Ok, before I get your hopes up, note the asterisk in the title.

This is a TC Sportline REAR strut tower brace for the GS430.


First, a review of the bar. For a $45 STB it's fantastic (aside from being orange on the sides, but that's hidden anyway). Build quality is good, welds look nice, the fit and finish of the aluminum bar is pretty and wouldn't be an eyesore in the trunk. I was even thinking if it works out to just have "Lexus" engraved in the center or something like that. It's obviously not the same quality as my carbing front brace, but that brace is like $250.

It fits perfectly once the trunk liner is out of the way (I was thinking if I can make this work, to trim a small hole for the bar and use a grommet to make it look nice.


Ok, now to if it can stay:
You can see from the pic of the trunk cover that it sticks up what would presumably be too far.
I carefully had someone lower the top as I watched the back. The top closes, no sound of contact from what I could tell, reaching my fingers in, there's probably a few mm of space between the bar and the window (not enough for fingers). When I put it back up, you can see there is a thin line of dust removed from where the window touched the now-raised trunk cover. Note: It's the thin lines of dust missing, not the big smudge, that was my finger.

I'm pretty sure this won't do... I don't know if the top moves at all with bumps or anything, but it's a little nerve wracking without knowing for sure.

There's also a megan racing rear STB for the gs430:
https://shop.redline360.com/products...ec-98-05-upper

That site gives measurements of the bar, I'll measure the TCS bar to compare. It looks like TCS just cloned this bar, but I'll check.
(EDIT: The TCS bar (the actual bar part) measures 40mm (1.57") wide x 12.8mm (.5") tall, so it's actually smaller than the megan racing bar, which would hit the roof)

There's also 2 cusco bars which look like a different designs:
https://www.andysautosport.com/produ...20511%20A.html
https://www.andysautosport.com/produ...20526%20A.html


I was also considering making some sort of adapter/spacer to move the bar down out of steel stock or something like that. I don't really want to sink a ton of effort or cost into this since a rear STB is probably the least useful part on a car, but since everyone's always critiquing how with the top down there's a rigidity issue, I'm sort of interested in making it work.

I could wrap the bar in some sort of rubber/padding to be safe too, but I'm curious to see if you guys know more about the mechanics of the top than I do.

If anyone else is interested in making this an option for our cars, I'm open to suggestions and discussion.

 

Do you understand how expensive and complicated it is to fix the sliding roof. So when the car flexes, and it will, no matter what they claim, and damages the mechanism so it won’t close you’ll have a tarp at the ready for the inevitable rainstorm, right?
Not trying to be Debbie downer on your dreams, just keeping it the realm of reality. Makes me wonder why one was never engineered for the SC.

 

yeah, you're probably right. I figured it was worth a shot since I didn't really see any threads about them. I couldn't tell until I got it bolted on how high it would sit. I was really hoping it would sit below the trunk-cover, which we could probably assume is safe, since that's the reason the trunk cover has a sensor.

 

I’m very interested in this mod. I just finished installing a front cusco strut brace and the difference is dramatic. The front end is so well supported that now the back feels like a wet noodle. I never would’ve guessed the rear was so flimsy. A rear STB is needed, I think. And for such a low price, why not?

There are risks involved but this isn’t rocket science and we can find a way. I’ll be placing the order tonight for the rear STB.

 

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I've also been doing more research for different bars. The Aristo has tons of rear tower braces which would also fit:
https://www.google.com/search?q=aris...ih=854#imgrc=_

I'm trying to find one with a curved bar that bolts on, my thinking would be to flip it so it curves down. There's a carbing bar but it's welded and curves up, so it would definitely hit the top.

 

Something like this:

https://www.blackhawkjapan.com/colle...usco-187-541-a

That's a Cusco Type OS bar - #187541A. I'd like to see a real pic of it and not a stock photo. This looks like they used the pic of a front bar, i'm not convinced the rear bar has the bent bar. But you get the idea.

Does anyone understand physics enough to know what affect, if any, flipping the bar would have?

 

I've looked pretty hard at every STB in existence... The only one that I think could sit slightly lower is the Tein rear performance bar (Part# PBT77-01000). If it does, it's only be a very small amount, I emailed Tein to see if they could give me the measurements of the bar.



Clean install:




I think the real issue here is that without a bar that's curved (like the front bars that clear the engine cover), it's going to be VERY tight. All the cusco/carbing ones have thicker (rounder) bars than the TCS one.

The Tein bar looks pretty compact, but that could also be an optical illusion because the bar sits back further on top of the mounts.

 

To get a brace to curve downwards away from the roof we need to buy a brace with screwed in hinges. Then simply disassemble the strut brace, turn the center bar upside down, and reassemble. This one you showed earlier looks like a good candidate. What do you think? How much clearance is their below the strut brace? I've never seen the trunk with the liner removed.

 

I've been thinking about this too. I can't find any rear braces with this design, they used the pic for the front one in that link.

There's quite a bit of space below the bar to work with.

I don't know of any way to get this information, but if we could find a curved bar for the front of a different car that happens to be the right length for the TCS mounts, we could just swap bars. There isn't a ton of data available on the length of the bars since they're car-specific.

It's frustrating because this is SO close to working. Honestly, I think an inch more of clearance and it would be safe.

 

From a quick search it looks like the strut brace for the GS300 both front and rear are identical and interchangeable. This means any front GS300 strut brace with the curve is usable. Care to confirm? If so, something like this one would be amazing.

 

I think you found a site using a stock pic. I kept running into that too.

The GS300/400/430 rear bars are all the same as what we have. That pic is a front bar. Here is the Megan Racing rear, it's just like the TCS bar but thicker and wider:
https://meganracing.com/catalog/prod.../category/169/



You said you have the cusco front bar? Could you measure the length from bolt to bolt on the bar itself? I'll measure the TCS next time I go tinker on it.

I don't think they'll be the same length, but it's as good a place as any to start.

 

What if we just had some square tubing or pipe bent and cut it to be the same length as the TCS bar, drill the 2 holes for the bolts and install it in place of the original bar?

I know they make both aluminum and steel square/rectangular tubing. A 1.5" rectangular tube would probably work.

 

Reply from Tein:
I will have to measure from the flat portion of the mount on the TCS one and see if there's a difference.

 

Sorry for disappearing. I smashed the front suspension of my lowered SC430 while going 85 mph into a nasty dip in downtown Los Angeles where the roads are terrible. It blew both my front shocks and has made the steering feel disconnected. Unfortunately, doing this mod needs to be placed on the back burner as I'll be needing to repair the front end.

I'm sure the rear strut brace can be done. I was going to purchase the rear brace from Andy's as they have pictures of every item. They seem to be accurate pics, not random stock. I was going to go with the Cusco OS bar because of its low profile and shallower bend. Then just turn it upside down, as we discussed earlier.

https://www.andysautosport.com/strut_bars/lexus_gs.html

 

Dude, those drainage dips in SoCal are unbelievable... Really sorry to hear about your damage.


There's a shop down here called "Weldtech designs" that i bet could make a bar that would work without much labor, maybe when I get bored and run out of projects I'll take a ride down there and see what they think. I'm going to hang on to the TCS bar for now even though I took it off the car.

I measured the TCS bar and it's about the same height as the TEIN bar... so there wouldn't be any meaningful clearance increase. Just l33t JDM points for having something TEIN on your car