Weswork's RCF
Okay, this has been a looooong time coming. For those of you that have followed or even clicked on this thread, you have seen my approx 2 yr saga of trying to obtain and the install the TRD Carbon engine cover/brace combo. I won't rehash all of that here (see post #69 for example) but, my guy after not giving up, finally got a firewall replacement brace fab'd up to work perfectly with the USDM car and this piece. I am very happy. Although I will get more pics once I have the car cleaned to show all the things (big and small) I've done over the past couple of years (as I "think" I'm done). I wanted to post up these quick iphone pics of the final install done today. Right now the bracket is black and I may leave it that way. I may possibly have it coated to try to match the strut towers holding the brace but, for now I am good. Also, you may notice I've picked up some titanium hardware as well. This is my daily so I haven't gone too crazy. Enjoy
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/weswork/, on Flickr
Last edited by weswork; Mar 5, 2018 at 06:46 PM.
Ming - Its clearly 10x stiffer and seems to have added about 15whp from my butt dyno... JK really no difference in feel but, probably didn't do much to test the car before and not sure when I will put it through its paces in the new future.
Thought I show you guys "HOW" different that firewall bracket ended up being and why it ended up taking so long to fabricate the right one. Due to the difference contour of the firewall between the LHD and RHD cars, where the studs for the stock bracket are located and the need for them to be re-used in this setup, and how the cover/brace mounts to the bracket, the resulting piece
Here is the bracket that came with it. Note how its pretty much straight across. We first tried to use this bracket in reverse (upside down) to account for the LHD/RHD difference. All the holes were off just enough and you'll notice no kink like you'll see in the final product but, we didn't realize we need the kink until we got a bracket that would actually work on the firewall studs to see that a straight edge piece would not sit flush.
Here is the final product shown with the cover/brace. Note the kink and how dramatic the angle needed to be for it to sit flush. Also note how the plane of the base it mounts to had to be angled in order to ensure enough material for the surround of the mounting points and how we had to cut into the "lip" of one of the round firewall mounting points due to how the cover/brace sat
Here is the first iteration. Slightly modified version of the original only reversed and changed to try to accommodate the mounting points
Here's the second version modified further to account for interference sections of the cover/brace and also sectioned out on the bottom side. The original and final piece also has this to cut down on the weight of the piece. Probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
Here is the bracket that came with it. Note how its pretty much straight across. We first tried to use this bracket in reverse (upside down) to account for the LHD/RHD difference. All the holes were off just enough and you'll notice no kink like you'll see in the final product but, we didn't realize we need the kink until we got a bracket that would actually work on the firewall studs to see that a straight edge piece would not sit flush.
Here is the final product shown with the cover/brace. Note the kink and how dramatic the angle needed to be for it to sit flush. Also note how the plane of the base it mounts to had to be angled in order to ensure enough material for the surround of the mounting points and how we had to cut into the "lip" of one of the round firewall mounting points due to how the cover/brace sat
Here is the first iteration. Slightly modified version of the original only reversed and changed to try to accommodate the mounting points
Here's the second version modified further to account for interference sections of the cover/brace and also sectioned out on the bottom side. The original and final piece also has this to cut down on the weight of the piece. Probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
Added a new little piece to the interior to help satisfy my CF fetish. This was a custom request done by the folks at Carbon Fiber Element. Happy with the way it turned out. I had to send them an oem **** that they then customized. I purchased a used one from ebay and sent it to them. I really wanted to have some stitching on but, they indicated that they couldn’t do it.