Kirban Frame braces...worth the $??

[Getsidewayz04]

Was looking into getting the Kirban frame braces, probably the rear seat and front upper/lower tie bars. what do people who have them think of em'?? which ones did you think make the biggest difference?? thanks alot.


Nick

 

[UNDER-PRESSURE]

Put in ALL the braces, missing body bushings & GNX frame bushings. You will not believe the differance & worth EVERY penny.

 

[Gary Wells]

As a minimum, depending on mileage of the car & previous work done, missing #'s 3 & 4 lower body bushings, & maybe # 7 if it is missing, & upper GNX body bushings, Kirban's rear seat brace & kirban's front frame brace, or a Savitske Classic & Custom (SC&C) if you can find one, (currently not in production), & the triangulation braces as necessary as they are pretty much for squeaks & rattles, not much frame & body strengthening on those. Basically, as stated above.

 

[buickruss]

On my T Top car the front frame and rear seat braces seemed to make the car a bit stiffer.

 

[RobV6]

Braces

I did mine differently. I used a toolthat tightens the body. Forget the name.
Then installed the trunk braces.Never had a piller crack,ran street radials.Felt
tighter.

Also front braces helped a little. Got them at GM for monte Carlos. Not a big help. As this car which was stolen, had 30,000 miles on it. Had changed the shocks. and put the body bushings in. They helped greatly I felt.

Now Iam building a Limited. Bought the whole PST hader than rubber set,with KYB shocks as a package. This car had 153,000 miles on it a woman drove her kids to school.
All I can say is the car rides and handles better,than my 3,630 ORG GN.
I also added body bushings.Doesn't walk on bumps.It was a bit high in price.
But I love just driving it. Now for amotor. In my life I hope. New paint,Eric's trans, sitting waiting , champion heads sitting. for $ for a motor.......Life you have to roll with it......Lost a motor I was going to purchase.........HTH'ed...Rob

 

[Getsidewayz04]

k sounds good im gonna order the rear seat and front frame brace kits, also im gonna put all new body bushings and an upgraded pinion snubber. ill let you know how it feels afterwards. thanks for all the replies guys!!

Nick

 

[GNRick]

I removed my after market pinion snubber. It was twice as big as stock. Every time I hit a dip on the hwy at 65, the car bottomed out and went kboom!

 

[salvageV6]

The Kirban crossbrace worked the best for me, the front V-braces were installed first.

A very noticeable improvement in all the braces on a daily driver.

 

[Gary Wells]

k sounds good im gonna order the rear seat and front frame brace kits, also im gonna put all new body bushings and an upgraded pinion snubber. ill let you know how it feels afterwards. thanks for all the replies guys!! Nick

----------------------------
How many miles on the car?

 

[85turbo T]

I did mine differently. I used a toolthat tightens the body. Forget the name.
Then installed the trunk braces.Never had a piller crack,ran street radials.Felt
tighter.

Also front braces helped a little. Got them at GM for monte Carlos. Not a big help. As this car which was stolen, had 30,000 miles on it. Had changed the shocks. and put the body bushings in. They helped greatly I felt.

Now Iam building a Limited. Bought the whole PST hader than rubber set,with KYB shocks as a package. This car had 153,000 miles on it a woman drove her kids to school.
All I can say is the car rides and handles better,than my 3,630 ORG GN.
I also added body bushings.Doesn't walk on bumps.It was a bit high in price.
But I love just driving it. Now for amotor. In my life I hope. New paint,Eric's trans, sitting waiting , champion heads sitting. for $ for a motor.......Life you have to roll with it......Lost a motor I was going to purchase.........HTH'ed...Rob

I was told that the poly bushing made the car "ride harder" . Have you found that to be true? Luckly my has all new body bushing before i bought it .

 

[RobV6]

No not at all if back uless you hit apothoile at 80 MPH. Rides much smoother,
Handles really well for such a big car.I did this because It was basically shot.

The KYB's.Came with this whole package. Can't say enough.Agasin JMO>.............Rob

 

[RobV6]

No not at all if back uless you hit apothole at 80 MPH. Rides much smoother,
Handles really well for such a big car.I did this because It was basically shot.

The KYB's.Came with this whole package. Can't say enough.Again JMO>.............Rob...Seems Like we all have different values. For me, it was the first investment,and new pump and gas tank. That I did. PS sorry for 2 answers.Need more coffee. What is written is OK...Sorry

 

[Drip Pan]

I too have a higher mileage hardtop Limited and recently installed new springs and KYBs at all four corners and added the Kirban cross brace & Monte Carlo braces up front. The difference is quite evident. My car is also missing the usual body bushings so I plan to address those and add the GNX bushings plus the trunk braces to round everything out. I have the trunk braces on my GN and they made a huge improvement before I added the rollbar.

Hope this helps---

 

[TURBOV6]

Go with the PST complete body bushing kit. Everything you need, just need to order new bolts from kirbans.

I highly reccomend doing this.

 

[tb3]

anybody have instructions or pics or advice for installing the kirbans rear seat brace kit? I have bought the braces used and have no instructions. I'm assuming I'm going to have to drill some holes, but don't know where.

 

[TURBOTWIN2]

Go with the PST complete body bushing kit. Everything you need, just need to order new bolts from kirbans.

I highly reccomend doing this.

Does this kit have ALL the bushings, including the missing GNX one?
Thanks.

 

[TURBOV6]

Does this kit have ALL the bushings, including the missing GNX one?
Thanks.

YES!

 

[jamier]

rear seat brace install tip

I too bought a used set of rear seat braces with no instructions. Luckily I have a kirbans and postons catalog that has pics of the the braces installed in the car. If you dont have the pics my advice is start at the center and work your way out. You'll notice a small buldge in the metal in the middle of the trunk thats a good starting point to drill your first hole. You might also want to remove the rear seat to get better axess to tighten the bolts, I was lucky and didn't have too but would've made life alot easier.You'll need 6 nuts and bolts to install everything. The center bolts are used for the left and right side, again start in the center and work outwards I did my center top first then the bottom worked out fine.. Hope this helps..

 

[jamier]

almost forgot ,front braces....

If you don't want to spend the cash on lower body braces, look for a wrecked olds cutlass or monte carlo , they usually have the braces attached . Still don't know why GM never put them on our cars but put them on puny 307's

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

dont try to install the braces without instructions. theyre a bitch, and will not work right unless you have the car on all four jackstands as per the intructions. call kirbans, and get a set mailed to you trust me.
as for all my frame brace kits? My car is way stiffer now. one of the first things i did, was install all 4 brace kits, then the next week, threw 1 and 3/8ths inch sway bars front and rear with energy suspension bushings and links, with bilstein shocks all the way around, and she rode like a new car. cant imagine what it would do with all the body bushings replaced, and new springs too... wow. I would imagine it would probably handle like an f body at that point. throw in the 1LE close ratio steering gear box, and some bfg g force ta/kd's and forgetaboutit. the camaro wouldnt be able to keep up imo. in the least though, id do the shocks and the rear seat braces immediately.