You may think that when you press on the brake pedal, all the force goes into the brake master cylinder... well not quite. Apart from the obvious mechanical friction, some of the force from your foot also flexes the firewall which you can easily see. Open the bonnet and sit up and watch the fluid reservoir move when you push the brake pedal - takes quite a bit of effort to flex that sheet metal too. If you could stop the flex then you wouldn't have to push the pedal as hard to get the same braking effect.

Master cylinder braces are available which bolt to the strut top, but last time I priced up a Cusco unit it was around AUS$180 for what is essentially a piece of aluminium with a bolt through it....

So here's one I made earlier.

The materials can be bought from any hardware store:

• 25mm angle aluminium
• 40mm x 6mm bolt
• 6mm nut
• couple of steel washers
• pop rivets
• 3 x 10mm nuts

Tools are equally modest:

• Hacksaw
• File
• Drill
• Pop rivetter

The pieces cut to length and mounting holes drilled. It sits on top of the strut-top nuts and another set of nuts secure the brace so you need about 10mm of thread showing.

	The pop rivets are only to hold the pieces together and keeps it simple.
	Use a washer on the underside of the rivet so it doesn't get loose by wearing on the soft aluminium.

 

A drill press and vice makes it very easy to drill perpendicular holes exactly where you need them. Use a low speed for aluminium so the drill bit works properly - too fast and the material under the drill bit melts making it difficult to get through.

 

	With the frame complete I mounted it and used this cap bolt to work out where the hole had to go.

 

Here it is all bolted up.

 

I've used a couple of washers to spread the load over the aluminium making it less likely to bend. Steel washers are stronger than zinc ones.

And that's it! Few hours work and it's done with little cost. The real test will be on the track.

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