BT Tech Strut Tower Brace install pictures and Text

Dinsmoor,

Wow, your 2 photos show little or no clearance at all.

GadgetDad's photos (see his last 2 or 3 photos in my Word file of his photo album) seem to show a lot more clearance than you have.

Brian -- do you know what's up with that???

 

You have the brace installed upside down. It is possible that the label that says "top" was incorectly placed on the bar. Flip it over and you should be good to go.

 

BT I plan on buying one of these and the stiffening plate when my Prius arrives. Will you start checking the bars before they go out to make sure they labeled correctly? I would hate to screw up my brand new car, I can hear the wife now.

 

I box each one personally and out of the 50+ braces we have already sent out, this is the first time that this has happened. All that is required is to unbolt the brace and turn it over to obtain the proper clearance. This can be done in less than 5 minutes...

 

The brace is curved or bowed.

If installed correctly, it should bow out toward the front of the car, not in toward the cabin.

And when viewed from the "TOP", it should look like a smile , not a frown .

 

SUPPLEMENT:

If you install the brace with the bow out toward the front of the car, but still have the fit and clearance problem, then the "TOP" label was put on the wrong side of the brace.

But this doesn't mean that you should flip the brace over so that the brace bows out toward the rear of the car. Rather, you should flip it over end over end so that the brace still bows out toward the front of the car, but the up/down angle of the installed brace is changed so that there are no longer clearance problems with the reservoir caps.

Thanks to CDAVIDANDERSON, who had first written about this clearance issue, for the clarification.

 

All - Talked with Brian. We suspect the bar was not correctly bent. It has the "bow" but not the up/down curve from left to right. I tried turning over the bar and the 10mm (approx) clearance went to 0mm over the coolant cap (i.e. it is resting on the cap if I flip it around).

Brian will be sending me a replacement bar as soon as he gets them from his fab shop.

If this does not solve the problem I suspect it may be an issue with changes on the geolocators on the car from Toyota. (The relative location of the equipment mounted on the engine may be higher on this vehicle than the ones used to generate the specification for the strut bar Brian used, need to talk to my manufacturing friends at Toyota to see if this is possible...)

Has anyone had a successful install of the strut brace on a 2007 Touring?

Thanks,

- Claude

p.s. Flipping the bar over to check is very easy once you have installed it once. The Prius is basically "tinkertoy" when it comes to removing the trim cowl, wiper assembly, and the drip pan. Classic design for manufacturability/maintenance.

 

GadgetDad's Prius is a 2007 Touring. See his pics. He didn't seem to have the clearance issues you had.

 

No. Still saving it for the right moment. Must be fear of strut'n.

 

I just installed the BT Tech Strut Tower Brace on my 07 Prius. I'm too experiencing the same problem as dinsmoor. There is some clearance issue with the Strut Bar blocking the coolant refill cap.

Here is a few problems I found :
1. Not enough clearance to remove coolant refill cap
2. No clearance between the Strut Bar and the Electrical Relay Box.
3. Left & Right Strut Bracket is crushing with the plastic cowling and make contact with the metal tray.

Aside than the minor problems, the Strut Brace performed very well. I can feel the differences when I turn my car left/right. The car handle much more better than previously. I will highly recommended this upgrade to all Prius owner.

 

I'm having the exact same problem too. I took it out last night to make sure I hadn't installed it upside down (which I had not), and the difference in clearance over the coolant cap is <1/2" installed either way. So I have these symptoms:
1) Passenger side mount rubs on the wiper tray.
2) Passenger side reservoir cap not removable without removing bar.
3) Center reservoir cap can be unscrewed until it lifts free of the top of the reservoir, but there is insufficient room to actually remove it from the reservoir.

I'm moving from Delaware to Oregon in 1.5 weeks; a 3000 mile drive. Should I worry about fit problems causing trouble during the drive, or can I deal with it once I get out there?

 

Sorry. Geolocator or precision location features are typically holes or mounting locations on a car body or sub-assembly that are used to locate where other components are be mounted. If the location of these "geo features" change components tied to them will move also.

 

hmm... I've seen these advertised for the prius and also for the miata (another car I have) and I guess I'm just wondering if they really make much difference for non-racing types.. I mean, the Prius... would I really even notice any handling improvement when I pretty much drive like a 90 year old woman now?

 

Many thanks to Boo for .doc of installation!

 

You're welcome. I don't think I've ever been thanked before for my word processing.

Gadgetdad, the photographer and author, deserves many more thanks.

 

Thank you for this! I can't wait to get this Strut Tower in place. One more piece of the puzzle.

I'm curious... of those who have already installed this piece, are you experiencing the clearance issues mentioned earlier? Or are you satisfied with the overall fit? Thanks in advance.

 

It sounds like it's a worthwhile addition... I'm ordering the Chassis Stiffening Plate today, and am going to work on getting the Strut Tower Brace & Skid Plate next.

Thanks again for posting the pics!

~Tom