Installing Pro-Motorsports Shock Tower Reinforcement Kit

After pulling out the engine, I decided this will be a great time to install the Pro-Motorsports Shock Tower Reinforcement Kit. The kit has 14 plates of steel that must be welded to the shock towers. This kit is recommended for shock towers that are cracking or to simply strengthen the factory weak towers, my situation.

I ordered the kit which comes with a very abbreviated explanation on how to install – quite disappointing. In addition, the pieces are hardly what one would could an exact fit.

Anyway, I began the process with using my household drill and several grinding discs to sand down the areas to be welded. This probably took 3-4 hours. The car had some surface rust and it looked like the previous owner tarred the underside as well, requiring additional sanding.
After the sanding was done, I had to hammer in a 1/8" raised lip in the center of the shock tower, this is required for the steel plates to sit flush. A household hammer was used and after two large finger scabs and several hundred hits, the lips were flattened.

Then came the fitting of the plates followed with a tack welding to keep them there. With the absence of clear instructions, it took some guess work to figure out where the plates actually go! In addition, some plates were grossly ‘universal’ fits, so I had to bend them into shape using a hammer and a vise.

Finally the welding began. I am a novice welder, in fact, I have no real welding experience. That wasn’t going to stop me. I bought a Mig Welder for $199 (120A, 230V) and went to work. After practicing on some spare metal (and burning my bare arms!) I started on the car – with two layers of clothing. It’s amazing how powerful the welder is, melting steel with ease and forming a bond stronger than the steel itself. The sparks from welding shoot everywhere, over my head, arms, legs, and anywhere in a clear line of sight. At one point while welding, I noticed an unusual burning smell, looked down, and noticed a ten-inch flame creeping up my right leg! What fun!

Some of the welds came out really well, some did not. I’m not sure why, perhaps because I did not use gas shielding and of course, my lack of experience – nah!

I still had to do some more shaping with the hammer (read: banging the shit out of the steel plates) while welding, but finally got it all done. It took about 10 hours of welding and hammering over two days.

I then used my air compressor cutting disc to smooth down all the welds and then painted them flat black. Overall, it was a little cumbersome, but I’m glad I did it. Now, my shock towers are noticebly stronger than stock. This will help impove the car’s handling by adding chassis rigidity and also allow more horsepower to the engine without worrying about bending the shock towers.