I have been looking everywhere! Who sells these things?

 

the fc ones on ebay work, u just have to make the holes a little bigger, or you could spend 300 bucks from RB and have a monstrosity under your hood, lol

 

Is there a noticeable difference in handling when u get one of these? or is just a waste?

 

try mazdatrix.com they have 2 diferent one to choose from then racingbeat.com has one and rx7.com has one. they all differently priced so from here its oyur pic.

 

ive never owned one, fb chassis are so stiff stock i couldnt see it making a huge noticable difference.

now a racing beat SWAY bar helps a **** ton

 

also try

http://awrracing.com/pages/rx/7985RX7.html

Tony is one good guy
Steve Coe
C2 Motorsports LLC

 

I have the RB one.Its the simple tubular one,not the big triangulated unit.I also have the CP racing rear bar. Neither made a noticable affect compared to the other suspension mods I made,but that doesnt mean they do nothing.
If you havent already maxxed out you suspension,there are much better/effective things to spend your money on,like springs,shocks,swaybars and bushings.

 

Try www.cpracing.com
They have 2 or 3 options and not badly priced.

 

i have the RB Triangulated piece. it came on the car, so i don't know if it helped, but i assume that it did

 

If i buy an ebay fc bar i just make the hole bigger? How?

 

I made my own front and rear strut/ shock tower braces. any bracing, at all will make the uni-body stiffen up. if the car has a sunroof braces are good.

 

i think it looks good, but not for $300. i havent seen it on a car though...

will any other strut bar work as good as that one? does it have some sort of advantage because of the shape? how will it compare to the cheaper $180+ ones?

 

I've read a lot about strut tower bars, and what I've seen is that for the most part, they will not affect your handling very noticably (not in an rx-7 anyway) but they will help keep your chassis from sagging/warping over time. A valid point in a 20+ year old car.

Now strut braces/bars, not strut TOWER bars, will make a noticable difference in handling. They go from the top of one strut to the top of the other strut, as opposed to from one strut tower to another. I've really only seen these custom made for race cars however.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/86-92...99606112QQrdZ1
the 4 holes that mount on the strut caps, i was told (and ive seen pics of this on a gsl-se) that you just have to drill those 4 holes on each side a little bigger and it will fit perfectly on an fb..

-greg

 

I can hardly agree with the comment that FB chassis are stiff....
Maybe you don't drive yours as hard as I do but when you start swinging some turns I can really feel the chassis flex without a strut bar as compared to using one. And I have had aout 6 FB's in the past couple of years so it's not like I am commenting on just one chassis that I have driven on.

As for a 2 point versus a 3 point(firewall attachment) I can't feel any difference between that. I would opt for the CP racing bar since it's reasonably priced....
The Racing beat one is just to intrusive as far as looks go under the hood....LOL
I had an FB with an FC strut bar on it before.....Just recently this year.
I never knew before that they could fit........

I think I will go driving this next weekend with my hood off and a passenger in the car and try and see ift hey notice any visual flexing.....
I really doubt it though...
If a car had that much flex that would mena there is a serious problem I bet....LOL
But it's something to waste time on.....HaAHA

 

The RB strut bar's biggest benefit is that it's triangulated to the firewall, which will provide greater structural rigidity for all handling manuevers, not just cornering. When the weight transfer occurs under braking, you have this tension being applied to the frame rails to balance out the car. A triangulated bar will be much stiffer than a simple strut tower bar, and isn't as intrusive to working on the car as others have stated.

I'm very happy with mine, and have noticed a significant improvement in chassis flex in even normal driving. It's important to note that this was the LAST piece that I added, since all of my suspension work was done earlier - I recommend going that route. A week after it was installed, the driver's side strut mount (rubber donut) broke through allowing the shock rod to press up through it and into the hood. I can only imagine that this was a failing part to begin with, but the strut tower bar certainly gave it something solid to press against - decreasing the time to failure.

Here's a picture of the engine bay (SE);

 

You know some people say that a front strut/shock tower bracing makes no differance and some say that they notice a differance. When i fabricated the bracing for my 82 i made both the front and the rear at the same time, installed both then drove the car, when i got back home torqued the bolts. I used some tubing, mild steel all around. in front i made 2 aluminum 'plates' 1/4 inch thick, machined out the centers and mounting holes, stacked 2 1/4 inch plates per side for the 'riser' welded together then welded those to the mounting plates, drilled the holes for the cross brace,bend the cross brace to clear the hood and alt. some call the front brace a 'monte carlo' bar. Then used the same tubing 2 per side from the strut mounting bolts to the firewall. I made backing plates from aluminum to back-up the bolts through the firewall. The rear used the same tubing to tigh together the chasis right in the center of the rear wheels, inside the cargo area and each rear shock is braced by 2 braces. bolted from the top of the shock 1 brace goes straight back towards the rear and 1 brace goes towards the center of the car, both bolted, it was cheap, easy to do, doesn't look ghetto either, but i notice a differance from before without any bracing. IMO.

 

trust me, anyone that knows me knows how i drive, and lets just say, grandma wouldnt approve... the fb you see in my signiature is my 5th rx7 in 4 years, i have cut an rx7 to pieces, literally and i know how well they are put together, havent you ever jacked the car up on the front driver or passenger side and notice that if you jack high enough the rear tire comes off the ground and you notice no flex in the chassis, im not going to get into a flame war about this, but i honestly know that a racing beay SWAY BAR, not strut bar, improves handling drastically for the better, theres no other way to go that beef up those sways, put on some blues and some eibachs, do that and u got a car that rides on rails..

-greg

 

I've got the RB bar, and I love it. The guy I bought it from was a local autoX champion in his -SE, and he CLEANLY hacked off the parts that attach to the firewall, and it's been carefully rounded off on each corner. My recc. is to be VERY careful when installing the mounting blocks... the soft cast aluminum cracks very easily. It would be nice to see something stronger used as a mounting block, but c'est la vie.

 

is anyone using this strut bar???? is it any good...i just like the way it looks...hell for 20 bucks i think i'll buy it!!! any thoughts???

 

how come i never knew that before
anyway i am happy with my cp racing one
only cost me 35 anyway haha

 

Also isn't there http://www.rx7.com.

I think I may have treaded into the wrong section.

 

i think strut tower bars make a pretty big differance

the fb chassis is stiff for an 80's car. its not really that stiff compared to moder sports cars.

it takes alot of jacking of the front tire to get the rear to lift.
on my 92 300xztt the rear tire would life just after the front did
when i had my TII it was a fair bit stiffer than my fb also.

any roll cage/ 4 point bar or cross bracing like a strut tower brace helps the car feel more responsive.

even my daily driver 4 door accord an el cheepo front bar made a drastic differance
the steering felt more responsive and quick.

 

Judging by what you guy have said about using a FC strut tower brace on an FB. Sort of off the thread, but can you use FC camber plates easily in an FB? With minor drilling in the strut mount? Just curious. I just don't know much about FC's.

 

i was thinking the same myself. on mazdatrix they have a set of camber plates that are for fb's and fc's. atleast thats wat i think i read.

as far as strut bars, if we can modify an fc strut bar just by widening the holes, how bout getting good quality strut bars and just drilling them out a little? i may or maynot try this. im thinking of trying out the cork sport front strut. its like $80.