My front and rear
strut braces came in. The front is some variation on the
3sx brace. The rear is a Cusco. It was cool to see the 'GTO' labeling on the paperwork, though I couldn't read the strangely extensive install instructions.
Luckily the Cusco bolted right on so I was spared having to learn Japanese. The front brace took an unfortunate amount of extra work. The bolt holes were a few millimeters too narrow and had to be filed out. And my battery tie-down required some modification to jive with the new suspension component.
The rear brace didn't too much in the Celica, other than look cool. But there are a few differences here, namely the vr4 rear wheels drive, bear weight, and steer. Oh well, I don't have enough experience with her to really feel if there's a difference anyway.
Next on the agenda is finishing the
fiber replacement panels. The m.o. here is not mangling any stock components, so I'm making new pieces to replace those that the rear brace is obstructing. Also replacing the stock stereo with my good ol' Alpine 9833 has left a sizable gap in the dash that will be paneled over.
