Adding to an old thread as I referenced it today...
I also just blasted and attempted to reinstall my braces. The car was never driven since removal, but I did remove the shock caps and the reinstall them without the races. My passenger side brace was too long! I looked at this thread and was trying to figure out what was wrong. In my case the shock cap was not seated all the way into the groove as it is a circular pattern with a decent degree of freedom. I was able to loosen all three nuts and seat the cap properly which also aligned the holes for the brace. I just wanted to mention it here for future reference of this thread.
~Jim