First off, I ordered the Buick Frame Brace, P/N 10225142, from Dal. $15.77 Way too cool! The brace itself is nothing but some tubing that has been crimped on the ends and then had a couple of oblong holes drilled into it. It's about 4 feet long. Just long enough to fit between the rear frame rails of a 1977-96 GM B-body.
The first thing you need to do is clean off the stickers that will come on the brace. This will be the hardest and most time cosuming part of this installation. After that you will need a 13mm wrench and a rachet with a 13mm socket. You will need to remove the lower two bolts on the bumper mount. These bolts are shown in the center of the picture below. This photo is of the left or driver's side bumber mount.
Here's a picture of the right or passenger side mount with the bolts removed
I will have a picture of the brace actually installed soon. I ran out of film while taking these pictures. :-(
Ok now you're asking "What's so great about this stupid brace?". Well it was orginaly designed for 1991 or 1992 Buick Roadmasters with the 2.56 rear gear set. This gear ratio apparently caused some kind of an exhaust drone that resonated through the trunk area and into the cabin of the car. GM came up with this brace to solve that problem. Well it actually solves a couple of problems on B-body cars. The noise level inside my car is definitely lower with the brace installed. But the added benifit is that it stiffens the rear end of the car. The car feels much more stable now. It's hard to describe the difference. The biggest difference I've noticed is while going over railroad tracks. The rear end used to "skidder" while going over a set near my home. Now it handles the tracks much smoother. I know it's hard to believe. But for $15 what do you have to loose?
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