just enough give in the system with all the bolts loose that the 2nd bolt will slide right in - that's precision engineering baby! Then and only then tighten the brackets and bar down. That puppy will be super tight by the time you torque everything down. But wait! Then you lower the car and it goes from tight to SOLID. That VRT strut bar becomes part of the chassis. SOLID STEEL RIGIDITY. I don't think a 300 lb man jumping up and down on top of the bar could make it perceptibly flex. The entire car would be bouncing on its springs, but not that bar. Try that with an aluminum bar --- not! Road feel changes remarkably. The front tires are pressed down into the ground and you can feel the road much more crisply. Turning is flat as others have reported. The front end is just plain solid now. It is really hard to describe any other way. I will say that ramps are much more fun to "attack". For a fact, the VDC comes on much later than it used to on tight turns at high speeds. Conclusion (to follow in next post as too long...) 
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#2
03-13-2007, 01:28 AM
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CONCLUSION
If you have a CAI or pop charger - do not hesitate. This bar is THE bar to get. It is WELL worth the few extra dollars. Get it while Scott is still making it. If you have the stock airbox, you have a decision to make. You can go for a bar that provides some of the benefit that will install more easily. Or you can change out your stock airbox. I personally really like the stock airbox design so wasn't thrilled about changing it out. I had to make a compromise there. Now that I have felt what it's like to drive with that VRT bar on - there is no way I could think about driving without it. (The pop charger does make a cool whistling sound under acceleration! I noted no performance gain with my Gtech-RR from the pop charger, btw). Anyway I wanted a strut tower brace known to work with the JWT TT setup and the VRT STB fit the bill. Scott is a really nice guy, very patient, and very pleasant to deal with. In other words, customer service is outstanding! He answers his phone on the 1st or 2nd ring and was helping me figure out the best solution for me (not him, me). I gave the stock airbox a good old college try, but it wasn't happening for me. The bottom line is that this is a great product with a super performance payoff for the G's front end feel and handling. It would be nice to move one bracket a few cm here and the other bracket a few cm there, but now that's up to you all to convince Scott to make slight alterations. I want to thank him for going out of his way to come up with a really great solution for our cars. It may be a few glitches short of perfection, but still truly a great solution. Last edited by rcdash : 03-13-2007 at 01:51 AM.
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#4
03-13-2007, 01:32 AM
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This is the driver's side from the front and rear perspective. You can see how the brace moves the air tube slightly towards the middle. This prevents the air tube from lining up with the stock airbox. 2 cm is all you need to move it over Scott - I know, what a PITA to change the design, but it would make airbox use a lot easier for your customers!
Keep in mind that even if Scott does this, it would be really hard to change your filter with the stock airbox design. This is a flaw on Nissan's part, not Scott's. You should be able to disconnect the airbox from the MAF and pull it out. But you can't because the bottom part is fatter than the top - aargh. Just go for a CAI or pop charger and call it a day! Last edited by rcdash : 03-13-2007 at 01:38 AM.
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#5
03-13-2007, 01:34 AM
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This is the passenger side brace. I cut the top part of the bracket off. It's kind of hard to see as both the VRT brace and the power steering fluid bracket are both black in color. This looks like it would be an easy fix Scott - just have the tubing come up a bit more before arching over. Ha - easier said than done, I know...
Last edited by rcdash : 03-13-2007 at 01:39 AM.
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#6
03-13-2007, 01:47 AM
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Here is the truly easy part of the install. Pull the rubber boot down as pictured below (with your hands) and you can see that sliding the bolt in is no problem. Just line up the A-arm with the hole with one hand, slide in bolt with the other. Easy as pie.
It is this part of the design where the VRT solution really sets itself apart from most STB solutions (in general). This braces the bar in a completely different plane than the other two bolt up points. Very smart.
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#7
03-13-2007, 04:00 AM
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Quote:
Thanks for the nice write up, Raj. I see what you mean now by having to grind some clearance in the power steering reservoir bracket...... Hahaha. I forgott, but the JWT TT kit (that you plan on getting) comes with a power steering reservoir relocation bracket that lowers the reservoir down to give clearance to the added intercooler pipe. That is why you are the only person that I have seen have this problem...cause you do not have the TT kit installed yet and you still have the stock bracket. 
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#8
03-13-2007, 04:30 AM
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Please make one that fits turbonetics
__________________
'03.5 CB/Willow 6MT Coupe | Turbonetics ST, UTEC, Hotchkis, Tein, JWT Clutch/Flywheel, AAM plenum spacer-throttle body spacer-return fuel system, Tanabe hyper-spec, RHS3, KurumaZ, Ings, Kenstyle... |
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#9
03-13-2007, 05:12 AM
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Quote:
I guess I could........but I dont come across too many people asking for a TN version of this STB. Find me a local G with a TN kit installed that I could use for a couple hours for a mok-up. I could even give them a deep discount for the use of their car.  Last edited by wa2good : 03-13-2007 at 05:22 AM.
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#10
03-13-2007, 06:55 PM
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Scott,
It wasn't a big deal really - that bracket is overkill for just a little power steering fluid - a triangulated steel bracket? I think the two steel arms on the bracket will hold just fine! It was a stumbling block that others should know about though. If someone really does not want to do any cutting, they could probably just bolt up the rear two points and leave the front one off (as it then won't reach around the brace, which would push the front part of the bracket forward). I didn't want to take a chance of it scratching the nice powdercoating on the VRT brace so I cut the top corner off, which allowed all three bolt up points to line up. Actually, I'm an idiot - I should have just bent it forward and not done any cutting. The single bolt to the left would not attach, but the other two are so secure so it wouldn't matter. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Shoot. Oh well... Last edited by rcdash : 03-13-2007 at 07:00 PM.
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