Okay, got the prototype tower brace from Dave and DDM. It's intent is to allow installation of the brace WITHOUT relocating the power steering reservoir. It works. I will include some pics, but first I want to make it 100% clear that this a compromise solution to work around an SCCA rule that does not allow relocation of a power steering reservoir in Stock, Street Touring, Street Prepared, and Street Mod classes. For those that do not need to work around this rule you REALLY should purchase the reservoir relocation kit. Why? You'll see in the pics.
If there are focus issues, well ........... sorry about that !!!!
The first thing I had to do was take a long look at what I was up against and decide how to work through it. The right side bracket and the p.s. reservoir wanted the same air space. Dave had told me that "the bracket needs to be bent", but not HOW. Bending it OUT would not help, so bending it IN was the only method to use. A great BIG channel lock was used to bend the bracket twice (needed a bit more bend - about 7-10 degrees) . [attachment=1]
The next thing to resolve was the forward hose on the reservoir was now pressing against the hood strut. (Here is a bad shot.) [attachment=2]
The bottom of the strut was unhooked to allow repositioning the hose inside of the strut. [attachment=3]
With the reservoir reattached, it looks like this. [attachment=4][attachment=5]
Here is the final install. You can clearly see the reservoir hiding from the world. The brace will have to come off to check the fluid level.
[attachment=6]
It gets better !!! Adjusting the right side Koni will be a real treat (NOT!!!!!!!!) [attachment=9]
And here it is from the left side. No real issues on this side. [attachment=8]
I want to thank Dave and his crew at DDM for investing the time in this version, even though only a few might be sold to SCCA members. On to Solo Nationals to see how it feels. Wish I was fast enough to trophy it because I KNOW the car is, as class winners who have tried it have turned times quicker enough than me to have gotten into the trophies based on their finishes in B/SP last year. On well. It will be fun (if it does not rain!!!!).
p.s. - I don't know why 446.jpg is repeated below. Weird.
