Front Tunnel Brace

[Ph4r]

First Point - The company that did this to me went out of business about 2 months after I used their services.

It was just brought to my attention that my QTP Low-Profile Cut-Outs were installed by completely removing that big fat Front Tunnel Brace that our Camaro Convertibles have! I was not asked or notified by the installers that this was the case, and I had the work done 6000 miles ago

So, I will start driving it soon, but carefully. I now want to find a way to stiffen it back up. Hopefully there is an AfterMarket Brace that will fit around what I already have, otherwise, I may look into getting one custom fabricated, but am afraid of that also $$$$$

Here is the only picture I have right now of the underside of my car, it is from approximately under the passenger seat and looking forward. The back of the S in the tube, to the front of the H-Pipe attachment is about where the stock brace mounts as can be seen in the picture below [linked from another thread here]

[phdjent]

I have the answer:
American Racing Headers created this brace to replace both tunnel braces on the convertible. It fits any 3 inch pipe, so it should clear your cut outs based on the design. Call Nick over at ARH and tell him what you got. 631-608-1986
Mention my (Evan's) Red Jewel Convertible. He's a great guy and will be very helpful. Good luck.
Here's the link to their thread:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...n+racing+brace

Replaces these:


with their new one:

[HDRDTD]

A. Were the cuttouts advertised to fit the convertable
B. Maybe that's part of the reason they went out of business?

Either way, check out the brace shown by phdjent.

[Ph4r]

Thanks guys, I'll look into that brace. I figured someone had to have one, but I kept finding the Stainless Works one, and the Coupe Front Tunnel Brace which is puny.

[Ph4r]

Originally Posted by HDRDTD

A. Were the cuttouts advertised to fit the convertable
B. Maybe that's part of the reason they went out of business?

Either way, check out the brace shown by phdjent.

The part wasn't advertised for the convertible, but the authorized dealer / installer never mentioned that we needed to take caution or anything.

They did 3 things for me, and screwed them all up, but I got what I paid for you might say. I did pay, but they were the lowest overall quote and said they would do it in the time that I had.

They were 5 hours late, and very rude when they threw me the keys then locked the door behind them. They installed all of my window tint (with dirt visibly trapped under it in a few places. They installed all of my vinyls, but they are poorly lined up, with gaps in the wrong places. And now this...

From this article you can see there are at least a couple other people who were unhappy with how this shop treated them.

[wayner]

Did you notice any difference driving with the brace not installed.

[Ph4r]

It was removed within 10 days of me taking delivery (I babied the hell out of it for those days). So, I don't really have a good benchmark, and I've never driven anyone else's SS Vert.

[phdjent]

Once you get the ARH brace you will notice a huge difference if you never had one at all. I have friends with coupes that bought it and said they felt the difference.

[Ph4r]

Sorry to drag up this old thread of mine, but if anyone was wondering, I have updates.
ARH won't fit!
Nobody wanted to touch someone else's exhaust work
Traditional Custom Brace Quotes were out of my budget.

I will eventually change my exhaust system out with headers and a full exhaust, but until then I wanted a solution.

We built a custom brace at work, and WOW can I feel the difference from not having one!!! The good thing is that it bolted right up according to original hole dimensions, so it doesn't **look** like I did any permanent damage yet by not having it on there.

I posted a couple pics on my 2012 Post in my Build Thread!

Thanks to everyone that had something constructive to add, and I'm glad we got through this!