BT Tower Brace - Inverter Coolant Cap Question

[CBarr31]

Good afternoon everyone. I am looking for individuals who have installed the BT Tower Strut Brace on their Prii to answer this question ... can you remove your inverter coolant reservoir cap?

I installed my brace and can't remove the cap. There is about a 1/2" gap between the brace and the cap so I can loosen it and lift it up but can't angle it enough to squeeze it out. Looking at pictures posted from other installs it looks like the brace only covers about 1/3 or at most 1/2 of the cap where as my brace covers almost 3/4 of the cap when you look down from the top.

That extra coverage of the cap by the brace doesn't allow me to tilt the cap enough to get it out of the reservoir. Can everyone else remove their caps and is this just isolated to me or is this common with this install?

Thanks for all the help

Chris

[Rokeby]

Originally Posted by CBarr31

Good afternoon everyone. I am looking for individuals who have installed
the BT Tower Strut Brace on their Prii to answer this question ... can you
remove your inverter coolant reservoir cap?

...That extra coverage of the cap by the brace doesn't allow me to tilt the
cap enough to get it out of the reservoir. Can everyone else remove their
caps and is this just isolated to me or is this common with this install?

Chris,

I completed the strut tower brace install just a little while ago... had no
problems.

I just went out and measured the distance between the brace and the top of
the cap on the inverter coolant reservoir; 7/8 inch. The cap easily unscrews.
However, the cap extends down into the reservoir and when fully removing
it, it does hit the brace. I have to wiggle the cap a little to remove it, but it
doesn't require any hard pulling or other extreme actions.

Here's some speculation on my part: some folks have found that a body
flage can be slightly in the way of the brace. Sometimes its on the driver's
side, sometimes the other. I had the problem, and the sheet metal bent out
of the way easily. I suspect that if the metal wasn't bent enough, it might be
tilting the brace forward, which would result in the reduced clearance that
you are seeing. It's only an educated guess.

Hopes this helps.

FWIW, heres a pix of the brace installed on Amapola:
http://priuschat.com/forums/attachme...1&d=1223595813

[CBarr31]

Rokeby,

I appreciate the response and thoughts but both of the brackets are flush with the top of the strut mounts. I did have the "sheet metal interferance" with the driver's side bracket but bent it out of the way to get the bracket flush.

I had to remount the brackets and torque them down with the tower strut "loosely" installed because the first time I did it without the strut in place it would fit. Ohh, and the "Top" label was wrong from BT so this really hasn't been to much fun, LOL.

Interesting that you have 7/8" clearance from the cap to the brace mine is certainly no more than 1/2". There could be a whole host of things off slightly that could cause the difference but maybe when more people respond with clearances we can figure it out. If I had to guess right now I would guess the bracket angle's are off slightly and not the brace but I could be wrong.

Thanks again for the help. I guess I was wrong about the photos being to big, here they are.

Chris

[Rokeby]

Chris,

IIRC, in another thread on the strut tower braces, the term "geolocators"
came up. They are predetermined points where things like the inverter
coolant tank are fastened to the body, in this case, I guess, the firewall. I
suppose that there's an outside chance that your tank is mounted just a little
higher than mine.

If it weren't for the brace, how would you know? So, maybe the plotting of
where the tank goes doesn't need to be all that precise, lets say +/- 1/8 inch...
you're high, I'm low. I have no way of knowing how you'd check this.

On the other hand, maybe its possible to loosen the tank mountings and gain
some clearance. I know this is grasping at straws. It's the best possible
explanation I can think of outside of the brace being not quite right.

[thedutchtouch]

in a different thread, it came up that one of the bars was mislabeled, so it caused the installer to put it in upside down, allowing almost no clearance above the caps. this'd be a 2 second check on yours- make sure the bar curves the correct way, regardess of which side the sticker is on.

[statultra]

the inverter coolant tank is bolted to the inverter, the inverter itself can move if the front bolts on the radiator support are not bolted down completely.

[CBarr31]

statultra,

Brian is setting up a jig to test another tower brace and brackets for me so I am not really looking to move the inverter but thanks for the idea.

thedutchtouch,

My tower brace was mislabeled also as I noted in my earlier post. It needed to be flipped to even allow the installation. And I have clearance, about 1/2", it is enough to completely unscrew the cap/wiggle it around, etc... It just isn't enough to actually remove it.


So, that is why I was looking for other PC Members that had installed the tower brace to see if they could actually remove their inverter coolant reservoir cap. It appears from other photos from other installs that my tower brace covers more of the cap than is normal. Which means I can't "tilt/angle" the cap to remove it which I believe is SOP?

I was just trying to see if everyone had to tilt/angle their cap to remove it and what their clearance and cap coverage was. Again, thanks for everyone's help. PC has been a wonderful insight into my Ema and every "Mod" done has made her more enjoyable to drive, more fuel efficient or both.

Thanks again,
Chris

[Boo]

Chris,

How did you make out with your issue?

FYI, if the Strut Tower Brace was properly made, there should be about 7/8" clearance and the Strut Tower Brace should only partially cover the inverter coolant cap so that you should be able to unscrew the cap, tilt it slightly and remove it. Here are three pictures:







The Strut Tower Brace is a great modification. It improves the handling and tracking significantly. If it was made and labeled properly, you should be able to reach all the coolant caps, etc. and it shouldn't interfere with your maintenance.

Anyways, I hope these pictures help and everything has been worked out.

[CBarr31]

Tom,

Thanks for the pics I appreciate it. I will see about taking some closeups like you did tomorrow in the daylight and posting them but I don't have anywhere near 7/8" clearance. I only have 1/2" at most.

It also looks like my tower strut covers more of the cap than I have seen on other install pictures. Your picture 2 that shows you tilting the gap is my whole issue for two reasons:

1. You appear to have about a 45 degree tilt, the best I can do is maybe 30 degrees.
2. With my brace being "lower" on the cap I can't get the bottom of the cap to clear the front lip of the coolant tank. There simply isn't enough room.

As for an update ... Brian emailed me and said he tested another brace and bracket set himself and will be sending me those so he knows they should fit. I guess we will know more when those arrive but they haven't even been shippied yet to my knowledge.

Thanks again for the help. I will post an update when I know more or have the closeup photos.

Chris

[edthefox5]

I have put some braces on other cars too. They work. In your case why don't you build it up with some washers on the shock tower mounts or maybe even some metal stand offs grind'ed down. I just bought some at Home D.the other day. Make sure you paint 'em first as any metal thing from the bolt & screw aisle @ Home D will rust instantly in the elements but you won't need much to clear the cap. Good luck!