would engine braces help?

[a.graham52]

did a quick search and couldnt find anythign. i was wundering if engine braces (like the 3800 has and the venture van) would help enough to do it. i could see some torque gained here but at the same time no one talks about it so there must be a reason.

[JLw7123]

the new impala's and malibu's have them also.

[MMGT1]

I don't know if our rad support is strong enough to actually do it! I've toyed for years with the idea of properly "birdcaging" the front end of mine. Strut tower brace, then to firewall and then out to rad support..... I know it will definately work, just never gone any further than a thought is all....lol

[a.graham52]

can u show me what u mean by bird gauge?

[mrmike]

On the impala they aren't additional braces, they are the main braces. If you took them off, you could easily push the motor back against the firewall with one hand. For the time, money and effort of reinforcing the rad support and bolting up the annoying passenger side mount (which might involve removing the AC compressor to gain access) the couple ft/lbs you MIGHT gain wouldn't be noticeable anyways.

[MMGT1]

Birdcage, Strut tower brace as you are familiar with. Then a brace from the center of the firewall to each strut tower. Then a brace from each strut tower to the rad support. I think reinforcing the front that way will really show in the handling and feel of the front end. In the old days it was called "Birdcaging the front end".... lol On ours though the firewall add on can be skipped I think since strut towers are already tied to the firewall

[Redog]

Poly mounts are ava for the Alero. I have the motor mount and tranny mount. The Engine DOESN"T move ;)