Barbarian chassis brace

[Finbarr]

Hi All,

Has anybody successfully fitted the Barbarian centre chassis brace to a post 2004 Roadster?

I have tried fitting it but the longer front cross members appear to be in the way of where the front of the brace bolts on.

I have sent the supplier a message and they don't seem to have a clue even though when you check the Barbarian web site it states "Centre brace bar for all years of the Toyota MR-S"

Many Thanks

Alastair

[Gaz2405]

I've fitted one to mine, have all the Barbarian braces.

The front one interfered with the mounting  points as they're meant to share the same bolt holes.

I ended up grinding the tab for the mounting holes off and creating some new mount points in the chassis rails using m12 rivnut.

Check out my build thread in readers rides for some photos of how I did it.

[Finbarr]

I've checked your build thread and you say the front brace was a very tight fit. Did you have to wack it with a large hammer to fit or did you have to grind some of the metal off the brackets to make them a little thinner so they would fit over the cross members?

I don't really like the idea of having to drill into the chassis rails.

The supplier said they will refund me but possibly not the full amount as I have tried to fit it and some of the paint is a bit scuffed.

I'm wondering if the brace hasn't been manufactured correctly. The distance between the mounting points of the front cross members is 79cm and the width of the front brackets on the brace is 79.5cm

[Gaz2405]

I had to wrestle with mine quite a bit, hammer, blocks of wood, trolley jack and scissor Jacks!

Could you potentially add a little heat and bend the lugs slightly?

[Finbarr]

I finally managed to fit the brace with the help of the old angle grinder. Had to cut off around 2/3rds of the horizontal front brackets which was interfering with the front cross members. I also ground off a couple of millimetres from the vertical bracket. Coated the rest of the front brackets in copper grease and with the help of jacks on either side it went on fairly easily. The rear outer holes on the brace did not line up so had to make them a little bigger.