I will soon be ready to fit the export brace on to my 69 that i bought about a year ago.
I also purchased the extra brace off wcc.
I cant for the life of me see how this extra reinforcement bracket is going to fit successfully ?
when i sit it on top of the cowl above the mounting holes it just doesn’t seem the right shape.
The mounting bolt holes don’t seem to line up, and the shaped curve against the firewall doesn’t seem correct ?
My understanding is they were designed for the '65/'66 Mustangs, and designed to be welded to the firewall. So they don’t fit our later Cougars quite right.
What I plan to do with mine is flip it around so that the vertical flange is toward the engine bay, not toward the firewall ~ so the vertical part will stick down and out, like a tab. It will still add rigidity to the brace and pinchweld area, although not as much as if it were welded to the firewall.
That brace should go underneath the firewall side of the export brace I believe. You may need to Jack your engine crossmember to release stress in the frame. If you bought a quality export brace, you may find that the brace is correct dimensions, but your car has sagged over time.
When I fitted mine I had to use jacks to relieve stress, and use conical shaped punches to pull the holes into alignment so could get the bolts through the holes.
I used WCCC export brace; no additional brace on my 69 convertible. The shock tower misalignment was about 1.25 inches.
I tried the jack method to straighten the engine compartment… didn’t feel safe- so I bought a Portapower (sp?). Worked beautifully
I used a portapower on mine too along with jacking the crossmember up and didn’t take too much fenaggling to get everything lined up. I have the Scott Drake export brace but not the extra brace you have pictured.
I appreciate this thread as I probably was thinking like Bluestuff. I purchased the extra brace along with the export brace a while back but still won’t be to the point of installing them for a while. I would have been stumped too. Now that I see the picture Royce posted, I was incorrectly thinking this extra brace was the bottom piece of a sandwich, export brace (top) >> cowl (middle) >> extra brace (bottom). I won’t be using the extra brace as intended. Either I won’t use the extra brace at all, or as I already own it, possibly if I come across someone who can cut off most of the side without holes, I’ll still use it underneath the cowl with bolts only to flatten the wrinkled cowl (no welding).
My '68 may have had it applied early: I took it off for the engine swap, and nothing went out of alignment. Later, it went back on with holes perfectly aligned. This may show the benefits of clean living, i.e., using a brace from as early as you can. Not saying you can go back in time, but a neat lesson to me.
On a '69 there is a hole in the center of the cowl panel that you would not want to obstruct. So that part looks to be improper for a '69. The brace is always welded above the export brace, never to the firewall. On a '69 it would be better to make one that fits and doesn’t obstruct the hole. Might be better to bolt it on instead of welding. 1969 Shelby’s don’t have that so there’s no precedent to follow.
Cut the straight lip down to match the part used on a 1970 B302 Eliminator (~1/4"), D0ZZ-6302034-A. It mounts on the top with the lip facing up towards the front of the car.
However, this only works with the factory export braces that mount on the bottom side of the pinch weld. A reproduction of this part is sold by NPD under C9ZZ-6302034-A.
If you are using an export brace, mount it underneath the pinch weld (trim to fit).
There is a version sold that is stamped out with a curve to match the '67-68 cowl - this is meant to be welded to the cowl like the '65-66 Shelby. As noted by Royce, this blocks the hole in the center of the cowl panel on the 1969-70 Cougars.
On the '67-68 race cars we built, we used a '65-66 Shelby part, bent it to 90 deg and welded it to the firewall underneath the pinch weld. On the '69-70 the firewall shape is different and the brace will have to be trimmed to fit.
I had bought the extra brace as well. Knowing that installing the extra brace without welding would limit its effect, I went ahead and installed it anyway. Even as it sits there is still added rigidity so I just bolted it in with the export brace. I did make a gasket for the hole in the middle. Never looked to see what the hole is access for.
I ended up throwing the xtra brace in the cupboard ,
it just wasn’t going to fit successfully.
I lifted the cross member and manually pried and levered the export brace into position.
It was an interference fit hard up against the cowl panel, but brute force and ignorance got it in position and bolted down.
