i just installed my 3pt kenny brown stb, and on certain bumps or dips the cowl on the 3rd point makes a popping sound as though something is loose, i checked the bolt and its tight, dont know why its making that sound, can anybody tell me what to do to solve this problem

 

anybody?

 

I have the same brace and what i did was put a Quarter inch thick piece of rubber or shock absorbing material between the point on the cowl and the brace drill the hole in the rubber then bolt it in and you will have no more noise

 

i didnt even attach the third center point as ive heard that it tends to break windshields from the weak cowl getting bent from the brace. but yeah the rubber will take the noise away. makes you wonder on how much the front end actually flexes.

 

I told Kenny brown about it 2 years ago and they were suppose to fix the problem and dont worry about the winsheid mines fine .bolt up the 3rd point

 

well it must flex alot if the cowl is making that popping sound, it mostly happens when im turning in my drive way and have the wheels turned, i guess that puts alot of strain on the cowl, but i thought about putting in a rubber piece, just wanted to be sure something wasnt wrong with the install, thanks for the reply

 

I can see no redeeming value for a 3-pt stb on a unibody car. I know that many 3-pt proponents swear by them, but just thinking about leveraging the torque and twist against the body gives me the *******. But that's just my unsupported (like the 3-pt stb) opinion.

 

This has been on the car for 7 years, and the windshield is still in one piece.

 

Fred: That is one sweet looking setup.

 

fred on your setup, did you put a rubber washer on the bolt to the 3rd point to stop that noise im talkin about, what did you do, or does your stb even have the problem i have

 

Sweet formula Have you sprayed all 275 shot yet? times? cool ride

 

Thanks... the engine looks good enough that every yahoo selling Fernco couplings on eBay is using my engine pictures, without my permission.... . It gonna look even better next year when I ditch the power steering and drop the alternator down the bottom .

The LG Motorsports 4-pt brace has two bolts that go into the cowl, through a thick rectangular plate attached to the back "tube". I drilled the holes through the cowl sheetmetal, and attached the brace using two bolts, no rubber or isolators. I never had a problem with any noises or "popping". Every time I have ever taken the brace off, I have checked the holes in the cowl for signs of stress, and couldn't see any problems.

 

fred i know i have to put the rubber washer on but why do you think were having the problem, maybe a bad design flaw, now that im seeing its just not me why are we having this problem of the cowl making this popping sound on certain bumps or hard turns, does the car flex that much to have this issue, it must, so as for all the guys saying that the 3rd point or even 4 points doesnt do anything think again

 

I can't believe how "flexible" these cars are. Over the winter I had my car "on blocks" doing some work. The front wheels were on my 10" high ramps. The rear of the car was supported by jackstands under the subframes. It was totally level, or so I thought.

After sitting there for maybe two months, I tried to pull the t-pin out of the driver's side swingout bar. It was almost impossible to pull out, and totally impossible to get back in. And this is on a car with a custom chrome moly 6-point roll bar, integrated with custom chrome moly SFC's, and the 4-pt shock tower brace.

When I went to pull the car off the jacks, I realized what the problem was..... the passenger side front skinnie had lost most of its air and that corner of the car was sitting about 3" lower than the other three corners... enough to twist the chassis to the point where the swingout pin wouldn't fit in. I put air in the tire, and the pin slipped in smoothly, just like it was sized to do. Amazing amount of flex to the chassis.

The really potent 9-sec 4th Gens I have seen have generally been equipped with roll cages that had an extra tube on each side running forward from the cross-bar in the dash to each shock tower. The one car that didn't have this (a convertible) had the owner convinced he should have done that on his car, and missing the 3-pt shock tower brace he had used earlier.

As far as the noise (after listening to my boring story.. ), I would look at exactly where you put the attachment point on the cowl, and whether you have a corner of the mounting plate up against one of the ridges in the stamped shhet metal of the cowl. As I recall, the sheet metal is not smooth, but has a lot of ridges and bends stamped into it. Mabe you are catching a part of the brace on the cowl under certain loads. Or, unbolt the center mounting point, and with the car on an absolutley flat surface (and with the tires properly inflated - another ) make sure the holes you put in the cowl are properly centered over the holes in the brace.

You also might want to post this on the "Auto-X....." board.

 

i will do that, maybe when i put the stb on the cowl it wasnt flat, maybe off a little, and the flex as you said is unbelivable, but if im off a little there isnt much room for another hole to make on the brace, and its so friggin tight on the cowl maybe im stuck with it, just cant stand to hear that noise, its like my cowl is going to fall apart even though i know it wont, ill try the rubber absorber and see what happens, maybe i should have gotton the 4pt stb, even more support on the cowl would have worked, but thanks for the help