mcelligott

I got my strut bar from ebay and even though it is somewhat of a tight fit between the hood and top of the bar, I have had absolutely no problems with opening and shutting the hood whatsoever.

mcelligott

Oh, and btw -- my 2002 came with one from the factory as well.

VZV21

2VZ-FE Pic


In our cars, the plenum (air chamber) after the throttle body is where the air gets divided into 6 parts.

After the plenum are the 2 intake manifolds (one for each bank), this is where the injectors spray fuel into the air stream as enters the cylinders.

BigRich

Ok now how much clearence would one need from the bottom of the bar to the top of the plenum? I saw a pic in the gallery of a bar with juss a centemeter or two clearence. Now the top of the hoods another thing! I mean would it crack the plenum?

BigRich

Well I did get it and installed it today.. Now The clearence is minimal, but it doesn't touch(the plenum) My hood closes fine. I didn't, however, use a torque wrench, does that matter? I just tightened the **** out the nuts that hold it in place. I test drove it earlier and it seems fine. After the drive I opened the hood and double checked everything and the bar itself was a little hot.. Is that normal??

VZV21

Strut tower brace should be hot. Metal conducts heat readily. The Strut Tower bolts do not require a lot of torque. You need to remove the strut tower brace to do a tune-up. If you are concerned about vibration loosening, use Loctite.

BigRich

Thanks alot man.. I guess I installed it right.. I;m talking a trip(about 2 hrs) today so I'll let yall know how it turns out..

CamryRR

Here is my Supercharger intake plenum and my strut brace.. im sure this bar fits all ES300 and Camry from 1997-1999 ..

meZoom!

hey camryrr, how/where'd you get your hood stand pole?? my hood shocks are kinda aging and i don't want my hood to guillotine my head off while I'm doing engine work. thanks.

CamryRR

Funny one ,on my Camry it comes stock with one but im sure you can replace your hood shocks with original Nipon Denso units.Im going to be fitting some of those shocks on my camry hood when i get my carbon fiber one.

Captain Ratman

Hey CamryRR,

Not trying to be skeptical or anything like that but I have a '99 ES300 and would like to buy a TRD strut bar for my car but when I asked the guys at TRD about the Camry one (they don't sell one for the ES300), they told me that because of hood clearance issues, it will not work. Do you know of anyone who has an ES300 (preferably a '99) with a TRD strut bar from a Camry on it? If you do, can you advise and include some pics for me to see? I don't want to take a chance on spending over 150 dollars only to be surprised that it wont fit because the hood cannot close.

Let us know...

Thanks,

Scott.

meZoom!

hey captainratman,

pull up next to a camry, pop open both hoods, take a measuring stick and compare hood clearances!

the cheap way

flipside909

Ben's (CamryRR) info is pretty correct. The only major differences between an ES300 and the Camry are exterior...and 1MZ-FE versions. The TRD strutbar should fit fine. The whole chassis is IDENTICAL!