I want to know if anyone's had problems installing a strut tower bar in the front?

I have a '99 2.3CL, and picked up a used Z.Speed Aluminum Strut Tower bar.

After removing the stock OEM bar (which is installed higher up, away from the actual strut towers), I encountered a problem.

I looks like there is a piece (mounting tab?) thats been OEM/factory wielded onto the passenger side of the strut mount area? It's located between 2 of the 3 surrounding mounting bolts (which are the shock/strut screws).

Since this piece is there, it prevents me from mounting the Z.Speed bar onto it since it won't sit flush on the strut tower!

Has anyone cut away the piece to force it to sit flush onto the top of the tower mount? Or is my strut bar crap now?

FYI: The strut bar I have has the complete 3-hole ring (refer to pic #1 below) mount compared to other ones which are a semi-circle(refer to pic #2 below).

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Anyone who has installed a front strut bar should be able to answer my noob question

Thanks!

 

i just yanked it off with some pliers and flattened what remained with a hammer

 

Wow thanks for the quick reply!

So it must have taken a bit of time to do that then, it's probably better if its "dremeled" off?

Did you spray any anti-rust or coat the exposed metal after removing it?

Also I just realized that the screws aren't that long (sticking out from the strut tower), so I am guessing there wasn't too much threading through the nuts once you place the mounting bracket over them? Unless the bracket you had wasn't very thick?

Thanks for your input

 

It didn't take long at all. I just bent it a lot so it weakened in a crease and then I just pulled/twisted it off. Then I took a hammer and flattened the little bit that was left over. Worked for me just fine.

If you have a dremel, yeah, you should just use that.

No, I didn't do anything to the metal after that, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

No, there isn't much threading left, but enough to secure bar without a problem.