ok so i was thinking about gettin some strut bars off ebay because they are cheap and will prolly do the trick. at least for what i would need. but after assessing the rear bar i noticed that it looks a bit different that the ones offered by mazdatrix.com. now i was wondering if anyone has bought these and knows if they work. like will bolt on. would rather not waste the time and money to buy them if they dont.

 

Post a link to one of these strut bars.

 

oh thought i did


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rear-...Q5fAccessories

 

It appears this strut bar just ties to the speaker towers in the rear - as such, it's a largely cosmetic piece, since the speaker towers themselves aren't structural and don't have a great deal of strength. The structural portion is the upper strut mount, but you would have to cut up the interior trim as well as the speaker towers to tie into that.

Going beyond that, upper strut bars, front or rear, are a mostly cosmetic embellishment on FC's anyway. These cars have good rigidity, especially in the front and rear, according to an article from Grassroots Motorsports a few years back on preparing FC's for the track. Their greatest need for reinforcement is in the mid-section of the car, thanks to both good rigidity front and rear, and to the fact the door openings are large, cut into the roof, and so many of these cars have sunroofs. Supporting that the mid-section of these cars is their weakest point, I've seen a car locally, with a very strong (400+whp) 13bt motor, which creased the b-pillar sail panel launching at the drag strip - on street tires.

 

if u really want the strut bars then u have to cut in to the speaker tower and just cover it with the carpet but u all so have to cut in to ur carpet i did this my self to 2 of my cars use a side grinder or some sheet metal seizers but the grinder is the cleanest way to go and u should still have some room for your speakers
I can put up pics later of mine

 

but that said bar will work in the rear? because if you compare the bracket to the one offered by mazdatrix it is way different.

 

400 hp could do that?? I never heard that before, have to look into that.

 

I'd save your $11 and buy a t2 sticker for your fenders..... will most likely do the same in terms of performance.

 

Hell, you should see a vert. When I back into the alley out of my driveway, you can hear the car twisting.

I know the fox body mustang has a frame support you can buy that goes underneath the passenger compartment to increase rigidity in the center of the car. It is two rails that bolt onto the front and rear frame (there is no frame rail running the entire length of the mustang like the rx-7) I wonder if the FC has an offering similar to that?

 

It looks like to me that they mount on the strut tower bolts so yeah they are probably ok and they are really cheap also. But you are going to have to do some fabrication to get them to work. Mainly cut out little rectangles in the speaker towers.

 

so pretty much waste of money? would be better to invest in something that hooks the front and rear sub frames together?

 

The "something" you're referring to is called the "chassis".

It's hard to imagine an add on piece- short of a full roll cage- that could span between these two assemblies.

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure it was around 500whp, but I couldn't remember exactly, so I was conservative.

 

Yeah, I wasn't thinking of verts - but the weak point is still the mid-section of the chassis, in fact much more so. They are a lot better than a Fox chassis Mustang vert, however; I remember seeing a road test of one, and they parked it with one wheel up on the curb, and the door couldn't be opened, or if it was open, it couldn't be closed!
The frame supports you're referring to are called subframe connectors - they usually combine longitudinal rails with an X-brace to increase mid-chassis rigidity and increase resistance to torsion - they're available for lots of cars, like the Miata and fox Mustangs, although I can't recall if anyone makes them for the FC, and they are not permitted in many racing classes (FWIW). I have heard of people fabricating or adapting their own for FC's - the longitudinal rails on our cars are both shallow and the metal thin, so they don't add a lot of strength.

The FC isn't a weak car mid-chassis, but that is it's weakest area, despite the high and sturdy center tunnel. For those going road racing, a cage nicely fixes the mid-chassis weak point, and makes front upper and lower strut bars make a lot more sense. In the rear, any proper cage is going to tie into the chassis and add cross-bracing that makes a rear strut bar moot. Failing that, the first place I'd brace would be the front lower control arm mounts - but again, depends on if the car is tracked and what the rules say for the class you want to run - eg, not allowed below Street Modified for SCCA car classing rules for autocross.

 

For all you guys talking about making the middle of the chassis more ridgid: http://corksport.com/autoexe-member-...t-for-rx7.html

 

That makes a lot of sense - the front one in particular would essentially box the transmission tunnel, which should add significant strength - and at that point adding front-and-or-rear strut bracing make more sense. Back to the original inquiry about the rear strut bar, I just place a premium on function over form, and strut braces seem to be more form on FC's, popularized with the ricer compact crowd.

 

ok so does anyone have a better picture of the rear set up for that autoexe member bar set? the one on the corksport site kinda sucks. im just going to make one rather that spend the 515 bucks and buy one.

 

really nobody has a picture of them? at least one person has to have it