who has done this? and does it really handle better? can anyone explain to me why this is done? the car im buying has the bar removed too. WHY WHY!!!???

 

I took mine out It felt the same. So I put it back.

 

Did it and liked it, but also upgraded the front alot when I did. I still have it out but it will probably find it's way back on this winter as the front one will be a lot stiffer than stock and I still need the car to rotate.
Grant

 

so what exactly happens, and why is it better to have the bar removed?

 

It comes down to personal preference. Removing the rear bar (or adding a thicker front bar) will induce understeer. It also depends on what else is done to the suspension as in spring rates etc.

 

Yeah, and aparently from what I've heard removing the rear bar helps alleviate the "snap oversteer" problem our cars have.

Jon

 

I have yet to experience that issue with mine (stock suspension). Actually, I can't imagine my car handling any better than it does right now, even on four older snow tires! (bought it that way, not my fault!!!). Of course, I will upgrade the suspension eventually just due to the age of the car, but not because I need better handling.

As far as the oversteer/understeer issues I prefer a bit of oversteer myself. Bob Bondurant runs a performance driving school, and in his book he stated the difference pretty well IMO. "Oversteer scares the passenger, understeer scares the driver". Anyway, that's what works for me...

 

Although the understeer scares the driver thing is through, the main problem is "snap oversteer". An oversteered car is fine, but a RX-7 will all of the sudden break away and oversteer way more then you expected. That's not really a nice thing.
That said, there's a lot of discussion about the rear sway bar. Mine was removed when I bought the car, and I do have to say my other first gen did have more oversteer-problems then the current one. But, the old one was 100% stock, this one not.
Personally, I'd rather improve the front bar then remove the rear. Just my 2 cents, as I can say I really tested the different setups.

 

Take it off. I don't know anyone racing the first gen that still uses one.