TANABE SUSTEC Strut Tower Bar & Under Brace DIY Installation PIX !!!

I haven't come across any torque values for the Cusco and think there are probably none. The rear mounting points are just a cable secure point (beefy but not really 'structural') and the fronts are just frame bolts...I just made sure they were pretty tightly sinched down...and I think that's fine. In this area, we aren't engineering the Space Shuttle.

Good luck

Chris

 

Thanks. I went ahead with the Cusco install yesterday afternoon. The bolts holding the stock crossbar were not as tight as I would have expected. I did the install one side at a time, loosely tightening the bolts then cinching them down when all the bolts were in. The final bolt-up of one of the rear arms required a bit of force to get the bolt hole aligned (it was off by about a half bolt-hole diameter). My Prius feels tighter and less squeak prone.

BTW, am I the only guy who noticed the only English statement in the Cusco Japanese instructions saying, "This product is designed for use in Japan only. It must not be used in any other country"? What's the story behind this?

 

The torque value for the original bolts at top of shock tower:

37 LB/FT

And for the bolts at the extremities of the L-shaped brackets on the underside:

69 LB/FT

The central bolt on that same bracket is:

107 LB/FT

 

Just finished putting in the strut tower brace, and I thank HAWAIIANBUILT for the great instructions starting this thread. I've got a couple of observations to augment them:

1) Step F: On the right and left end of the windshield wiper cowl are removable "wings" that can be popped free of the cowl. One of these must be removed to get the cowl past the hood hinge arms, not both. The wings and the windshield wiper cowl slide onto the lower edge of the windshield. When you're pulling it forward, you're disengaging it from the lower windshield edge. Putting it back on requires some care to align the back edge of the cowl so it clips back onto the windshield edge. ​

)2) Step I: On the passenger end of the lower cowl, there are two vertical plastic pieces that channel air from the upper cowl opening to the cockpit. On each of the vertical pieces, toward the back, there is a smaller piece that can be disengaged to make removing the lower cowl easier. The one on the centermost vertical piece allows that to fold over to the right, and the one on the left-most vertical piece can be unclipped to provide clearance when the lower cowl is pulled forward. If you don't take care with these, you may break part of them (as I did) when you pull the lower cowl forward. ​

3) With all the windshield wiper assemblies out, I took the opportunity to install my block heater. Follow the instructions elsewhere on this site, but the heater hole can be found from the top by reaching over the back of the engine and feeling to the right (facing the engine). It's very difficult to see the hole thru the wire harnesses and hoses while inserting the heater and connecting the power cord. ​

4) I can get the fuse box cover off with the brace bracket installed. The trick is to disengage the large connector immediately to the left of the fusebox, then disengage the fusebox lid front & back, then work it carefully to the left. Lifting and rotating the lid clockwise and counterclockwise helps. Disengaging and reengaging the connector doesn't seem to cause any vehicle problem.​

5) The design geometry of the brace brackets and the brace are close to correct, but not quite. I left the strut tower nuts finger tight and tried to insert the brace bar between them, but with one end engaged, I had to bend the mounting tabs on the other a bit to push the brace bar end into them. Perhaps the strut tower mounting holes on the brackets need to be enlarged by 0.050" or less so that they can rotate a bit more and the assembly can go together without forcing. ​

 

Engine Block Heater, Tanabe Strut Tower Bar and Sustec Under Brace installed today (at the dealer... it was 1 degree F here this AM). Total cost $ 75.00.

We used HB's excellent DIY write up as our reference! Thanks Rodney, you're the best!

Ingo AKA Philo

 

Did mine today and also put some Yaris center caps on the stock alloys:


Installation was a snap, 1 hour job thanks to these pics and instructions!



I really enjoy the ride with the bar installed, so much better behaved.

 

Very nicr write up. Im waiting for tanabe strut bar and eibach springs. Cant wait

 

Guys...stuck in the middle of installing this thing. Can't get the bar to clear the cowl. Any ideas?

 

i must say, this install was pretty hard, and i ended up breaking my front windshield, lol

 

Got it figured out, I guess you just have to keep turning the screws on each side and use a mallet to get it into the bracket.

Sorry to hear, I remember your post. I can totally see how that could have happened.

 

hows the rear trd sway bar ?

did you get the one for prius or the 2008 scion one ?

 

don't forget to lift front so front wheel unloaded when you set bar, otherwise bar will not do much.

IIRC it took me 3 tries to set it up correctly.. car was 3-5" lifted with wheels still on the ground..

To ucsmfu: he got Prius+ bar.. which appears to be the same as xB only painted white

 

Thanks, it took a number of tries to get it in...the bar simply isn't "curvy" enough to fit properly in the brackets. And yes, the car was off the ground for about 2 hours during all of this. There's like a fraction of a mm clearance on the side of the bar closest to the drivers side cowl section....it does not rub but I am not happy with it. Ideas? I'll snap a pic tomorrow. The rest of the bar clears the cowl with about 2mm to spare.

Did a quick road test and my initial observations are that the shocks are being forced to work a lot harder. That's why it feels "stiffer, when in fact it is just the shocks working harder because the slop is gone...at least that's what I think is going on.

 

is there any difference between those 2 bars ?

 

Making the suspension do its job is what the strut tower bar does. Go to the Cusco site - there's a great video about the advantages of a STB showing tests they conducted:

Effisency of Strut bar / Lower arm bar English page CUSCO

The Tanabe STB isn't quite designed right - the bar doesn't fit into the brackets properly. There should be a "letter-writing" campaign to get Tanabe to fix the problem and possibly send us new brackets.

 

I'm going to install my Tanabe STB tonight or tomorrow night. I've got a question as I'm a little confused on "setting the bar."

Do I need to lift the car up to set the bar or leave it on the ground? Also, once I install the bar can I "tweak" or re-adjust the bar with everything back together or do I have to remove the wipers and what-not again?

 

The bar should be installed with the wheels off the ground. Otherwise the benefits will be greatly reduced.

You can adjust the reload, but unbolting the bar may be difficult once the wiper tray is in.

Also, you're going to have a he'll of a time getting the bar to clear the tray. Set aside a few hours for the project.

MB860 ?