Tom's Floor Stiffening brace

I have been looking at pictures of this brace and I am beginning to wonder if it is three pieces on purpose. I can visualize that the brace can help prevent tacoing, but the bolts provide a bit of a flex point, allowing the brace to give a little in other flexing angles. It's hard to describe, but if the angle of one corner of an upside down U becomes more acute and the opposite corner more obstuse, then pivoting at the bolts might be desired.

I agree that perhaps the Japan spec Prius has a different exhaust setup. Tom's is indeed known for quality.

Nate

 

Well I've found out the definitive answer about the muffler clearance problem. I found this on Tom's website. Here is what Tom's says:

"*4:As for the genuine muffler wearing car and the muffler-wearing car except a TOM'S barrel, there might be interference."

So pretty much this brace will really only fit if you get the Tom's muffler. Since it only ups the volume by 1 dB, maybe I'll do that.

 

Ok, Chris.. based on what you now know and all your studies based on this point in "brace evolution" , do you recommend Toms brace or Brians?
Or should one wait briefly for Tom to make changes?

 

Yes, it was specific to the Prius. It only referred to the Tom's muffler. When they say muffler, they actually mean the exhaust system that Sigma also sells. I posted pretty much everthing that was noted for the brace in my last post.

Yes, you can't pull the cat off without causing problems. There are some adapters that you can plug into the harness where the O2 sensor usually is that fools the computer by feeding it the "correct" voltage. Not really something you would do on a Prius though.

 

Yes, I'll also be trying these pieces out. The strut bar brace and the front suspension brace are ordered, as is the BT. I'll probably wait a bit for the floor and rear subframe brace until I get a feel for the car, oh and the Toms exhast as well.

 

Sure, I'll install the suspension brace first. I planed on driving a couple of days between each component install to get a feel for what each does.

I was told it would take about 2-3 weeks for the braces to arrive.

 

Let us know if its easy to install for a general handy man, or if you need special tools and knowhow.

 

I like the looks of the mod. The pipe rattle problem is the normal type of thing that you see with the smaller aftermarket mod companies. They don't have the testing base to get four or five vehicles to test things on. Doesn't mean that it is bad work. It just means that on their test Prius this did not occur. Flexible exhaust connectors are every car jockey's nightmare! You see these sort of problems all of the time.

The clamp on the flex pipe is one solution, but watch out for wear at the two ends of the flex pipe. Many times you can re-angle all of the pipes by loosening the system and adjusting all of the pipes to provide good clearance. Many lowering mods have only needed this step in the past. You get the benefit of checking and retightening your entire exhaust system and hopefully put less stress on the vehicle.

I notice that the lower body brace from the same source is a single cast piece. The developers likely discovered that in this case a single cast piece was a step in the wrong direction. A crossbar with bolts connecting things together stiffens without making the vehicle inflexible. You want some flex no matter how much you wish to tighten the car up. Otherwise you may go over a bump on one wheel at speed and break something on the car..... Which I have done on a certain Celica where I welded a similar style brace... That was a VERY long walk.... You live and learn, or you don't live long....

My BT brace arrived today so I will be looking at those areas in the morning. If I find anything that can help I will pass it on. I will also be making a small order for some Sigma parts!

Hey sweetie? Christmas may be a little late this year! Sweetie? Jude!? Oops! She found that rifle! Gotta go.....