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Finally got around to installing mine last night, now that the car is mostly repainted. Boy, that was a miserable two hours. Despite the fact that it has been exclusively a southern and now southwestern car and has almost zero rust, the control arm studs were more than 1/8" out of alignment with the front holes in the brace. I ended up ruining a 1200lb cable puller (probably should have bought a bigger one). The problem I ran into was that, with the puller attached to the undersides of the two control arms, the puller cable blocked the brace from coming down far enough for the hole in the brace to line up with the stud on one arm (I bolted the other side onto its stud to keep it in place) I tried attaching one end of the puller to various parts of the body and engine, and in the process bent it completely out of shape. On my last try I was able to push the puller cable towards the rear of the car enough that, with a lot of grunting and pulling, I was able to pull the brace down with one hand and pound it onto the stud with a rubber mallet in the other. I was glad to have adequate amounts of liquid courage on hand, especially since it was 80 degrees in the garage and I was lying on my back the whole time. No pics though; I was too exhausted and frustrated to worry about pics.
If my brace came with instructions, which I recall it did, I've since lost them. I think I might have mounted the brace incorrectly. I removed the large washers on the front the control arms, slid the brace as far back on the studs as possible, and then put the washers under the nuts before tightening the nuts down. I suspect the washers should have gone between the brace and the control arm, and the lock washer, which I didn't use, should have gone under the nut. My plan is to drive the car for a few thousand miles, hopefully the suspension will settle in place, and then if need be I can remove the brace and reinstall the nuts correctly, without all the drama reinstalling the brace.
Despite all this, I have nothing but praise for the brace. It's lightweight and beautifully made. I have a number of older cars I maintain/modify and am already looking at the next project car after the Metro is driveable. Among all of them, only the Powerstroke Diesel has more aftermarket support than my Geo. The Swift/Metro community is really lucky to have this kind of aftermarket part availability, especially such high quality.
Brian
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'93 Geo Metro
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