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TRD strut bar DIY

20581 Views 36 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  Haloruler64
Here's a little DIY that I wrote for all of you who would like to install a TRD strut bar for the 8th gen Corollas onto your 7th gen Corolla.

I bought the TRD strut bar from http://www.trdpartstore.com/ for under $200 shipped.

Here it is:



Let's begin by making sure we have all the tools required:

12mm socket and ratchet
1/2" to 3/8" to 1/4" socket adapters
pipe or jack arm like I used (breaker bar will work too)
philips head screwdriver
torque wrench
gloves
protection eyewear
grinder




Start by removing the TRD plaque plastic protector (or you can remove it later on):



Stamped TRD for authenticity:



Park your car on a flat surface. Open hood and look at the engine bay. The only modification required in order to install a 98-02 corolla TRD strut bar is to grind part of the throttle cable plate on your 7th Gen. as shown by the red circle:



Now, get your 12mm socket and ratchet (or breaker bar) remove all 6 strut nuts and place nuts in a safe location:



Red arrow shows area that needs to be grinded (I've already done all the grinding before I took the pictures).
In addition, using the philips head screwdriver, loosen the intake metal ring clamp and turn it so the throttle cable is not on the hook anymore and that it won't be in the way of the strut bar. I just turned it so the hook is on the side of the intake tube. Re-tighten intake clamp.



Now wear your protective eyewear and grind away, making sure you don't grind anything else :eek:
When you think you have ground enough material, test fit the strut bar making sure it doesn't get scratched.



Check for clearance. You can also start the car, then walk back to the engine bay and push on the throttle to rev the engine and see if it will touch the bar under hard acceleration. If not, then you should be ok.

***Please grind more material off the plate. What I've shown is not enough for clearance.***



Place nuts back on and just hand-tighten them. Then, using your torque wrench and select 26 lb-ft of torque, start tightening each nut by going back and forth on either side of the car starting with the inner nut (closest to engine). You want to do this so to have an even fit. Every nut that you get a first click on the torque wrench, stop and move on, until all nuts get 1 click each.



Take a final look and make sure everything is ok...close hood, and go for a test drive. You should feel a quicker and tighter turning feel. Good luck!

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Nice bar and diy!
no one mentioned my ghetto-ass zipties to hold the windshield washer reservoir! LOL...when I bought the car (a month ago) I found out it was already broken..broke off from the bolt. Oh well..so far it holds tight...so I'll refrain from buying a new one haha
no one mentioned my ghetto-ass zipties to hold the windshield washer reservoir! LOL...when I bought the car (a month ago) I found out it was already broken..broke off from the bolt. Oh well..so far it holds tight...so I'll refrain from buying a new one haha

:lol: LMAO i just noticed that.....hey wat ever works :lol:
HAHAH Yeah...cuz they aren't cheap from what I've seen.
:lol: LMAO i just noticed that.....hey wat ever works :lol:
ahh you beat me to it :lol:

thats alot cheaper then getting from Toyota its self. 264$ to get it there. another site i didnt know about.
so how much was it shipped?
oops I just checked..I was close. $207 shipped via UPS. But yeah, still cheaper than Toyota itself. It's well worth it..not too many single piece strut bars for our generation corollas...and soon these will be rare too.
no one mentioned my ghetto-ass zipties to hold the windshield washer reservoir! LOL...when I bought the car (a month ago) I found out it was already broken..broke off from the bolt. Oh well..so far it holds tight...so I'll refrain from buying a new one haha
My friend holds his tank with speaker wire :lol:yours is acutally presentable haha
speakerwire??!! dang that is way more ghettofied than mine then! hhahahaha
You have a costco battery like me. yea my windshield reservoir also broke at the bolt
This is a good one. Thanks for sharing.
Nice, learn something new every day!
no one mentioned my ghetto-ass zipties to hold the windshield washer reservoir! LOL...when I bought the car (a month ago) I found out it was already broken..broke off from the bolt. Oh well..so far it holds tight...so I'll refrain from buying a new one haha
No shit bro, I use the zipties too!!!! The plastic piece that bolts to the frame of the car broke on my reservoir, so I drilled 2 holes in it and threaded the zipties thru the hole in the frame. the damn thing is just cheap plastic:lol: BTW nice write up:thumbsup:
thanks guys.
I'll sell my resivoir to anyone who wants it. haha. I haven't put fluid in it in over a year. Whenever my window gets dirty I just wipe it down with some RainX window cleaner. Mine's all in tact/no cracks/no pieces missing. Great write up btw. I'm about to snatch one of these before they're all gone.
Looks good man how's the paint so far? I ended up getting the Ultra Racing 3 point bar instead and it's only been 2 weeks and it already has paint chips and scratches:(. Not sure how it's even getting scratched...could it be from tiny rocks getting in the engine bay?
Looks good man how's the paint so far? I ended up getting the Ultra Racing 3 point bar instead and it's only been 2 weeks and it already has paint chips and scratches:(. Not sure how it's even getting scratched...could it be from tiny rocks getting in the engine bay?
what paint? on the strut bar? no chips here...real TRD products.. LOL
Looks good man how's the paint so far? I ended up getting the Ultra Racing 3 point bar instead and it's only been 2 weeks and it already has paint chips and scratches:(. Not sure how it's even getting scratched...could it be from tiny rocks getting in the engine bay?
That is the low quality steel flexing under stress. Get a TRD bar or something else.

I was able to score a real nice strut bar here on TFN. Here us are some old pics from when I first put it on.


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