re: 4kq strut braces (Jamex)

["John P. Karasaki, P.E." <jpkarasa@cbg-engrs.com>]

Mark,
The bar Huw has on his site is the Jamex bar.  Installation is EASY --- IF
you have good drill bits and a strong drill.  I spent $15 and bought two
rare earth metal (cobalt?) bits that were made for going through hard steel.
The first was a small bit to get a pilot hole started.  The second was a 8mm
bit for the finished hole.
I bought those bits AFTER I broke a few cheap bits.  I also first tried to
drill the holes with a 9.6V Makita cordless.  BAD idea.  I fired up the 1/2"
Rockwell drill and drilled the last 3 holes in a fraction of the time it
took me to do the first!
Huw and others, to their credit, did the install with the suspensions in the
car.  They must have very small hands!  I'm really glad I had the struts out
when I did the install!
The install was on our '86 4kq, BTW.
I went a little overboard and used a couple of larger washers and an impact
wrench to slightly countersink (recess) the bolt heads on the underside.
You don't need to do this, but if someone in the future looks up under
there, it looks the shock towers were molded at the factory for the setup.
Neat, but not needed. ;)
HTH.

From: "Mark L. Chang" <mchang@ece.nwu.edu>
Subject: 4kq strut braces (Jamex)
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 12:18:44 -0600 (CST)
With all the talk on the 20v list about strut braces, has anybody with a
late model Typ 85 (85-87 4k[c]sq) tried one?

I believe the unit going around the 20v list was the Jamex unit, and I'd
be interested in any results for that particular one.  I've read Huw's
site about his thoughts and would love to hear something specific about
the Jamex, ie. installation difficulties, etc.

Mark