ive fitted my lower brace (156 lower brace) now clearance is not my issue, its a weird wining noise im getting...

it sounds like my turbo spooling up..

its like a vibrate / drone sound..

any one had this problem with the 156 lower brace?

mean while, the car handles BRILLIANT and it has changed my car..

I get this exact sound, with the same brace and thae sound is definitely linked to the turbo speed.

Can't offer a solution though, but thankfully more learned solutions follow!

Well worthwhile mod though.

Strange, didn't have that.. Just how close is it to the downpipe..? If it's only a few mm's I think it might touch it when on throttle.

The exhaust will be touching the lower brace. I had to shim mine out slightly to prevent contact between the two or I had exactly the same sounds.

I seem to recall Nigel saying there was a way to raise the DP. Has anybody tried that method?

And are winner is... Jimbo

The DP is touching my brace.
FFS new bolts an spacers needed to sort my issue!

Just a couple of washers will do, it only has to move a few mm.

Hey! I was first..

Did you fit any washers the first time?

No need to move the brace - using washers under the brace will reduce ground clearance

Best solution is to lift the downpipe slightly...

Remove the rear downpipe mount (the one by the rear engine mount)

Loosen the V-Band clamp from the downpipe to the turbo

Push the Downpipe upwards

Re-tighten the rear mount

Re-tighten the V-Band clamp

That should be enough to lift the downpipe by a few mm

Unless of course you have 5-bolt flange + 3" downpipe, then you can to reroute the brace forward a bit (this also frees up the oilsump plug clearance). You can also make a small cutout where the pipe is (not seen here though).

http://sfk.ibk.se/depa/showfile.php?carpic_no=2374&type=picture

http://sfk.ibk.se/depa/showfile.php?carpic_no=2372&type=picture

This one is also cut at the "feet" for much better ground clearence, not a big job with a welder.

There wasn't room to do that on mine Nigel, that's why a couple of washers were used, the 2mm less ground clearance didn't make that much difference

Per which brace is that ? looks very flat and a neat fit

Thanks, it's the same OMP with the small mods I just described.
New: http://sfk.ibk.se/depa/showfile.php?carpic_no=2377&type=picture
Modding: http://sfk.ibk.se/depa/showfile.php?carpic_no=2375&type=picture
Finished: http://sfk.ibk.se/depa/showfile.php?carpic_no=2376&type=picture

Per did you use longer bolts??

I used longer bolts with about 7mm worth of spacers! I'll be trying Nigels trick to regain some ground clearance. The noise it makes when it clouts one of those island speed bumps is gut wrenching.

I bought new bolts for good measure and I do think they were a bit longer, yes!

Ah Per I was wondering how yours looked so close to the car, I hadn`t realised just how much work you had done to it to help `raise` it up .......... really good job ....hhmm now were`s me hacksaw

thanks!

I got round to doing this today. I did the above but loosened the two 13mm nuts on the DP mount then raised it by 3-4mm. Worked a treat, thanks Nigel.